Well ok, I made up the DishPVR 809 model number by adding 508 + 301. 
By soldering pins into the JTAG headers of my Dish Now! 301 and a DishPVR 508 purchased off Craigslist, I was able to bring the 508 up with the prepaid receiver id and purple G3 access card. The result is a prepaid solution with no charge DVR support.
I was able to turn on 1 day of HBO and record a couple movies without any issues. The "you have 1 day left" nag screen doesn't exist on the 508, so you don't know when your programming is going to expire, it just does. That is easy enough to keep track of by just making a note of the expiration from the IVR.
What you need:
A working DP301 prepaid receiver. You need the old card & the new G3.
A functional DishPVR 501/508. It doesn't need a smart card, but obviously needs to work ok, not have a failed HDD etc.
A simple parallel JTAG cable and some jumper wires since the 301 and 508 use different pinouts. You might be able to use a "universal JTAG" cable on the 301 through the bottom access panel. I soldered in header pins myself.
A Windows PC with a parallel port to run the JTAG software.
solder / de-solder equipment / header pins / willingness to toast your equipment.
I just read the identity from the 301 and then followed the 508 "hard drive upgrade" procedure, but used the 301 identity. You can probably read the identity using a universal JTAG cable with minimal modifications and no soldering on the 301. This leaves it working and more or less untouched except for maybe bending the case on the bottom by the JTAG access hole.
Once you have reflashed the 508 (per the HDD upgrade procedure) it needs to upgrade back to current from the satellite and this is where I ran into trouble. The really old code didn't like the G3 card much and would more or less lock the menus so I couldn't run check switch or anything and convince the receiver to upgrade. It would just say "access card is not inserted properly" the whole time. I used the old card that was in the 301 before getting the new G3 and with some swapping in and out and mashing on the buttons I was able to get into the menus and run check switch without the screen being taken over by the "insert your access card" message. Then it upgraded to P408, rebooted and liked the purple G3 access card ok.
I called in 1 day of HBO and bam, I had prepaid DVR working.
NOTE: All programming is activated and FULLY PAID FOR using a green dot money pack and is authorized and secured by Dish's G3 security device. The DishPVR 508 does not require a monthly DVR fee, so no DVR services were unpaid. This should only be done with a DishPVR 501 or 508 as they do not have a monthly DVR fee.
Also note that no contract terms were violated as this is PREPAID and as such has no contract associated with it.
By soldering pins into the JTAG headers of my Dish Now! 301 and a DishPVR 508 purchased off Craigslist, I was able to bring the 508 up with the prepaid receiver id and purple G3 access card. The result is a prepaid solution with no charge DVR support.
I was able to turn on 1 day of HBO and record a couple movies without any issues. The "you have 1 day left" nag screen doesn't exist on the 508, so you don't know when your programming is going to expire, it just does. That is easy enough to keep track of by just making a note of the expiration from the IVR.
What you need:
A working DP301 prepaid receiver. You need the old card & the new G3.
A functional DishPVR 501/508. It doesn't need a smart card, but obviously needs to work ok, not have a failed HDD etc.
A simple parallel JTAG cable and some jumper wires since the 301 and 508 use different pinouts. You might be able to use a "universal JTAG" cable on the 301 through the bottom access panel. I soldered in header pins myself.
A Windows PC with a parallel port to run the JTAG software.
solder / de-solder equipment / header pins / willingness to toast your equipment.
I just read the identity from the 301 and then followed the 508 "hard drive upgrade" procedure, but used the 301 identity. You can probably read the identity using a universal JTAG cable with minimal modifications and no soldering on the 301. This leaves it working and more or less untouched except for maybe bending the case on the bottom by the JTAG access hole.
Once you have reflashed the 508 (per the HDD upgrade procedure) it needs to upgrade back to current from the satellite and this is where I ran into trouble. The really old code didn't like the G3 card much and would more or less lock the menus so I couldn't run check switch or anything and convince the receiver to upgrade. It would just say "access card is not inserted properly" the whole time. I used the old card that was in the 301 before getting the new G3 and with some swapping in and out and mashing on the buttons I was able to get into the menus and run check switch without the screen being taken over by the "insert your access card" message. Then it upgraded to P408, rebooted and liked the purple G3 access card ok.
I called in 1 day of HBO and bam, I had prepaid DVR working.
NOTE: All programming is activated and FULLY PAID FOR using a green dot money pack and is authorized and secured by Dish's G3 security device. The DishPVR 508 does not require a monthly DVR fee, so no DVR services were unpaid. This should only be done with a DishPVR 501 or 508 as they do not have a monthly DVR fee.
Also note that no contract terms were violated as this is PREPAID and as such has no contract associated with it.
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