Open letter to 721 engineers

[buist]

I have lurked for some time on DBSTalk and have decided to comment on
where I think the 721 should go. I used to own a DirecTivo, but sold it
when I moved, 4 months ago. TIVO has some advantages and Dish has some
advantages.. This summarizes my suggestions/comments on how the 721
can improve (or how it is better than the Tivo):

Tivo like capabilities:

1. Record by Program Name. This is a big Tivo advantage. This works well
for NBA Broadcasts, favorite movies, TV Shows that have a limited
season (Dennis Miller Live). This is set up once and the device does
the rest. Currently, I have to look through the program guide
periodically. I still miss movies that would be automatically recorded
by the Tivo. It also is very time consuming to search every week or so..

2. Better Searching. Right now there are not enough categories. Searching
also by rating would be helpful. It would also be very helpful to remove
duplicate showings on the list (show the times in the details instead)
to minimize the size of the list.

3. Handle a full hard disk better. It should automatically delete as
needed - which is the point of protecting shows?. With the Tivo, I always
had the full capacity of shows to watch. Now, I have to manually clean
up periodically.

4. Switch to different tuners easier. This is a very minor nit.. It
could be easier, though.

What Dish does better:

1. Ability to erase multiple programs at one time.

2. Everything is downloaded via satellite - no daily phone calls needed.

3. Speed (moving up and down through program guide).

4. PIP - Tivo doesn't have this (at least the series 1).

What can be improved:

1. Timer conflicts

2. Annoying flashing clock before events.

All in all, the 721 is a nice piece of equipment. I really think that
added these capabilities would really make it much more
attractive - I think it would easily convert people from competing
satellite providers (not to mention cable). The algorithms seem fairly
straightforward (i.e. after downloaded the program guide update, scan
for programs to record)..

[Bill D]

One of the biggest Dish advantages is hardrive size and UHF remote, I also don't like the idea of having to rip open a tivo to put a larger drive in, make it with the larger drive..

[Scott Greczkowski]

3. Handle a full hard disk better. It should automatically delete as needed - which is the point of protecting shows?. With the Tivo, I always had the full capacity of shows to watch. Now, I have to manually clean up periodically.

Welcome to DBSTalk Buist! :hi:

I agree with everything you said except for number 3.

I dont knoe if you had a dishplayer but I hated it when it deleted my old shows. I like the protect options very much. :)

I have got no where next to near filling up the hard drive on my 721. :)

[buist]

Scott, thanks for the welcome!

My point on number 3 is that if a show is not protected, it should erase it if the space is needed. I have no problem with not erasing protected programs.

I also didn't have any problems upgrading the DirecTivo drives.. I like the ability to make backups. But I am not going to start a Tivo vs Dish PVR flame war. I think that the Dish PVR 721 has advantages over the Tivo's..

Tim

[Chaos]

I think the biggest advantage that the 721 has right now is the two hour playback buffer and the ability to record something after you started watching it. I'll pretty much agree on everything else though.

[rmoore3d]

buist,

My two boys share a 721 in our family roomand they keep the hard drive full. They say that the 721 does what you are asking. It just gets rid of the oldest non-protected recording when it needs more space to record.

[buist]

rmoore3d, I'll have to look at filling up the hard drive again. When I did this before, it displayed error messages about not having enough space to record the next program. Even after deleting some programs, it did not clear up free space. I had to perform a smartcard reboot for the 721 to behave normally. I did not have any protected programs - this may be the key.

I do agree with Chaos.. The UHF remote and 2 hour buffer are advantages..

[Bob Haller]

100% ROCK SOLID DEPENDABLE OPERATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ATTRIBUITE NEED OF ALL E PVRS.

Anything less leads to churn, of your BEST subs...

[djlong]

Is that 2-hour buffer also the 'live pause' limit? One of the things I like about my Dishplayer is that it basically has a live-pause buffer for as much empty space on the drive as there is. I know the 50x series had something like an hour's limit. Frequently, I'll start watching something, and especially if it is a sporting event, I'll pause it, go run errands and have as much as 3 hours of live pause built up.

Anyone know what the 721's limit is? (Since I'm looking at getting one around springtime)

[treiher]

How about this suggestion?

They should make the programming guide available as 7-lines like it is now, and also 4-lines (larger) for those of us that are visually challenged. And you should be able to select which version in the Favorites menu, so you could have some favorite as 7-lines and some as 4-lines. That way, you can easily switch between them depending on who is watching it? Just an idea.

[Bill Simonsen]

Originally posted by Chaos
I think the biggest advantage that the 721 has right now is the ability to record something after you started watching it.

Latest TiVo software can do that too...

-Bill

[zimm0who0net]

The 5-7 second tune time is one of my biggest complaints (albeit the lack of record by program is right up there). I still watch a lot of live TV (especially sports), but channel surfing during the commercials is impossible. Also (a related problem) is that the PIP takes FOREVER to actually begin displaying video making the value of the PIP much lower

[GaryK]

Originally posted by zimm0who0net
The 5-7 second tune time is one of my biggest complaints (albeit the lack of record by program is right up there). I still watch a lot of live TV (especially sports), but channel surfing during the commercials is impossible. Also (a related problem) is that the PIP takes FOREVER to actually begin displaying video making the value of the PIP much lower


I will second that one. I understand that they need to create a buffer. However I wish that they could start filling the buffer after displaying the show. They could even wait a couple of seconds just in case you are rapidly flipping channels.

[buist]

Okay, my wishlist is getting longer ;-) When displaying conflicting timer information, it should display the program information, not the channel information. This really is a no-brainer!

Tim

[lonnman]

Here's a few more, but not all on my wish list items.

1. When in the guide and selecting an item already set for recording, it takes way to long to bring you into the timers section and it should mark the timer as selected for you when you get there, or just bring you right into the timer edit screen.

2. When searching for programs it would be nice to somehow exclude the 85xx and 7xx locals (assuming local mappings to lower channels), its annoying to get up to 3 listings of the same program.

3. Get rid of or be able to change the timer default of start 1 minute before and 3 minutes after. I think the default should be unchecked for 1 minute before and 0 minutes after, and allow the user to change it in the system setup or somewhere else.
Jeff Lonn

4. Much better display of the timers, with sorting capabilities and more columns.


Jeff Lonn

[Bob Haller]

Rock solid is MOST IMPORTANT! I like the option of bigger guide fontsfor easier visiblity.

[buist]

I like restricting the searching to only channels that you receive.. The PVR knows enough to put a red circle with a line through it.. Why not omit this information. The display is already crowded enough. My ideal would be to have the ability to toggle pay per views.. Sometimes I really don't want to see this information.

Tim

[buist]

Okay, here is another feature I miss.. How about the ability to save a recorded program to tape.. It would be nice if it would turn the VCR on and off, but I know that there must be a reason that Dish likes to have the VCR on.. So I would be happy just with a simple save to tape on the PVR Screen..

A sophisticated version would allow you to select more than one PVR event (similar to the "manage" screen). It would be nice if it would record the program information for 5+ seconds before recording the program..

Just a thought..

Tim