Mobile Dish Newbie Question

[sportster]

Hello everyone. I have a question I hope someone can help me with. I'm new to the whole Dish thing. I've been a long time cableTV subscriber and just recently switched to satellite. So far I like it better; it's cheaper too!

Anyway, here’s my question. It’s I bit lengthy but help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a 2 room system with the 301 series receivers. What I want to do is add a mobile system to my mobile trailer as well so I can have TV when I "camp out".

I would like to buy the 522 receiver and put that in my house. Then use one of the 301 units and put in my trailer.

My question is can I just take one of the cards I already have and put it in the 522 DVR and use the other card in my 301 that I put in my trailer?

I called Dish Network and they said I have to buy another card for 4.95mo.

Since I won't be in my trailer and my house at the same time it's not like I can watch TV on 3 TV's at the same time. It doesn't seem fair that they want another $5mo for another card. Especially since trailers are only used for a very limited time each year.

Is there any way I can get another unit to work in my trailer without paying more $ each month?

I don’t really want to have to go through the hassle of a disconnect/reconnect a receiver every time I want to use my trailer.

Oh, the other thing is the phone line. I don’t have a phone jack for the trailer. Do I have to have that hooked up? I plan on locking out all the PPV channels for the receiver in the trailer. So would I still need the phone line hooked to the receiver installed in the trailer?

Thanks, I see mobile systems out there so I know it can be done. I just need some help with figuring out how to do mine.

 

[SimpleSimon]

You have 2 choices. Move the whole box back and forth or pay the $5/month.

As for the phone line, you don't even have to lockout PPV - if you're going to share a receiver between house and camper. It'll phone home as soon as it sees a good phone line again.

BTW, don't expect to be able to get a 522 - apparently it's only available for purchase from some stores (eg. Radio Shack) in some parts of the country.

Finally, the automatic RV dish units are VERY expensive. You're a lot better off just getting another Dish 500 - with EXACTLY a 100% IDENTICAL configuration to your house - and mounting it on a tripod.

 

[shadowwalker]

Mobile Dish

Well to start off the 522 has the card already built in to the boxes board and all dish cards and recv. are married together. I have 2 301s in my house and the cards are not interchangeable. The best advice I can give you is to call dish and see if they can upgrade one of you 301s to a 522 so you still have the two room setup and use the other remaining 301 for your camper. You will still have 3 recv. for the price of two. Note you still will add on a $5 a month charge for the DVR fee.

 

[sportster]

Wow, thanks for the fast replies guys...

Looks like I will have to pay the $5 a month unless I want to carry a unit between house and mobile, darn...

Simon - yes, exactly... I was going to go with the tripod idea. I already found out the self aligning units are outrageous in price. I have seen the tripods some people have used and thought they were a good idea.

I've seen a lot of 522 units on ebay for sale. Is there anything I should be concerned of if I buy one on ebay?

Also, is it that the 522 won't work in certain areas of the country (USA) or just arn't availible for purchase everywhere yet?

 

[SimpleSimon]

I would NOT buy a 522 off of eBay. It might be a lease unit being sold illegally.

The 522 does NOT know where it is. It can even be in Canada or Mexico and work just fine as long as it can see it's birds.

One advantage of getting a 522 (or 721) and moving it between the 2 places is that your get to bring your recorded videos with you - which can be quite nice if you can't (or don't want to) set up your dish where you're parked.

 

[sportster]

hmm.... well where else could I get the 522. Dish's website says the 522 is for new customers only. Plus I would prefer to just own one outright anyway.

Another question is if DishNetwork is only giving them to new customers. Does that mean all the units on eBay are illegal anyway? If not then how would one know if they could get the unit activated by DishNetwork or not?

 

[SimpleSimon]

Aye - you've found the rub, there haven't ya.

Look for a 721 instead. It only has one output instead of 2 independent ones, but for the application of moving it between house & camper, it'll get-r-done nicely.

 

[LER]

Aye - you've found the rub, there haven't ya.

Look for a 721 instead. It only has one output instead of 2 independent ones, but for the application of moving it between house & camper, it'll get-r-done nicely.

I love my 721.

Look at http://www.dishstore.net/ for 721's

LER

 

[sportster]

Yeah, I did look at the 721 specs on dish's website. The nice thing they say about the 522 though is that you can hook up two TV's to the one receiver.

So if i had the 522 in the house plus one of the old 301's in the house that would be three TV's in the house. Then the other 301 could be in the camper. As I mentioned I don't really want to transfer between the house and RV. My house setup is a royal pain to deal with and has to be torn half apart to get to the DSS receiver.

With the 721 that would only be three TV's instead of four with the 522.

But it sounds like your saying there is no way I can get a 522 and hook it up, true? That any 522 I could buy outright DishNetwork would not activate for me. Or am I confused on this?

I don't mind paying for service but at the same time I don't want to be locked into a contract either. I want the option to cancel at anytime and keep the equipment. I may decide to just activate and deactivate the box for the RV just for the summer when I typically use it anyway.

 

[LER]

But it sounds like your saying there is no way I can get a 522 and hook it up, true? That any 522 I could buy outright DishNetwork would not activate for me.

DN is being really strict with the 522's.

I'm not sure the exact rules, since some RatShack's are supposedly selling them.

I do know that they are supposedly LEASE only, for new subs.

LER

 

[SimpleSimon]

Seems to me it'd be simplest if you just simplify your home theatre connections.

I'm thinking of a nice home-made quick disconnect system.

 

[K R Kimmel]

Yeah, I did look at the 721 specs on dish's website. The nice thing they say about the 522 though is that you can hook up two TV's to the one receiver.
...snip...

You can hook up a 721 to more than one TV. I have mine hooked up to 4 TVs, living room via S-Video and RCA audio, basement office/rec room and 2 bedrooms via RF ouput split 3-ways. Admittedly you can only watch 1 channel/recording at a time but is unlikely that more than one of these TVs will be in use at a time.

If I replaced the 721 with a 522 I could, with the right wiring and signal combiners, make both outputs of the 522 available to all 4 (or more) of these TVs. But for my needs the 721 does fine.

And as LER said E* is being strict about activating 522s that are not a part of the DHA/DHP lease program.

 

[sportster]

Yeah, I’m going to call them and ask if I bought a 522 would they activate it or not.

On a side note I've been doing some reading on the forums here and have a few more questions.

1. What is this DHP and DHA I keep reading about? I get that they switched to DHA but what are they and what was the difference?

2. On the 522 units it looks like you would have to shell out and additional $5mo to be able to record any programming, is this right? People say the older units like the 721 and 508 do not have to pay for the same thing, correct or no?

3. There also seems like there might be a $5mo fee if you DON'T have the 522 or any other dish receiver hooked up to a phone line. Why a fee? Why would they charge for you NOT to have it hooked to the phone?

4. I have read the 522 has an integrated smart card. Does the 721/508 units have this too? What is the benefit of this?

Anyway, I'm learning more all the time. But it sure can get confusing with all the different possibilities.

 

[K R Kimmel]

1. What is this DHP and DHA I keep reading about? I get that they switched to DHA but what are they and what was the difference?

DHP and DHA are the lease programs from Dish Network. Similar in pricipal to leasing set-top-boxes from a cable company. DHP (Dish Home Pro) was the original program and is no longer open to new subscribers. DHA (Dish Home Advantage) and has slightly altered terms and conditions. See this page on the Dish Network web site.

2. On the 522 units it looks like you would have to shell out and additional $5mo to be able to record any programming, is this right? People say the older units like the 721 and 508 do not have to pay for the same thing, correct or no?

Begining with the 510 Dish Network decided to charge a $5 "Video-On-Demand" fee for it's DVRs. This fee currently applies to model 510, 522 and 921 DVRs. Pre-exitsing DVRs (501/508, and 721) are not subject to this fee.

Please note the "Video-On-Demand" fee applies to each reciver subject to the fee.

Also note the "Video-On-Demand" fee will be waved if and as long as you are subscribed to the "America's 'Everything' Pak" or "Latino 'Everyting' Pak".

3. There also seems like there might be a $5mo fee if you DON'T have the 522 or any other dish receiver hooked up to a phone line. Why a fee? Why would they charge for you NOT to have it hooked to the phone?

Dish has historically charged an "additional outlet fee" of $5 for each receiver after the 1st on an account. The 322 and 522 receivers are effectively 2 separate receivers in one box, hence the fee.

As for why the fee is waived if you hook up a phone line, statistics will show that a customer who's receivers are hooked up to a phone line are more likely to purchace Pay-Per-View events. Droping the fee will , on average, allow the company to gain more revenue than it looses.It would be nice if if this policy were applied to all "Additional Outlet" receivers.

4. I have read the 522 has an integrated smart card. Does the 721/508 units have this too? What is the benefit of this?

Dish's most recently developed receivers, the 522, 322, 111 and (I think) 311 have smart cards integrated onto the motherboard. Previous receivers use stand-alone smart cards with readers built into the receivers (the new receivers also have the smart card readers for possible future use.)

The reason for, and benefit of, moving to the integrated smart cards it to make it more difficult for hackers to reprogram the card to receive programming without paying for it.

 

[sportster]

Well, as much as I like the idea of the 522 with 2 room control. I definitely don't like the fact that dish just decided that their new units come with a fee for the exact same dvr features as the 721 offers. I think that is rather B.S. for them to do something like that.

So I will be looking to buy a 721 model now. Anyone know where I can get a decent deal on one?

 

[K R Kimmel]

Well DishStore.net sells the 721 for $399.99, and a portion of all purchases made at DishStore goes to support this site.

You may want to tell us about your current LNB/Switch setup at this time. That way we can advise you if you will need any additional hardware to be able to use the 721. You probably have a DishPro Twin but if you can confirm this it will make our advice more accurate.

If you don't know this info you can find it in the Check Switch screen on one of your 301s. Open the menu then select System Setup--Installation--Point Dish--Check Switch.