Dish counts the 612 as essentially one tuner. Yes some will say it's a dual tuner and it counts as two. The 722 is costlier than a 612.I'll probably get shot down for this ... so try to be nice ...
The 612 is essentially a 622 but can only service one TV, you can not "swap" the pictures, and do not have picture in picture. To me, those are pretty big features.
Why does Dish not charge for dual mode for the 622 and the 722 like they do with the extended hard drives?
So, if you want a 622 (or a 722) to use the TV2 outs, you pay a "one time fee" and now your TV2 outs work. Because you are using the 2 tuners independently, if Dish wants to up the tuner count, so be it.
Pretty simple ... no need for a 612 ...
So what are the deals now ... $50 for a 612 ... $75 for a 622 ... $100 for a 722? (I am probably off here).
Why not charge $50 for a 622 with just TV1 enabled or $75 for a 622 with both outs enabled.
You get the idea ...
To me ... hardware wise ... there was no need for the 612 ...
Flame away ...
On saturday I installed one 722 and two 612's . The cust had three HDTV's. He wanted DVR in all three locations. he paid a $249 upgrade charge
The issue isn't the tuners . It is the cost . It's a dicey situation.
The 612 is a versatile machine. It is esentailly a cable tv converter that allows the user to view one channel while recording another . Or view a recorded program while recording two others. Or they can view an OTA program while recording two other satellite programs.
The only bugaboo with the 612 is no PIP feature. IMO that's dumb.
