Exclusive: Scott Reviews the new Dish 322 & 522

[BobMurdoch]

Here's a complicated question so please bear with me......

I currently have a 721 and two dishplayers hooked up to a SW64 with a Dish500 dish for 110/119 and a Dish300 Dish for 61.5. I have the dual LNBs on the 500 Dish which were installed in May 2000 if that has any bearing on your answers.

I'm planning on swapping a new 921 for the 721 (I'm assuming my current dish and switch setup can handle this with no changes) as soon as I can get my hands on a 921.

I also would like to swap out my two dishplayers. I'm planning on getting a 510 for my bedroom as I only need one tuner there, but I wanna get a 522 for my son's room as I would eventually like to run another line to a TV in my daughter's room (nothing in her room right now) and the two tuners acting like a mini TV server for the two sets would be a great fit (and a great way to dodge the extra receiver fee)

I have America's Everything Pak so the PVR fees don't apply to me.

My questions:

1. Will the 921 work with my legacy equipment without a DishPro upgrade?
2. Will my Dishplayers NOT work with a Superdish Upgrade?
3. I'm planning on selling the Dishplayers as their resale value is still unusually high..... Does my 510 solution for my bedroom and the 522 for my kids rooms work and what equipment will I need?
4. Since the Superdish will make me choose the 105/110/119 combo, am I out of luck for CBS-HD on 61.5 (as well as my secondary local channels) until the 4:4 switch comes out?

Whew. I like to think I am fairly well versed on these things, but my head is swimming with all the changes and potential "gotchas" out there in the near future.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

1) The 921 will work with Legacy Equipment
2) Your Dishplayers SHOULD work with SuperDish with a Dishpro adapter, however they wont see the 105 or 121 satellites
3) It will work, I would wait until you have your SuperDish installed to avoid upgrading twice.
4) CBS HD will (is) on 105 you will not lose that when you upgrade to the SuperDish.

Hope this helps!

 

[BobMurdoch]

2) Your Dishplayers SHOULD work with SuperDish with a Dishpro adapter, however they wont see the 105 or 121 satellites

Time for my stupid question for the month (what, only one?.....)

What is the DishPro adapter and how do I make it work? (I'm pretty well versed on the receivers and the programming, but I am clueless when it comes to talk of LNBs, dishes, and assorted accessories, so I beg your patience) .

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

THe Dishpro adapter is a little plug in needed for every non dishpro receiver when hooked up to a DishPro LNB Switch system.

Any 3 numbered system (Ie 501, 712, 921, 301 etc) are Dishpro compatable.

Any 4 digit receiver ID, (ie 3900, 4200, 7200, 6000) will need this adapter on EACH of these older "Legacy" receivers, this adapter converts the "bandstacked" Dishpro frequencies and power requirements down to what a Legacy receiver can understand.

Hope this help explain it better.

 

[BobMurdoch]

So, if I understand this,...

I will need two of these for my two Dishplayers when I have the Superdish installed. (Unless I order the 510 and 522 to arrive the same time that the Superdish does...)

Thanks for the lesson. I've heard these Dishpro adapters talked about, but never understood what they were for or when I needed to use them.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Bob that is correct you would need two adapters for your Dishplayers if you decided to keep them.

Again note that even with the adapters the Dishplayers will still not see the 105 or 121 birds, however they will still be able to see 61.5 110 119 and 148 with no problem.

 

[Guest]

What I want from E* is a consumer level media server, ie a centralized archive of video, audio, and photos with a number of tuner inputs, 1 Gb Ethernet connection to a home fiber network for AV distribution and archiving from other sources, supporting a number of UHF remotes.

 

[Stargazer]

They were going to do that with Moxi type of device but the plans must have gotten scrapped a while back.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Did you know that the Moxi software was made using the base 721 software?

Moxi is still a great idea but I believe Moxi will only be seen in cable converters, and not satellite receivers.

 

[caseyatbt]

Why can't the previous PVR's (501,508) be upgraded to the 522 software?

 

[video62]

Why can't the previous PVR's (501,508) be upgraded to the 522 software?

The 522 software is based on a completely newer and different hardware platform. Plus, the 522 has dual-tuner capability which requires different hardware than the 501/508/510 platform which has only a single tuner.

 

[davhol]

Why can't the previous PVR's (501,508) be upgraded to the 522 software?

As a "guess" right off... Because the 50x receivers are SINGLE tuner boxes and the 522 is a DUAL tuner box with DUAL outputs. Horses of different flavors....

 

[Stargazer]

It looks like the dual tuners with two outputs for independent viewing on two different tv's are going to get different software than the single tuner receivers and the dual tuner single output receivers that have Linux (721, 921).

 

[Delta4C]

Trading in 322 for 301 Incompatible with ReplayTV 5040 or any standalone DVR.

Trading in 322 for 301 Incompatible with ReplayTV 5040 or any standalone DVR. I switched from Roadrunner cable (which was more expensive and not digital, but worked flawlessly with Replay TV 5040)to Dishnetwork 5 days ago and I have been going thru hell since. ReplayTV 5040 works flawlessly on Roadrunner Cable Dishnetwork's 322 not compatible!

322 Receiver needs software modification, to eliminate incompatibility issues with non Echostar DVR units!
Screen Saver with Dish network Logo and Text (Push Select to Continue) pops up and gets recorded by my ReplayTV 5040 after daily Dish Network Software update and or every 4 hours if no remote control button is pushed. This Logo stays on screen and renders my ReplayTV 5040 TOTALLY USELESS.

EXTREEMLY ANOYING and TOTALLY UNEXCEPTABLE
I never had these ridiculous problems with my ReplayTV 5040 and Cable Company!
After more than 2 days and several calls to Dish Network Tech support, I may or may not have workable solution.
Whether this solution works or not it is very poor workaround at best.
I currently have 8 reminder timers (1 every 3 hours) set to simulate remote control activity, in order to keep the 4 hour inactivity screen saver from activating. Due to software updating Daily at 4:00 AM I had to set additional timer at 4:10 AM to keep from having screen saver started after software update.
SUGESTION PLEASE EXPEDITE SOFTWARE MODIFICATION ON 322 RECEIVERS TO INCLUDE CHECK BOX.
[ ] DISABLE SCREEN SAVER
This would be much preferred to my current workaround that may or may not work.
322 Receiver incompatible with non Echostar DVR units due to poorly written software!

 

[Craig Henrikson]

Scott -- OK, I give up -- Where ARE the pictures? I can't seem to find a link in your message.

Craig

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Check out http://www.satelliteguys.us/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=3548

 

[riekl]

522 on the way !

#1) I dont see any of the pictures in this forum ? Not even links ? I see all the text of the review but no pictures, not even an icon for missing pictures ?

#2) What kind of quality is the output on the coax ? Is it really sufficient to be used on say a 32" tv set ?

#3) I also have a 510 coming, is it any good ?

 

[GregoriusM]

I also do not see ANY pics! What's up?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The old forum software is offline, it will return this weekend.

Scott

 

[belawrence]

So, the 322 automatically shows a screen saver after a few hours if no remote buttons are pressed or after any data download(like guide info)? That's no good. I curently have a 5504 and a 5040 connected to an 811 and a 1000 and have never missed a single program as of yet.