1. New HD channels have been somewhat listed, at least the agreements are in place. They will not go live until at least the 1st Sat goes live. Many HD channels are waiting for D* before they go live, if you were that channel, why would you go HD if there is NO provider to show it ?
2. The majority of the issues have been fixed, D* has been working diligently to send updates and with each one, the unit gets better.
I personally have had very few problems since I got mine back in Sept. but others have had issues, the majority are taken care of.
3. Any good reasons to upgrade ? Yes, if your a sports fan, your local RSN may be up and running in HD, your Locals may be in HD, and you will need the new recievers to get the new HD cchannels as they will be in MPEG4 format, your HR10-250 onlt handles mpeg2.
4. Still trying to charge for DVR fee?, of course they are that will not change, TIVO charged $122 p/m if you went with strictly TIVO, no D*. when D* came into it, TIVO charged 5 p/m... so that chrge has always been there and probably will always be there.
D* now has different programming packages in which the HD and the DVR are automatically included, depending on what you have/ get.
btw, DISH charges for EACH DVR you own. D* only charges for the 1st DVR, so you pay the DVR fee on the first and nothing on 2- however many you decide to have.
5. Free upgrades, NO not yet, but depending on who you talk to and your status with D* you can get different discounts and price adjustments.
They may charge you and then ive you 12 months of a $10 monthly discount, everyone is different.
6. The OTA tuners have been activated since Dec. and working well .
Jimbo