Looming Pocket Dish Outrage

[steve4810]

I got my Pocket Dish and used it a little with my 522 but it wasn't too useful because the USB1.1 transfers took nearly the actually program length to copy.

But I hung in there because I knew there was a 622 in my future and then I could grab a weekends worth of shows while I was packing for the desert. Sure enough when my 622 got here I downloaded a 2.0 hr "Midsummer Murders" in less than 10 minutes. I was delighted.

Shift to August 15: A whole group of my favorite channels went HD. Great! It sounds like almost every channel will be HD very soon. All my locals were HD from day one so this September when the new season starts I'll have HD recordings of all my prime-time shows

But wait!!!

When that unexpected trip comes up *WHAT* do I down load to my Pocket Dish while I pack?

Or even if I know a trip is coming or someone is visiting who would like to catch the ER episode they missed and the TV1 and TV2 outputs will be busy most of the time with grandkids and daughter-in-law shows *WHAT* can I download to Pocket Dish?

What use will my Pocket Dish be?

Has Dish stepped up and at least promised they would get around to adding the ability to convert HD shows to SD and copy them to a Pocket Dish? Ever?

Could it be before they even started selling Pocket Dish the ability to convert HD to SD was NEVER going to happen?

Could it be it isn't technically doable and though HD was exploding all over the dail they just decided to **** the customer who was dumb enough to take the bait and buy a Pocket Dish?

I'm just asking.

[ChuckA]

You can record down converted programs directly to the PD. Realtime of course. Set up a timer to record to the EXT device and connect the PD using the S-Video cable. The 622 will automatically turn on the PD and start the recording.

This is not a perfect solution but it is useable. Best done in the dead of night when you are not otherwise using the TV since it tuns TV1 to the recorded program and you can't change it without altering what is recorded.

To enable the EXT device timer you have to use the ERD setup in the 622 menus (not in front of it now so I can't say exactly which screen this is on).

[Moridin]

Of course, that will only work if you have one of the PocketDish models that supports recording. If you have the 402, that's not an option.

[steve4810]

Sorry ChuckA these work arounds are of no use to me in the real world.

If I have time to transfer in real time, I've got time to watch the show and 8 hours of PD shows block 8 hours of 622 TV2 viewing.

If I know days in advance when I travel and set a dozen PD timers then I have to make a chart so I can keep track of what is on PD and what is on the 622 so I don't inadvertently watch the PD shows before I leave or forget to tell my wife to be sure and not watch any 622 show that I don't have so she won't have to watch it again when I get back or we change to watching TV in separate rooms until we can get synced up again.

And finally during the new TV season both TV1 and TV2 tuners are frequently busy running at the same time to catch the shows the networks place opposite each other and these prime time shows don't repeat like cable shows so PD wouldn't get access to a tuner to record them from.

Pocket Dish: 300 bucks for 4.5 hrs of TV (so far)

I appreciate the reply, honestly. I just have this rage building that Dish has ****** me and it is only going to get worse unless someone can give me hope that Dish would not do that to its customers and there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel.

622 HD to Pocket Dish: Is it ever going to happen?

Please, anyone?

[normang]

There are always SD versions of most HD channels to record I believe. Since Pocket dish is obviously an SD device, your not really going to be able to spool an HD program to it and have it play it, your options appear to be limited. It would probably require additional hardware to convert HD to SD on the fly to allow PocketDish to play down-converted HD.. Course I could be all wet, but this is how I see it..

[steve4810]

But this requires that you know in advance what you will ever want put on your PD making it practically useless for what it was marketed for. And again you have to dedicate a tuner for PD destined captures and that would usually force a Hobbes' choice of what to capture in HD so you get the picture you expect from your flat panel and 622 or the ability to someday copy it to PD... unless you use both tuners for both SD and HD copies of all the likely shows.

[normang]

I'm confused, you have to record the programs you intend to watch on the DVR to transfer them to your PocketDish, how could not know what you what you wanted to watch in advance?

[pdxsam]

I think what Steve is saying is that when he's packing for a trip he decides then based on the list in his DVR what he wants to transfer to the pocket dish. If he's recording in HD now, he can't transfer a lot of what he might want to watch on the road to the PD because they're in HD.

I also have a PocketDish and have had the same issue. It's just something I've dealt with or just grabbed the xvid off the internet if I wanted to watch something on the PD.

I would hope Dish is coming out with an HD capable PocketDish, or an upgrade to the current PD at some point soon also.

[steve4810]

I'm confused, you have to record the programs you intend to watch on the DVR to transfer them to your PocketDish, how could not know what you what you wanted to watch in advance?

True. But do you know in advance if you will watch it on your 40" plasma in HD or 7" LCD PD in SD? And when you decide and the recording is done you can't undue it. Either you can't watch it on PD or you have to watch it in low res SD on the big screen. And again prime time shows have to be SD for everyone or barred from PD forever.

The solution seems to dependant whether the proper codec exists or can be written; if the 622 has the processor power run such a codec; and if the copyright rules from the originators allow it.

The 622 receives and records mpeg2 and mpeg4 and it converts mpeg4 to an SD signal for TV2. A question might be does this mpeg4 to SD conversion happen in digital or analog format. If it happens to the digital bit-stream then the software just needs to send the result to USB instead of the analog circuits of TV2. But since it hasn't happened yet or even been mentioned I have to go with the dark thought that it is converted in the analog section of TV2.

[steve4810]

I just noticed I omitted the fact that Pocket Dish is an mpeg2 device while the 622 saves HD in mpeg4. This means that the 622 can't just set screen resolution to 640 X 480 like you can on your PC The bit-stream has to be re-coded from mpeg4 format to mpeg2 format.

[harsh]

I just noticed I omitted the fact that Pocket Dish is an mpeg2 device while the 622 saves HD in mpeg4. This means that the 622 can't just set screen resolution to 640 X 480 like you can on your PC The bit-stream has to be re-coded from mpeg4 format to mpeg2 format.The PocketDish does MPEG4 just fine; it is the native format. It is a design limitation of the software in the DVR that you cannot move HD to the PocketDish.

[steve4810]

The PocketDish does MPEG4 just fine; it is the native format. It is a design limitation of the software in the DVR that you cannot move HD to the PocketDish.

Fantastic!

I must have known this and forgot. It gives me hope that the only obstacle is policy (or copyright agreements.. the ultimate a deal breaker). Changing rez inside mpeg4 can't be too processor intensive or too weird a feature to expect in a codec.