811 dies, but does seem to respond to IR...

[Jerry G]

After reading some suggestions that the 811 is IR capable and could be controlled by another remote, I excitedly came home to try using my 6000's remote with the 811. Unfortunately, upon turning on the 811, I got a 301 error message telling me about severe damage to the smart card. Tech support could not get the 811 up and running and Dish is sending me a replacement. I could get to the Sys Info screen and there was a new software update sent since Wed night.

So I couldn't fully test the 6000 remote with the 811. But I did remove the UHF antenna and was able to turn on the 811 and bring up the Sys Info screen with the IR from the 6000 remote. So I'm guessing that the 811 will indeed respond to IR from the 6000 remote. I'll have to wait until the new 811 arrives before fully testing. It's too bad the tech person I talked to last night told me the 811 only responded to UHF. And why in the world would Dish send a more complicated remote that includes unneeded PVR commands that only emits UHF for the receiver when they could have used a simpler remote such as the 6000 remote to control the 811? Makes NO sense to me.

 

[dlsnyder]

Maybe your 6000 remote killed your 811?

 

[gpflepsen]

I'm under the impression the 811 doesn't have a smart card. Is this so?

 

[ROLLTIDE]

It has one

 

[dlsnyder]

It is on the board. It also has a smart card socket for future card swaps.

 

[Jerry G]

Maybe your 6000 remote killed your 811?

Well, that thought did come to mind, but it's hard to imagine how that could happen.

 

[jlhugh]

You zapped it with your remote control.

 

[Jerry G]

You zapped it with your remote control.

Nope. I just gave it one more try after it was unplugged for a few hours and it's now working. And it accepts the IR codes from my 6000's remote. So, that's obviously very good news.

Now if Dish can get the rest of the aspect modes working and the centering problem fixed, the 811 should be pretty good.

 

[ride525]

Jerry G

Have you been able to compare OTA picture quality between the 6000 and the 811. Both analog and digital and how they look?

 

[Jerry G]

Jerry G

Have you been able to compare OTA picture quality between the 6000 and the 811. Both analog and digital and how they look?

Not really. Until the aspect modes and off center image are fixed, I'm not connecting the 811 to my plasma. It's temporarily connected to a small bedroom LCD that can input S Video and 480p component. The 811 tunes in an OTA DTV channel much faster than the 6000 and did the automatic DTV scan quite quickly.

 

[perUano]

It is on the board. It also has a smart card socket for future card swaps.

Does this mean that if I put the smart card that I have now on my 6000 on the 811's smart card socket it will work?

 

[DishTechCB]

Don't do it!

You don't want to place an existing smart card in any of the new dish receivers that have the built in technology. Static from the card can get into the box via that slot and fry some of the board causing the receiver to go bad. The slot is for future upgrades but it will be a couple years before they'll need to upgrade. Maybe if they end up going to mpeg 4.