[John Corn]

This question goes out to all, Dish Or Direct TV receivers.
I know there are people from Echostar that browse this board, so lets give them a list.
Is there something you have with your receiver you don't like?

Here's a couple things I would like to see on the 501.

1. 501 needs to be able to read the guide and determine if the show is actually scheduled.

2. The timers screen is probably got to be one of the main sources of discontent. Simply adding a description would help, even if its short one.

3. In the event of two timers conflicting, would allow suspending one of the timers. Say you have a Mon-Fri timer set up for 8 pm, but on just one night there is something on at 8 pm that you would rather record. It has been my experience that, as it is now, when the conflict screen pops up, if you delete your Mon-Fri timer for that time period, it will delete that timer for everything, not just that one occurrence. It would be nice to just suspend it for that day, and have it continue on the other days as usual rather than having to go set up the Mon-Fri timer up all over again.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

On the Dishplayer, the next software upgrade the one feature I would like to see is that everything works as its supposed to. Is that to much to ask?

 

[rabenklau]

Hey I think a discussion forum like this here on your 501 together with a compatible Keyboard would be great. Guess that IS to much to ask

 

[John Corn]

Scott, I knew that reply was going to come from someone.

 

[Guest]

Here is a site I have created in which lists ideas from board memebers as well as ideas of my own for the dishpro 501 receiver. This may help you guys come up with more ideas. Tell me what you think. I am going to update it to show the ideas that were used in which some were. Its a wishlist.

http://jssatellites.tripod.com/dishpro501pvrfeatureideas/

 

[Jacob S]

hello, i am the unregistered member, i just registered. i must have lost the other id when i deleted my cookies. i am open to any suggestions on the site i have made. i am also thinking of making one for the 508, 721, and 921 models as well if/when they would ever come out.

 

[John Corn]

Nice site Jacob.

 

[Mark Lamutt]

John - are your first 2 items the same thing? - I.e. Link the timers to the guide, so the program name is listed in the timers screen rather than day/time the timer is set for? That would be a fantastic upgrade! I have about 30 timers set up to record on a weekly basis, and a lot of times I don't remember what I'm recording on Sunday nights at 11:45.

Of course, I'd still love to be able to put in an 80 or 100 gig drive to upgrade my 501...

And I definitely agree - give the option on the timer conflict screen to give individual timers priority over weekly timers so I don't have to delete a weekly timer to record a single event.

Or even better yet, put in a toggle to make a timer active/inactive. That way when we're in repeat season, we could just make a timer inactive rather than having to delete it, and then set it up again when new episodes start. That would be a great feature!

And of course, the ultimate would be a season pass feature like on the tivos - record only the new episodes of shows and skip the repeats.

 

[Mark Lamutt]

Another thing that I desparately want - make Mr. Blinkey, the blinking timer clock that shows up in the lower left of the screen 5 minutes before a timer is set to fire, optional. Please! I really despise that blinking clock.

 

[rabenklau]

I think being able to cut out contents within recorded shows (commercials)would be great. I don't know how they could do it with the remote but if possible I could free up valuable space on my drive.

 

[rabenklau]

Also a kind of Maintanance like defragmentation of the HD would be nice as I figure after a while the HD becomes somewhat fragmented. MAybe the 501 is doing this automatically though.

 

[Neil Derryberry]

Ethernet for PC access to the HDD, or at least firewire.

 

[rabenklau]

Though an Ethernet or FireWire access would require an Hardware upgrade. I guess that'll be the 701 or so.

 

[Guest]

I'd like to see Wink on my Hughes DirecTiVo. Maybe program the IR output to be used when you Save to VCR.

 

[Jacob S]

I have added some of these ideas to my website, and i will edit the site to show the ideas that were used when I get enough people to view the site when there is enough interest in it.

Maybe I should start a site on 721 or what features on the 721 people would like to have, or better yet, what kind of receiver/hardware one would like to see kind of like customizing our own unit which would be ideas that they could implement.

I am thinking about having them view the site and tell me what is and is not possible so that way I can mark those selections.

 

[10056753]

Jacob,

noticed one item you reference on your website has to do with easier deletion of recordings. what i would like to see is the ability to "check" every show you want to delete and then just hit the erase button once. this feature actually exists, but the only way i can figure out how to get to it is if you are recording something (not from a timer, but you just hit record during a show) and your hard disk runs out of time. a little window pops up that says "you're out of time, do you want to erase some shows?". If you click yes, you go to a menu that looks similar to the PVR menu, but instead there is little boxes to the left of each recording that you can put a "check" next to by hitting select when that program is highlighted. it works really well since it allows you to quickly delete many programs. i don't know why this feature is not included in the main PVR menu.

also...on caller id...when a call comes in, you should be able to hit the pause button. right now you have to say "ok" or "cancel", before you can hit the pause button.

finally...on the search feature...you should be able to "stop" the search midstream, with just the results that have been already found. for instance many times i am looking for the first instance of that search...i see it come up, but then i have to wait through the entire search as it goes through the rest of the week. the edit button should actually edit the word in the history...not add a new word. example...i have 6 versions of "formula one" in my history since it took me a while to figure out the best combination of characters to filter out unwanted items.

Chi

 

[EvanS]

Originally posted by 10056753
Jacob,
finally...on the search feature...

Chi

also PLEAS enable clearing multiple and/or specific search items...instead of having to "clear all"

 

[Jacob S]

I already had the clearing of just one word in the history list instead of all of them but changed it from one word to one or more words.

I have also listed the other requests as well.

I am going to try to present this site to Echostar so that they can get an idea of all of our ideas of what we would like this receiver to do and try to get answers as to what is and is not possible to do with this receiver and its limitations.

I am thinking that the 721 will have even more possibilities than this one and an external memory upgrade would be nice. I am also wondering if it is possible to write software to the receivers ourselves to get some added features on it.

 

[Bob Haller]

One that would electronaically MURDER all DPs making them permanent doorstops. Of course they would of sent us replacements beforehand.....

Do I sounds unhapopy with my DPs? Waiting permnanetely for a 721. I wonder if its vaporware?

 

[Mark Holtz]

(Apoligies if this appears to be a repeat request).

1. Have a shortcut that would allow me to insert the title of the show/watching I'm currently watching into the search box so that I can find some other showings. This would be helpful if I tuned in during the middle and want to see the entire thing.

2. In both the 301 and 501, pressing "Cancel" goes back to the channel you were watching, while pressing "View" will bring up the channel you want to watch--no matter where you are in the guide.