Advice wanted...Thinking of buying a DVR

[asmcbride]

I just did the dishin it up promo and should be getting an 811 swapped out for one of my current 301's and was thinking of buying a dvr on ebay to replace my other 301...Since I'll be forking my own money out to buy the dvr is there anything I should be aware of as far as outlook timeframe and continued use goes...I'm thinking of getting the 508 on ebay (really like that there are no monthly charges). Will this unit become obsolete after the whole MPEG 4 thing I keep seeing mentioned, or does that only effect HD (my 811 will be leased). Is there any thing else I should be aware of? Basically, I'd hate to spend the money on the unit only to find that I can't use it a year from now...Thanks in advance

--McBride

 

[DishSatUser]

All receivers, DVR or not, will become obsolete with the MPEG4 issue over time. In the near future (year or so) it'll only be HD content that will be added in MPEG4.

Long term, for the bandwidth savings, all content including SD will be in MPEG4.

This means that:

28xx
29xx
38xx
39xx
4xxx
5000
6000
3xx
5xx
811
921
and the 942 will all be obsolete.

This is why "leasing" is most likely the best approach at the moment, you can drop them and return them to E* when required to upgrade to newer equipment.

I have a 301 and 7200 Dishplayer (E* first and best DVR now that the software is stable). I'll not "purchase" any equipment until after the MPEG4 issue is resolved. I will "lease" anything that solves a need that I have now, however.

So if I buy an HDTV set before E* finishes their MPEG4 roll-out, I'll gladly "lease" a 921 or 942 until the new crop of equipment.

I may start "purchasing" again after the MPEG4 hardware is released.

 

[j5races]

why not use it while you can

So what if the 508 has to be replaced down the road. Buy one for 150 or 200 and use it for the next two years or whatever and then dump it. You could say the same thing about computers...I dont want to buy a computer now in two years they will cost half as much and be twice as fast...so what, at least you get to use it in the mean time. I like the 510 i have, wish there was no fee but at least it hold a lot of shows...... Jon