dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
view:
topics flat nest 
Comments on news posted 2013-01-11 10:54:00: Earlier this week we noted how Dish's new Hopper DVR, which has angered broadcasters because it automatically skips ads, has now integrated Slingbox functionality. ..

page: 1 · 2 · next

digiblur
Premium Member
join:2002-06-03
Louisiana

digiblur

Premium Member

Tuners

It should be banned for still having 3 tuners. It should have never came with only 3 in the first place. 3 tuners to record and share with all the rooms in your house. Ha!

They sound like Apple now. Slap a few pieces of old tech in it (Sling, Nomad, and Wifi), slap a new marketing blitz on it and call it revolutionary and a first!
tpkatl
join:2009-11-16
Dacula, GA

tpkatl

Member

Same old struggle: Big Media versus technology

This isn't really news, in any sense of the world. It is only another skirmish in the long-standing (and never ending) battle between the so-called content providers (CBS and the big media corporations) and the consumer technology world.

It's another example of the purveyors of last century's business model holding back technology progress in the face of advances in customer service and satisfaction.

Some day - although I doubt it will be soon - the big media companies will come to the realization that serving customer needs and wants is going to be a better approach than standing in the way of technology. They will only realize that when their intransigence begins to cost them money.

nitemare
join:2000-05-11
Klamath Falls, OR

1 recommendation

nitemare

Member

as usual...

trying to censor stuff just makes people want it more. yay, Streisand effect!

cdru
Go Colts
MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN

cdru to digiblur

MVM

to digiblur

Re: Tuners

said by digiblur:

They sound like Apple now. Slap a few pieces of old tech in it (Sling, Nomad, and Wifi), slap a new marketing blitz on it and call it revolutionary and a first!

Please point to all the previous Dish tuners that can do the same thing. Or any cable box/satellite receiver.
NOVA_UAV_Guy
Premium Member
join:2012-12-14
Purcellville, VA

1 recommendation

NOVA_UAV_Guy to tpkatl

Premium Member

to tpkatl

Re: Same old struggle: Big Media versus technology

said by tpkatl:

Some day - although I doubt it will be soon - the big media companies will come to the realization that serving customer needs and wants is going to be a better approach than standing in the way of technology. They will only realize that when their intransigence begins to cost them money.

That last sentence is dead on accurate. The only thing these corporations understand - or care about - is money. Their "leadership" (if you can call it that - I think of it more as "failureship" in certain instances) will only request a course correction when it directly affects the bonus they receive. In the meantime technology, public want, and public interest is forced to take a back seat.

Though I don't obviously condone it, perhaps those who pirate television and movie content, ripping commercials from it and redistributing, inadvertently make a good point and help to bring about positive social change. If enough people simply stopped watching/spending and turned to alternative sources of entertainment, large companies like CBS would be forced into changing their business model.

Unfortunately, CBS just promotes more of the same perpetual failure with its opposition to technology like this. They should have learned something with the failed court cases against VCRs in the '80s but didn't. If their management and legal department wasn't filled with "special ed" cases perhaps that would've happened.

What's so "illegal" or "infringing" about developing a technology that allows people to skip over commercials anyway? That's essentially what we all do when we click the "30 second skip" button on our DVRs today.

BTW, automatic commercial skipping is hardly new technology... I had a couple ReplayTV boxes from the early 2000s that automatically skipped commercials on recorded programs. IIRC, the industry bullied them into changing their software too through various lawsuits. The entertainment industry needs to start being presented to America as it really is - a bunch of bullies and thugs who whine and cry like 5 years who just lost at "Chutes and Ladders" when they don't get their way.

cableties
Premium Member
join:2005-01-27

1 recommendation

cableties

Premium Member

CBS owns CNET?

Well, CNET just lost credibility with me.

"Dear Felicia Dey,
I loved you. But when I found that your shows are being plugged by CNET, owned by CBS, I no longer feel the same inside."

TwiztedZero
Nine Zero Burp Nine Six
Premium Member
join:2011-03-31
Toronto, ON

2 recommendations

TwiztedZero

Premium Member

CBS is just another greedy #CorportateCow. Its time to take it out to pasture.

jseymour
join:2009-12-11
Waterford, MI

jseymour

Member

De Nile

CBS is simply reinforcing the fact that they're stuck in the past and completely in denial about the state of technology. If the thing is really that good the word will get out, and all they'll accomplish by attempting to suppress it is give it more lift.

What CBS and the others should be doing is figuring out how to leverage all this new technology to retain, or even enhance, their position. Instead they seem bound and determined to let it run over them.

The railroads tried that with the budding airline industry, lo these many years ago. Look how that worked out for them.

Jim

Lark3po
Premium Member
join:2003-08-05
Madison, AL

Lark3po to cableties

Premium Member

to cableties

Re: CBS owns CNET?

said by cableties:

Well, CNET just lost credibility with me.

"Dear Felicia Dey,
I loved you. But when I found that your shows are being plugged by CNET, owned by CBS, I no longer feel the same inside."

Agreed.

Twaddle
@sbcglobal.net

Twaddle

Anon

CNET and lost respect

Guess I'll have to join others in my loss of respect for CNET. If they can't be objective, truthful and unbiased in their reviews and recommends then they are WORTHLESS to a more and more discerning public which has unfortunately has long way to go (still) in being educated in technology and it's pros and cons. I include myself in that category which is why I am saddened that CNET is yet another shill tool.

tschmidt
MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Consolidated Com..
·Republic Wireless
·Hollis Hosting

tschmidt to cableties

MVM

to cableties

Re: CBS owns CNET?

Yea I did not realize that either. I'll have to think twice before I use the information in any of their reviews.

Regardless of the merits in this case it dramatically exposes the dangers of media consolidation on society. Rather then having a huge number of different sources, each with their own strength, weaknesses, and biases we have a few mega corporations pulling the strings.

/tom

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

My cable provider is a broadcaster

I have Comcast (who owns NBC/Universal) and I don't see this comming to their DVRs. They may someday develop a feature where you cannot fast-forward commercials. If that happens, I'll put my TiVOs back in. I just got the CC DVR so I could get the AnyRoom (which was a free upgrade with my new triple play bundle).

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall to digiblur

MVM

to digiblur

Re: Tuners

Come on digiblur, in the real world, most people's lives don't center on TV 90% of the day, nor do most people have 4, 5, 6, or more TVs. We have (2) TVs connected to one Hopper and one Joey and admittedly, it's only been 2-3 weeks, but have not yet encountered a conflict.

Outside of Satguys, I've never read/heard complaints about the lack of sufficient tuners.
johnner1999
join:2008-12-27
Litchfield

johnner1999 to digiblur

Member

to digiblur
Well it can record 6 shows at once every day between 8pm and 11pm (4 local national feeds, plus 2 normal channels) that's one 1 more than the Genie

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall

MVM

Add the OTA module and make it (7) shows.

Also, and I'm not sure how to force it, but with the most recent s/w vS234, the (4) big networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) often show up as available outside of primetime hours. It's the PTAT feature available all of the time.
IanR
join:2001-03-22
Fort Mill, SC

IanR to Twaddle

Member

to Twaddle

Re: CNET and lost respect

Why blame CNET? They wrote a great and credible review, but then had their owners lean on them and order them to act in a certain way. The CNet people certainly knew the omission would be picked up and the events come out quickly. Better that way than have CBS fire CNet writers...
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

CBS Litigation Excuse

I don't understand the CBS excuse. The technical merits of a device or an editorial opinion about being good for consumers should not affect the litigation involving whether or not ad-skipping and remote streaming is legal or is harming CBS.

This just smells like an Eric Cartman response. "Screw you guys, I'm going home." (and I'm taking my toys with me).
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned)

Member

Commercial Skipping

We had DISH installed just a few weeks ago. Two Hoppers and six Joeys. Seems to be working fine so far. I'm still undecided as to whether I like DISH, but it's not too bad and I'm in for the two year commitment.

I know the commercial skip thing is what's gotten up CBS' bum, but I have to say it's a great feature that's not really been implemented that well. Sure, there's some convenience there, but my ReplayTVs did it better and for all shows. With DISH, it's only for the PTAT shows and the commercials actually run for several seconds before the skip kicks in.

CBS are morons.

MovieLover76
join:2009-09-11
Cherry Hill, NJ

MovieLover76 to digiblur

Member

to digiblur

Re: Tuners

Most cable and FiOS dvrs still come with only two, not sure what your so indignant about it only having 3. I only have two in my FiOS dvr, I'd love 3 I think that would solve 99% of my conflicts.
ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL

ISurfTooMuch

Member

CNET completely ignores this news

I just looked at NEWS.COM, CNET's tech news site, and there's no mention of any of this. So, not only is CBS telling them not to give the Hopper an award or review Dish products in the future, but they're not even reporting on this fact.

Banning awards and reviews is bad enough, but pretending that it didn't even happen is even worse, IMHO.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Not unusual.

This kind of thing happens everyday within large corporations. You just don't hear about it.

As mentioned the ongoing lawsuit is reason enough for this. It would be plain stupid not to.
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned) to Twaddle

Member

to Twaddle

Re: CNET and lost respect

I lost respect for CNET a while ago when it became clear they were nothing more than a cheerleader for Apple.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

1 recommendation

Kearnstd to tschmidt

Premium Member

to tschmidt

Re: CBS owns CNET?

And yet the FTC continues to allow consolidation.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy to 67845017

Premium Member

to 67845017

Re: Commercial Skipping

I hope you don't have any problems with Dish, their customer service is poor. Different people have different experiences. My aunt lives in rural Washington state and she has Dish and she says she never had any problems. I've heard complaints about DirecTV and I had good experiences myself but it was cheaper just to get TV through Comcast since I have my Internet and phone through them anyways. Comcast is the only viable Internet in town (other than VZ DSL) so it is cheaper to bundle TV with them. Plus, you get more locals on Comcast here as they carry the Boston and Hartford stations where satellite only carries the Springfield (MA) stations only.

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall to MovieLover76

MVM

to MovieLover76

Re: Tuners

said by MovieLover76:

Most cable and FiOS dvrs still come with only two, not sure what your so indignant about it only having 3.

Most cable/FIOS DVRs are only connected to (1) TV. In that setup, it's fine - you can watch one program while something else records.

The Dish DVR being discussed is a "whole-home-DVR". The main unit has (3) tuners and can feed up to (4) client units, so up to (5) TVs total. Each TV would be restricted in being able to watch (5) different, LIVE channels.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Carriage disputes

One of the TV stations (KCRG-TV) is in the middle of a carriage dispute with Dish. I am wondering if the Hopper is the sticking point into why it is currently blacked out. Maybe KCRG wants more because of the hopper.

I just fast forward the commercials, you could do the same thing back in the '90s with videotape. I cannot count how many times I've taped Home Improvement. And if you were taping it while it was broadcasting, you could pause the VCR during the commercials so they would not eat up the tape. Most tapes went up to two hours although some went up to 2 1/2 hours.

DVRs are nice but you can't pause the recording for commercials so those do eat up valuable space on your hard drive.
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned) to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy

Re: Commercial Skipping

With all the discounts and such, DISH is relatively cheaper over the two year period for me compared to Comcast (not including the price increase this year). Even including the bundle discount. We have to feed 8 TVs, so Comcast equipment charges add up to quite a bit.

DISH On-Demand blows goats, but we get more TVs covered and with the higher storage on the DVRs, we don't miss OD too much. Also, being able to stream DLNA content from my HTPC media server to any of the TVs in the house is a big plus.

I haven't had to call for help, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed there.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to Hall

Premium Member

to Hall

Re: Tuners

said by Hall:

Come on digiblur, in the real world, most people's lives don't center on TV 90% of the day, nor do most people have 4, 5, 6, or more TVs.

There aren't 6 shows on TV at the same time worth recording. And even with households with many people and many TVs, recording 30 hours of TV a night, nobody is going to watch all those shows. Most of what is being recorded will never be watched.

digiblur
Premium Member
join:2002-06-03
Louisiana

digiblur to Hall

Premium Member

to Hall
said by Hall:

Come on digiblur, in the real world, most people's lives don't center on TV 90% of the day, nor do most people have 4, 5, 6, or more TVs. We have (2) TVs connected to one Hopper and one Joey and admittedly, it's only been 2-3 weeks, but have not yet encountered a conflict.

Outside of Satguys, I've never read/heard complaints about the lack of sufficient tuners.

Typical 4 TV family here. If we had one Hopper it wouldn't last one evening before I would throw it out the window. The two bedrooms would fire up some live TV and that only leaves one tuner left. If the primetime thing was on then there would be zero tuners left in the house for live and/or recording. No thanks.

People don't understand the 3 tuner thing as they are unaware that the other rooms steal their tuner from the hopper.
67845017 (banned)
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL

67845017 (banned)

Member

I don't know. I was pretty aware that was happening and the DISH people also were pretty clear in explaining that.

Viewing habits are VERY household-centric. For us, 2 Hoppers are enough. If I keep DISH, I may add a 3rd Hopper, but that seems overkill. Our household seems to do fine with 6 tuners since it's mostly 2 TVs that get watched on any kind of regular basis. The other ones are mostly occasional use. Typically no more than 3 tuners are ever wacthed at the same time, if that many even. So that leaves plenty for recording.

But I can see where it wouldn't be enough if you have TVs in kids' bedrooms. We don't allow that, so 2 Hoppers is enough.
page: 1 · 2 · next