Observations after a month of using my ViP622

[ArTT Vandelay]

I just wanted to weigh in with my opinion. I'm sure there is a dedicated thread somewhere, but if I couldn't find it immediately, I'm sure some of you couldn't either

Anyway, I had replaced an 811 and Tivo with the new 622 a month ago. I paid the $299 lease fee, as I didn't want to wait till now just to order. Impatience is a b**ch.

First, the DVR compared to Tivo:
Tivo will always have a place in my heart <reflects fondly>. The sounds and the general interface are top-notch. Everybody is trying to copy them without copyright infringement, and rightly so. That said, once I figured out how to use the timer feature correctly, I love the new DVR. Easy to use, gets my programs, and I can record up to THREE programs at once! Dual tuner plus OTA rocks. That alone is worth the $299.

Issues with the DVR: I have had the unit freeze once on me which required a reboot in the middle of two shows being recorded. It did not start to record them on reboot, I had to manually start the recordings again. This didn't happen once on my Tivo in 4 years. Secondly, the past couple days, if I am recording one channel and watching another, the video gets choppy on occasion. This is a recent development. I hope a reboot will cure it.

Overall, I give the DVR an 8 of 10. A perfect 10 would be Tivo with multiple tuners and HD capability.

Next, the tuner itself.
First off, the picture quality is light years better than the 811! I didn't think it would make a difference, but everything looks better, especially SD programming. Awesome.

The downside of the tuner: There is no programming info for most of the OTA channels. What the hell? Consequently I cannot program Lost or any other HD broadcast into the timer. Even if it is showing in the guide right now, in an hour or two, it won't be. Very strange behaviour. Also, strangely while the OTA reception for every station is 10-15 points higher than they were with the 811, ABC does not come in at all! It is the highest frequency signal in my area, but before it came in no problem. Weird. I was considering a higher power antenna than my squareshooter but Dish has promised Local HD's in my area this quarter, so I'm holding off, since the damn Timer doesn't work on the OTA stuff anyway...

The guide itself is much better on the 622 than the 811 too. It takes advantage of the full widescreen on the TV and gives 3 hours of program info. Nice.

Overall, I give the tuner an 8 out of 10 as well. 10 would have reliable guide info and perfect OTA reception.

Lastly lets grade Dish Customer Service.

When I called to upgrade, I literally had to hangup on 2 CSR's before I got someone that knew what they were dealing with. Even then there was confusion about whether or not my 622 would be shipped or if it would come with the installer (it was shipped). I had to send an email to CEO@dishnetwork.com to get that striaghtened out. The good thing is that I got a call in response to that email and got a straight answer about my tuner. Now I've recieved my bill and was charged for the 622 AGAIN! They have yet to straighten that out...

Anyway, unfortunately we are all used to crappy customer service, but other than that, I'm verry happy with the actual hardware.

 

[dfergie]

I have also had mine a month, purchased it... other than audio synch problems and occasional blockiness on the Mpeg 4 locals no other problems... PQ sharper than my 921 and I am keeping the HDD pretty full...

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Anyway, I had replaced an 811 and Tivo with the new 622 a month ago. I paid the $299 lease fee, as I didn't want to wait till now just to order. Impatience is a b**ch.

Mr Vandelay, are you an architect?

No reason to have waited. You would have still paid $299. 811's didn't qualify for the rebate/credit.

Interesting review. It is too bad that SO many customers have poor CSR experiences.

As to the OTA tuner, if you sub to Dish locals you'd get that info. Some receivers get it as long as you are pointing at the satellite that carries your locals. So if your locals are on 105 or 121, requiring a SuperDish to pick them up, and you have a D1000, then you won't get the EPG info for your locals.

 

[Lifterguy]

I've had my 622 for just over three weeks - replacing an 811 and a 522. I've had a few problems - a couple of missed recordings (I blame myself for this for attempting to make last minute changes to the timers), and occasional audio sync and/or stuttering video problems that required a reboot to resolve. But the problems seem to be less frequent now, and on the whole I really like this box. I agree that the picture quality seems better on both SD and HD. I also think the OTA tuner is vastly improved over the 811. I subscribe to dish locals, so I'm generally satisfied with the EPG data (although I don't get any info for my local PBS HD feed or for some sub-channels.) I think the only thing I find really disappointing is the "Dish On Demand" feature. I don't think I would ever use D-O-D (why pay more when you can just schedule a recording of a Pay-Per-View program you want to see.) Still, I'm surprised at how few offerings are available at any one time - I think I have yet to see more than two movies available for purchase at any given time - and how lame the choices are. The choice usually is one newer B-list movie - that is over priced. Or, an older movie that has already been seen everywhere and is still priced at $2.99 or more. I can't imagine that this feature is ever going to make any money unless they significantly improve what they are offering. It might stand a chance if they could offer the latest movies at the same time they hit DVD, before they come to Pay-Per-View. It would also help if they were in HD, but of course there isn't enough hard drive space for that. As it is now, they should just abandon the idea and give us back the hard drive space.

 

[navychop]

Don't forget, the HD Tivo is s-l-o-w, and it doesn't have the 30 second skip ahead button.

I don't think there are enough ViP622s out there yet for Dish to bother fully implementing DoD. And if they gave us back the HD space, and then later tried to take it back, can you imagine the outcry! Yeah, I'd rather have the space for my own recordings, but they were upfront about this. Maybe I'll even rent one of them some day.