# Dish Network VOD Questions



## skywarner (Jul 26, 2010)

Hello,

I was about to switch to Dish and had a couple of questions about their Video on Demand Service. First, is it necessary to have the DVR box hooked up to an internet connection or do you just need it hooked to a phone line? I heard DirecTV needs an internet connection, but I am not sure about Dish Network.

Also, does Dish include a lot of the free content that cable does, such as the TV shows? How about the offerings for kids? Is there NickJR on demand selections or other free kids shows? 

Thanks for your help.

Johnny in New Hampshire


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## SDWC (Dec 14, 2005)

It does need to be connected to the internet if you want what is known as the "DISH Online" version of VOD. There are free titles as well as pay per view choices. I personally can't help with the specific offerings, I really don't use it much.

From what I have read, unless you have a 922 model receiver the download speed is painfuly slow. I have a 722K and when I want to watch something I usually schedule it well in advance to make sure it's available when I want it.

There are also VOD movies that DISH loads onto your HDD in advance so that if you want to pay for one it's already queued up and ready to go.


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## [email protected] Network (Jan 5, 2011)

Happy to hear you are considering getting out service.

You can have the DVR receiver connected to either a phone line or to the internet. As SDWC said, you won't be able to access the DISHOnline feature unless you have the receiver connected to a broadband connection (recommended speed of at least 300Kbps). But keep in mind that there are still other services that you can take advantage of such as DISH Remote Access, interactive channels (ex. The Weather Channel), having the ability to paying your bill through your receiver, ordering PPV's through your remote, caller ID, and it also helps us troubleshoot issues with your receiver if we ever need to.

We have a variety programming available on our on demand line-up; feel free to visit our website to learn more:

http://www.dishnetwork.com/vod/default.aspx


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## Mike109 (Jun 28, 2010)

They have some TV shows, but IMO the selection is pretty slim.


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## ZBoomer (Feb 21, 2008)

The VOD works very well on my 922, but agree, need way more free content, and more TV content.

PPV and VOD movies on dish are way too expensive, IMO. At $6.99 a piece, usually for only a 24-hour viewing, I just can't bring myself to do it. I'd rather drive a mile to Redbox and watch a current movie for $1, or blu-ray for $1.50.

Not to mention Netflix streaming, etc.

If all PPV and VOD movies were something like $1.99, I'd be burning up the lines, but not at $6.99. I think Dish is really missing the mark here.


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## Dish97 (Dec 19, 2009)

ZBoomer said:


> If all PPV and VOD movies were something like $1.99, I'd be burning up the lines, but not at $6.99. I think Dish is really missing the mark here.


$6.99 IS too expensive for something you watch once and cannot even store on your DVR.
My sister asked me to connect her 722k to the internet while she went away one week. Anxious to see how it would work, so I agreed. 
No problems connecting. Used Netgear home plugs.
Dish claims thousands of movies online. 
When I searched, over 3800 titles did come up. When I filtered out for only titles in HD, number drops to about 82. Maybe two or three worth watching. Maybe 1 worth paying for.
If VOD or Dish online gave one the option of "buying" an HD title, would it be worth 7.99? 8.99? 
For me, possibly. 
But when I see a title like 2001 available in HD online for one time viewing at 4.99, I say "you've got to be kidding."
I've got a nice clean copy on my EHD from HDNET Movies I can watch anytime I please. 
I don't think I'll be in any hurry to connect my 4 DVRs to the internet.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

I have my VIP722k connected to both a phone line and internet.I really like their Caller ID on screen feature(Caller ID access is ordered through your phone company) plus internet connection even though I may not order a pay per view movie I like having all the options available to me with my Dish Network receiver.

Plus there have been reports that Dish Network has called up a subscriber to schedule a tech visit because the customer is having bad signal problems and the customer didn't even know they were.I'm sure that the customer being connected to the phone and internet may have helped with that call?.

Your pay per view options without being connected is very limited plus if you want to order a movie you would have to call in to do so and there is a charge for that.Where with a phone line and internet connected you can order a movie with your Dish Network remote control and there is no extra fee.

I have tried my Dish Network receiver unconnected and connected and it is my own opinion that my receiver works better when it's connected to the phone and internet.Plus like I said before I do like to know I have these options available to me if I need it.


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## Michael1 (Feb 24, 2010)

I would like to add that if you get a 211K, there is no dishonline.com VOD content. I tried, couldn't find it, and got passed around to some techs, until someone in the know said it wasn't available. You can do a few things online, but not much.

Michael


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Michael1 said:


> I would like to add that if you get a 211K, there is no dishonline.com VOD content. I tried, couldn't find it, and got passed around to some techs, until someone in the know said it wasn't available. You can do a few things online, but not much.
> 
> Michael


Umm... you have to have a DVR in order to use Dish Online. Where would you download Dish Online content if you don't have a DVR?


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

Stewart Vernon said:


> Umm... you have to have a DVR in order to use Dish Online. Where would you download Dish Online content if you don't have a DVR?


The external hard drive option.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I guess I just never would have expected to be able to do that because on the DVRs, you can't archive to an EHD any of the Dish Online content... so it makes sense that the 211K with external drive wouldn't support it either.


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## olguy (Jan 9, 2006)

Just watched SALT which came out on DVD last week. Will watch Red next week. Both $6.99 for HD on Dish VOD. Both on Blu-ray from Netflix. Guess how I watched SALT tonight. :lol: Those 2 alone paid for a month of 1 at a time, including blu-ray and unlimited streaming.


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## TroyD (Feb 25, 2011)

Mike109 said:


> They have some TV shows, but IMO the selection is pretty slim.


Couldn't agree more. I just got my VIP722 installed and I seem to only have 720 tv shows, and not much is current. Is this what I should expect?


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## Mike109 (Jun 28, 2010)

TroyD said:


> Couldn't agree more. I just got my VIP722 installed and I seem to only have 720 tv shows, and not much is current. Is this what I should expect?


I never counted what I get, but 720 TV shows seems like quite a bit. I just thought Dish would offer similar content as Comcast. I'm not sticking up for Comcast but they had a whole bunch of current TV programs. If you forgot to record a popular program chances are it would be on their free HD OnDemand. They usually kept the last 4 or 4 episodes available. They also had a decent selection of free HD movies. These were not new releases but they were not ancient either. There was a charge for new movies, similar to Dish, but Comcast had a larger selection. Bottom line is I am disappointed by Dish's online ondemand TV programs.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

Comcast isn't restricted by what can be delivered over satellite or ethernet. It's not exactly a level playign field when you compare them.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Stewart Vernon said:


> I guess I just never would have expected to be able to do that because on the DVRs, you can't archive to an EHD any of the Dish Online content... so it makes sense that the 211K with external drive wouldn't support it either.


Doesn't make any sense - the 211's "EHD" in reality is full functioning SYSTEM drive with same purpose as 622/722's internal.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Mike109 said:


> I just thought Dish would offer similar content as Comcast.


Comcast has a 10-year head start with OnDemand, which wasn't possible with satellite until the last few years when the average home user has some form of high-speed Internet, and Comcast still has the advantage due to having free (to them), dedicated bandwidth for OnDemand.

Also, back 12-13 years ago, Comcast was able to get nearly everyone to sign contracts allowing their content to be offered via OnDemand. Since then, the networks have discovered that they can offer their content OnDemand over the Internet themselves, and keep all of the money and control in-house. That has made it MUCH more difficult for relative late-comers (i.e., the sat TV providers) to get contracts for a lot of that same content.

Of course, most Comcast systems don't offer nearly as many HD channels as satellite does, so it's a trade-off. Comcast knew over a decade ago that their linear channel capabilities would be limited for various reasons, so they invested heavily in OnDemand, and that (plus Internet services) is their biggest strength right now.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

Dish97 said:


> $6.99 IS too expensive for something you watch once and cannot even store on your DVR.
> My sister asked me to connect her 722k to the internet while she went away one week. Anxious to see how it would work, so I agreed.
> No problems connecting. Used Netgear home plugs.
> Dish claims thousands of movies online.
> ...


I'm not to keen about DISHONLINE. What I do is scan HBO & STARZ and other premiums and DVR my selections.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

Mike109 said:
 

> I never counted what I get, but 720 TV shows seems like quite a bit. I just thought Dish would offer similar content as Comcast. I'm not sticking up for Comcast but they had a whole bunch of current TV programs. If you forgot to record a popular program chances are it would be on their free HD OnDemand. They usually kept the last 4 or 4 episodes available. They also had a decent selection of free HD movies. These were not new releases but they were not ancient either. There was a charge for new movies, similar to Dish, but Comcast had a larger selection. Bottom line is I am disappointed by Dish's online ondemand TV programs.


Comcast has probably has thousands of programs and movies because they have lots of servers that hold content. Dish and DirecTV don't.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

Satellite delivery of programming is very limited in bandwidth, whereas calbe has much more flexibility thru multiplexing over wire.optical cable.

Satellite program distribution can NEVER compete with cable in this area, they are just that different.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

P Smith said:


> Doesn't make any sense - the 211's "EHD" in reality is full functioning SYSTEM drive with same purpose as 622/722's internal.


Sure it makes sense.

In order to put VOD on the external drive, Dish would have to reserve a bunch of space on it like they do the DVR internal drive. People would probably scream when they connected an external drive and found half of its space gone immediately for stuff that they have to pay more to watch!

For people who have multiple EHDs... each drive they connect would similarly have half of its space reserved because the receiver would have no way of knowing what EHD would be connected at any given time.

That would not go over well with customers I suspect.


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## sliderbob (Aug 10, 2007)

Mike109 said:


> I never counted what I get, but 720 TV shows seems like quite a bit. I just thought Dish would offer similar content as Comcast. I'm not sticking up for Comcast but they had a whole bunch of current TV programs. If you forgot to record a popular program chances are it would be on their free HD OnDemand. They usually kept the last 4 or 4 episodes available. They also had a decent selection of free HD movies. These were not new releases but they were not ancient either. There was a charge for new movies, similar to Dish, but Comcast had a larger selection. Bottom line is I am disappointed by Dish's online ondemand TV programs.


720? I have a 722 DVR and only can get 80.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

sliderbob said:


> 720? I have a 722 DVR and only can get 80.


That's when you access TV Shows-Networks.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Jhon69 said:


> That's when you access TV Shows-Networks.


Available Titles: 469
Networks: 72

You're doing better than me.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

James Long said:


> Available Titles: 469
> Networks: 72
> 
> You're doing better than me.


TV Shows-Starz: 1 of 120 available.I must be I have Starz and that's just one network I have of 70 networks listed in TV Shows ?.:grin:

I have 469 Titles also under Explore TV Shows,I guess some subscribers need more?.

Update: Just for the record under Dish Cinema:Explore Movies-Available Titles: 3980?.:eek2:


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

My only issue with Dish Cinema is it's slower than sheep poop!!(sorry guys I was raised on a ranch) and that's with AT&T's Elite DSL: 6MB down 784k up and that's not what I am getting under www.speedtest.net .


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Jhon69 said:


> My only issue with Dish Cinema is it's slower than sheep poop!!(sorry guys I was raised on a ranch) and that's with AT&T's Elite DSL: 6MB down 784k up and that's not what I am getting under www.speedtest.net .


So the problem with DISH's service is your ISP? Unfortunately that is something outside of DISH's control.

I have 3MB max DSL which usually tests around 2MB (which isn't bad considering my distance to CO). That isn't DISH's fault - it is mine for not paying $30 per month more for faster service.

I'd like to see more on VOD ... I've watched a few programs to "catch up" due to recordings lost to bad weather (local channels putting up huge weather bars and interrupting programming). If it is available on Hulu/DISH Online it should be available via VOD (in my opinion - this is a request, not reporting what DISH is doing).


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

James Long said:


> So the problem with DISH's service is your ISP? Unfortunately that is something outside of DISH's control.
> 
> I have 3MB max DSL which usually tests around 2MB (which isn't bad considering my distance to CO). That isn't DISH's fault - it is mine for not paying $30 per month more for faster service.
> 
> I'd like to see more on VOD ... I've watched a few programs to "catch up" due to recordings lost to bad weather (local channels putting up huge weather bars and interrupting programming). If it is available on Hulu/DISH Online it should be available via VOD (in my opinion - this is a request, not reporting what DISH is doing).


Don't believe that's it as I'm downloading at 5.20M and up at 590k which is above what Dish Network specifies that I need also when I disconnect the ethernet connection everything speeds up.But there are less selections when disconnected.Think Dish Network's VOD is a work in progress after all they do specify it's in Beta?.

Update: Now downloading at 5.51M with Google Chrome 9.


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## HB12 (Mar 3, 2011)

Back to the Dish VOD tv title discussion, I seem to only have about 600 choices...but almost all of them are stand-up and this is under the "DishOnline" tab. I have about 60 or so shows under the "Watch Now", but I used to have a ton more choices. Where did all the Discovery networks go? I also used to be able to watch lots of NBC shows as well.


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