Buying a HD DVR off e-bay - Questions

[agracer]

I have a DVR 522 but a normal TV. I'm looking at upgrading my TV to HDTV and along with it, my Dish Network. In Houston there are a bunch of HDTV channels and they appear to be provided on the Dish signal (the local channels are listed twice on the guide and as far as I've learned, the 2nd listing in the HD Signal of the local channels).

I've seen HD DVR's for Dish on E-Bay and I'm wondering what I have to do to hook them up. I remember D* used to have a smart card in them so it was simply a matter of switch cards. Is E* the same way? or can I simply plug in the new unit and I'm ready to go? Also, what about my outside satellite unit? Will that need to be upgrades as well?

I did search the archives but didn't see much on this topic.

Thanks

 

[mwgiii]

Dish does NOT broadcast local HD channels on the satellite. You will put up an antenna to receive your HD locals.

You will have to run 2 lines from the dish to the 921 or 942 or upgrade your switch. You cannot swap cards in Dish's receivers. The receiver will come with the card built in. Just plug it in and you are ready to go.

The number of dishs outside depend on where you are and what you want to receive.

 

[kavula]

The receiver will come with the card built in. Just plug it in and you are ready to go.

It's a little more than that, but nothing too bad. Plug it in, and call E* to activate it and deactivate your old receiver. If you buy one off ebay, you need to have the receiver and smartcard serial numbers to verify with E* that they will let you activate it.

 

[agracer]

Well it really sounds like I should just get and HDTV with a tuner built in, buy an antenea and go with that. My neighbor gets all the local channels in HD no problem and there's not that many on DISH anyway. It would save me $5/mo too sice I'd not have to pay for local channels anymore (although it would confuse my wife as she'd have to push an extra button to watch local and switch video feeds...!!! )

What are those channels below 2 in the guide anyway? I thought they were HD channels...national feed for NBC, CBS, etc...????

 

[GaryPen]

You will need to pay that $5 per month for Dish locals, if you want local channel information appearing in your guide for your local over-the-air channels.

That's right! If you want to be able to use the DVR's recording features for local OTA programming, you will need to pay $5 for Dish locals IN ADDITION to the $5 DVR fee. Sweet!