New Dish Player-DVR 625 makes its debut at CES!

[Chris Blount]

DISH Network Introduces Video On Demand At Consumer Electronics Show; New DISH Player-DVR 625 Makes Hit Movies Available to Satellite TV Customers

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 2005--EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) and its DISH Network(TM) satellite TV service announced today that for the first time it will offer a Video On Demand (VOD) service called DISH On Demand. DISH Network will roll out the VOD service by March to new customers with DISH Network's new digital video recorder (DVR), the DISH Player-DVR 625. DISH Network will demonstrate DISH On Demand at the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Jan. 6-9.

"DVR customers will be able to choose from hours of Hollywood hit movies and watch their favorite stars whenever they want using DISH On Demand," said Michael Schwimmer, executive vice president of Marketing and Programming at DISH Network. "DISH Player-DVR, with its advanced pause, reverse and fast forwarding capabilities, offers a better VOD experience than any other satellite or cable TV provider."

DISH Network's VOD service will eventually offer as many as 100 movies shown on TV for the first time, with new movies premiering every week. The DISH Player-DVR 625 will receive movies via satellite, and DISH On Demand will be accessible by pressing the DVR button on the DISH Network remote.

The DISH Player-DVR 625 enhances the TV viewing experience by allowing viewers to watch recorded programming on the DVR, as well as pause live TV for up to two hours, perform slow-motion instant replays, fast forward and fast reverse. The DISH Player-DVR 625 features 100-hour tapeless recording capabilities and gives viewers complete control of their television, to watch what they want at their convenience, including network programs, movies, sports, news or special events.

Source

[chaddux]

Doesn't DISH call their PPV "DISH On Demand PPV" already? And does this mean the 522 will now be abandoned like the 50x, 510, and 721 as the 625 becomes the star product?

[geobernd]

If the naming schema stays consistent does that indicate that the 625 has 4 independent rf modulators and 5 remotes

[David_Levin]

Yawn....

Probably just a bigger hard drive with some space reserved for "VOD" and 100 hours left for DVR. Without Hi-Def, VOD does nothing for me....

[Rodney]

Originally Posted by Chris Blount

DISH Network will roll out the VOD service by March to new customers with DISH Network's new digital video recorder (DVR), the DISH Player-DVR 625.

Are we to take that statement literally. If so, why would this service/DVR be restricted to NEW CUSTOMERS?

[Mike Richardson]

DISH used to have a neat naming convention with their 3 numbered receivers:

first number was series (1 for ultra basic receiver, 2 for firewire HD receiver (cancelled), 3 for basic receiver, 5 for PVR, 7 for linux PVR, 8 for HD, and 9 for linux HD PVR). 4 and 6 were unused, but 6 could now mean "VOD-capable PVR"

second number was tuners

third number was independent viewing windows

Therefore a 311 is a basic receiver with one tuner and one independent viewing window. The 921 is an HD PVR with two tuner and one independent viewing window.

Based on this convention the 625 has two tuners and five independent viewing windows, which is impractical, so they have to be now going off of their nice numbering system, which kind of sucks.

DISH did not need to make an additional model available. There are already too many models available. They could have implemented VOD to the 510, 522, 7xx and 9xx easily. These models have sufficient space and even have some space reserved for additional content like VOD. If they wanted to make a larger drive model available they could have release a 521 or such (single user two tuner PVR).

VOD doesn't need any additional processing power - all you have to do is download movies at 3 AM to the hard drive.

[JohnH]

If Starz on Demand were to be offered, it might be nice, but limiting it to DISH on Demand PPV is not too swoof. Most of those already start every half-hour. More than 2 tuners would be nice and allow more than 2 movies to be downloaded at a time. They could use 2 hybrid tuners. Tuners which get more than 1 channel from the same transponder. Thus the amount of cabling would be the same as a standard 2 tuner receiver.

[Mike123abc]

Dish could also be eying cutting back the number of PPV channels. If they got enough of these units out with all the PPV movies on them they could save on satellite bandwidth. Perhaps this unit has a dedicated satellite tuner just to record movies. It could be a 522 with one tuner changed to just look at the PPV channels.

[James Long]

Originally Posted by Mike Richardson

If they wanted to make a larger drive model available they could have release a 521 or such (single user two tuner PVR).

VOD doesn't need any additional processing power - all you have to do is download movies at 3 AM to the hard drive.

Dual tuner would be a good idea for a VOD-PVR. Yes, your unit may be unused at 3am but that doesn't mean everyone's PVR is free. A dedicated tuner for VOD and EPG use would mean a receiver would never need to be turned off.

Giving it a new series number is odd. Are the 5xx series not going to get VOD pre-downloads? Is this another trick like Name Based Recording? To get the new feature, get the new receiver?

The 625 part of the number doesn't bother me as I don't consider it realistic to have five outputs on a receiver. It would be nice, but not very managable.

JL

[P Smith]

I think it will be DP522 with bigger disk and silver color.

[James Long]

Originally Posted by justalurker

The 625 part of the number doesn't bother me as I don't consider it realistic to have five outputs on a receiver. It would be nice, but not very managable.

BTW: My dream residential receiver would have at least 12 channels output. A "mini cable system" for the home. Put your favorites up on a set of channels and have wireless remotes control the layout (with some remotes controlling only one channel). Put "the box" in at the entrypoint and run regular cables to the TVs. I'd give it at least two ATSC DTV outputs on the cable as well as the analog ones - to pass through DTV to a HD set or provide DTV quality SDs throughout the house.

I did say it was a dream.

JL

[tnsprin]

[quote=Chris Blount]DISH Network Introduces Video On Demand At Consumer Electronics Show; New DISH Player-DVR 625 Makes Hit Movies

Originally Posted by Chris Blount

DISH Network Introduces Video On Demand At Consumer Electronics Show; New DISH Player-DVR 625 Makes Hit Movies Available to Satellite TV Customers
...
DISH Network's VOD service will eventually offer as many as 100 movies shown on TV for the first time, with new movies premiering every week. The DISH Player-DVR 625 will receive movies via satellite, and DISH On Demand will be accessible by pressing the DVR button on the DISH Network remote.
...

Even when first announced, I thought this was a worthless feature. I don't even end up using the various free coupons I've received for PPV.

[Jacob S]

Two tuners for five tv outputs? Are you kidding me? I bet this receiver will also be MPEG-2 as well to top it all off and only lease. Perhaps some are better off with only a lease if these receivers are not going to be on the market for very long.

[Mike123abc]

Originally Posted by Jacob S

Two tuners for five tv outputs? Are you kidding me? I bet this receiver will also be MPEG-2 as well to top it all off and only lease. Perhaps some are better off with only a lease if these receivers are not going to be on the market for very long.

Dish would probably love it if you were renting 5 PPV movies at once...

[Mike Richardson]

DISH said it was $749 retail, so it's gonna be for sale. A least would be nice though, maybe for $5 extra a month or something. It would be competitive with cable HD PVR.

justalurker: I liked the idea they had with the 5000 where it output HD by simulating an ATSC signal. It allowed them to roll out HD earlier since they didn't actually have to make an HD tuner - just a larger bus to carry the ATSC data from the satellite. I think the guide and stuff didn't show up on ATSC though and you had to go back to SD for that.

[chaddux]

So the 625 takes DISH back to the "PVR" name? Why can't DISH stick with "DVR" or "PVR?" Also, the 625 looks almost identical to the 522. It even says "MPEG2" on it! Why are they putting out an MPEG2 receiver if they are about to switch? Sheesh.

[Cyclone]

Well, the MPEG4 is supposed to be for the HDTV channels, so it likelyl doesn't apply to this receiver. Also, this like is just a 522, so why rebuilt the hardware?

Still, this fine unit shouldn't go in the bedroom. Sounds like its hardrive will always be active.

[chaddux]

Originally Posted by Cyclone

Well, the MPEG4 is supposed to be for the HDTV channels, so it likelyl doesn't apply to this receiver.

Um...no.

http://dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=35684

You're even the first person to reply to that thread! You even talked about new MPEG4-compatible 522s. Always good to post when thinking clearly.

[BobMurdoch]

Oh man, this is depressing. A VOD box that no one wants (why would I want E* spamming my box with PPVs when I can download them myself and not waste the space) and a HD PVR "upgrade" that removes one HD tuner and PIP capability when the second room is in use.

Meanwhile, D* announces a dozen HD LIL markets, ESPN2, and new interactive features.

Time for someone to go up and do to Charlie and do what Homer did to his TV (when Homer smacked his TV and said "BE MORE FUNNY"!!!)

HEY CHARLIE!! (SMACK) "Be More Competitive!"

sigh. Even the hype isn't there anymore.

[Mike D-CO5]

Rupert , I am afraid, is going to bury Charlie if Charlie doesn't get some big company or network to partner with. Rupert is willing to spend anything and everything he has to gain new subs and to destroy Charlie and Dishnetwork. Charlie your days are numbered.

[rh26]

Originally Posted by Mike Richardson

DISH said it was $749 retail, so it's gonna be for sale. A lease would be nice though, maybe for $5 extra a month or something. It would be competitive with cable HD PVR.

$749 purchase is for the 942. This receiver is SD only and has no purchase price noted.

[rh26]

Originally Posted by Chris Blount

DISH Network Introduces Video On Demand At Consumer Electronics Show; New DISH Player-DVR 625 Makes Hit Movies Available to Satellite TV Customers

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 6, 2005--EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) and its DISH Network(TM) satellite TV service announced today that for the first time it will offer a Video On Demand (VOD) service called DISH On Demand. DISH Network will roll out the VOD service by March to new customers with DISH Network's new digital video recorder (DVR), the DISH Player-DVR 625.

So apparently none of us existing customers will get this new box!

A co-worker has a (recently deceased) 501. If Dish would sell/lease him (at a reasonable price) a dual tuner DVR he'd be happy. Right now his only solution is to switch to DirecTV.

[Jacob S]

Originally Posted by rh26

$749 purchase is for the 942. This receiver is SD only and has no purchase price noted.

No, this receiver - the 942 - is going to be HD and SD both and is the replacement to the 921.

[rh26]

Originally Posted by Jacob S

No, this receiver - the 942 - is going to be HD and SD both and is the replacement to the 921.

Right, but THIS thread is about the SD-only 625 with VOD. There is NO pricing info on the 625 and as I pointed out in another post it looks like the 625 is slated for NEW customers only.

[Mike Richardson]

Whoops sorry guys, I got them mixed up. The 625 has no noted retail price, indicating it will be for rent.

Actually I *really* screwed up, that post should be in a completely different thread. Just disregard it