I think it was last summer (a year ago) that I got a house-brand DVD recorder at Radio Shack.
As I recall, they were on clearance around $40 or $50 because the impending rule requiring digital tuners.
This one only tunes analog channels, not that I'd care - I use the RCA input jacks to record!
Since you want to record from satellite, you don't care either.
Some Dish receivers have IR-blaster feature to turn on your VCR and make it record - maybe you can use that.
I was recording FTA from a receiver with no such feature, so I just left the receiver on channel, and set the timer in the recorder for overnight recording.
Just as if using a VCR... and it worked great!.
I'd suggest keeping an eye out every holiday, for sales at all the big retailers (and etailers), and see what pops up.