on demand?

[Lkr]

does Dish offer a video-on-demand service? if so, is it free like cable companies?

 

[garys]

There are various forms of demand services. Which receiver(es) do you have?

 

[Lkr]

i have a ViP 211 and a ViP 622

 

[garys]

Not sure about the the 211, but the 622 has several. Starz On Demand - can be found on the guide (channel 5747) and in Dish Home, you must subscribe to the Starz movie package with no additional charges. The next three are located under the DVR, TV Enterntainment - no choice as to what is put there but there is no charge. Movies & More - several current movies and there is a charge for these (basically the same as ppv and cost maybe a $1 more). DishOnLine - you need an DSL connection for this to work and there is a charge for each movie.

 

[billybgame]

Last I knew Dish's On Demand is useless, compared to the great On Demand from Comcast.

I despise Comcast, but I sure miss that. Dish needs to get their head out of their arse, and fix this inequity.

 

[DishSubLA]

Dish offers a Dish On Demand service by pressing your DVR button. The "push" on demand services are the TV Entertainment that is FREE of any extra charge. Full episodes of some TV shows are provided for playback even before they air nationally on TV. The line-up with this service changes frequently. The other push service is the Movies and More option that offers PPV movies, some the same or different than those offered in the 500 channel range, already loaded on your DVR's hard drive for immediate access and playback, but that service costs $ per movie. Some movies from this service are offered in HD along with the expected DD 5.1.

The "pull" on demand service is the Dish On Line option that operates like a PPV, so there is a fee per movie. If the box is connected to your broadband service, then this option provides you access to nearly 900 movies (as of today); yes, that is 900 (nine-hundred) as in close to a thousand. The library is actually pretty good mix of new, recent and older great, good, and stinker movies. However, the box must download the movie that you request. While you can watch the movie while it downloads, it could, depending upon your download speed/bandwidth take up to 45 minutes before you can begin playback the movie while it continues to download the remainder of the movie. Picture Quality of the one movie I bought via Dish On Line was surprisingly good, much better than current Dish SD channels. Further more there wasn't even a single glitch upon playback. Again, surprisingly solid high quality SD playback. The box can download the movies in the background while you are using the box as you normally would and the movie will remain on your hard drive for a specified number of days (29 days with one movie--that will depend upon the remaining time that Dish has rights to the movie) until you decide to play it back. The 24 hour period of the rental begins when you initiate playback, not at the completion of download. There will be pop-up screens notifying you that you may begin playback and when the full download is complete. At this time, it seems none of the movies from this service are offered in HD. I don't know how Dish will address that. I don't know if DD 5.1 is provided.

I mean to post my experience using Dish On Line very soon so that all can benefit from my experience and know what to expect when using this service.

 

[billybgame]

They need to give us FREE movies, and network shows in HD, on demand, just like Comcast, and I'm sure, Charter, have been doing for years.

Just like PPV, I will never order a single movie "On Demand" .

 

[DishSubLA]

They need to give us FREE movies, and network shows in HD, on demand, just like Comcast, and I'm sure, Charter, have been doing for years.

Just like PPV, I will never order a single movie "On Demand" .

Agreed. In fact I bought the one movie for my niece because she so desperately wanted to see it. So, I watched it with her, but is was a good chance to try the service.

Things that prevent me from using the Dish on Demand are the following:

1. Lack of HD

2. High price per movie (and HD movies will--if ever offered this route--will cost more).

I could on a bit, but those are the big one. However, I have an aunt and uncle who are just dying for more movie options, and even I after I explained the pros and cons, they desperately want to connect their broadband to their 722's. The movies offered are just about what they are looking for, and they DON'T like the hassle of renting DVD's. Dish On Demand is for them, and they don't care about SD vs. HD, they want more movies to watch.

 

[MikeD-C05]

The dishonline feature is way to slow to download a movie. I am getting 10Mbps so this should be a good broadband speed, but it takes for ever to download a movie. DIRECTV by comparison is lightening fast . I don't know what DISH is using but they should partner with another company like Netlfix or Blockbuster so people could actually get newer movies .

 

[DishSubLA]

The dishonline feature is way to slow to download a movie. I am getting 10Mbps so this should be a good broadband speed, but it takes for ever to download a movie. DIRECTV by comparison is lightening fast . I don't know what DISH is using but they should partner with another company like Netlfix or Blockbuster so people could actually get newer movies .

Yes, Dish ONLINE needs to be improved. I get the impression from the chats and Tech Forums that Dish is still working on this service and tweaking it, and perhaps still trying to figure out how it will best benifit them. The biggest obstacle is many ViP boxes are not accessible to a broadband connection. For this service to really have potential, Dish would have to provide all necessary parts and labor to connect ViP boxes to the subs broadband service. But that would cost more money, and all the providers, Direct, cable, etc. are under pressure from Wall Street to decrease the cost of acquiring a subscriber. There are a lot of things these companies can afford to do and need to do to be competitive but don't dare because of the "next quarter" mentality of the new generation of Wall Street investors.

 

[Anole]

my idea of "on demand"

I've found this incredibly useful feature on my PVR called "The Guide". -

With it, I have located movies, specials, and sporting events as much as a week in advance, and locked them in for recording.
Likewise, I've selected all my favorite weekly series, and record them, too.
Some shows are on more than once a week, so I record them at odd hours, to free up that busy 6pm to midnight time window.
For recent NASA missions, once a day, every day, at 11am, gets me their news conferences.

So, when I come home and sit down in front of the TV, I have a fully customized set of programming to watch, and it's all ON DEMAND.
None of it is crap I don't want to see.
None of it costs me a penny extra.
There is no spooling time, waiting for the show to start. -

Well, that's my solution.
And why I usually ignore any threads on the subject. -

 

[waltinvt]

:up:up:up

 

[navychop]

I am replacing my ViP622 with an HDMI problem with a ViP722. In fact, it should be here today. The ViP622 supposedly will not download an HD movie via Dish Online. I certainly did not see any in the listings, but I did not go thru the entire listing. The ViP722 has a better chipset that will support this function better, and will be able to download an HD movie via Dish Online.

I'm not a big movie watcher, but I'll try downloading one from Dish Online over my cable broadband, just to see how well it works. I believe Dish briefly had a few HD movies available, but don't anymore. I too believe they are working on the system to improve it.

Dish Online fills a need. There will be folks that will like looking ahead and downloading a movie or two overnight. With the price of fuel the way it is, I think maybe most of us will (or should) reconsider how this cost compares to the cost of driving to a rental store. B&M rental stores seem to be a dying breed, anyway. Dish may be working on a system early to be fully in place before those stores dwindle.

 

[DishSubLA]

I am replacing my ViP622 with an HDMI problem with a ViP722. In fact, it should be here today. The ViP622 supposedly will not download an HD movie via Dish Online. I certainly did not see any in the listings, but I did not go thru the entire listing. The ViP722 has a better chipset that will support this function better, and will be able to download an HD movie via Dish Online.

I'm not a big movie watcher, but I'll try downloading one from Dish Online over my cable broadband, just to see how well it works. I believe Dish briefly had a few HD movies available, but don't anymore. I too believe they are working on the system to improve it.

Dish Online fills a need. There will be folks that will like looking ahead and downloading a movie or two overnight. With the price of fuel the way it is, I think maybe most of us will (or should) reconsider how this cost compares to the cost of driving to a rental store. B&M rental stores seem to be a dying breed, anyway. Dish may be working on a system early to be fully in place before those stores dwindle.

Yes, you are right, DishONLINE does fill a need. While I completely agree with Anole's humorous mockery (Anole, you described exactly how I use Dish and current subscriptions to avoid paying extra for PPV's--we are in complete agreement), the fact is there are MANY, including my aunt and uncle who go through all their channels and 500 channels PPV, and Movies and More Dish VOD and Staz VOD, and just don't find enough movies, for their taste, or to watch a movie that they have already seen too recently (they will watch a movie they haven't seen in years and still enjoy it. The DishONLINE library is more their taste, and they are willing to pay extra to watch the PPV. We all use the Dish Network system in different ways to find the programming we enjoy. While there really are an outstanding number of good movies and other programming available as part of the regular subscription, I wouldn't make fun of anybody (Anole ) who feels that DishONLINE may fill their need. It doesn't fill mine, but there are many for whom DishONLINE is worth the extra expense, and avoiding the pressure to return DVD's while they live their very busy lives, and they really are busy. They want the content to come into there home, watch it, and forget it. That is the future. I would be willing to use DishONLINE on rare occasion if they could improve it, and use it a bit more if the price would come down.

The 722 has AC1 is it? That may allow for more efficient download of HD in the future.