Dish Network to offer live TV streaming on its free mobile apps next month
By Richard Lawler 
posted August 4th 2010 4:32PM
posted August 4th 2010 4:32PM
posted August 4th 2010 4:32PM
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Just hope I can watch when its raining, unlike Dish Satellite TV
@Cainhunpi
Exactly like any other Satellite TV service...
Not just a feature exclusive to Dish.
@APV Oh Snap
@APV OH Snap
That why I got Verizon FioS
Meh, our freeview cuts for 2-3 seconds every time a motorbike/moped/scooter passes by, still haven't figured out why. Something to do with interference...
@APV My Sky Dish works ok in the rain, unless there is an absolute shit-storm.
@Cainhunpi For real.
Dish is terrible, I can't wait to get rid of it. You can't watch tv if it's raining or cloudy. Receivers will randomly lock up or decide they need to restart and do the 5 step signal acquisition process for no reason. Shows won't record because they don't feel like recording, and about once a month my remote will decide it doesn't want to talk to the receiver and there is nothing I can do to fix it except wait until it decides to work like it should again.
No matter how much time I spend on the phone or swapping my hardware, I'm very underwhelmed with Dish personally. I'm fed up with pay tv, I'm about to grab a HD antenna + hulu for on demand and call it a day.
@JONNNathannn Maybe you should aim your shit and fix that marginal signal.
@JONNNathannn
I have no issues in the rain, even heavy rain. We'll loose signal only when the storm is so bad we're worried about loosing power as well (and when it's that bad, the local affiliate upstream that even TWC pulls from is choppy anyway) We actually have far less signal outage than we did on TWC, and when it drops its for a few minutes. When we'de loose TWC it would be for hours... and at odd times when there was no weather event as well.
As for boxes having issues, out 722s (we have 2 of them) have had no issues at all in more than a year. No issues with remotes, and no issues with recordings not recording (unless the data in the guide is wrong, or by conflict priority resolution), no issues with spontaneous reboots, nothing. On TWC, their box has little or no conflict resolution, so its a crap shoot which program recorded and which didn't when there's a conflict, but on dish, I can CHOOSE which will and won't, by both priority and manually, and see it in the guide too. TWC's boxes also had rampant issues with the guide not getting data at all, sometimes for days, which meant nothing recorded and you could not scroll the gide to see what was on.
We're very happy with the service, especially since it's cheaper by more than $20 a month that any other offer. I'm disappointed I can't get the 922s yet to do streaming, and that this was not back ported to the 722 family, but I don't much care anyway. I'll get them for free when my contract rolls over in 6 months, when I threaten to leave them and do to DirecTV...
AT&T to block live Dishnet streaming over 3G in 3...2....
@dougdeep or you could just get at&t uverse and not kill yourself climbing up your roof to fix your dinasour age dish
Awesome!
Can't wait for this app to get released then...
Whoa! Thisi s pretty exciting news. I just cant seem to find it in me to dish out 200 bucks for a box that will not give me multi room viewing without the need for additional hardware.
The 722k is perfect for me. :(
Anybody know of a way to avoid paying the 200 and upgrade my hardware with them?
@FrankJL9 I checked with Dish and updated, this will work with the older boxes if you have a slingbox.
@FrankJL9
Well, you can do like I did, and when your contract ends, threaten to leave for the competition because they have better hardware you can get free. If they balk (like they did me, offering me only a $100 credit), Hang up, call back about 90 minutes later and tell them you have an appointment scheduled, want to disconnect your service on a particular date about 3 weeks from now, and want to know what to do with the boxes and dish once it's turned off. Then they'll jump to keep you and offer the same equipment package new subscribers get (which should include at least one 922, which is all you really need).
@zelannii I tried this the other day and their retention department pretty much called my bluff. I told them I wanted to move to Direct TV (no effing way) and they offered me a $5/month credit for three months. I told the guy I wanted to go ahead and cancel and he was like, "ok, can I confirm your mailing address so I can ship you boxes for your receivers?" I was like, "um...I'll call you back later." Been with them for 4 years too. :(
@FrankJL9
You won't need to upgrade, later this year (probably when this launches) there will be a Slingbox attachment to your DVR that will replicate the 922. Don't go with one of the older Slingboxes unless you want to mess with the IR blasters.
Too bad I don't have dish and will never get it!
Shame my box is three years old and I don't have an iPhone. Otherwise, I'd be all over this.
Is the mobile streaming feature exclusive to the VIP 922? Meaning, if I have a 622 or 722, I won't get that feature at all?
@Kireet Yeah, unfortunately the streaming is a piece of Sling tech and exclusive to the 922... for now.
There will be "add-ons" that will give the Sling streaming ability to other boxes -- in which case I'd guess it would work with the mobile apps.
Frankly, I'm waiting for the next box to come out (the Google TV one). I can't justify 200 bucks for the 922. There are some nice upgrades (interface, video streaming, etc) but losing multi-room viewing is a big negative for me. On the flip side, if the GTV box has the above AND the Google TV bits, well then, that's a little different story... I'm already leaning towards this route without knowing much details.
As @FrankJL9 says, the 722 works for me (I'd hate to lose the multi-room ability)... At least for now.
@Kireet Nope, updated the post. It will work with older boxes with a slingbox
@RichardLawler
That's awesome! I have the VIP 722, and a sling-box...
Though this will probably be as restricted as the sling app... Meaning it only works with the newest and most expensive slings...
o_O
@RichardLawler Ah, damn. Thanks for the update, though.
What's that huge iPhone in the picture? :O
How can you put THAT in your pocket?
@Kireet Yeah, unfortunately the streaming is a piece of Sling tech and exclusive to the 922... for now.
There will be "add-ons" that will give the Sling streaming ability to other boxes -- in which case I'd guess it would work with the mobile apps.
Frankly, I'm waiting for the next box to come out (the Google TV one). I can't justify 200 bucks for the 922. There are some nice upgrades (interface, video streaming, etc) but losing multi-room viewing is a big negative for me. On the flip side, if the GTV box has the above AND the Google TV bits, well then, that's a little different story... I'm already leaning towards this route without knowing much details.
As @FrankJL9 says, the 722 works for me (I'd hate to lose the multi-room ability)... At least for now.
Damn, replied under the wrong comment...
@efekt i dont know =o i think they call it an iPad but id hate to be the woman to use that pad! :O
So.. Dish microwaves this up to a satellite which beams it back down to my house, where a box converts it to a new format and then sends it over the internet to a cell tower which radios it to my phone. Sounds direct.
Why doesn't Dish just stream this stuff from their headquarters? Is Internet bandwidth that expensive?
@dougdeep
a) its not that expensive, but they can't get that much bandwidth in one location to stream it for you easily, nor can the easily balance wildly swaying usage loads.
b) by them hosting the stream, they incur a cost, however small compared to your bandwidth costs. You hosting a stream costs them nothing.
c) If they're streaming, its a form of broadcast, and they have to compensate someone a royalty as your device counts as a viewer. Also, it falls under certain broadcast rules and regulations. You hoisting your own stream to only you is a time-shift and location shift of a personally recorded program, and the courts have already rules you can do that without Dish paying any fees to providers, etc.
d) if your streaming is down, only you are effected. If theirs has issues, millions of customers demand a service credit and tie up their phone support lines.
e) they'll have issues getting bandwidth they need from ISPs who are also video providers (AT&T, Verizon, TWC, etc) since there's no law against selling the competition bandwidth. Net Neutrality isn't law yet, but it may be soon, so they won't "throttle" Dish's feed in their networks (openly), but disk is not an ISP, and has to use the ISPs to get the bandwidth they want, and that will be hard to do.
@dougdeep
All in a blink of an eye.
Isn't technology amazing?
Directv better come out with something similar... I want my mobile discovery channel and HGTV.
@neeko18 This was my thinking exactly. I've been with DirecTV since 1994 and have been fairly pleased (even during the rocky year between Tivo and their DVR) but this means a possible switch for me. And whats up with slingbox - no iPad app yet? DirecTV costs me over $160 a month and all my receivers are getting old, maybe its time to make the switch.
The Dish 722K with a Dual OTA Module installed easily equals the most reliable cable/satellite box I have ever had.
It never gives me any trouble and I can record 4 things at once (2 Sat & 2 OTA).
The 922 is very young and very buggy. There is no way I would get that box.
So, as mobile broadband caps are tightening and over-usage is costing consumers more, apps like this that can use up massive amounts of bandwidth are becoming more popular... Makes one wonder if the 2 aren't related somehow, hmmmm? I smell a big cash cow here, or at least something it left in a pile on the ground.
And yes, I know you can stay in wi-fi only areas and stream that way, but how often is that going to be the case for the majority of users out there?
I sent a message to Dish customer service a week ago asking what would be the cost for an upgrade to 922 (currently have vip612 and 15 months into my two year contract). Any idea how long it takes them to respond? Or how much that upgrade might be? I'm looking forward to streaming to my Moto Droid
@LazarusDark Unless they have changed their mind in the last couple of weeks, it will be $199. Which is an awful lot for a box that was basically released in an early beta form and still seems far from a finished product.
If this is as "great" as their iPhone app is currently, I'll pass. It also looks like I'd need to upgrade my DVR receiver, which ain't gonna happen. I may just move to U-Verse instead.
@Error601
I've actually found their iphone app pretty useful for scheduling recordings when I am not at home nor near a computer -- but hear about something interesting.
Looks a lot like older DVRs like the 622 and 722 will be able to offer this functionality *if* one adds the Slingbox 700U to your rack.
Trouble is we don't know whether that's cheaper than just upgrading to a 922.
I bought the 922 the day it came out and so far... it's cool, but it's the buggiest DVR i've ever had. Dish has done some minor upgrades a few times the system has downloaded overnight, but no major changes since it's come out.
The features and interface is way better than my old 622, but the trade off is having to reboot the DVR a few times a week. I hardly ever had to reboot the 622 (but damn the interface was ugly... not comcast ugly, but ugly).
The Sling feature is great... when it works. I tried watching the Tour De France from work and Dish was having all kinds of problems with the Sling system. The problem is that in order to access your box you have to log into your account on Dish's website (an excessive button clicking/password entering log in process) and Dish's website ALWAYS has problems. Sometimes it tells me that my DVR is not connected to the internet but i KNOW it is because i can see all the stuff on my DVR it just won't play back anything on it. The fix... restart your computer... go through the excessive log in process... and then MAYBE it will work the second time.
So you're logged into your Slingbox (YAY! finally) only for it to be occasionally buggy and slow. One thing i learned is that if you are watching something FULL screen you should learn the hotkeys for FF, REW and PAUSE/PLAY. Multiple times i would exit out of full screen (to go back to the remote and the screen would go blank... but i could still hear the audio. Then guess what... restart your computer... go through the excessive login process.. and then MAYBE it will work.
Luckily if you are having problems getting the Sling to work you can reboot your DVR remotely in the Settings (i think...) tab. After about 10 minutes you can login again, BUT you are always at the mercy of DISH's website running properly, which in my experience is shoddy at best. One Dish representative told me that they 'just updated their website and have been having problems with the Sling feature ever since.' I tried for 3 days to log into my DVR and they finally got it fixed on their end.
All that said, the potential of the 922 is amazing. It's by far the slickest DVR i've had... it's just buggy. I'm sure the 922 will get better over time as with all new Dish products, but it's a slow process.