# My 522 now has DOD



## tsmacro

*woo-hoo* Well the good news is that it doesn't seem to have used up any of my hard drive space. Not sure how they pulled that off but I had about 30 free hours of space yesterday and now that DOD is on there tonight w/ it's four movies for $4.99 it still claims to have about 30 free hours of recording time available. This has got to be about the most useless feature ever, I mean four lame movies and they're actually MORE expensive than the PPV selections? Oh well i've seen it on other peoples receivers, so I knew what it was about already and was hoping they'd never get around to bothering to get it on 522's but now i've caught up w/ the rest of y'all lucky bastages who've had DOD for a while now!:lol:


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## James Long

VOD has it's own hard drive space - reserved away from the day you got your 522 just for these special uses.


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## robert koerner

Aaaaaah.

Maybe that's why they rolled out updated software that was worse than what it replaced, to get DOD going.

Bob


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## nova828

Is there an advantage to DOD over regular PPV that I am not seeing? If you order a PPV, you can record it to your DVR and keep it forever (or until your hard drive crashes) But if you order a DOD, you only have a limited time (24 hours?) to watch and then it's gone. DOD cost a dollar more too. I there a way to disable it? I'd rather not have my DVR recording these movies all night. It seems to me that would cause significantly more wear and tear and only increases the chance a crash might wipe out all my recordings. 

So Bob, what specifically is worse about the software that you were talking about? (Other than DOD)


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## Hall

James Long said:


> VOD has it's own hard drive space - reserved away from the day you got your 522 just for these special uses.


 When did Dish ever claim there was add'l, unused space on the HDD set aside for VOD ?? I thought that was the whole reason for the 625 - a 522 with a larger HDD, yet still can record the same # of hours as the 522. That add'l space was specifically for VOD.


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## James Long

There was space set aside on the 508 and 510 as well ... less space but still space that E* planned for VOD from the time those receivers were introduced.


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## Lammo

OK, I've got it too. Now, how do I get rid of it? Whose bright idea was it to make me push my DVR button twice to get to my recordings? Also, when I'm "Done" viewing a particular show I am now defaulted back out to the top of my list of recordings - - used to go to the show I just quit watching. Any ideas on how to unfix this?


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## reddice

DOD is useless. Give us real on Demand that the cable companies give you and not milk more money for useless PPV crap. Not only is DOD forced on the 508 and 510 but the software update actually breaks timers from firing and spins up the hard drive on and off every five or so minutes so it can wear out in a few months.


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## n0qcu

The new software also has the new side by side PIP.


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## javaman

A few other changes I noticed,

- It appears they fixed that annoying blank screen glitch that was showing up when trying to play a recording. I also haven't noticed any freeze-ups or start-overs during visual search or skip button use either.

- Guide info is now credited to Tribune Media Services.

- The search screen is a bit different with more options added.

- In the diagnostics page there's a button called Send Status.


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## BobaBird

Is this all from L413?


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## javaman

BobaBird said:


> Is this all from L413?


Yep


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## DJ Lon

What is the "TV Entertainment" selection in DOD for? I have 3 programs in it. And IMHO the search feature is now has way too many buttons.


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## James Long

E* sends Movies on Demand to sell to you for $1 more than the PPV price.
They also occasionally send you "TV Entertainment" - which are free programs that you can watch for a limited time. (E* does the adding and deleting.) There has been some good stuff in "TV Entertainment" - tastes and content varys.


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## allen98311

Has anyone been able to play any of the on demand videos? When I play them, all I get is a black screen. The Fast Forward, Rewind, Stop, and Play buttons don't do anything. The only way to get off that black screen is to change channels.


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## tsmacro

allen98311 said:


> Has anyone been able to play any of the on demand videos? When I play them, all I get is a black screen. The Fast Forward, Rewind, Stop, and Play buttons don't do anything. The only way to get off that black screen is to change channels.


Yep same thing happened to me.


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## cdru

Lammo said:


> OK, I've got it too. Now, how do I get rid of it? Whose bright idea was it to make me push my DVR button twice to get to my recordings?


I don't like having to press it twice either. This is how I first realized that I had the new firmware. Blech.



> Also, when I'm "Done" viewing a particular show I am now defaulted back out to the top of my list of recordings - - used to go to the show I just quit watching. Any ideas on how to unfix this?


I don't beleive this is a new feature. If you stop a show you would be returned back to the list, but if you let the show run to the end it would return you to the show details screen, then back to the top. It's been that way at least for several months as it was a PITA when watching some of the Stargate or Dirty Job marathons or football games as I would have to keep scrolling down through the list to find the next episode/games.


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## Shadowtester

I hate having to push the button twice to get to my recording there should be a setting to allow you to chose where to default I would have it default to my recording and the second button push bring up the menu since I use my recording 99.9% more than their DOD content!!! Very dumb and irritating on their part in my opinion!!!!!!!!


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## tsmacro

:lol: I came home the other day and there was a five minute recording among my recordings telling me that I now have DOD and the basics on how to use it. funny how they only talked about the part of the DOD that you have to pay for :sure: and nothing about the free features (that don't seem to work so far anyway). The only thing about this that bothered me a little was they included it in the "my recordings" part of my DVR. Not that big a deal but now that I do have DOD w/ a section for free previews of shows and such things that maybe that's where this should've been placed and the "my recordings section" should be reserved for what I actually set up timers for personally. Once again though I suppose maybe they didn't put it in the free tv/features section because that doesn't seem to be working properly yet.


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## Hall

People are far more likely to notice it in the "My Recordings", especially if it's talking about a new feature that people aren't familiar with or worse, aware of. It takes up a minuscule amount of space too, in case people feel "ripped off ... they're stealing *my* recording space". Also, I'm positive the service agreement all of us signed says we allow Dish to do this....

For the add'l button press, I got VOD on my 622 a few months ago and went from 1-button to 2-button presses to access "My Recordings". Honestly, you get used to it, and forget the old way, VERY QUICKLY.


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## Kevin Brown

I also have the new software. Seems to take a little bit longer to switch channels now too.


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## javaman

Curious if anyone else has noticed this since the 413 update.

If I playback a recording on TV2 and let it run to completion, when the live TV picture returns it will often appear in Black and White and without sound. The only way I can fix the problem is to play another recording on TV2, then normal picture and sound return. Doesn't happen all the time time but enough times to warrant a mention. Never had this occur before 413.


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## DJ Lon

javaman said:


> Curious if anyone else has noticed this since the 413 update.
> 
> If I playback a recording on TV2 and let it run to completion, when the live TV picture returns it will often appear in Black and White and without sound. The only way I can fix the problem is to play another recording on TV2, then normal picture and sound return. Doesn't happen all the time time but enough times to warrant a mention. Never had this occur before 413.


It happens to me as well. I've mentioned this in another thread.


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## DJ Lon

Thought I would add on to this...

Yesterday I extensively used TV2 and found the following:

1.) Using the skip forward button more than a few times in a row on a DVR recording still causes the program to return to the beginning.

2.) Twice while I was watching DVR recordings the picture froze but the audio continued and the only way to return to normal was to stop, exit, go to live TV and return to the recording.

3.) After the above picture freezes the closed captioning disappeared and the only way to get them back was to reboot the receiver.

4. ) The black & white Dish logo and live TV when turning on the receiver and having to play a recording to restore eveything to normal still occurs.

I find it odd that this has only happened on TV2 in dual mode since L413. TV1 functions just fine, no issues.


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## Swampthing

Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but I've had DoD for a few weeks now on my 522, and the only items available for viewing are under the Movies cateory, and it's the same 4 movies. Nothing showing in the Entertainment DoD either...

Is everyone else getting the same thing? I always turn my receiver off when not in use and it goes to the floating Dish logo. Do I need to do something else?


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## DJ Lon

Swampthing said:


> Not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but I've had DoD for a few weeks now on my 522, and the only items available for viewing are under the Movies cateory, and it's the same 4 movies. Nothing showing in the Entertainment DoD either...
> 
> Is everyone else getting the same thing? I always turn my receiver off when not in use and it goes to the floating Dish logo. Do I need to do something else?


It's the same here. There were three TV Entertainment titles (Food TV, Speed Net & Nat Geo) when I got DoD but when I had time to watch them a few days later they were gone and there's been none since.


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## Hall

The items under TV Entertainment come and go.... Nothing unusual there. If you miss them, you're out of luck. The movies are supposed to change but the few times I've looked at what's there, they've been nothing I'd pay to watch. How often they rotate in and out, I have no idea.


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## Hall

Swampthing said:


> Is everyone else getting the same thing? I always turn my receiver off when not in use and it goes to the floating Dish logo. Do I need to do something else?


 Do you do that to both TVs ?? If so, you're doing it right.


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## Swampthing

Hall said:


> The items under TV Entertainment come and go.... Nothing unusual there. If you miss them, you're out of luck. The movies are supposed to change but the few times I've looked at what's there, they've been nothing I'd pay to watch. How often they rotate in and out, I have no idea.


They would have to rotate out pretty quick, since I watch television for a couple hours each day and always see what's there. Never seen anything under TV Entertainment... In fact some days the movies are there, and some days they are listed, but if you actually go to select the icon, it says the movie is currently not available. I've got four movies on my 522 right now and they all say that...

To your other question, yes both receivers get turned off when not in use.

Perhaps Dish Network has a different definition of Dish on Demand. I would like to see a suite of recently aired popular programming, or even special events that I might have missed because they didn't get enough advance coverage. At least 20-30 choices which rotate out. Well, maybe that's a pipe dream for Dish, but I've seen cable companies offer this.


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## Hall

What Dish calls "On Demand" and what the cable companies call "on demand" are two vastly different things.


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## DJ Lon

Got L415 yesterday. Haven't noticed anything about it so far.


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## EVAC41

javaman said:


> A few other changes I noticed,
> 
> - It appears they fixed that annoying blank screen glitch that was showing up when trying to play a recording. I also haven't noticed any freeze-ups or start-overs during visual search or skip button use either.
> 
> - Guide info is now credited to Tribune Media Services.
> 
> - The search screen is a bit different with more options added.
> 
> - In the diagnostics page there's a button called Send Status.


What software version is loaded on your 522?

I still get the annoying freeze-ups and start over's even with the new software update. Haven't see the send status button in the diagnostics page yet. Has anyone tried selecting it. What does it do?


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## robert koerner

I'm also on 415

Now my unit thinks the phone line is dead.


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## robert koerner

I wiggled the phone cable, tried the phone connection, it checked OK, and then had the unit report to the mother ship.


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## Kevin Brown

I probably won't ever use DoD. But I wish I could make the decision to reclaim the hard drive space that is used up by it. I also wish that instead of the long time it takes to load the interactive application to access these, that they just use the simple tried and true normal Dish DVR interface (same as for My Recordings).


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## javaman

Xandir said:


> Got L415 yesterday. Haven't noticed anything about it so far.


I received 415 over the weekend and today I discovered I have 416. 415 I hardly knew ye.

Anyway, starting with 415, the only change I've noticed is with the side by side picture-in-picture(during single mode use). Previously when both channels were side by side they stretched to fill the entire screen. The distorted picture made it irritating to watch. Starting with 415 both side by side pictures maintain the correct aspect ratio. Its like 2 small boxes side by side across the middle of the screen. If you hit the position button it automatically goes to side-by-side. Pretty nifty.

@Evac
I haven't used the Send Status button yet. I watch a lot of recorded material during the week and haven't seen any noticeable problems aside from the occasional lost signal due to rain messing up a recording. Curious to see how this 416 performs.


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## DJ Lon

Got L416 while at work today.


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## Kevin Brown

I think this is with 415 ... But sometimes now in a description for a show, there is a little down arrow prompting you to hit the down arrow button for the rest of the description. Now ... if only they'd improve the descriptions some!


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## jsk

I don't know when this started, but I just noticed something with L416 on the TV Entertainment page (hit DVR, select option 3). The time is on top of the text "TV Entertainment" at the top of the screen. Maybe we'll get a L417 next week :lol:


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## javaman

For those with the 522 how many Video on Demand events should we see? 

The most I've had is 4. I had my 522 off the entire night but none of the stored movies changed even though a couple are advertised on the main screen. Is there some place we can check to see what the latest On Demand movies are?


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## allen98311

javaman said:


> For those with the 522 how many Video on Demand events should we see?
> 
> The most I've had is 4. I had my 522 off the entire night but none of the stored movies changed even though a couple are advertised on the main screen. Is there some place we can check to see what the latest On Demand movies are?


Right now I have 6 Movies and 2 tv shows available On Demand.

Here is a few places to check for what is on Dish On Demand:
For TV On Demand:
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/whats_on_dish/dish_on_demand/tv/index.shtml
For Movies On Demand:
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/whats_on_dish/dish_on_demand/movies/index.shtml


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## javaman

Thanks for the links Allen. That helps a lot with seeing what's available.

I guess I just need to keep my 522 off longer in order to get a better selection.


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## tsmacro

javaman said:


> Thanks for the links Allen. That helps a lot with seeing what's available.
> 
> I guess I just need to keep my 522 off longer in order to get a better selection.


I don't think it matters how long you keep your 522 turned off. I doubt you'll ever have any more than 3 to 6 movies availble at a time on your 522. And from the few times i've actually checked they don't seem to change them very often either. I think it's partially that there are limited choices to begin with and that the 522 doesn't have that much space available for DOD anyway. You're better off going w/ PPV, there's many more choices and it's less expensive too.


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## tsmacro

Ok so I checked my selections when I got home for the first time in a while and I discovered that while there was only four movies pictured but if you selected "view all selections" there was actually eight selections available and on top of that the selections do seem to have become better since it first showed up. So I guess I underestimated the DOD, it has improved I guess. However why it's worth $4.99 for a movie you can only watch for 24 hours when you can order the same movie on PPV and DVR it and watch it whenever you want and keep it as long as you want i'll never know. Even if they have improved the DOD somewhat it seems to be a rather useless feature, it's hard to believe it's generating much revenue for Dish. The only possible value I can think it has is so they can claim that they do indeed have a video on demand feature to counter cable advertising saying they didn't.


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## Kevin Brown

Over the last few days, I have had up to 14 VOD items in there.


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## Kevin Brown

Up to 15 now.


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## javaman

Wow 15!? And this is on a 522?

I tell ya I've left my 522 off every night for 2 weeks (no timers either) and yesterday was the first time I've seen a new movie. Yet another kids flick, Happily N'ever After. Big whoop. I still have a grand total of 4. And yeah I've been checking the View All tab. Weird thing is when I first press the DVR button it tells me I have 7 events. They must be invisible because there's nothing under TV and only 4 movies under view all.


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## Kevin Brown

Yes a 522. I don't do anything specific. It has been 12 - 15 for the last 10 days or so. Before that, it was always a low number. I don't even use VOD, which is the funny part. Just a waste of hard drive space.


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## DJ Lon

Got L461 today. Response appears much quicker/smoother and haven't noticed anything...so far...


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## DJ Lon

Yay!!! When done viewing a particular show it now remains at the just completed show instead of defaulting back out to the top of the list of recordings. Only took them 9 months to fix that...


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## BobaBird

Xandir said:


> Yay!!! When done viewing a particular show it now remains at the just completed show instead of defaulting back out to the top of the list of recordings. Only took them 9 months to fix that...


You're being much too harsh. It was a mere 8 months (and 7 versions).


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