I Want Streaming Netflix to My DVR!

When I watch television using Dish Network, it works like this:

Everything comes through my Digital Video Recorder (DVR).

1. The Dish Network signal is received by my satellite dish and routed to my receiver.
2. My Dish Network receiver translates the signal based on the channel I currently have selected.
3. The translated image is written to the hard drive in my DVR.
4. The DVR reads the image from the hard drive and displays it on my television.

This writing to/reading from disk happens even if I am not recording the TV show. It is what makes it possible to pause and rewind live television. I can even fast forward through commercials if I have started watching late or paused so that what I am watching is not up to the minute.

Contrary to this, when I stream a movie from Netflix, this is what happens:

I currently do this through my DVD player.

1. The signal is broadcast over the internet.
2. The signal arrives at my cable modem.
3. My cable modem sends it to my router.
4. My router sends it to my DVD player via a wireless connection.
5. The DVD player translates the signal to an image and displays it on my television.

For the past 6 years, both of these scenarios (DVR and DVD) have served me very well. Though not available back when I got the DVD player, there are now smart TVs that do what my DVD player does right out of the box.

Since I am happy with both viewing experiences, what's the point of this blog post? It has to do with fast forwarding or rewinding.

• DVR-based

  
  Smooth experience using my DVR.

  When I rewind or fast forward a live or recorded movie using my DVR, it is a smooth experience. The device has all of the data locally, so it can show me the various full-sized images at 4x, 16x, 60x, or 300x speeds. It is a great experience.

• DVD-based

  
  Clunky Netflix streaming-movie experience using my DVD player.

  When I rewind or fast forward a streamed movie using my DVD player, it is a very clunky experience, Instead of showing actual video frames, the display is a set of thumbnail images. I can go at 2x, 4x, or 8x speeds, but the precision is not there. It's almost impossible to resume playing at an exact spot in the movie.

Wouldn't it be great if I could have the DVR-like experience when watching movies that are streamed via Netflix? Well along comes Dish Network channel 370.

Selecting channel 370 is like selecting any other channel.

Channel 370 lets me log into my existing Netflix account and stream movies from Netflix. Alas, even though I am watching through my DVR, the rewind and fast forward capabilities are the clunky experience I get with my DVD player.

Clunky Netflix streaming-movie experience using my Dish Network DVR.

Here's how I wish it would work.

1. I select channel 370 on my DVR.
2. I log in using my Netflix user name and password.
3. I select a movie to "watch instantly" from my Netflix queue.
4. The signal is received by my satellite dish or internet connection.
5. My Dish receiver translates the signal to an image.
6. The translated image is written to the hard drive in my DVR.
7. The DVR reads the image from the hard drive and displays it on my television.

So now when I fast forward or rewind Netflix movies, it would be just like watching live TV. If I pause the move for a moment, and then come back to it, I could fast forward because the streamed data would already be on my hard drive. Hello Dish Network and Netflix, are you listening? I think lots of people would like this. Please make it possible.

Methods for viewing, rewinding, and fast-forwarding are alive in the lab.