Post your 721 Review here! [Archive]

kck

07-14-02, 07:50 PM

Don't have time for a review but here are some quick ideas to improve the 721. First, like Scott has said, they MUST include some folders and sub folders in the PVR lists. Without this it is going to be almost impossible to keep track. Second, we need to be able to delete individual programs from the history folder of PVR searches, what good is this list if you have to erase all or nothing. Third, they need to add the channel names with the channel number in those areas that do not include them (theme & search) Most people including myself can't remember all of the channel numbers. Forth, they MUST limit searches to sub channels only, I don't care what is on the other channels and it gets to be a pain in the butt when you think you have found your show only to discover you can't get it. Fifth, I would ask that they fine tune the main guide, the single line description is a little hard to understand when they include only one or two words. I have been seeing "the" alot, forcing me to high-lite that program for a partial discription (note, I said partial since the program description on top of the EPG is shortened from the full discription in INFO).

jeffwtux

07-16-02, 07:25 AM

Does anybody have an estimate on the number of 721's sold thusfar?? Scott, when Chuck(Charlie Ergen) said on the customer chat that $549 is LESS than it costs to manufacture the 721, was he including the design costs that have already incured or is the $549 truely less than it now costs to manufacture a 721 receiver at this point? I'm just curious because it's the former then eventually the price could come down after the hard core early takers help pay off the design costs. However, it would have to come down a ton before I would even think of advertising it.

Scott Greczkowski

07-16-02, 07:49 AM

I would say that the cost of making the 721 is indeed more then what they are selling it for, almost all satellite receivers are subsidized in some way.

In all honesty while I think the price of the 721 is high we must remember that there is no monthly or lifetime fee you need to pay to use the PVR functions. And once Internet access is made available on the 721 I think that the 721 will be a bargain.

No idea how many people have 721's now, but I hope people will post their reviews here, I want the world to have more opinions then just mine. :D

Kagato

07-16-02, 02:38 PM

It's more now, but you're looking at a device that uses a lot of off the shelf components. With in a year that HD is going to cost 50% less. Memory is going down as well. Also, the device so far has been made in very limited quanities. So while what Charlie says right now is most likely true, there is a pretty good chance in a year they'll actually be making some cash on the Hardware.

My Review: Worked find until I got the SW update, then no audio. After an hour on the phone with advanced support they told me to RMA it. Anyone else see an issue like this? Perfect video, then bam, no audio?

DRJDAN

07-16-02, 04:54 PM

Does the 721 have a RJ-45 port for network?

Kagato

07-16-02, 09:33 PM

No, it has an RJ-11 for phone (PPV billing for the most part). There is a USB port that down the road could support ethernet. But that's down the road.

LarryH

07-17-02, 12:19 AM

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
I am sure that you have not had a chance to read my 721 review and even had a chance to watch the video I made. As you can see my review was done based on my opinion.

721 are starting to really hit the street now and many of our DBStalk.COM members are now receiving their 721's!

What I would like is for our members to write their own review on the 721m tell everyone your honest thoughts and opinions on this new piece of Hardware.

I feel that many opinions are better then my one opinion! So post your reviews here in this thread for the world to see!

I've only had my 721 for about 7 hours now, but I can give you my initial impression:

Good:

* Very stable - I purchased both my 501 and my 721 on the first day that they were available. The 501 was almost unusable for the first couple of months. The 721 seems to be rock solid right out of the box

* Hard drive very quiet - The 501 hard drives were very noisy. If you got one with a Maxtor, the constant motor sound was very loud. If you got one with a Seagate, the drive heads made a constant loud clicking noise. The 721 hard drive is much more quiet than either of the 501 drives.

* Guide screen with embedded program info - The 501 allowed you to watch live TV while you browsed the guide, but the program info was a separate "pop up" which had to be canceled before you could continue browsing. The 721 has a 3-section guide (TV window, guide window, and info window). As you browse through the guide, you can watch live TV while you read info about the show that you are pointing to in the guide.

* Caller ID history - Nice addition to the basic Caller ID!

* Watch live TV while browsing PVR files - On the 501, there was no live TV window once you pressed the "PVR" button. The 721 allows you to continue watching TV while you are browsing through the recorded files. With this feature, you can do PVR maintenance (erase files, view program info) while watching live TV.

* Stays "locked" on favorites list - On previous receivers, if you used a favorites list and entered an invalid channel number, the receiver automatically switched from your favorites list back to "all subscribed". This used to drive me nuts because I like to punch in an "approximate" channel number to get to the right area of the guide. For example, I know that my local channels are in the 8xxx range, but I don't have the exact channel numbers memorized. Therefore, I would punch in 8000 to get me close to the locals section in my guide. This worked great except I had keep switching my receiver from "All Channels" back to my favorites list. When I do this on the 721 it takes me to the closest channel (what I wanted it to do) and keeps me in my favorites list. Thanks for finally fixing this one Echostar!

* Can auto-protect a re-occurring timer - On the 501, you could auto-protect a 1-time timer, but you couldn't auto-protect a re-occurring timer. This is fixed on the 721.

Needs to be fixed:

* PVR (recorded file list) is cluttered - It appears that when you press the PVR button on the 721, it lists both the recorded files and the timers on the same screen. This makes the listing very cluttered.

* When setting up favorites lists, the "unsubscribed" channels aren't marked in red so the user is unable to tell if they are adding an invalid channel to their favorites list.

* When setting up favorites lists, you have to use the arrow keys to move between channels. On previous receivers, when you added a channel it auto-advanced to the next channel on the assumption that you may add the next channel too. This worked great when you were adding a "block" of channels. On the 721 I have to press the arrow key between each channel.

* When setting up favorites lists, the routine times out too fast. It takes a while to enter all of the data and if you wait too long between keystrokes, it aborts the routine and dumps all of your data. (very frustrating).

* Arrow keys on the on-screen keyboard aren't yet functional.

* After you change an option in the menus, the 721 completely exits the menu routine. If you are trying to change multiple options, you have to re-navigate the entire menu tree for each option. On previous receivers, it just backed up one level in the menu after you set an option.

* When you set up a PVR timer, the 721 uses a default of "start 1 minute early" and "end 3 minutes late". Both of these settings should default to "zero"

* The games are too hard to play with the UHF remote. The UHF "lag" makes the games more difficult. When the IR keyboard becomes available, make sure to allow the keyboard to work as the game controller.

* Need to get the email/browser feature up and running!

That's all I have so far. I'll add to this post as I learn more. So far, I like what I see!!!

motjes2

07-17-02, 08:23 AM

I setup the 721 last night. I stayed up until 2:30am just browsing and looking at the features. This morning I turned the receiver and I got a black screen on the TV. I had to take the smartcard out and reset it (this takes a little long). Well, after I got the signal back, I started setting my device codes to use with the 721 remote control. To my surprise, the manual does not have the device codes for JVC Tv's and Sony's Turner. I used the one from the 501 manual and they worked.

I find that the search result window only gives you the channel number. The 501 gives you the channel number plus the description of the channel on the result window.

Another problem I encounter is that while checking the games, after finishing and exiting the game my remote froze. I could not use the guide or any key on the remote. I tried to use the buttons on the front panel but it was frozen in on channel. I had to take the smartcard out again (it takes long to reset). It came back to again function.

Everything else seems to work fine. One thing I do not like is the background. The 501 background was better.

FrankD1

07-17-02, 08:25 AM

Someone help me out if I'm missing the trick here... my biggest gripe so far is displaying remaining time when playing a recorded show. I can hit pause, and it will show how much time is left, but I can't seem to figure out how to display this info "on the fly" without pausing playback. On my 501, I can hit the cancel button during playback and it will show remaining time in the banner, but on the 721, it always shows 00 minutes remaining when I try this.

LarryH

07-17-02, 08:34 AM

Originally posted by FrankD1
Someone help me out if I'm missing the trick here... my biggest gripe so far is displaying remaining time when playing a recorded show. I can hit pause, and it will show how much time is left, but I can't seem to figure out how to display this info "on the fly" without pausing playback. On my 501, I can hit the cancel button during playback and it will show remaining time in the banner, but on the 721, it always shows 00 minutes remaining when I try this.

Good find! I have the same problem on my 721. Looks like the time remaining feature is currently broken. Also, I set up a timer from 1am-2am last night and the 721 locked up. When I woke up this morning it was still recording and was unresponsive. Had to do a re-boot to bring it back.

Scott Greczkowski

07-17-02, 09:14 AM

larry I have had the recording at night and still recording in the morning hapen to me before, with a reboot though I found my show recorded corectly.

LarryH

07-17-02, 11:02 AM

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
larry I have had the recording at night and still recording in the morning hapen to me before, with a reboot though I found my show recorded corectly.

Recordings during the day seem to be working ok. I wonder if this bug occurs when your timer event conflicts with the AM guide update/software download from Dish?

EvanS

07-17-02, 12:10 PM

Originally posted by LarryH

Recordings during the day seem to be working ok. I wonder if this bug occurs when your timer event conflicts with the AM guide update/software download from Dish?

I'm thinking maybe the guide got bunged up last night cuz I recorded The Guardian on my [B]501 from 9:00 to 10:00 (recurring timer) and went to bed at 9:30. Woke up this morning and it was still recording same channel.
1st time it's EVER happened to me after 15 months and timer all over the map

kyoo

07-17-02, 01:29 PM

well, my 721 arrived yesterday.. the normal hiccups during installation.. slowness during upgrade process... receiver didn't activate itself for about 30 minutes.. about 10 minutes after upgrade reboot..

then I set it up to record two music channels at the same time to queue up music for poker night.. then it was supposed to record two things at 7pm on the network channels.. well, it started recording NBC, and that was it.. it was hung recording NBC.. the other timer didn't fire off.. both music channels recorded properly and ended at 7pm as programmed. So, NBC was recording for a good 90 minutes before I checked on things, and sure enough, just about every function was broken or really slow at this point. I had to hold the power button on the unit to reboot it.. it saved what it had recorded, but it didn't record my second network channel (ABC)..

So, it looks like when one timer screws up, it screws up the other tuner, too.. ;(

On a brighter note, the defaults of recording "1 minute before" and "3 minutes after" don't seem to bother me. I did some testing while setting up my 721 to record all of my shows. It automatically compensates for any overlapping caused by the extended timers. It's actually pretty sweet. So just try it on yours.. leave the defaults alone and see if it gives you a head ache..

Cheers! -Kyoo

kyoo

07-17-02, 01:30 PM

Has anyone read anything about anyone taking the harddrive out and putting it in a linux box to mount it? I'm real tempted..

SParker

07-17-02, 02:28 PM

Kyoo, I wouldn't try it because if you mess up your 721 is useless and you would have to buy another.

Scott Greczkowski

07-17-02, 02:34 PM

From what I understand the main 721 software is in some way "wrapped" so that you can't get into it. I have been told that if someone did take the hard drive out of a 721 and tried to mount it, the most you would be able to change is the HTML which is used for some of the pages.

SParker

07-17-02, 02:53 PM

and if you failed you would have a nice $549 paper weight. I'm sure it would be a conversation piece :D The nicest $549 paper weight around hehe.

John Corn

07-17-02, 03:42 PM

I got my 721 today!! :righton:
Everything to this point for me has been flawless. I've just set my first timer and its recording.

Scott was right, it takes about an hour to download, I rebooted it a couple times after download and getting the guide.

No problems yet. :righton:

motjes2

07-17-02, 06:18 PM

I set to record the 6pm news on channel 2 in NYC and 6:30pm Even news on channel 2 (the frequency was set to M-F for both events). The first recording was ok but it did not record the second one (6:30pm). I wonder if it had to do with the 1min early recording and the 3min late recording. At the same time I had another event from 6pm-7pm. Could this be the conflict?

motjes2

07-17-02, 06:53 PM

"Timer Edit Menu" - Try to delete events from this screen and froze the pvr. I deleted one and it was ok, then two and it was ok, three and it was ok, four and it was ok, and four more I ran into the frozen pvr. What is the latest software that this is supposed to have? I'm getting frozen often and it seems that the only solution is to take the smartcard out.

motjes2

07-17-02, 08:16 PM

Editing Timer Event after event started recording: in the 501 you were able to extend the event timer even if the event was in progress. The 721 tells you that you need to stop the event that is recording in order to edit the timer.

Bill D

07-17-02, 09:30 PM

I had a problem where two timers an 8 am and 8:30 am didn't record 2 days in a row. I took the protect off the timer (or maybe I unprotected the old shows already recorded, I forgot) and things went fine today. I can't think that the protected matters, but those where the only two I had protected. What is it protecting it from, (just me messing up and deleting by accident)
Otherwise everything very nice
I hope to give a full review tomorrow..
Bill

Jacob S

07-18-02, 01:22 AM

Wow, LarryH, you have provided some neat ideas and I have added them to my website.

I hardly ever hear the 501 hard drive unless it is completely quiet in my room in which it never is, and you cannot hear it when a tv is playing unless you have it paused, and its still hard to hear. I remember when people were comparing the dishplayer hard drive with the 501 hard drive sound and they said how much quieter the 501 was that you could not hardly hear it but now that the 721 is out they are comparing it to the 501 like they compared the 501 to the dishplayer. I wonder if the 508 hard drive is quieter than the 501.

LarryH

07-18-02, 07:36 AM

Originally posted by LarryH

... That's all I have so far. I'll add to this post as I learn more. So far, I like what I see!!!

Here are two more:

* As Scott reported, the 721 allows you to delete multiple PVR recordings at once. This is a great improvement over the 501.

* The search on the 721 has an extra feature over the 501: If you press the # key while watching a live program, the 721 automatically enters the name of the show you are watching into the search text box. This is a great idea, but should be expanded to also work in the guide. There have been many times that I've been browsing the guide and found a show that I wanted to search for. It would be nice to press # from inside of the guide and have the 721 auto-enter the name of that show.

TerryC

07-18-02, 10:56 AM

Got my 721 about 18 hours ago. I've noticed a few bugs/anomalies that don't seem to have been mentioned and some that have but I'll reiterate because of their importance to me.

In no particular order:

*Numerous freeze-ups during the first few hours of use. They seem to be a thing of the past now.

*Too cumbersome switching tuners.

*Time left isn't on the program banner when hitting cancel. The only way to find out where I am in a recording is to pause. Which brings me to my next gripe...

*When I pause a recording then resume, I get a couple of seconds without sound. I then have to hit the RW button to replay that part so I can hear the audio that I missed. My 501 resumes audio and video immediately.

*Speaking of the 501, remember the "kicked back to live" bug? It bit me last night on my 721. I was watching a program that was still recording. When the time slot for that recording ended the playback did too. I then had to go to the PVR events menu, reselect the show and then FF to the point that I was at when I was kicked to live.

*The only way I know to eliminate the the PIP window is to press the PIP button twice. Once to enlarge and a second time to get rid of it. This is annoying especially considering the fact that I have to press the remote buttons a lot harder than on any of my other receivers to get it to respond. I'll be getting carpel tunnel syndrome soon.

*When I finish watching a recorded show and delete it, I get back to the PVR events screen as I should. But at this point (and this is the case more often than not) I don't get a shrunken picture in the upper right corner. Instead I get simply the upper right corner of the full screen. It seems that the PVR events screen is a template layed over my normal full screen video.

*When I watch a recording, then stop it before the end, then later go back to watching, the "start over" button is selected by default. I have to move up to the "resume" button in order to pick up from where I left off. The big problem with this is that in order to get to "resume" I have to move over the "delete" button. I bet people will end up accidentally deleting programs thinking that they where on the "resume" button when they only moved as far as "delete". Oopsy.

*I had two back to back recordings of My Wife and Kids set to record. The first one recorded fine. The second one recorded a total of 14 seconds. I have no idea why but I thought it was worthy of mention since this is an example of the unit not working as advertised.

More later if/when I find anything else.

Terry

kyoo

07-18-02, 11:11 AM

*Speaking of the 501, remember the "kicked back to live" bug? It bit me last night on my 721. I was watching a program that was still recording. When the time slot for that recording ended the playback did too. I then had to go to the PVR events menu, reselect the show and then FF to the point that I was at when I was kicked to live.

Yup, same thing happened to me twice last night. Big Bug in my books!

rjenkins

07-18-02, 01:52 PM

Just got my 721 today.

Overall, the 721 just feels a lot more sluggish than the 501. I hate pressing a key and not having any real feedback that the 721 actually got the keypress or if it's just being slow...

This is especially annoying when switching channels with up/down. The 721 switches the banner at the top, then a couple seconds later the screen goes black, then a couple seconds later the video for the new channel finally kicks in. On my 501, pressing up immediately blacks out the screen at the same time that the banner at the top changes. Then around 4 seconds later the video kicks in. I like the way the 501 handles channel changes much better. With the 721, it gives a sluggish feel when switching channels.

I've also noticed that when you first do a specific function on the 721 (after a reboot) it's very slow/sluggish. For instance, the first time I select the guide it can take awhile to update. And then the first time I select a show to record, it takes awhile for the timer screen to appear. Same with the menu system, etc...

I also wish there was an option to switch to a guide without the picture in the corner like you can with the 501. The picture in the corner is cute and impresses the friends, but for everyday use, I'd prefer a guide that appeared the moment I pressed guide and one that was a little more spread out and/or had more room. The font on the guide is slightly smaller than with previous receivers, and they definitely squished things in order to provide 7 channels of information at once. The 721's guide with a picture in the corner is definitely better than the 501's guide with a picture, but like I said, I'd prefer a guide without a picture.

I love the dual tuners, and the new add 3 minutes to the end option. And I love how you can leave the 3 minutes option selected even when creating back to back timers, and it automatically figures things out.

So, there are a couple of things that I find annoying about the 721 (the sluggish-ness and the guide), but most likely these are things that I'll eventually get used to, or hopefully will be tweaked in the future.

-- Rob Jenkins

LarryH

07-18-02, 02:35 PM

Originally posted by rjenkins
Just got my 721 today.

I've also noticed that when you first do a specific function on the 721 (after a reboot) it's very slow/sluggish. For instance, the first time I select the guide it can take awhile to update. And then the first time I select a show to record, it takes awhile for the timer screen to appear. Same with the menu system, etc...

This sounds like typical embedded system behavior. When you first boot up the machine, the cache is empty. The first call to a routine (feature) requires a read from flash memory (very slow). The second time you access that feature, it's probably reading the code out of the internal/on-board cache (very fast).

Craig Fogus

07-18-02, 04:49 PM

I have a really dumb question. How do you get the virtual keyboard to come up when searching? I hit #, but I don't see the keyboard! The number pad only enters numbers! This isn't at all like the 501. What am I doing wrong? (Feeling kinda dumb) TIA

Bill D

07-18-02, 05:23 PM

Here is my lengthy review, I'm sure I missed some stuff..
My thoughts after about a week of the 721.
What I Love…
The speed, with the guide on the hardrive, no more waiting for satellite to download prgm info or no info available. The picture in the guide is great as well, and is pretty much instant, not like waiting 30 seconds for the 4900 to put video in the guide. It is great that you can watch TV while doing timers and browsing the guide.
The remote is very nice, although I wish the play button was a little bigger, but hitting pause and then pause again works the same as finding play.
The PIP size is perfect, a lot of TV’s internal PIPS are too small, good choices for positioning as well.
My first PVR and loving the dual tuner, I still have more timers to put together.

What could be better, (DISH read this for changes) no particular order after the first two which are very important.
· First off internet access using my own ISP, no extra charges for this access or any new equipment (keyboard), I already spent $550.
· Folders, I’m sure everyone even Dish would agree we need them. Two ways to make them work when I build my timer I click on the folder then sub folder I want it to be saved in. So I can have My folder, my wife’s folder and my kids. Each has a subfolder, sports, seinfeld, home shows, etc. If I do the original recording into a default then in the PVR area I should be able to copy the show into the folder I wish.
· Should be able to just hit swap and immediately get the other tuner rather then hitting PIP then swap. Of course you could still use swap when the PIP is up.
· When I pause a show, call up the PIP and swap to the other tuner (the first show is still in pause) if I close the PIP it drops the buffering, and I lose what I paused when I go back to that tuner it is back in live mode. I know I can setup a record before closing that PIP, but how about letting it buffer my pause while the PIP is off screen
· PIP is the slowest thing on this machine, it should come up a little quicker in my opinion, although I think it is about the same amount of time as the channel changing which should be a little faster as well
· The default setting of starting a PVR timer 1 minute before and ending 3 minutes late should be something that you can change as a default, or at the very least make it zero for both. Except for network shows all cable shows for the most part don’t need this kind of cushion, it isn’t a big deal except if you are recording 2 shows back to back with 2 more on a total of 4 separate channels, extending time and starting early won’t work. I have found myself changing this to zero for almost every timer I made
· I haven’t tried too hard to figure this one out but I am pretty sure there is no way when you are in the menu’s two or three things deep to just back out once (the 4900 does this), it exits you completely when you hit cancel, view should do this, but cancel should bring you back up one menu subfolder.
· Some kind of weather, channel 9500 would be fine, ideally I shouldn’t have to wait for download it should just send all my city weather favorites updates to the hardrive every hour or whenever it gets new info.

Problems I had during the first 24 hours only.
· Took forever for them to get my programming straight (about 2 hours after talking with them and after the initial software download
· That first day the box was going to a black screen every 4 minutes, after I got it back by changing my point dish menu a little, it came back for another 4 minutes. After talking to someone very good in advanced tech they had me go into a hidden menu and reset the NVM (memory), this along with a cold boot solved that problem, they said they have been seeing some of this with others.
· The next day I woke up to find that it lost my switch info, instead of showing my SW 64, it showed no switches on either sat input, sat #1 only saw 61.5 and sat # 2 only saw 110. I did a check switch and everything has been fine since.

Most of these things I think are nitpicking, I was very surprised at how well everything performs, and I like the graphics look of the guide and menu, my 4900 looks 10 years old with those graphics it has.
I would recommend this to anyone with Dish Net that is looking for a dual tuner. There will always be arguments and comparisons to DirectTIVo, but for those of us that like Dish for various programming reasons (distant nets) then the 721 is a great box.
We will see how Dish does with new upgrades if things stay stable, don’t let us down Dish Network !!!
Bill

FrankD1

07-18-02, 06:44 PM

Not a dumb question at all.... I was thrown off at first too. You just need to maneuver into the search field itself with the remote (the search field will gain a yellow outline when it's the focus) and hit the select key. The virtual keyboard will then appear above the search field, and you can then type. Best I can tell, you can't "touch tone" in a search like you can on the 501.

Originally posted by Craig Fogus
I have a really dumb question. How do you get the virtual keyboard to come up when searching? I hit #, but I don't see the keyboard! The number pad only enters numbers! This isn't at all like the 501. What am I doing wrong? (Feeling kinda dumb) TIA

Craig Fogus

07-18-02, 08:07 PM

Thanks! That did it. I don't like the fact that you cannot touch tone the letters in like on the 501!

SParker

07-18-02, 08:18 PM

I'm sure they will remedy that in the future with a S/W upgrade.

Originally posted by Craig Fogus
Thanks! That did it. I don't like the fact that you cannot touch tone the letters in like on the 501!

968.911

07-21-02, 10:07 AM

My .02c

The Good:

* Picture-in-Picture

* no more DishPlayer $9.99/mo (although the $550 would buy over 5 yrs worth of guide updates)

* no more weekly re-boots. (I hope)

* overall faster (guides, channel switching, etc..)

The Bad:

* Fan never shuts off. The DishPlayer was silent after power down. The 721 fan never shuts off.

* Software has to be more intelligent. (Dish, if you are reading this, hire the Tivo guys).

* Turn on internet. (I want to use a USB->WifFi box and get out through my DSL connection)

Greg Haynes

07-21-02, 10:31 AM

Remote question,

What does the Dish Logo key do? As well as the red key to the right of it? I checked through the whole manual and theres no mention of either of these keys. I have pressed both and nothing happens.

Craig Fogus

07-21-02, 10:38 AM

Tell me you didn't really press the red button!!! That was the self destruct button! :)

John Corn

07-21-02, 10:40 AM

Greg, I'm not sure about the red button on the right side of the remote, but the dish button on the left is going to be used for Dish Home, Dish Networks interactive TV.

Jay Byron

07-21-02, 10:51 AM

Hi all,

Only a couple of problems with the manual. Hope I'm helpful. When the 721 software is fully downloaded I couldn"t select a program and create. No red dot in the guide. Power off, pull the smart card, reinsert and wait for auto power off worked. Also the aux device code set up (page 77) didn't work for me. Press AUX, 2, Star(*), code number, then #. Receiver powered off and remote worked. Other than these manual misprints the 721 has done everything as I commanded it. Maybe E Tech reps can add this to there list of support.

Scott Greczkowski

07-21-02, 11:51 AM

Originally posted by Greg Haynes
Remote question,

What does the Dish Logo key do? As well as the red key to the right of it? I checked through the whole manual and theres no mention of either of these keys. I have pressed both and nothing happens.

The Dish Logo button will be used to take you to Dish Home. Yes the 721 will be getting OpenTV so you will be able to get weather like the 501 and 301's. (Note however that after the 721 gets OpenTV the guide will not change to the OpenTV guide)

The other button will be used to get you to the Internet Browser when Internet access is turned on for the 721.

I expect to see the OpenTV upgrade happen soon (within the next two months) Lord knows how long it will be untill we see the Internet access.

Craig Fogus

07-21-02, 12:07 PM

Then the Keyboard will really be important! :)

Greg Haynes

07-21-02, 05:01 PM

Thanks Scott and the rest for clearing up my question. I can't wait to internet access is ready.

DRJDAN

07-21-02, 06:49 PM

Internet Access--what are you planning on doing with it. Using your TV for a browser?

Scott Greczkowski

07-21-02, 07:07 PM

Originally posted by DRJDAN
Internet Access--what are you planning on doing with it. Using your TV for a browser? Yup and it should be good at it too. :) Don't forget that the unit is running UNIX so it will be able to browse the web nicely. :D

DRJDAN

07-21-02, 08:21 PM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
Yup and it should be good at it too. :) Don't forget that the unit is running UNIX so it will be able to browse the web nicely. :D [/QUOT

I have a 36" TV that I have connected to an ATI dual monitor card in my computer. I sit 10 feet from the 36" TV. I find the TV at that distance not as desirable to browse the internet as a 15" LCD flat screen monitor at 18" away. The resolution on the TV is not nearly as good as a computer monitor. It is much more difficult to read small text on the TV even when you get closer. Also by having the computer monitor next to chair, I can watch TV on the TV and browse the internet on the computer at the same time. My wife does the same in the same room, but with a notebook computer in her lap.

I must be missing sometihing about your desire for internet browsing on TV. Please help me out.

Craig Fogus

07-21-02, 08:34 PM

And I thought that my g/f and I were the only geeks to have a computer in the same room as the TV. :) I love being able to surf and watch TV.

BTW, for some things it may indeed be cool to surf the net on the TV. For instance, checking out movie trailers online on your TV would be really cool especially if you have a large TV. For some things such as reading, you are right, it probably wouldn't work out too well. It will not replace the computer until the resolution of TV's approaches that of computer monitors. Granted there are some now, but they are really, really expensive.

Bill D

07-22-02, 08:04 AM

Originally posted by DRJDAN
[QUOTE][i]. It is much more difficult to read small text on the TV even when you get closer. Also by having the computer monitor next to chair, I can watch TV on the TV and browse the internet on the computer at the same time. My wife does the same in the same room, but with a notebook computer in her lap.

I must be missing sometihing about your desire for internet browsing on TV. Please help me out.

There are times that I would like to check out something on the internet while watching TV, unfortunately I don't have the space to put them (TV and PC) in the same room. I do have a concern about the resoultion of the websites on a TV, but I'm hoping it will be good enough to do some basic stuff while checking out the show's website that I'm watching maybe..

Scott Greczkowski

07-22-02, 08:16 AM

Yes the resolution will not be great, but if you have ever used WebTV you will see that the picture is "good enough" so that you can do on the net what you need to do.

It will be great to check email and check the site from from my TV, and I would also like to see instant messanging so if something goes wierd here I can be alerted imediately on my TV (Because believe it or not I actually don't spend all day in front of the computer) :D

DRJDAN

07-22-02, 10:26 AM

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
Yes the resolution will not be great, but if you have ever used WebTV you will see that the picture is "good enough" so that you can do on the net what you need to do.

It will be great to check email and check the site from from my TV, and I would also like to see instant messanging so if something goes wierd here I can be alerted imediately on my TV (Because believe it or not I actually don't spend all day in front of the computer) :D

Are you saying the internet access:

1. will sbe omething that can pop up like the caller id while you are watching a tv program for instant messanging?

2. will be able to use both at same time simular to the guide?

Scott Greczkowski

07-22-02, 10:48 AM

Yes this is because you will need your 721 hooked up to broadband Internet access, which in most cases is always on.

Anything that pops up on the screen you should be able to turn on an off. (well except for the damn timer clock) :D

thomasmaly

07-23-02, 09:10 AM

Got my 721 yesterday, professionally installed of course, high tech to me is a battery operated calculator. When I am setting up
movies to tape using the guide, do I have to switch tuners to tape 2 movies at the same time from the guide?
thanks, Tom

Scott Greczkowski

07-23-02, 09:25 AM

No Thomas, the 721 does all the tuner switching automaticly in that regard.

Enjoy!

Ronster

07-23-02, 09:31 AM

Hi Scott, I am waiting for my 721 to be shipped, over this past weekend i ran another line from my Dish500. I used a SW21 for the intall as is the same as what I have now, so I will be feeding the 721 from two SW21 switches. Is this ok. Will it work well.
Thanks, Ronnie

Karl Foster

07-23-02, 10:12 AM

Originally posted by DRJDAN
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
Yup and it should be good at it too. :) Don't forget that the unit is running UNIX so it will be able to browse the web nicely. :D [/QUOT

I have a 36" TV that I have connected to an ATI dual monitor card in my computer. I sit 10 feet from the 36" TV. I find the TV at that distance not as desirable to browse the internet as a 15" LCD flat screen monitor at 18" away. The resolution on the TV is not nearly as good as a computer monitor. It is much more difficult to read small text on the TV even when you get closer. Also by having the computer monitor next to chair, I can watch TV on the TV and browse the internet on the computer at the same time. My wife does the same in the same room, but with a notebook computer in her lap.

I must be missing sometihing about your desire for internet browsing on TV. Please help me out.

We use WebTV through our Ultimatetv receiver once in while. We use it mainly to read the newspaper while sitting on the couch or in bed. It is a feature I could live without, but it is a nice thing to have.

Ronster

07-23-02, 10:13 AM

Any word on when a download is coming to fix some of these problems on the 721???

Mark Lamutt

07-23-02, 10:26 AM

Originally posted by Ronster
Hi Scott, I am waiting for my 721 to be shipped, over this past weekend i ran another line from my Dish500. I used a SW21 for the intall as is the same as what I have now, so I will be feeding the 721 from two SW21 switches. Is this ok. Will it work well.
Thanks, Ronnie

Ron, that should work just fine, assuming that the 721 is your only receiver.

LarryH

07-23-02, 08:15 PM

Here's a couple more to add to my review:

Good:

* The show title is now listed when browsing through your timers list!!! (this is a major improvement over the 501)

* The 721 displays more characters of the show title than the 501 (when browsing through the recorded shows list).

* The time remaining is calculated "on the fly" while you are FF/REW (this makes it easier to stop near the end of a show)

* When you delete a recording, it returns to that same position in the recorded shows list (the 501 returned to the top of the list)

Bad:

* No open TV (at least give us the 9500 weather channel!)

Scott Greczkowski

07-23-02, 08:28 PM

Larry, OpenTV is coming. :D They are finishing working on the "OpenTV Wrapper" now.

Hang in there.

Bill D

07-24-02, 09:26 PM

Would it be a good assumption that with Open TV, interactive weather they can some how store the weather on the hardrive and update it like they do the guide, so I don't have to wait for the download from satellite, I can't imagine even a couple of cities under favorites would take much room on the drive..

TerryC

07-25-02, 11:43 AM

Anyone know what UKN 77 is? It's incorrectly showed up a few times in my recorded program banner as the channel name/number I recorded off of.

Bill D

07-25-02, 03:03 PM

I have also gotten this as well, I think it means things aren't good, before I had a NVM reset I was getting it a lot.

Also is it only me...I find it very cool that the 721 remembers where it left off if you stop watching something already recorded, you can go back and hit resume, not sure if the 501 has that, but I think it is a great feature.

SParker

07-25-02, 03:43 PM

My review

The good

1. I love the new guide and not having to wait a million years to load info.

2. the 2 hr buffer is VERY impressive! I love it.

3. I like the front panel controls on the unit, a great backup feature.

4. Of course I love the recording 2 programs at once!

5. The find option to find a specific program in the guide rules!

6. I like the PIP option!

7. Like Bill D said I love it how it remembers where you left off on a recorded program.

I am sure there is other things I like that I am forgetting :D

Things needing fixing

Only real beef I have is what everyone has and that is that it needs easier switching between tuners.

This is my first PVR unit, I resisted the DishPlayer and the 501, I love this unit!!!!!!!!!

motjes2

07-25-02, 06:43 PM

"I have also gotten this as well, I think it means things aren't good, before I had a NVM reset I was getting it a lot. "

Bill D,

What is an NVM reset? How is it done? Someone mention something about a hidden menu. Can someone elaborate on this?

Bill D

07-25-02, 07:46 PM

Originally posted by motjes2
"
What is an NVM reset? How is it done? Someone mention something about a hidden menu. Can someone elaborate on this?
check out this thread for more info, on the problems and solutions...
anything else let me know

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5913

rmoore3d

07-27-02, 03:23 PM

I’ve had a 721 for 4 days now. I am fairly impressed. As an early purchaser of the 501 I was prepared for some problems, but I have had nothing major so far. It is not perfect but it seems very stable.

E* has refined some things compared to the 501. In the guide info for the highlighted show is shown in the upper left corner of the screen. The new “PVR Record Event” screen combines recorded events with timers so you can see everything together. The timers retain some info about the event to record. In the guide if you select a show already setup to record it brings up the “Timer Management” screen. The small picture shows in the timer & PRV screens in addition to the guide.

I of course love having two tuners but as others have mentioned the interface needs some refinement. You should be able to bring up the other tuner by hitting swap even if the PIP is not active. I would also like to see some buffering of the non-active tuner so you could instantly switch back & forth between two shows.

I would like to offer a very strong recommendation of the new dishpro switches. I know not everyone can use them yet but they are slick. I had four tuners already with an SW64 switch. To add a second SW64 is real messy so I upgraded to a dishpro twin LNBF and two dishpro 34 switches. This requires all dishpro receivers 301, 501, 721. The switches and the LNBF cost $250 but I hope to sell my SW64 for $100 so the net cost is the same as a second SW64 and a lot simpler. The dishpro setup requires one wire from each satellite to the first switch, one wire for each satellite to the second switch from the first, no power inserter, no splitters, no feed through loads. The check switch for the 721 with dishpro switches is quick about 20 seconds.

All in all I like the 721 and the new switches. The 721 needs some improvement but E* showed with the 501 that they can improve their PVR’s rapidly. This one is starting out good and I hope it will get better. The E* programmers take a lot of heat on forums like this but I think they probably do a pretty good job with the resources that Charlie gives them. Yes there should be external beta testing and more outsourcing of code, but that is not the way Charlie does things. I think we should blame him not the poor guys working their butts off with too little resources.

MediaMills

07-27-02, 07:56 PM

Originally posted by Jay Byron
Hi all,

Only a couple of problems with the manual. Hope I'm helpful. When the 721 software is fully downloaded I couldn"t select a program and create. No red dot in the guide. Power off, pull the smart card, reinsert and wait for auto power off worked.
I had the same problem, but a reboot fixed that...and letting the unit sit overnight turned off.
Also the aux device code set up (page 77) didn't work for me. Press AUX, 2, Star(*), code number, then #. Receiver powered off and remote worked.
I also had problems with setting the remote for my (older) Sony A/V Receiver. I couldn't get it to recognize my receiver. The first Sony code was invalid (according to the remote) and the other two codes didn't work. I called DishNetwork to authorize the receiver and the CSR was excited that I had a 721. While waiting for the receiver to authorize (took about a minute) I asked about the Aux programming on the remote. He said he didn't really have any data on the 721 remote but stepped me through the procedure for clearing the TV code (222#) and programming the Sony code from the blue button remote. That worked. He said he thought the remotes had common code sets and was glad that we got it working because he really didn't want to pass off the call to an advanced tech...he was having fun and I was joking with him because I was excited to have a 721 up and running.
As a matter of fact, all of the codes from the blue button remote worked on the 721 remote. Cool!

MediaMills

07-27-02, 08:00 PM

Originally posted by Craig Fogus
BTW, for some things it may indeed be cool to surf the net on the TV. For instance, checking out movie trailers online on your TV would be really cool especially if you have a large TV.
I would also bring up the weather radar from WFAA locally here in D/FW. Their radar is always up to date when Mother Nature gets nasty. Being able to bring it up on the TV would be nice.

MediaMills

07-27-02, 08:10 PM

Originally posted by TerryC
Anyone know what UKN 77 is? It's incorrectly showed up a few times in my recorded program banner as the channel name/number I recorded off of.
Mine showed me this before my last reboot and authorization phone call...

thomasmaly

08-07-02, 01:13 PM

Have had my 721 for 2 & 1/2 weeks now. It has performed flawlessly!!!

Jacob S

08-07-02, 07:46 PM

I wonder why some people are having problems with the receiver only bringing in 110 channels while others havent.

I also think that getting a local weather channel would be very nice. Maybe they could in the future make it an OpenTv application, but may require too much memory to do so. Maybe they could at least spot beam that if not all the channels to people's receivers.

Doug E

08-09-02, 02:49 PM

Does anyone know if the channel for local weather that the 501 accessed (I think it was #9550?) will ever be availabe on the 721?

Also, I have the latest S/W upgrade, but not able to receive channels #988 (showroom demos) or #9480 (Dolby channel). I receive 110°, 119°, and 148°. Anyone know why?

Bill Mullin

08-12-02, 06:50 AM

I originally purchased a Dish 501, but quickly found out that it did not have enough hard disk for me, nor did it have the capability to record 2 shows at the same time. The 501 is now on eBay and I have a new 721 which was purchased from AllSat and delivered last week. Since getting the 721 I've spent all my spare time studying the manual cover-to-cover, and I've read all of the "721 Oddities" and "721 Review" threads in this forum. What's more I've very nearly killed my first set of batteries from doing so much button pushing. :)

My overall impression is that I made the right decision going with the 721. The receiver is faster, there is a tremendous amount of space for storing movies (that's all I ever watch on the tube), and the dual tuners work as advertised. OTOH, even though I have software version L102, I feel the software still needs tweaking before I will feel comfortable with it.

I have a few questions - any input would be appreciated:

1. The Guide does not fit my widescreen TV. There's another thread about this so I won't rehash what's already been discussed. But I remember that my 501 had a Widescreen / 4:3 selection item in the menu, and that I never had a problem with menus with the 501. Why did Dish drop this selection item for the 721?

2. There was an option with the 501 to eliminate the PIP when viewing the Guide so that more lines of program information could be viewed. I like the extra lines very much, what's more the audio from the PIP is distracting, so I usually mute the sound when viewing the guide. Why did Dish drop this useful selection from the 721 menu?

3. The timer defaults should not be locked to the Dish's idea of what they think the consumer wants! Watching movies, I find that I ALWAYS protect the program, record 1 extra minute at the beginning and 15 minutes at the end. I have to change settings every time I record a movie, which is a minor annoyance, but I know enough about programming to know that Dish could have saved the previous settings without much effort. Why isn't this done?

4. Time remaining on the banner is correct when watching live, but shows 0:00 when playing back recorded programs, whether I press the Cancel or View remote button. This should be a simple fix, which hopefully will be done with the next release. I know - pressing Pause will show me the time left. :)

5. I had a minor glitch . . . at least I think it was a glitch. Saturday night I had 2 movies programmed, with the 2nd starting exactly 1 hour after the first. The next morning I found that the 1st movie recorded fine, but the second was showing "0 seconds" in the PVR menu. I tried to play it back but was told by the 721 that the recording was bad and that I should delete it. I did, then did a reboot "just in case". This has not happened again but I was wondering if anyone has seen anything like this?

5. There is nothing about the screen saver in the manual, but I know there's one because I've seen it one time. Since I have a RPTV, burn-in is an issue and a screen saver is a nice feature. Does anyone have more information about the screen saver (how long until it shows, if it won't show in particular modes, is there a hot-key combination on the remote I can use to start it, etc.)?

6. With the 501, pausing a movie then restarting it resulted in approximately a 5 second delay until there was sound. With the 721 this delay has been reduced to about 2 seconds. But with my DVD player there is no sound loss at all when starting up a paused program! So now to "unpause" a movie I press the "back" button so that I don't miss any dialog. This works, but is unsatisfactory compared to my DVD player. Does anyone know when the 721 will be more like the DVD player in this regard? If it makes a difference, I'm using a Sony DA-333ES connected to the optical output from the 721 to reproduce the sound.

In mini-reviews of this nature, I'm like a lot of people in that I tend to stress the problems and mostly ignore the good stuff. So let me add that the 501 was very nice, but the 721 is light years better and I wouldn't go back for all the tea in China! :D

TIA, Bill