I ordered the 522. Is it a bad product?

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maximo

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May 28, 2004
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I ordered the 522! Will I like it?

I'm switching from digital cable to dish network. I should have my 522 by june 8th. I've read many posts including the review which was less than favorable. I'm wondering if the 522 is the best way to go. It was free and seemed to offer enough features for me at the time. Most of what I have read are problems and complaints. I understand this is a forum so people are going to be seeking help hence the problems and complaints.

I would appreciate some info on why you like your 522. Let me know if it's really a good choice. Give me some brief reasons why I will like it or will not. I personally have never used or seen it in action and that's why I'm seeking help.
 
that's funny. I was thinking about my receiver. I own a Harman Kardon 525 and I'm so use to posting about it that I put 525 instead of 522. I edited it so it makes sense now.
 
Though I haven't experienced the recording bugs etc that some report, I don't care for the picture quality. Someone else said the same thing about it. My Comcast digital cable had a better picture which is why I'm going to try Direct Tv with the tivo. My friend just got Direct Tv and he has a better picture than me with an older tv without s-video.
 
DirecTV with TIVO is much better IMHO. But a bit more expensive. I went the budget conscious route myself. The 522 is fine, but has some quirks. You can find more in these forums, like plan on doing a soft reboot once a week for maximum stability. It must run on windows instead of Linux...
 
I've had my 522 for a few months now, and I have to say, I've been extremely pleased with it. Sure there are a couple of 'bugs' (like the occasional audio drop-out), but all in all, it's really nice! Especially if you've never had a DVR before! It will change the way you watch TV.
Do yourself a favor... since you've already ordered it, don't worry about it. When you get it, sit back and enjoy!
 
Maximo if you are in a Directv territory forget DISH and switch to Directv and a Tivo it may cost you a little more up front but it will give you more satisfaction with fewer headaches over time. If you go with the 522 you are signing up with DISH network for a lease system with no commitment you can cancel at any time. You will never own the 522 you are leasing just like you did with the cable company except DISH dosen't give you free service after the first 90 days a service call will cost you $99.
 
boba said:
Maximo if you are in a Directv territory forget DISH and switch to Directv and a Tivo it may cost you a little more up front but it will give you more satisfaction with fewer headaches over time. If you go with the 522 you are signing up with DISH network for a lease system with no commitment you can cancel at any time. You will never own the 522 you are leasing just like you did with the cable company except DISH dosen't give you free service after the first 90 days a service call will cost you $99.
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wrong!!!! under dha a service call is 25 bucks
 
I'll see how it goes for a month or two then switch to directv if I'm not satisfied. A ton of people on this forum have dish. Does anybody actually enjoy dish or is it just the 522 they don't enjoy?

The picture quality and sound are extremely important to me. They are some of the main reasons I'm switching besides the aspect of dvr. I definitely hope neither of these disappoint me. However, after what I've read, anything could be true.

____________________________________________
sony wega 32fs100
harman kardon 525
athena as-f2 (fronts)
athena as-b1 (surrounds)
athena as-c1 (center)
HSU research vtf-2 (sub)- soon
 
I've never had digital cable so I can't compare on my own TVs. I have seen TW's so-called digital cable at other people's homes and quite frankly, it sucks compared to digital satellite. I used to have DirecTV but switched to Dish in Feb or March of this year. I did get a 522 too. WE LOVE it. As mentioned above, it's not 100% perfect, nor is it unusable as some would imply in this forum. The only bug we've seen is the audio drop-out one. It's not like you miss some terribly important comment either. You can rewind 5-10 seconds and replay it and it's fine.

Speaking of that bug, if you really pay attention, when you "pause" a program, either the video stops before the audio does or vis-versa. When you un-pause, the video starts before the audio does.
 
SimpleSimon said:
Yeah it must - because the Linux boxes like the 921 reboot as often as 3-4 times day, not once a week. :D
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My Sony SAT-T60 Series 1 Tivo (Linux) ran months without quirks, reboots, or problems. Too bad DirecTV is such an evil empire. How did DirecTV get exclusive Tivo rights anyways? The Dish DVR is really a sad box when compared to a Tivo. No matter what model you have, Tivo out paces it with stability and features. If morals and money are no object, I would say get DirecTV with Tivo every time....
 
listen to the guy on here, just get it and sit back and enjoy. i just got a 721 and i think it's a lot better than a tivo. the 721 is a lot like the 522, minus the 2nd output. i love the PIP in the guide and PIP. Tivo can't do either of those.

What i'm getting to is that the 522 is a great receiver, if not for the bugs, which will be ironed out, it's Dish's best DVR receiver. Tivo and the 522 both are great and each offer their own features. Enjoy your 522.
 
Thanks guys, you have been a lot of help. I will sit back and enjoy. For one, I've never had a dvr and this will be a huge improvement over what I already have in terms of features.
 
AppliedAggression said:
listen to the guy on here, just get it and sit back and enjoy. i just got a 721 and i think it's a lot better than a tivo. the 721 is a lot like the 522, minus the 2nd output. i love the PIP in the guide and PIP. Tivo can't do either of those.

What i'm getting to is that the 522 is a great receiver, if not for the bugs, which will be ironed out, it's Dish's best DVR receiver. Tivo and the 522 both are great and each offer their own features. Enjoy your 522.
Click to expand...

Those two features do not make up for lack of a "Season Pass" type of feature. Dish DVR's require way too much oversight to make sure your shows record as planned. Tivo is set and forget. If your favorite show is bumped due to a basket ball game, no problem, Tivo catches that. With dish, you get an hour of B-Ball and miss your show. That happens a lot with Star Trek Enterprise at the height of college season. Not to mention Wish lists. I used to record any show that had the words Rally Racing in the title or description. That way I got every episode of the World Rally, not to mention the SCCA pro rallies which were thrown in whenever they needed to fill time. Try getting that with a Dish unit by only setting a single item in the to-do list. How about the ability to record "First Run Only" shows? With Dish, you simply have a hard-disk VCR......

To say it is better than Tivo is to only try to fool ones self! Or someone else...
 
To keep harking on the TiVo is pointless. This guy made a good product decision and if he doesn't like it he can go elsewhere.

In the meantime, there is little reason to flame the Dish DVR. The season pass cannot compensate for network show overrun and underrun. Dish Network's service also rivals that of DirecTV for the price.

You sound like that dork on dslreports mberstein that can't shutup about TiVo, Startrek, and TechTV.
 
cameron119 said:
To keep harking on the TiVo is pointless. This guy made a good product decision and if he doesn't like it he can go elsewhere.

In the meantime, there is little reason to flame the Dish DVR. The season pass cannot compensate for network show overrun and underrun. Dish Network's service also rivals that of DirecTV for the price.

You sound like that dork on dslreports mberstein that can't shutup about TiVo, Startrek, and TechTV.
Click to expand...

Come on now. Name calling??? Give me a break I am just expressing my opinions and very good points about Dish DVR. I am not going to lie to anyone to make myself feel better over the lack of features on my 522, or to make Dish look better. I made my choice for reasons other than features, but I am not going to keep quiet just so you and others feel better about owning an inferior product.

By the way Tivo does network Show over-runs as well. You just set it up in the season pass to record x mins early and x mins late. The Tivo is better in every way. That is obvious if you have owned both.

Dish network service is cheaper. That is true. But they both charge the same fee for DVR service.
 
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