Dish TV dilema

[Cork55]

Hi everyone,

I am a 12+ year subscriber with Dish TV who has enjoyed the service tremendously. Until recently I have had very few issues with Dish, but would like to see what my options might be for my current situation. We currently are using the ViP 722k DVR in our family room with the SD line running to a LCD TV in our front living room. The SD line is split and runs to a Plasma TV in our finished basement. The basement TV was recently upgraded to the plasma TV. With the advent of the fall TV season, I was setting up my timers and noticed that we have a conflict on Wed nights due to Revolution being moved from Monday to Wednesday. We also watch the Middle and Survivor as well which means that we will have to give up a show.

My wife was not happy about this which led me to looking at switching to Direct TV in order to take advantage of a new subscriber deal. I really like Dish and would prefer to stay with them. I called Dish and talked with a CSR who told me about the hopper upgrade, but after reviewing the costs for a Hopper and 2 joeys, our bill would increase by $19. That is a bit more that I would like to pay. Are there any non-hopper alternatives that would allow me to get recorded shows in my basement? Since we now have 3 HD TV's in the house, it also bothers me that we are only getting HD on 1 TV. Could one add another separate DVR in lieu of the hopper joey system?

I would love to hear what you all think so I can better figure out what my best option will be. I am also concerned about not having the correct wiring and not sure what can be done about that if I were to add a new unit to my house.

Thanks.

 

[TheKrell]

I have a 722 and two 612's ($10/ea/mo), and I haven't upgraded to the Hopper since I don't actually want integration of my timers and recordings. This gives me 6 sat and 3 OTA tuners too, which is way more than one Hopper. No conflicts.

 

[navychop]

Sure you could add another receiver. But you might end up paying the same or more than for a Hopper system.

Or you could run an HDMI cable to a remote TV and use component locally. Or use an HDMI splitter. But these options would have the TVs watching the same program.

A Hopper would give you three satellite tuners, which would seem to solve your problem.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Dishman1978]

Adding 1 more HD dvr reciever to your set up will give you 4 total tuners.

612 is 10 bucks a month.
722 is 17 bucks a month.

However adding an additional reciever will not allow for all your recordings to be on all your TVs. And your cabling will have to be modified.

I know 19 additional dollars a month seems like a big jump, but in all honestly a Hopper system gives you more flexibility and more HD.

 

[Scherrman]

You should either add a 211 with an external hard drive or add a 612 receiver. A 211 would add $7 to your bill and a 612 would add $10. The 612 has 2 tuners whereas the 211 is only a single tuner. The 612 may be the best option for you. It gives you two extra tuners to record on and only raises your bill $10.

I would recommend going to Hopper system since it's the best for multiple HDTVs and doing lots of recording. The problem for you is that you're use to being spoiled by the dual tuner mirrored to another TV. Right now you have 3 TVs all hooked up and your only extra cost is the DVR fee of $7. It's been the best solution for years until recently. Now people have multiple HDTVs and record more and more shows. The only way to do that is to upgrade to the newest equipment and their is a cost for the ability to do that.

You'll have to decide what your priorities are and how much you're willing to spend. I think 2 Hoppers and a Joey would blow you away but so would the extra costs, you'd be looking at $24 more per month.

 

[KAB]

You could always HDMI mirror one of your TV's off the Hopper or Joey, saving you $7.00.

 

[eddie willers]

Forget the naysayers and get the Hopper/Joey setup.

It solves all your problems and is a no-brainer.

 

[Cork55]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will have to mull things over and see if I can convince my wife that the hopper upgrade would be the best option for our situation.

 

[boba]

The cheapest upgrade for 3 HDTVs would be return your 722K and get 3 211 or 211K receivers (not 211Z). The 211 is $7/Mo. for additional receiver fees but does not have a $7/mo. DVR fee so your monthly fee would only increase by $7. Dish charges a $40 enabling fee per account to add DVR capabilities to the 211 receivers. Hard drives can be swapped between 211s so you can watch DVRed programming on any receiver. 211,211K and 411 receivers have OTA tuners so you could watch and record OTA subchannels. If you shop the internet you can find some bargins on used receivers.

 

[Scherrman]

Forget the naysayers and get the Hopper/Joey setup.

It solves all your problems and is a no-brainer.

I'm not sure there are that many naysayers here. It's more of problem with the increase in cost than it is the equipment. Doesn't make much sense to just tell people to forget everything and just get the Hopper because it's so awesome. It may be awesome but not everyone can afford that increase in their monthly bill.

 

[Scherrman]

The cheapest upgrade for 3 HDTVs would be return your 722K and get 3 211 or 211K receivers (not 211Z). The 211 is $7/Mo. for additional receiver fees but does not have a $7/mo. DVR fee so your monthly fee would only increase by $7. Dish charges a $40 enabling fee per account to add DVR capabilities to the 211 receivers. Hard drives can be swapped between 211s so you can watch DVRed programming on any receiver. 211,211K and 411 receivers have OTA tuners so you could watch and record OTA subchannels. If you shop the internet you can find some bargins on used receivers.

The cost may not be much but the inconvenience just went up a bunch. In order to record more than one show at a time you would need an external hard drive on more than one 211 receiver. You would also only be able to have a recording on one TV and in order to share that recording you would have to move the hard drive from room to room. Having OTA can help with the added tuner but still limited to each receiver. Don't forget the fact that you would have to purchase 1 to 3 external hard drives that can cost anywhere from $50 to $150.

?It may keep the monthly fees down but it's a bigger investment and seems like a pain in the butt.

 

[TheKrell]

The cheapest upgrade for 3 HDTVs would be return your 722K and get 3 211 or 211K receivers (not 211Z).

Why do you say "not 211z"? Won't it take an EHD?

 

[Scherrman]

Why do you say "not 211z"? Won't it take an EHD?

They are stripped down and I don't believe they have OTA built in.

 

[Cork55]

I had another thought. Is Dish Anywhere able to be used on a smart TV assuming one had a slingbox? this would allow me to view my recorded shows on my basement TV. I prefer the basement since I can view shows like Dexter, True Blood, Game of Thrones, etc away from the kids. that is my main reason for wanting to find a way to be able to watch downstairs.

?I had also thought that i could just get 1 joey and use it for my basement TV, but that would leave my Living Room TV with no Dish access. Can 2 TV's be serviced by 1 joey?

 

[rajmarie]

I'm not sure there are that many naysayers here. It's more of problem with the increase in cost than it is the equipment. Doesn't make much sense to just tell people to forget everything and just get the Hopper because it's so awesome. It may be awesome but not everyone can afford that increase in their monthly bill.

Exactly. Thats the reason I am sticking with my 722k for now. I have the TV2 output feeding 2 TVs (2nd one hardly watched). So to upgrade to even 1H+1J...I will have to pay I think $12 extra...in order to get the same thing I am getting now.

So far I havent faced any major recording conflict...so 2 timers are doing ok...plus paying $12 extra for basically the same channels doesnt seem the right.

 

[Scherrman]

Exactly. Thats the reason I am sticking with my 722k for now. I have the TV2 output feeding 2 TVs (2nd one hardly watched). So to upgrade to even 1H+1J...I will have to pay I think $12 extra...in order to get the same thing I am getting now.

So far I havent faced any major recording conflict...so 2 timers are doing ok...plus paying $12 extra for basically the same channels doesnt seem the right.

You are partially right. You would be paying $12 more to have a two TV setup but you are getting a lot more than just that. You are getting a third tuner and two TVs in HD not to mention all of the other features/benefits the Hopper offers. For some people the Hopper system is well worth it.

 

[eddie willers]

...in order to get the same thing I am getting now.

The 622/722 were wonderful solutions when all you could afford was the new HDTV in the living Room and funneled the 2nd (SD) tuner to your old NTSC TV.

But an SD picture on an HDTV is not only awful looking, but stretches the picture itself out of proper proportions.

If you still have an old 4:3 TV in the bedroom, leave well enough alone. But if you now have an HDTV in there, getting a true HD picture through the Joey is reason enough alone. (IMHO, of course )

 

[lucky86]

I had another thought. Is Dish Anywhere able to be used on a smart TV assuming one had a slingbox? this would allow me to view my recorded shows on my basement TV. I prefer the basement since I can view shows like Dexter, True Blood, Game of Thrones, etc away from the kids. that is my main reason for wanting to find a way to be able to watch downstairs.

?I had also thought that i could just get 1 joey and use it for my basement TV, but that would leave my Living Room TV with no Dish access. Can 2 TV's be serviced by 1 joey?

You're TV won't work with DishAnywhere because the TV browser won't be able to install the needed plug ins. One Joey could service multiple TV's but the Joey only has 1 HDMI out and a set of RCA jacks. So you would need to decide how to split that up or which TV is getting HD and which is getting SD.

 

[KAB]

You're TV won't work with DishAnywhere because the TV browser won't be able to install the needed plug ins. One Joey could service multiple TV's but the Joey only has 1 HDMI out and a set of RCA jacks. So you would need to decide how to split that up or which TV is getting HD and which is getting SD.

Not if he got a $20 HDMI splitter.

 

[dwarren2]

The Hopper with PTAT sounds like you answer. Add an ota module and you can record all 4 of the major networks on 1 tuner, leaving 2 more sat tuners and an ota tuner for additional recordings. You can add 3 Joey's giving you hd tv at 4 tv's. If you need a 5th, you can add another Hopper which will give you additional tuners. Now it will cost you more, but keeping the wife happy maybe worth it. You know the old saying "If Mother is happy, Everyone is happy." You would be able to watch anything recorded on any tv.
My technology challanged wife has no problem with our Hoppers.