[BobaBird]

Beyond those compelling, albeit anticipated, whole-home functionality, the Hopper introduces a DVR "catch up" feature they've christened Primetime Anytime. Basically, one of the three tuners appears to be co-opted to record local affiliate programming (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) between 8PM - 11PM with programming retained for about a week. Clever! Seeya, Hulu Plus? But I wonder if this sort of automated solution will raise the ire of broadcasters - who'd rather license "catch up" services.

This is great for resolving timer conflicts and pushes viewers into the "same day +7" ratings window. Since I always have a backlog of shows, that would mean cable viewing would get delayed in favor of network viewing.

 

[BobaBird]

The user gets 250 HD hours or 1000 SD hours (or any mix up to that max) of recording capacity. The Prime-Time recordings go into a separate partition, like pre-loaded VOD, and does not eat into "our" space.

At the press conference they said 53% of prime-time recordings come off the big 4 networks. So if half of our recordings for those hours go into "their" space, that has the effect of freeing up that much more of our space.

For now, PT recordings will only be done for the big 4 even if you have HD PBS and/or HD CW on the same transponder.

 

[BobaBird]

Do you know how DISH determine 53 percent? It sounds like DISH is collecting subscriber information from their receivers or it's a limited sample based on website traffic.

I think it's from what the STB reports to the mother ship.

As I mentioned in the other thread, the user can select 2 additional channels of their own choosing. So why couldn't the two additional channels be CW and/or PBS?

Of course they can, taking up your 2 other tuners even though it's quite likely they're in the same MUX as the big 4.

Several questions:

Will you be able to use PTAT to record all 4 networks at other times, such as when they all have their own news?

No, only prime-time hours. If there's a sporting event in there, and you have the default "end 1 hr late," the PTAT event will get extended. It wasn't clear to me if that also happens when the sporting event starts before prime time.

Will they use the same technology to automatically recognize when you are recording two to four shows on the same transponder and give you "bonus tuners?"

That would be a pretty slick enhancement, but I don't think so. I was told today that part of why we don't have CW included is that there is some special flagging added to the satellite stream, so I wouldn't expect to find that on the channels that you or I choose.

Will you be able to start a PTAT program from the beginning before it finishes recording it?

Yes, you can start watching via the DVR menu as soon as it starts recording but, in answer to a related question I'm not going to search for, none of the boxes can watch PTAT live, just "almost live."