[Larry Caldwell]

I hard wired ethernet from my router to the home theater, on the hope that ViP would be activated someday. While I have been watching that big hole in the ethernet, I have decided that downloading video over the internet is only one of the things that an IP connection could do.

One of the most annoying things about modern TV is squeeze credits. Sometimes I really want to know who that character actor was, or who did the stunts. It would be great to be able to punch up the IMDB page for a production, maybe even while letting the show run PIP.

As a WildBlue customer, I couldn't download much more than two or three hours of HD a month without getting FAPed, but I have enough bandwidth to support virtually unlimited internet radio. Not to offend Sirius or XM fans, but satellite radio programming sucks. It would be nice to play internet radio directly through the home theater, or maybe even download a playlist from one of the music services.

Oh well. I suppose what we will get is interactive internet shopping. Has anyone heard any rumors about when ViP will be turned on, if ever?

 

[James Long]

A more interactive guide would be a cool addition.

The ViP's as an internet radio receiver? Interesting thought.

The further we get away from basic functions the more that one will need a keyboard instead of just a simple remote.

 

[Stewart Vernon]

The more I hear folks talking about using NBR, the more I think a keyboard is a necessity anyway... but I would also 2nd the notion of some interactive options. I'm not big on playing games with my TV... but the upcoming Weather Channel interactive sounds good... and that too could benefit from an Internet connection to get realtime data.

I also like the idea of being able to see the whole credits not smushed into the bottom or side of the screen to see if that guy I thought I recognized really was the guy I thought I saw!

There's lots of little things that would benefit from the Internet connection if I sat down and thought about it.

 

[TBoneit]

You should be complaing to the networks. They are the idiots that started squashing the credits. I'd really be bummed if I didn't have a DVR. Often what I do to see who is in a show is I restart it and scan through the opening credits to see if ti was who I thought it was.

 

[nazz]

A link to the IMDB in the guide would be cool so you could have easy access to more detailed information on the selected program. A link to a trailer would be nice also for movies to decide if you want to record it.

 

[Jolard]

What I really hope they use the ethernet for is true video on demand. The VOD we have now with the VIP622 is a joke. SD movies in full screen aspect ration, with only a very limited selection.

What we need is to utilize our ethernet ports and our high speed internet access and actually have true VOD. Either queue up things for download if they are in HD (and download them to the 100 hours of space they have reserved on the receiver) or watch SD quality streamed real time.