DVR question from new Dish subscriber (to be)... first post

[Boostaddict]

Hey all. I’m a long time lurker and am now going to make the move to Dish from cable. I can’t stand all the fees that Comcast gives me and the quality of all non-hd compressed video is horrible on my big tv. I have a couple questions in regard to my new dish setup. I have already done a lot of reading on these forums and called Dish to ask questions.

What I really want is a simple dvr system to run to my main tv, which is a 47” hd monitor. My second tv is infrequently used and would be great to have dish, but not a requirement. I’m not interested in Dish hd service right now, as the selection is limited and I mostly watch dvds for movies anyway. What I’d ideally like to do is purchase a refurb 508 receiver (or possibly a 721) off ebay or a vendor here and have it activated/installed “free” under one of the referral deals (my friend is a long time Dish guy). However, I am told by Dish that the installation of this setup varies from $100-200 (instead of free) because its not a lease deal of a new system. I have no problem doing the hardware install myself, as my house is small and I’m far from technically challenged. However, most all the reasonably priced refurb setups I’ve seen do not include the actual dish/LNB hardware (receiver only). At this point I’m thinking that the $5 per month dvr/lease fee is probably worth it to not have to deal with any of the hassle, especially since in a year or so I might want to upgrade to a better receiver and/or HD dvr unit.

Does anyone have any recommendations to achieve the desired end result without much pain? Shall I bite the bullet and get the plain old 522/510 dvr receiver and live with it? Once I have a 522/510 receiver installed can I buy a refurb 508, swap the receiver, call up dish to activate it, and then deactivate and send the 522/510 receiver back to Dish and quit paying the dvr/lease fee? Thanks for any help and recommendations! Regards,

Wayne

 

[Liquidforce88]

Well if you can install it just buy a Dish from Ebay or somebody that has them as well. You can get a dish and a Twin LNB for about $30.00 plus shipping. Then you don't have to pay someone $100 to come put it in for you.

 

[Boostaddict]

Interesting. I'll have to look into this some more. I have an older Directv Sony dish in the closet that was on my roof when I bought the house. It has 2 coax outputs on it, but I'm not sure its a dual lnb and probably wouldn't work with E* anyway (see attached picture).

I found a bunch of ebay auctions that state something along the line of Dish Network Dish 500 + Dual LNB. I'm assuming thats what I need. Or, can I buy a new dual LNB w/o the big flying saucer and use the Sony one that I already have?

This method will save me a bit of hassle, and I can install it the way I want then. I also assume that I can then buy the Ebay receiver and use my dish referal to activate the receiver for free?

Thanks for the input,
Wayne

 

[Liquidforce88]

No you want to get a dish with a DishPro Twin or Quad

 

[dishrich]

(again)...it would help US help YOU (all) if people would tell us - WHERE ARE YOU?

This is because I would assume that you DO want your local channels & since some areas require a superdish (big oval one) OR require a 2nd dish, just telling you to pick up a D500 on e-bay may NOT give you what you are wanting...

 

[Boostaddict]

Well, thats easy. I'm in the Detroit suburbs. I was not aware that location mattered (probably obvious since its my first post), but I typically learn quick (an engineering degree isn't totally worthless). I have read about the need to sometimes have 2 dishes in order to also pick up locals, but I wasn't sure why it was needed.

 

[dishrich]

(Sorry, didn't mean to go off, but EVERY newbie that has come here lately asks questions about their particular situation, which (in most cases) obviously requires us to know his location)

On that note, Detroit requires a dish 500 for the 7 main networks - if you want the rest of your locals, you'll need the 2nd dish as well. That may change in about a year or so, as E* is required to have ALL locals for a given market on 1 dish, but nobody really knows what's going to happen before then. (E* is launching another satellite, which is supposed to fix this)

Go to E* website under locals, put in your address under locals check & you can see which locals are carried on which dish. If you don't care about the secondary locals, you can skip the 2nd dish.

 

[Boostaddict]

E* stated something to the effect that I qualify for all locals, with only one strange additional channel that I need a second dish for, so that sounds good!

Okay, so to summarize. If I do a complete self-install I can pick up any pvr receiver (such as a 508 or 721) off ebay (that doesn’t have a balance due and includes the proper card), purchase a dish 500 if all I want are the 7 main networks, and I should be good to go. I call up E* and activate the receiver and thats it?

And I definitely want a DishPro twin (much more $) such as this auction:
fleebay #1

Rather than a regular “dual lnb” such as this auction:
fleebay #2

Thanks,
Wayne

 

[dishrich]

You got it...

 

[SimpleSimon]

I just checked the auction - looks like the DP Twin is LESS than the old Legacy gear.

 

[Jared Twomey]

Personally, I would go with a new lease system, get a 522, that way you have a dual tuner dvr on your main tv, so you can do multiple recordings, picture in picture, and name based recording, ect... and still be able to use it on your second tv if you ever want to....
but that's just one guys opinion

 

[Boostaddict]

Isn't the 522 the system that you need a phone line or get charged an extra $5 lease? I don't have a phone line (cell only) so thats not real desirable. I'm still interested in thoughts/ideas though, as I'll be hunting for deals over the next couple weeks. Thanks!

Wayne

 

[gary s]

If I had an HDTV I think I would want whatever high definintion programming I could get. I think the HDTV package from Dishnetwork is about $10.

With that said, I would go with the Digital Home Advantage program from Dish with an 811 for the main tv and either a 510 (if the DVR fee is not a problem) or a 301 or whatever the basic receiver is now for the second tv. If you are positive you do not want an HDTV receiver you could get a different receiver in place of the 811.

I would make sure I was signing up with no commitment. Once installed you could swap out with whatever receivers you wanted to from ebay or wherever. Of course, if you were planning on eventually getting a 721, you would have to see if you could get a 522 to use in single mode (on whichever tv the 721 would be planned for) in order to get the two lines run to it. I don't know if Dish will allow a 522 for use in single mode under the DHA plan.

I do have a question. Can you hook up an 811 and a DVR such as a 508 to a HDTV with one cable from the satellite run to it. If so that would be another option for the HDTV.

 

[Boostaddict]

Whelp, I won an ebay auction for a brand new 721 package that included the pro twin, mounting hardware, cables, remote, card, etc. I hope it really is "new". $200 couldn't be beat since just the recievers are going for a lot more than that. Thanks for the help!
Wayne