One of the most widely sought after DVR receivers outside the 921 is the brand new Echostar Dishplayer DVR 522 Dual Tuner / Dual Output DVR.
Thanks to our friends at DishStore.NET and our friends at Dish Network we were able to get our hands on one of the first units released.
PLEASE NOTE - Since we have moved over to the new Vbulletin software, many of the pictures did not carry over. To see this review with ALL its pictures please see http://www.satelliteguys.us/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=3548
While the units are now becoming available in Dish Networks DHP Packages the units are not available for Retail sale direct to a customer. As we go through this review we will point out why the 522 is not being made available to everyone.
Out of the box the 522 looks just like a 721 but its black. There is no hidden sliding glass panel on the 522 which the 721 had on it to hide its USB and AV Inputs. The 522 glass has 721 like status lites on the front beind the glass but unlike the 721 the 522 has 6 lights instead of 3. These lights show you which tuners are turned on and if they are recording the third set of lights tells you if your 522 is in single mode (which makes it operate like a 721... although this does not work yet...) our dual output mode.
On the back of the receiver you will notice it has a few more outputs.
Another thing that is different is that the 522 has NO SMART CARD in its slot. Instead the smart card is built on board. The Smartcard slot is disabled,, however it can be activated with a software upgrade if Dish changed their security systems / smartcard technology.
The 522 has a built in fan to cool the unit, the only time I heard this unit turn on was at the initial power up.
At the moment the 522 is like having two 510's built into one receiver. However one of the big things that makes the 522 stand out is the new user interface.
Coming up next we look at this new fancy / user friendly user interface!
Thanks to our friends at DishStore.NET and our friends at Dish Network we were able to get our hands on one of the first units released.
PLEASE NOTE - Since we have moved over to the new Vbulletin software, many of the pictures did not carry over. To see this review with ALL its pictures please see http://www.satelliteguys.us/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=3548
While the units are now becoming available in Dish Networks DHP Packages the units are not available for Retail sale direct to a customer. As we go through this review we will point out why the 522 is not being made available to everyone.
Out of the box the 522 looks just like a 721 but its black. There is no hidden sliding glass panel on the 522 which the 721 had on it to hide its USB and AV Inputs. The 522 glass has 721 like status lites on the front beind the glass but unlike the 721 the 522 has 6 lights instead of 3. These lights show you which tuners are turned on and if they are recording the third set of lights tells you if your 522 is in single mode (which makes it operate like a 721... although this does not work yet...) our dual output mode.
On the back of the receiver you will notice it has a few more outputs.
Another thing that is different is that the 522 has NO SMART CARD in its slot. Instead the smart card is built on board. The Smartcard slot is disabled,, however it can be activated with a software upgrade if Dish changed their security systems / smartcard technology.
The 522 has a built in fan to cool the unit, the only time I heard this unit turn on was at the initial power up.
At the moment the 522 is like having two 510's built into one receiver. However one of the big things that makes the 522 stand out is the new user interface.
Coming up next we look at this new fancy / user friendly user interface!