Showtime - Free Preview Weekend 3/31-4/3 on Dishnetwork (maybe other systems too?)

[Grimm1]

Just saw a commercial for this. Showtime: It's All 4 You Free Preview Weekend, 03/31 - 04/03 on channels 285-295. This was on Dishnetwork...this is the same thing they did for the HBO free preview weekend. Instead of opening the existing channels they are duplicating them to a group of unused channels.

This stinks for TiVo recording because you have to manual record everything. Is there any chance that TiVo would dupe the guide data for those few days to those corresponding channels?

[balboa dave]

The free preview is on DirecTV also, and on their usual channels. TiVo will work just fine.

[weymo]

Adelphia cable appears to be participating

[Grimm1]

Just a reminder - This starts tomorrow.

Does anyone from TiVo read these? I sure wish they would update the guide data for Dishnetwork subscribers who are going to get these channels for the next 4 days on alternative channels (285-295) instead of the normal ones.

I don't understand what Dishnetworks reasoning is for doing this...but it forces TiVo users to record everything manually which means we end up with a bunch of nameless recordings in our Now Showing list.

[Lurker1]

Yes, it is a pain, and DISH is doing it again for the Starz Free Preview April 28 - May 1. Lots of manual nameless recordings again...

[Syzygy]

balboa dave said:
The free preview is on DirecTV also, and on their usual channels. TiVo will work just fine.True, but half of the movies I recorded from SHO-HD were spoiled by big brightly-colored blocks, a few pixels tall but very wide. One or two of the movies I recorded in HD were chopped up/truncated/shortened by the poor signal from the sat. A wasted free weekend, IMHO.

And what about the huge opaque overlays, top & bottom, instructing you to call now (!) to subscribe? They obscured almost half of the picture in some cases and occurred every 20 minutes or so, lasting maybe 5 seconds each time. Was this advertising presented to Dish viewers as well?

[Grimm1]

And what about the huge opaque overlays, top & bottom, instructing you to call now (!) to subscribe? They obscured almost half of the picture in some cases and occurred every 20 minutes or so, lasting maybe 5 seconds each time. Was this advertising presented to Dish viewers as well?You mean during the movie? Not that I recall.

[Syzygy]

Yep, they were during the movie. So I guess it was just D* doing the adverts.