Dish Network, QAM and DVRs

[mrschwarz]

My parents live in a condo that just dropped cable and went to a Dish Network system. He got 2 811 receivers and a 351 receiver. I called Dish to try to get him a DVR and was told that because this was a QAM system, they did not have any DVRs that are compatible with it.

What is QAM? Why can't a 622 or 942 work on this system? Are there any alternatives that will work?

 

[BrianMis]

QAM is a modulation scheme used by cable systems, but is also employed in hotel type enviroments that use satellite TV service.

Here is a link that explains it in more detail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrature_amplitude_modulation

I know that the 811 could be configured to work on this type of system, I have never had any of Dish's HD DVR's so I can't elaborate on those.

 

[mrschwarz]

Thanks for the response. I had already looked it up at Wikipedia. I was not sure what it means oiin conjunction with Dish Network. Does this mean that I don't need a dish receiver to view programs? The Dish guide is still availabale and it behaves exactly like the receivers I have in my house which go directly to a dish.

Is there another DVR that could be used in this system?

Thanks.

 

[animalhouse]

Should be able to use most brands of DVR's. I have a Dish ViP211 hd receiver and have an iLO DVR connected to it. Everything works fine.

 

[RVD420]

Thanks for the response. I had already looked it up at Wikipedia. I was not sure what it means oiin conjunction with Dish Network. Does this mean that I don't need a dish receiver to view programs? The Dish guide is still availabale and it behaves exactly like the receivers I have in my house which go directly to a dish.

Is there another DVR that could be used in this system?

Thanks.

You could use a SA Tivo or a ReplayTV box

 

[dishrich]

At CES this year, E* had a demo of an add-on QAM converter, that would enable non-QAM receivers to work on QAM headends. Unfortunately, they didn't say when it was coming out or how much, but the one thing I did see, is that if you had a dual-tuner receiver, you had to have 2 of these things, one for each tuner input. It also didn't say if this would work on ALL E* receivers, but they were demo'ing it on a 625.