[SledgeHammer]

You really think the iPod was the same as any other MP3 player on the planet? Sorry wrong again. Why did those other MP3 players fail and the iPod succeeded? Simple because of the many innovations on the iPod, from the scroll wheel which made it EASY to navigate, to it's integration with iTunes which allowed for easy purchase of music (not to mention the invention (yes, the invention) of the Podcast which didn't exist before the iPod. Believe me, I owned an earlier MP3 player AND an iPod. There was no comparison in ease of use (though I will say, my old RIO MP3 player sounded better than the first iPod I had. Again, invention of MP3 player, nope, massive innovation on the MP3 player, DEFINITELY.

Wrong again on multiple grounds.

Podcasts were around in the 80s. Initially called Audio Blogging and if you want to nitpick before that just radio lol. And Whatever you want to call them, you'd say they were created. Not invented. Were the Simpons invented? No, they were created. Thus they call youtubers content creators and not content inventors.

iPod was the best selling in the US. Rest of the world, not so much. The scroll wheel was an innovative feature.

Now you're arguing that sales numbers makes something innovative? lol... face palm. Your worst argument yet.

 

[SledgeHammer]

You keep saying INNOVATIVE feature. By definition (this time the one I POSTED) that's innovation.

I've told you like 20 times by now that you can have innovative features without the product itself being innovative.

 

[SledgeHammer]

Again, that's YOUR definition of innovation, not the definition you posted here. When you show me the definition where innovation=invention, I'll shut up.

I've already told you 37 times that its not. I said an innovation involves an invention.

The iPod for example created a new way of bringing in music through iTunes. Innovation. And it required a new device, to do it that featured some of the same things previous MP3 players had and lots that was different too/

You Steve'd yourself this time. The iPod didn't create a new way of listening to music. It did create a new, integrated way of buying music which was an innovative feature. Certainly didn't require a new device as its just software.

Who said improved designs can't be innovative? OLED TVs were a new design that was innovative to TVs. The TV itself wasn't innovative, but the design was. Thus you have an innovative design of a TV. But you have repeatedly said unless something was invetented it cannot be innovative. TVs had been invented around 100 years ago, So therefore, nothing new on a TV could EVER be innovative. By your own logic.

Didn't I JUST tell you that an OLED display and the process to make it was innovative? while nothing else about the TV was?

 

[SledgeHammer]

In iOS 16, Visual Look Up lets you lift an object out of a photo or PDF by doing nothing more than tapping and holding. Seems innovative to me. Maybe not to others but to me it is.

Changing the clock font on the home screen to some super thick one and then requiring 10+ steps to fix it certainly wasn't innovative. Taking an hour to update my phone wasn't innovative either lol.

Google Lens is innovative. I was on a website and saw a cool stylized pic/poster of an "H" (as in hydrogen) and wanted to see if that was a real thing or the set designer just custom made it. You'd think telling Google Lens to search for pics of an "H" would not work... indeed it found the EXACT stylized pic I was looking for.

 

[SledgeHammer]

If it is taking yo9 10 steps to change it you are doing it wrong.

Lol. Aren't you supposed to unlock, then drag the notification view down then long click to get to the customization view? That's great if you already have a customized wall paper, but if not you need to create one, etc.

 

[SledgeHammer]

You can kind of see it here.

Hopper Plus | DISH

Why would you do this? Smart TV and Roku already do it. Only reason to do it is maybe to simplify wiring and not have to change inputs. Doubt most people care about that.

 

[SledgeHammer]

Oh, a lot of people do care about not having to switch inputs and remotes (especially once they've experienced having all their TV together in one box). MVDPs are very much concerned about owning "Input 1" on their customers' TVs and not having them switch away to other devices. Because that's a slippery slope to cutting the cord and cancelling their cable TV service completely. "Why are we still paying $90 a month for cable TV when we seem to spend almost all our time on the Roku?"

I care about not having to switch inputs and having one remote (the rectangular DirecTV remote) that controls my TV, AVR & DVR with one button. But my dad uses 5 remotes and switches between like 3 different inputs. Don't ask me why lol. I've told him a few times he can do it all on one remote.

 

[SledgeHammer]

Law of Supply and Demand in Economics: How It Works

The law of supply and demand explains how changes in a product's market price relate to its supply and demand.

www.investopedia.com

Not to mention they were never "worth" 100% in the first place in terms of cost to DirecTV. Making 10x-20x the cost of a box is indeed "a thing". So they've got plenty of headroom to still make a mint.

 

[SledgeHammer]

Really the only reason to use something other than your smart TV or a box like the C71 for your streaming is features. For example, Netflix doesn't support Dolby Atmos on all streaming devices (at least the last I checked). Some streaming boxes have apps that other boxes don't have, that sort of thing. Of course there's always an interface you might like better. Some folks like ATV's interface, and how well it works in the Apple infrastructure. But to me, once all streaming boxes offer the same things, there's little reason to move off the box that's the most convenient to you. So if everything is driven through your DirecTV box, or if everything is driven through your SmartTV, most people will just not bother buying a Roku or ATV or Firestick, if the ease of use is there.

The old expression "jack of all trades, master of none" applies here.

 

[SledgeHammer]

That's exactly why I ended up putting a Roku on every TV that we stream on (six and counting). Too many interfaces, and even the one I kinda liked (Sony; might be an Android interface) changed so much after an update I put a Roku on it. My wife can't adapt to all these different UIs.

Anybody with an AVR wants to switch through the AVR. Smart TVs want you to switch through the TV and then use ARC into the AVR.

I keep my AVR on my DirecTV box tbh. I rarely use my 4K player. Switching through the AVR means going to get a 2nd remote. So it would be cool to have apps on the DirecTV so I could have TV + apps. Although I don't use streaming, so not a big deal for me. But could be a selling point for most people annoyed by switching.

 

[SledgeHammer]

Would the picture and sound be the same through an APP vs. the set-top box and the HDMI cable?

If you go from your TV to AVR with toslink or ARC then no. If you go from your TV to AVR with eARC then yes.

 

[SledgeHammer]

I think another sign they are doing that DTV/DTV Stream 4k Wireless Genie Mini is DTV has a commercial that looks like the DTV Stream one "Get your TV together." I wonder if DTV would want to have a commercial that says get your TV together with live TV and streaming all in one place?

DIRECTV | Get Your TV Together | The Wives' House :30 - YouTube

Meh... even if they are building this... nothing more then a Roku knock-off. I (and everybody else) would love a box where I get all the different services in a UNIFIED UI, but that would mean dropping all the brandings on the different services and having a generic UI which none of the providers would ever go for in a million years. The Roku has a unified search, but then you still need to go into the individual apps.

 

[SledgeHammer]

Why would they need to drop all the branding?

That was for a hypothetical 100% "unified UI". You're thinking of a "unified UI" as something like Roku, I'm thinking of it as appearing as a "single app". You could do something like the DirecTV guide where they have the channel logos on the left, but if you switch between HBO and Disney, for example, and they have completely different behavior and look (as they do on a Roku), then that's not a 100% unified UI.

 

[SledgeHammer]

Its one Company.. Again they have been running commercials like that for over a year.. Its not a pre-cursor to anything

^^^ This. Read the survey again. It doesn't say any of that is coming. It says what would you WISH was coming. It took us 2 yrs of WISHING before they thought DLB was important enough to implement when the DirecTivos already had it.

 

[SledgeHammer]

It says in the first screenshot. DTV has developed a new piece of hardware to replace your existing Genie Mini's

Guess you didn't look at the 3rd.

 

[SledgeHammer]

What in the 3rd part are you talking about?

It isn't a list of the stuff that's coming, it's asking you to pick the 2 most important ones for you.

 

[SledgeHammer]

On my HR54 which is using Wi-Fi, downloading a 30 minute show using OnDemand is painfully slow. A lot slower than downloading a 30 minute show via Wi-Fi on my computer so it isn’t Wi-Fi that is slow.

Isn't the wifi in the HR54 only 802.11n? Whereas your laptop would likely be 802.11ac as long as its not ancient. 802.11n is going to have weaker range and slower speeds. You could get 802.11ac speeds (limited by the ethernet port) & range by using the ethernet port and going into an AC bridge and letting that do the wifi part. I have all the equipment at my TV going through the bridge. Also has the benefit of less wifi congestion.

I just tried timing a 30 min VOD download (22 mins) and it took 3.5 minutes.

 

[SledgeHammer]

The HR54 doesn’t have Ethernet at its location and I’m too old to run it through the crawl space or attic. I would probably need to get a power line Ethernet adapter to get the HR54 wired. Why the need for an AC bridge with Ethernet?

Nah, that's the point of the AC (called Wifi5 now) bridge. You hard wire the HR54 via ethernet into the bridge and the bridge connects to your main router via Wifi. The idea is that if you get an AC/Wifi5 bridge, you can connect to the main router via AC/Wifi5 instead of the N (called Wifi4 now) you're using now. The bridge sits at your TV, so its just plugging a 1 to 2 ft ethernet cord into it. So, the set up is:

HR54 -> short ethernet cord into an AC/Wifi5 bridge sitting next to it ------> wifi -----------> main router

It won't be as fast as on your laptop since that can take the AC/Wifi5 speeds directly, where as on the HR54, you'll be limited by the ethernet port at 100Mbps.

No way you're getting 100Mbps with N (Wifi4).

And as always, YMMV depending on distances and the speed of your internet, so you could get an AC/Wifi5 bridge from somewhere returnable and if it doesn't improve your download time, just return it.

As an example, my parents still have a Wifi4 router (don't ask me why lol), and 200Mbps internet, and by the time it gets near the TV, it's only 20Mbps.

 

[SledgeHammer]

The social media team that comments on reddit are a bunch of morons. I would take little stock in what they try to say

How can you not trust info from a source that says it supports 3D which has been dead for, what, 5 - 7 years? . Also, the 5GB storage number is kinda odd.

 

[SledgeHammer]

I'm at the point I wish they would somehow incorprate a CLOUD DVR on the satellite side with the same features of the STREAM service. I could greatly simplify my setup if that were to happen.

How would a cloud DVR help? If size is an issue, you could pretty much add "unlimited" storage to the Genie.