DISH not all that bad

[ClarusWorks]

I've been reading posts on here for a while, and I see a lot of complaints. Personally, I don't have that much trouble with my DISH equipment. I currently have a 522/322, and 2 dishes, both DP 500s, but one only has 1 LNB for 61.4. The signal is a lot more reliable than it was with my old RCA DirecTV equipment, and the DVR is nice. We get the usual stuff, watchdogs, Interactive troubles, etc. but nothing too big.

A relative of mine works for E* Advanced Tech. A lot of the problems they have aren't their fault, it's the computers. There are 2 main apps that the CSRs access, DISH Promo and CSG, along with a 'web' with the support info they need. DISH Promo is a piece of junk, and very little training on CSG is given. Promo was written in Visual Basic, and messes up frequently, eating payments, bungling receiver #s, etc.

These are the comments/knowledge I have:
1. To all 7100/7200 owners: PLEASE, do yourself a favor and get rid of that thing. Get a 501, 508, or 510. The 501/508 have no PVR/DVR fee, and 35-50 hr. record time. The 510 has an $5 DVR fee, 1/2 what 7x00 owners pay, and 100hr. record time. E* hates troubleshooting the things, they were designed in cooperation with Microsoft Corp, and worked fine until MS partnered with DirecTV.

2. The DVR is not intended as a permanent storage device. If you want to keep something, BACK IT UP.

3. If your TV acts screwy (Numbers in corners) when you hit mute on your DISH remote, you most likely have a set made by Funai. These brands include Symphonic, Sylvania, Emerson, Durabrand, SuperScan, and probably more. Those things are junk, and DISH can't seem to find a way to work their mute circuitry correctly. Just avoid the mute key, or buy a good TV.

4. If you order a replacement dual tuner remote, it will be a TV 2 (blue chip) remote. If you needed a TV 1 remote, take off the battery door, pull out that chip, and flip it so the green side faces up.

5. If you get that "A serious problem has occured with your receiver. Call Customer Service" or something to that tune, it means that you've been caught stealing DISH, and your smartcard is toast.

That's all for now. Sorry if I angered anybody, just trying to bring out some useful facts. I personally do not work for E*, I just use their programming.

 

[Mark_AR]

Just goes to show you that E* needs to get ahold of some of the Open Source Brain Trust to rewrite their whole system.

Tux said he would do it.

 

[belawrence]

Basically,

I've recently discovered that I have much more fun actually watching television on E* versus watching members on message boards complain about it. I guess i'm one of the lucky few whose equipment doesn't meltdown a couple times per day like apparently most everybody else's does if you believe the posts written daily. I also rather have a couple extra premium movie channels than, say, Goodlife, Ovation, or Oxygen.

 

[Stanleee]

I can say I will be really happy if locals ever are offered in my area.(Rumored to be in April). I hope thats not just a rumour. I just added the sports package but won't be keeping the Blacked out package for long.My equipment is fine (510,811) but I join the millions that want more HD.Oh well,maybe in our lifetime........

 

[Paul_Medenwaldt]

I would have to agree with the original post.

I've been with E* for about 3 years and have had great CS from them. Whenever I had a faulty receiver, they ship out a new one and I ship the old one back. Thats happend twice, both of them were DVR 501 and 510. Simple transaction no complaints.

The one time I had a complaint was dealing with CS. I believe I got into one of their overseas call centers and every person I talked to there had a heavy accent and it was difficult to communicate with them.

Otherwise my 811 is working like a trooper with the old firmware 281.

Paul

 

[Pils]

1. To all 7100/7200 owners: PLEASE, do yourself a favor and get rid of that thing. Get a 501, 508, or 510. The 501/508 have no PVR/DVR fee, and 35-50 hr. record time. The 510 has an $5 DVR fee, 1/2 what 7x00 owners pay, and 100hr. record time. E* hates troubleshooting the things, they were designed in cooperation with Microsoft Corp, and worked fine until MS partnered with DirecTV.

2. The DVR is not intended as a permanent storage device. If you want to keep something, BACK IT UP.

1) The 7100/7200 had all sorts of problems and as a product of E*, it should be supported or they should not have developed it. Anyways, E* has actually diminished quite a few of the bugs in it for the most part so I give them credit for that. But the reason it is intriguing to people is because you can add a large HD in it for more space, more than a 501, 508, 510 and you can have multiple drives so I don't think people will give them up easily.

2) If someone wants it as a storage of shows, why should they not? Maybe you are intending to say if something deletes/disappears on accident, be prepared. Anyways, with the 501, 508, 510s this is not a widespread problems and like a computer, things can crash. But with flawed software on the 522 and 921s, things disappear to routinely due to bad software. A neighbor has one and the first 2 shows he recorded on a timer were erased in the morning. Not even a chance to backup, so E* has to improve on that and that is where most complaints are. Luckily you have not witnessed this but that doesn't mean it works for everyone.

 

[TuxCoder]

Just goes to show you that E* needs to get ahold of some of the Open Source Brain Trust to rewrite their whole system.

Tux said he would do it.

Heh, let's not get too drastic here... if I offered that, it was probably while under the influence of much alcohol after fighting with the 522 for too long one evening... !sadroll

 

[maximum]

2. The DVR is not intended as a permanent storage device. If you want to keep something, BACK IT UP.

I wouldn't complain as much about the DVR wiping out the hard drive if I wasn't being charged extra for Video On Demand service. But since they charge an extra $5/month VOD fee then I better dang well be able to watch recordings on their DVR, instead of my VCR.

 

[Stargazer]

If the VOD software is not going to work right then people should get the credit on their accounts for that fee.