[brittonx]

RIM should consider looking at what DirecTV has been doing for the last couple of years with their Digital Video Recorders / Satellite Tuner boxes.
There is an independent online forum called DBSTalk.com. They have a special forum called "Cutting Edge". They have a special relationship with DirecTV where there are usually weekly beta releases that users can download to their boxes. They identify if the betas are risky or mostly stable and they gather feedback from the user group.
The only condition of participation is agreement to not bother DirecTV regular support with issues with the betas. There is plenty of support in the forum.
DirecTV has benefited greatly at the larger testing group.
The users have benefited by having early access to new features and early enough input to have a significant impact on what gets implemented and how it works.
Ultimatly, DirecTV has a much better product as a result.

It would be great if RIM would open up to a model like this.

[Dawg]

very interesting in deed

[wjackson81]

Only problem with this is the pathetically low quality of Directv's DR boxes. They are so bad and counter-intuitive I pay extra to use the antiquated dvr tivo/hughes box I orignal got with my service.

Whats the saying; "too many cooks f up the stew"?

Honestly though, I do like the idea.

[andrews240]

I must echo what wjackson81 said.

I have always thought that a more open beta program would benefit RIM and Blackberry users greatly. That being stated, the sorry excuse for an HD-DVR that I am locked into for the next 18 months don't seem to benefit at all from the CE program over at DBS. I can't go more than 3 days without pressing the little red button. And that's an improvement from the daily resets that I was experiencing before the most recent firmware update. But I do agree that this would be great.

[brittonx]

Originally Posted by andrews240

I must echo what wjackson81 said.

I have always thought that a more open beta program would benefit RIM and Blackberry users greatly. That being stated, the sorry excuse for an HD-DVR that I am locked into for the next 18 months don't seem to benefit at all from the CE program over at DBS. I can't go more than 3 days without pressing the little red button. And that's an improvement from the daily resets that I was experiencing before the most recent firmware update. But I do agree that this would be great.

You should have them swap your device out. Sounds like something is wrong with it. My HR20-700 has been extremely reliable (even with most of the betas) and is very easy to use. We are delighted with it.
I really like how I can access music and videos from my home network with it.

[NJBlackBerry]

If you have your HD-DVR network connected, disconnect the LAN cable and see what happens.. There are a lot of threads about how the DVR doesn't play nicely with some uPnP devices like All In One printers.

The CE Program is interesting - I participate, but I am not sure it would work the same with the BlackBerry. DirecTV puts out new versions every week, and issues National Releases VERY frequently.

[brittonx]

Wouldn't it be nice if we saw frequent releases?

[NJBlackBerry]

That would just cause havoc here and at other support forums...
Just count the number of "I installed 4.5.0.37 and lost my ________".

I would rather RIM send out quality code to go with a stable device.

DTV has to send out frequent updates because of crummy hardware AND software.

[CanuckBB]

The other thing is that installing beta software on a DVR or a PC can hose your device.

Installing a beta on a Blackberry has the potential of hosing the RIM infrastructure. What if there is a bug in the reconcile code, and every berry using that beta start to stream data through the RIM servers?

[fizzleation]

Also, directv is the only entity adversely affected if their beta cripples a device, where with a phone, service providers would also be affected. It is comparing two c.ompletely different things. While I get where you are coming from, it would be an extremely poor idea for RIM to do that.