# PPV HD/Dish on Demand questions...



## Calvin386 (May 23, 2007)

I have been kicking around the idea of picking up a Blu Ray player (PS3). 

However, it hit me. I have access to HD movies via E* PPV HD or Dish on Demand (Is DOD in HD?). In 10 years of being a E* customer, I have never tried either one.

Rather than invest in the Blur Ray(PS3) and then rent Blu Ray discs, I sure could rent alot of PPV HD.

How does the video quality of E* PPV HD compare to a Blu Ray player? 

Is Dish On Demand in HD and can I record it and store it on a external hard drive? For example, I noticed that Pirates of the Carribean is available on DOD. This movie is available on Blu Ray. Is the video quality going to be comparable?

I haven't seen 300 yet. I would like to see it in HD. Is there a way to get that movie on E* or do I just have to keep up by recording the latest releases as they come out?

If I don't go with the Blu Ray player, I am going to get an external hard drive. What are some suggestions of ones to buy? I will do a search for this answer. I know there are a few threads out there about it. 

Thanks in advance...


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## rey_1178 (Dec 12, 2007)

the difference between 1080i and 1080p doesn't appear to be much. although i do own a bluray player and I highly recommend it. Plus you'll be able to rent much more movies on bluray than what you'll find on HDPPV. on the ext. hard drives the only thing i've heard so far is that seagate drives don't work well with the vip units. make sure you get a drive with it's own power supply. usb powered drives won't work with vip units. there is a support forum here for vip622/722s check it out buddy


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## rey_1178 (Dec 12, 2007)

here is a list of drives that work

*Buffalo Technology DriveStation SATA 500GB
Cavalry 500GB
Hitachi 500GB
HP Personal Media Drive 500GB
I/O Magic Gigabank 500 - 500GB
IOmega 500GB Desktop
Maxtor 750GB OneTouch
Maxtor 500GB Personal Storage 3200
MAXTOR DiamondMax 9 80GB ATA/133 HDD
Maxtor OneTouch II 200GB
Maxtor OneTouch II 300GB
Maxtor OneTouch III 500GB
Maxtor OneTouch IV 500GB
SimpleTech 320GB
SimpleTech 500GB
WD My Book Essentials 250GB
WD My Book Essentials 500GB
WD My Book Essentials 750GB
WD My Book Essentials 1TB
WD My Book Premium Edition 750GB*


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## lpmiller (Mar 8, 2007)

as good as Dish HD is, it is not as good as Bluray. Bluray is the best image you'll get, also, the best sound.


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## booger (Nov 1, 2005)

I'm in the same boat and I opted to just use Dish HD PPV to purchase all my movies. I store them on my 500GB WD hard drive so they are easy to access, no discs to mess with and the image quality is good enough for me.

The only drawback is the amount of HD movies. I don't recall ever seeing 300 offered in HD. I wish they would put more in rotation.


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## rey_1178 (Dec 12, 2007)

lpmiller said:


> as good as Dish HD is, it is not as good as Bluray. Bluray is the best image you'll get, also, the best sound.


+1


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

I posted this on another thread, but will include it here for those considering future purchases of HD movies and equipment:

So far I haven't seen anything else about this except from _TVWeek_:


> In the war for high-definition movie viewers, Netflix is trying to bust Blockbuster, Blu-ray is bruising HD DVD and Apple's iTunes is trying to undo Amazon.com's Unbox and Vudu.
> 
> They may all want to duck, though, because the cable companies are coming out swinging. Comcast, Cox Communications and Cablevision all said this week that they've either developed or are working on methods to deliver high-definition films to as many as 33 million subscribers the same day such titles are available on DVD.


The big question is how will D* & E* handle this challenge?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Turn off your 722 at night and you'll be fine.
Turn off your 622 at night and you'll get it in SD.

This is what Dish Movies on Demand is for. I can't remember the movie, but one of the recent releases was "available on the DVD release date". The more control that providers get over the content (read: movies on demand or DRM limited PPV) the more likely that "day of release" movies will be available (as it won't cut into DVD sales too much).


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

James Long said:


> Turn off your 722 at night and you'll be fine.
> Turn off your 622 at night and you'll get it in SD.


Hmmm. I'm not sure what this means. I'm toying with replacing my 508's with either a 612 or another 722. Does your post indicate differences between the 622 and 722? And would they apply to the 612?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Both recievers (and I believe the 612 as well) has a feature called "Movies on Demand". When the receiver is off at night and through the next day, it records content off of one of several internal channels (or PPV channels) for this feature.

Via the feature you can watch a selection of PPV movies NOW ... without waiting for the next airing. That can also include movies that are just starting on PPV (as well as some special films that have not been on PPV for a while).

The 722 is advertised as having a larger hard drive and the ability to do HD "movies on demand" ... although it has not been used yet.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

James Long said:


> Both recievers (and I believe the 612 as well) has a feature called "Movies on Demand". When the receiver is off at night and through the next day, it records content off of one of several internal channels (or PPV channels) for this feature.
> 
> Via the feature you can watch a selection of PPV movies NOW ... without waiting for the next airing. That can also include movies that are just starting on PPV (as well as some special films that have not been on PPV for a while).
> 
> The 722 is advertised as having a larger hard drive and the ability to do HD "movies on demand" ... although it has not been used yet.


That's a cool feature. I didn't understand how it works until now. Thanks.


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## Calvin386 (May 23, 2007)

Whew! We had a tornado here Tuesday night and my internet has been off. Thanks for the replys guys. 

I guess I should have said that I realize that Blu Ray is 1080P and E* is only capable of 1080i. 

I guess I'm with booger. I was thinking I could live with the E*HD even though it wasn't quite as good as Blu Ray. The only drawback is you only get what E* offers. 

I thought I would give it a try so I set my 622 to record The Invasion. When I got up the next morning it wasn't there. I had my PPV's lockes so I assume it prompted me to allow it to record but I wasn't watching so it didn't. I guess I bought that movie for nothing. 

My next try will be Pirates of the Carribean III tonight. I have everything unlocked now so I think it will work. I guess Dish will make a little money off of me while I try to figure this thing out...lol


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## slowmo (Sep 22, 2006)

I purchased an HD-DVD player when the HD-A2's were so heavily discounted in the fall. My best display is only 720p but I still prefer to watch HD movies via the player vs. PPV HD:

1. No artifacts visible in the playback of the HD-DVD's vs. satellite. Even on a 720p (and 480p ED display), the PQ of the HD disks is great.

2. Better sound

3. Many of the PPV movies are not shown in OAR. This is probably my biggest gripe. Some are but you don't know until you view it.

Currently, I've been using PPV to watch those movies that are not released in HD-DVD (unfortunately a growing number!).

Also, I'm tired of the movie channels (HBO, Showtime, etc.). I'll either watch it on disk or watch it on PPV and save the fixed monthly fee of a premium movie channel.


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## lpmiller (Mar 8, 2007)

it's not a difference of 1080i versus 1080p, really. Dish's HD is fairly compressed compared to bluray (which yes, is compressed, but they have a lot of room to work with. As good as Dish's HD can be, it isn't as good an image in a direct comparison. Now that the format war seems over, I find myself picking up a lot more bluray movies and I can see the difference. Having said that, if you're happy with the HD PPV selection, great, but investing in a PS3 - which is also a pretty darn good DVD upconverter - is going to give you more movie choices, and a better picture. Add in the uncompressed DolbyHD soundtracks (which really do sound wonderful) and you won't be displeased.


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## Calvin386 (May 23, 2007)

Thanks for the replys guys. The upconverter would be a plus.


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## lapplegate (Jan 17, 2003)

Calvin386 said:


> Whew! We had a tornado here Tuesday night and my internet has been off. Thanks for the replys guys.
> 
> I guess I should have said that I realize that Blu Ray is 1080P and E* is only capable of 1080i.
> 
> ...


Calvin,
I live in the southern Indiana area, close to Louisville. I have a blu ray player and the picture and sound are much better than HD PPV. The problem, in this area, is renting blu ray DVDs. I have used both Netflix and Blockbuster online and they must get only one copy for rent. I am still waiting on blu rays released over a month ago. I cant come up with any local DVD rental places that have blu ray. I have started using HD PPV because thats as good as I can do in a timley manner. If you can find a local rental place that has blu ray or are willing to purchase instead of rent, I would say go with blu ray.

And Tuesday was one heck of a ride.


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## Calvin386 (May 23, 2007)

Brandenburg here. It got a little wild here Tuesday. 

We have a rental place here that has started renting Blu Rays. That's kind of what got me started on this. For now, I am going to stick with Dish PPV til the players come down a little bit. I only rent about 1 movie a month so it's not killing me to wait them out.


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## Friendswood (Jan 17, 2008)

Something to consider when deciding to go Blu-ray or HD-DVD.
At the moment....the movie studios are about evenly split on releasing hi-def content on Blu-ray and HD-DVD.
20th Century Fox, Sony, Buena Vista, as well as a few smaller studios release content on Blu-ray format only. Paramount, Universal and two smaller studios release hd content on HD-DVD format only....with Warner Bros. releasing content on _both_ formats.
In June however...Warner Bros. will begin releasing high-def content in Blu-ray _only_, which will put almost two-thirds of the studio content release exclusively on Blu-ray.


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## steinmeg (Nov 23, 2006)

Calvin386 said:


> I have been kicking around the idea of picking up a Blu Ray player (PS3).
> 
> However, it hit me. I have access to HD movies via E* PPV HD or Dish on Demand (Is DOD in HD?). In 10 years of being a E* customer, I have never tried either one.
> 
> ...


I have a Sony Blue Ray player, and so far I am not happy...I rent movies brand new relaeses( Brave One as an example) ..the colors are dark, and it certainly does not look any better tyhan a regulary 480P DVD...I called Sony( all in the Phillapines) and one guy tells me I need a new firmware update, another guy sdays its the movie..I giver up. 
Some movies are very good, Spiderman 3 , The Black Book), but for the most part I am not happy

PS Iam waiting on the new firmware update to arrive..I doubt if this would help


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## raylock (Feb 4, 2006)

This may not be the best place for this inquiry but maybe someone can steer me in the right direction.

Last night I rented Michael Clayton from Dish's On Demand library. The movie, which was filmed in a 2.35:1 format was displayed in something that looks like 4.3:1 with large black bars on the sides of the picture. The movie was downloaded on my dish VIP622 and displayed on an Epson Home 1080 projector. I am trying to understand why the picture was displayed in the smaller aspect ratio. Is this Dish's choice (In which case I won't rent any more of their movies) or is it the receiver? During the picture the format control (which usually affects the display) did not have any effect. The format control on the projector does not work if the projector is receiving an HDMI signal so that did not work either. 

Thanks for any help or direction where to look.

Ray


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## Calvin386 (May 23, 2007)

I may not be correct about this but I believe that DOD library movies are not in HD. I have been renting movies from the HD PPV channels and all have been full screen 16x9 HD. 

I have been pleased with the HD PPV movies. Except for Pirates of The Carrabian. Good gawd I thought that movie would never end.


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## stoner51 (Nov 30, 2007)

Just rented Rush Hour 3 last night picture seemed to be great. Sound was Ok. The main difference I think is going to be in the Dish being Dolby Digital and the Blu ray being Whatever it is on the disk. I didn't see any pixelation or artifacts that I can remember. Maybe just not as Picky as some.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Another thing to consider: the content providers are pushing hard for recorded PPV movies (including OnDemand) to expire after 24 hours. They don't want people to "own" a new HD movie by DVRing a PPV for $4 and keeping it forever. A simple flip of a bit will prevent those movings from playing back, even if off-loaded to an external HD; all the content providers have to do is turn it on, and it looks like that is about to happen soon.


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

Calvin386 said:


> I may not be correct about this but I believe that DOD library movies are not in HD.


This seems to be changing. Just the other day I noticed Saw IV in both SD and HD on my Dish On Demand - Movies and More section. Looks like they are starting to add HD content. Pricey though, was listed at $6.99, for the HD version.


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## Calvin386 (May 23, 2007)

IIP said:


> Another thing to consider: the content providers are pushing hard for recorded PPV movies (including OnDemand) to expire after 24 hours. They don't want people to "own" a new HD movie by DVRing a PPV for $4 and keeping it forever. A simple flip of a bit will prevent those movings from playing back, even if off-loaded to an external HD; all the content providers have to do is turn it on, and it looks like that is about to happen soon.


I would just quit renting movies at that point.


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## raylock (Feb 4, 2006)

raylock said:


> This may not be the best place for this inquiry but maybe someone can steer me in the right direction.
> 
> Last night I rented Michael Clayton from Dish's On Demand library. The movie, which was filmed in a 2.35:1 format was displayed in something that looks like 4.3:1 with large black bars on the sides of the picture. The movie was downloaded on my dish VIP622 and displayed on an Epson Home 1080 projector. I am trying to understand why the picture was displayed in the smaller aspect ratio. Is this Dish's choice (In which case I won't rent any more of their movies) or is it the receiver? During the picture the format control (which usually affects the display) did not have any effect. The format control on the projector does not work if the projector is receiving an HDMI signal so that did not work either.
> 
> ...





Calvin386 said:


> I may not be correct about this but I believe that DOD library movies are not in HD. I have been renting movies from the HD PPV channels and all have been full screen 16x9 HD.
> 
> I have been pleased with the HD PPV movies. Except for Pirates of The Carrabian. Good gawd I thought that movie would never end.


Movies from the premium channels (both HD and SD) display correctly. The format button on the remote will change the display in the case of SD movies (zoom, stretch, etc.). But, the format button had no affect on the DOD movie which displayed with black bars on the side. The projector info screen showed this as a HD movie. I guess I should check with Dish Tech support.

Thanks
Ray


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