# Is the 721 really in trouble??



## rolou21 (Apr 4, 2002)

This is not a thread to knock on the 721 (even though I own one) but there seems to be a delay on software issues (instant weather...games...interactive to name a few). And why is there no mention on this unit in general...Electronic stores and via dish network themselves. I mean I have had this unit since July with no major burps or any issues. Is E* waiting to see if the merger is officially dead so they can concentrate on adding more material...If it is working lets get down to the nitty gritty and add more fun stuff. For now this is an ordinary 501 (with exception of the dual tuners) with more hd space.

Lets get down to business Dish and market this potential (PRICEY) great product

to the one of the best Pvr's on the market. Want to sell this even better...knock

down the price so it can compete with D* and so consumers can afford it!


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## Bill Simonsen (Oct 4, 2002)

> _Originally posted by rolou21 _
> *
> Lets get down to business Dish and market this potential (PRICEY) great product
> to the one of the best Pvr's on the market. Want to sell this even better...knock down the price so it can compete with D* and so consumers can afford it! *


 Have you ever had a TiVo? How do the two compare, keeping in mind the 12.95 a month for TiVo service..

-Bill


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## dishrich (Apr 23, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Bill Simonsen _
> *Have you ever had a TiVo? How do the two compare, keeping in mind the 12.95 a month for TiVo service.. *


Uhh, try $4.99 for the Tivo service, assuming we are talking about an integrated D* Tivo unit. (as opposed to the "standalone" one you're thinking of)

Well, let's see:

Tivo works like it's SUPPOSED to, w/out having to constantly be rebooted, kicked, pounded, waiting f/software fixes, etc., as well as NOT losing recorded shows in a flash - pretty much sums it up for me... :shrug: :shrug: :shrug:


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## btbrossard (Oct 4, 2002)

> _Originally posted by rolou21 _
> *...And why is there no mention on this unit in general...Electronic stores and via dish network themselves...*


Dish network has the following on their website:



> DishPVR 721 receiver -- Our newest, hottest receiver with Personal Video Features has a huge memory plus two tuners so you can create picture-in-picture on any TV and record two shows at the same time.


http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/technology/receivers/index.shtml

/Benjamin


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## Scott Greczkowski (Mar 21, 2002)

I believe that the 721 was released to the market early, the reason it was released "early" was because Echostar showed this PVR at the CES for two years in a row and each time announced a date for release which came and gone.

They realized that people wanted a dual tuner PVR and that they were loosing some of their best customers to DirecTV for Tivo units.

Because the Dual Tuner PVR features were ready and because people kept asking where is the 721, I believe they released what they had ready, which is what we have today.

As you notice there are many features missing from the unit which were advertises, such as Internet access, Interactive OpenTV, and other features which are still coming "soon"

Another thing we should remember is that Echostar would like us to think that this is entirely a Echostar product and that they are doing all the coding for the unit. This is NOT true in the least. From my understanding Broadcom has written a lot of the drivers and software used on the 721, if Dish need changes made to the PVR operations they need to get Broadcom to make the changes in their software. My big fear is that because of this the 721 could possibly become known as the Dishplayer II.

With all that said, I do NOT regret for a moment that purchased a 721, it works for me, it does what I want it to do. Yes I want Interactive and Internet, but I can wait while they finish the software for those upgrades.

If you are a happy Dish Network customer and are looking for a Dual Tuner PVR I am happy to recommend the 721.


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## marshalk (Jun 9, 2002)

I concur with Scott. While there are some issues with the 721 I really like mine and do not have much if any trouble with it. It has been getting better and improving with time, and will continue to do so. It is somewhat ironic that folks on this forum are all cranked up because we got some "insider" info about a software upgrade that turned out to be not 100% correct. 

Personally my favorite whine is a Shiraz.


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## steveT (Jul 12, 2002)

Personally, I bought the 721 just to have a 2-tuner PVR. That's all I cared about. I didn't really care about interactivity, internet access, or games. I just want a PVR where I can enter timers and record shows. While overall I really like the 721, it bothers me more and more every week that I can't set daily or weekly timers. I'm still having to set timers for every single show. I'm going to be travelling for over 9 days now here very soon, and I have no idea if the 721 will even be able to handle manual timers set out past 9 days. Working daily or weekly timers would've made that a non-issue.

So now 2 months have gone by since Dish first started promising the bug fixes, and yet still nothing. I don't know what a compressed vs. uncompressed guide gives me as a consumer. I'd just like a basic unit with the basic functions working. And daily/weekly timers are a basic function. At this point, that's the only thing I believe needs to be fixed, because it's the only major function that definitely does not work.


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## marshalk (Jun 9, 2002)

Curious, I have daily and weekly timers set and they have been working just fine. My 721 shows I am on L103. I was just out of town for three weeks (I went down the Grand Canyon, a truely awesome experiance) and my 721 did not miss a single show. I have not re-booted it since before I left. steveT, what software revision are you on and have you tried to use the daily/weekly timers in a while?


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## sjhill01 (Oct 13, 2002)

I too thoght things were working great, and suddenly my wife's weekly Trading Spaces timer quit working. It's the only one, but it hasn't worked all week..

It's one thing to mess with my shows (I'm a technical guy, I understand that bugs happen - not that I'm excusing them in a retail product, mind you), but if you mess up my wife's the things going to have to get returned in a hurry...


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## jcrash (Jul 22, 2002)

> Tivo works like it's SUPPOSED to, w/out having to constantly be rebooted, kicked, pounded, waiting f/software fixes, etc., as well as NOT losing recorded shows in a flash - pretty much sums it up for me...


In the spirit of that quote - that's crap.

As far as I recall, I have not rebooted my 721 in the last month. It's guide is basically instantly quick and it is in the form I prefer - by channel with time on the X axis. Yeah, it's more expensive than a DirectTivo, but I don't have directTV.



> While overall I really like the 721, it bothers me more and more every week that I can't set daily or weekly timers.


Why doesn't it work for you? Works for me just fine. We set up CSI, ER, West Wing, Birds of Prey, Fresh Gear, Will and Grace, and a bunch of others at the beginning of the season and I haven't had one fail yet.

The wife has Oprah record daily - it works too.


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## Doug E (Jul 6, 2002)

Ditto Jcrash. I watch a lot of the the sitcoms but was occupied with the world series, and of course Sunday and Mon night NFL.
Started to catch up last night after 3 weeks of recorded stuff with ABSOLUTELY no problems or losses. MY 721 is working flawlessly.


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## EvanS (Mar 27, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Doug E _
> *Ditto Jcrash. I watch a lot of the the sitcoms but was occupied with the world series, and of course Sunday and Mon night NFL.
> Started to catch up last night after 3 weeks of recorded stuff with ABSOLUTELY no problems or losses. MY 721 is working flawlessly. *


glad to hear this, guys. I just ordered one and I don't know why, but suddenly it seemed that all *I* saw were 721 complaints.
My 501 is great and that's all I want out of the 721.


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## Doug E (Jul 6, 2002)

You won't be disappointed EvanS. I still have my 501, but never even turn it on since the 721 (I kept it for a back up but have not needed it). The dual tuners make it the awesome machine that it is, providing PIP and dual recording/watching capabilities. It has the local channel mapping, and an excellent EPG IMO. Enjoy!


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## EvanS (Mar 27, 2002)

cool DougE, thanks...I DO intend to enjoy it


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## alanek (Apr 22, 2002)

My timers work fine, however I am disappointed that they are nothing more than time slot timers. My Dishplayer let you set up the times by titles. If the show didn't air that week it didn't record.
The 721 records what ever is on at that time. It has the same technology that is in my 20 year old VCR.
Except for the two tuners I was happier with my Dishplayer( when it worked  )


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## marshalk (Jun 9, 2002)

While I do like my 721 my number one wish is for program based recording instead of time based recording. I was not aware the old dishplayer did that. Given the nice epg one would think that program based timers would not be that big a deal...unless there is some hassle with Tivo patents/licenses or some such foolishness.


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## sjhill01 (Oct 13, 2002)

Another feature I'd like to see is better management of stored programs and timers. The fact that they're all shown in one list is the first mistake, but I'd also like to see show names instead of times on the PVR screen, and I'd like to be able to store recordings in folders of some sort..


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## Scott Greczkowski (Mar 21, 2002)

I agree I would love to see some type of file management on the 721. 

I would love to have user folders. 

1 Folder called Scott where all my shows go.
1 Folder for my wife
1 Folder for my son

And if possible (it should be its unix) to have sub folders.

So in the Scott Folder there would be Sub Folders such as "The Larry Sanders Show" "Wrestling" etc.

This would make finding the show you want to watch easier, plus its easy to archive shows for longer periods on the 721 this way.


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## sjhill01 (Oct 13, 2002)

Exactly! I want to store this season's 24 in one convenient location, not scroll through pages of random stuff to find the shows I want.


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## Bill Simonsen (Oct 4, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski _
> *I agree I would love to see some type of file management on the 721.
> 
> I would love to have user folders.
> ...


 I can see I'll be keeping my TiVo for a while, at least. Just waiting for the much-anticipated software upgrade that will enable you to record two things at once, etc. What the hell, I guess I can sell either the TiVo or the 721 sooner or later.
Just for the heck of it- has anybody done business with 'Dishshop.com', in the form of "Spencer Sight and Sound"? They are coming in a hundred bucks cheaper than Dishdepot which seems too low, but then again they are both <on paper> losing money on these retail prices. Any kudos or warnings would be greatly appreciated, especially before noon tomorrow <g>.

-Bill


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## GaryK (Jul 9, 2002)

Generally, I like my 721. However it seems like fixes and enhancements are taking way to long. Plus some new problems are cropping up. My caller ID log has been dead for months. Dish has not answer. I subscribe to the PB channel. Lately all I get is a message that this channel is blacked out in my area. Dish said that a number of 721 users have the same problem. There only answer was to cancel the channel with no idea when it may be fixed!

I really want slo-mo, pause picture (top priority)
Guide by name (like TiVo) would be next.

Gary...


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## jcrash (Jul 22, 2002)

What's the PB channel? Also - I don't think SlowMo is on the list, although I could be wrong. I doubt guide by name is on the list either.


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## GaryK (Jul 9, 2002)

PB is my shorthand for the Playboy channel.

This is a response that I got from Dish.

"1. The slow motion feature for both PVR units is in development at currently. There is no set release date at this time"

Is there only (2) PVR units? I specifically asked about the 721.

Gary...


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