Slow Downloads VOD

the 30 and 60 minutes shows seems pretty normal. as DTV "throttles" their downloads to be close to real time. the 2 hour show seems to be a bit slow.

are FF'ing when viewing the 30 min show?

check your download speed at www.spaekeasy.net .  cable internet speed varies during the day.  with low speeds being between the hours of 7 to 11pm

Thank you for the response. Sorry about the double post I saw HD DVR after posting on DVR and figured it was a more appropriate place to post.

Not sure why DTV throttles the downloads, but it very frustrating for those who change from a real time system, particularily when you have the bandwidth to download faster. Oddly technical support tells me that I would get the same result at 2 Mbps as I do at 11 times the speed.It leads me to conclude  DTV does not really  provide VOD.  It downloads and records at the same speed that it would record a show from a scheduled time on the channel menu. It is more of a record on demand and watch later service.

To clarify I did not ff the show. It was Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO on Demand  and I started when the bar turned Green and caught up at the 24th minute.

My download speed is consistently around 22 Mbps and does not vary by time of day. Just ran it at 7:15 PM PDT and it was 22.48 Mbps. I checked it during downloads the last couple of nights and it has been about the same. Ran it again at 7:25 PM at 23.11 Mbps.

Seems it really doesn't matter if DTV throttles the downloads!

correct.  that is why (i think) they changed the name of the service to cinemaPlus.  the good thing about this system is that you always get the advertised resolution unlike cable companies that "dumb" down the rez to fit your internet connection, like netflix does

Thank you for your reply. There are 2 sevices, Cinema Plus and VOD. VOD includes a large number of Networks and Premium channels. So if you miss a CBS or HBO (channel 1501), Showtime (channel 1545) program you can watch it "on demand". The number of channels offered is great and clearly is something they have a clear advantage over cable. But the download speed is problematic. Overall DTV is better than cable, this download thing is just annoying.

actually those 2 services are DirecTV Cinema, which is all the PPV stuff (both downloads and regular PPV's) and there is cinema Plus, which is the free stuff (only available via download)  DirecTV got rid of the "on demand" or "VOD" names

Thank you for your reply. You are correct that the shows are listed in cinema plus, but they are also listed by network and each has a seperate channel listed as On Demand. As an example NBC On Demand (VOD) is channel 1004, ABC On Demand (VOD) is1007 and HBO On Demand (VOD) is 1501. That is how they are listed on the channel guide. In either case it does not fix the download issue. Thank you again for being diligent in getting back to me.

A note about download speeds. I think you may have your expectations askew. You are thinking in terms of total time to download, and you should be thinking in terms of when you can begin watching. Example, here is a quote from your original post. " it takes 30-40 minutes for a 30 minute HD show and 55-70 minutes for an hour HD show". In the first instance if you put the show to download, go to the facility, get a snack you can then begin watching and can watch the entire program "as it downloads". Same for the second case. If you'll try a little test, put a show to download, watch something else. Every few minutes look at the downloading show in the play list. You'll note the bar is red at the outset, but will soon turn yellow, and soon thereafter turn green. Red means wait, yellow means you can watch with a possible delay part way through, green means you can watch uninterrupted.

And very best of all. Unlike a lot of other systems that dumb down resolution to match your network speed, Directv delivers full 1080i, 1080p, and 720p content with the full audio package.

Here's a little test you can run if you like.  Tune to 1239 in the Guide and select a concert to download.  Look at your watch, wait 3 minutes, then go to your playlist and play the program.  I'd bet that it plays all the way through without stopping.

Thank you for your reply. A few days ago I tried watching a 30 minute show when the bar turned Green and caught up to the download in the 24th minute. I tried again today and it worked fine and I agree the picture quality is great. Not sure what happened the first time but as long as it is working now, I'm good.

Amazingly enough 5 calls to DTV tecnical support, an escalation and a master tech dispatched and no one (until you) suggested trying patience as a solution. I am not a patient person as you might have guessed. Thank you very much, I am comfortable with the 10 minutes or so I have to wait to get a high quality product.

You're welcome and glad you were able to use the feature successfully.  Note that different programs come from different servers and you may well run into a slow one on occasion, as well as one that is really fast.

In defense of the tech folks, I mess with my system most all day every day as I post to the forums and concentrate on how it works while they need to know why it works.  As an aside, they renamed the "On Demand" service "Cinema Plus" I think because folks with slow ISP's were critical of the time required to download.

patience is a virtue but being inpatient is part of being a man.....  

Sounds like something a wife would say, or an impatient man.