Potential new customer...Equipment questions...

[AbsolutelyLethal]

Right now Im with Voom but it is entirely too much for too little...Plus I dont watch any of their proprietary HD Channels. I also have basic cable in my house too so all in all im paying like 180 bucks a month.

Here is the problem...I have 8 tv's in the house, one of which is an LCD mounted to the kitchen wall(dont know where I'd put a receiver as now it has a co-ax cable running into it from the wall). 3 of the Tv's are HD ready and the other 5 are just normal.

I need to know my choices for setting this up...Here is the thing...I want to have HD in 2 of the bedrooms and in the den. I also want to have DVR ability for the Den and one of the HD bedrooms so i thought in addition to 811 at each, have a 522 attached on another input port. The other non-HD bedroom I'd put a normal DVR too.

At first, I was under the impression I could only have 4 tuners. So I thought the following:
Put 3 receivers in the bedrooms and 1 in the den and the rest of the house gets normal cable.


But then I read there is DISHPro 44 switch which will allow me to hook up more then 4 receivers if I read correctly(up to 24 with multiple switches). Does that mean I could potentially buy like 311's on ebay for like pennies on the dollar and hook up the spare rooms? Do I have to inform dish network? How does it work with my bill?

I dont care about cost I just dont want to buy all this junk and then its incorrect or obsolete in a month.

Little help guys?

Thanks
-Mike

 

[korsjs]

welcome to satelliteguys. glad you are here, don't be a stranger.

if you deceide to go with dish, read up on the receivers you plan on getting. some are more buggy than the other. others will offer their opinions as well. if hd is what you want, you might want to read up on what directv and dish have in store. you will probably find out that dish has no plans and direct tv has plans to offer locals in hd. do lots of reading.

there has been a rumor that voom will be adding a bunch of SD channels very soon.

 

[onsiteSat]

The short and simple anwser is you are allowed to have 6 recievers on a Dish network Account so in theory....
3 921 HD recievers (dual Tuner)
1 522 DVR (dual tuner)
1 322 std (dual tuner)
1 311 or 50x rec
6 recievers 11 tuners and a Dish Pro twin lnb feeding 3 sw3-4 switches or a dish pro twin feeding 2 Dish Pro Plus 4-4 switches
This will cover 8 tv's or wait till the 942 comes out and you can eliminate the 322 and 311 and it will still cover 8 tvs with only 1 Dish Pro Plus 4-4 switch. and give you dvr on every TV

 

[sprintcarcrazy]

Also, there is a limit of 6 receiver per household, I am at my limit so I stuck one room on cable and have one room with TV/Xbox only.

I have 4 811's, a 510DVR and a 311.

I would wait for the 942's to come out.

Funny, I just ordered Voom, they are suppose to be adding 13-16 channels in March.

I am really bumed that dish offers so little HD. I currently have the everything pack so I get sho and hbo HD as well as whats in the HD pack. Its about $124 a month, with the everything pack, they waive the DVR extra fee.
I have 2 dish 500 quads so I could go up to 8 receivers, I was told you could go through corp office and exceed the 6, they give me a phone number but I have tried for a week and it's always busy.

 

[AbsolutelyLethal]

Thanks for the help...I did some lurking/reading up on the receivers over the past few weeks. I was under the impression the 921 was super buggy but it seems like the 811 is buggy too...ARGH!! I want the 942 but i thought I read it isnt coming out until late this year. The problem is my mom wants a DVR already so she can tape her shows so every day she bothers me for one...

The problem I have with VOOM isnt the receivers...Always work...The CSR are always friendly and helpful...It is just that I dont find any channels worth watching beyond ESPN HD, Discovery Health, MTV, TNT HD(for NBA), and the occasional movie on one of the movie channels. My Va Va Voom package doesnt offer much over my local basic cable package of 40 bucks a month beyond the rediculously dumb HD channels...A channel of kladeiscope looking computer generated art is sadly my favorite.

What draws me to Dish is 1)DVR 2)More channels... Correct me if im wrong...

BTW how much am I looking at to set up that up onsat, including i guess the 3-4 receivers i get for "free" on lease?

 

[onsiteSat]

The 942 is sceduled to come out the 1st of march were thinking 1st of april, under the current promotion you can lease the 942 and the 522 for $299 (covers 4 tvs) $50 of that comes off of your first bill. Each additional 942 has a msrp of $700 so to start your looking at
Startup:
$299 942/522 (leased)
$1400 2- 942 (purchased)
$179 Dish Pro Plus 4-4 Switch
$150 (approx) additional reciever install

An with the channels you mentioned here would be a good programing pack
Monthly:
$52.99 AT180
$5 2nd rec
$5 3rd rec
$5 4th rec
$4.98 1st dvr
$4.98 2nd dvr
$4.98 3rd dvr
$4.98 4th dvr
$9.99 HD Pack (Free for 1st 6mo)
$97.90 a month (with phone lines hooked up)

 

[AbsolutelyLethal]

I dont know if I need that many receivers or really ready to invest 2K into equipment right now...As of now, we have 5 TV's in with heavy use, 2 with light use and 1 with a week or two a year when the grandparents come in. We are paying 40 bucks a month to have the two spare bedrooms and the kitchen mounted LCD to have TV but really its because our "tech" guy said we "had to have a backup for when the satellite goes down due to bad weather..."

My primary needs right now are to have DVR on two HD TV's, maybe too get more channels, and I want the pro sports packs. I need the movie pack as my father likes the flexibility of being to watch movies as he is too lazy too deal with DVD's...

I guess I'd get:
942 to give HD DVR in the Den and master bedroom.
522 in 1 bedroom and for kitchen LCD
811 for one bedroom
322 for office and spare bedroom

Doesnt seem that bad...I'd cancel cable and save 40 buck since thats 7 TV's covered and if i need the Dish Pro swtich I guess I'd purchase a 311 on ebay for a penny and cover my grandparents room. With the current promo for America's Everything, with 2 DVR's,its like 97 dollars.

BTW im in Miami, FL Onsite....

 

[BobaBird]

The 942 will output to 1 HD-ready TV and 1 analog TV. If you want HD in the den and master bedroom you will need 2 HD receivers.