Upgrade for Mom

[mcoady]

I'm trying to see if it's feasible costwise to upgrade my mom's Dish receivers and I've tried to do alot of reading but still like some things clarified before I have to deal with Dish's customer service. She has two older models regular receivers (one in living room, one in basement) possibly 300 or 500 series and gets America's Top 250 package. Right now she is using my series 2 stand alone Tivo (with lifetime) to record her locals via an OTA antenna which has great signal strength but she isn't able to record her sat channels. I originally had her sat channels being also recorded by the Tivo (using IR blaster cable) but one day she lost her ESPN channels and Dish came out and installed a little box and ever since she's not been able to record the sat channels. I never delved into it to see if they changed some of my cabling around thinking by 2009 I would need the IR blaster cable to control a digital converter box for use with the Tivo so I kind of left things like they were but now she would like to record her sat channels again.

Her current bill:
$54.99 America's Top 250
$5.00 2nd Receiver
$3.18 Tax
----------
$63.17


Okay thinking about either a 625, 612, 622 or 722 but I'm wondering for future proof equipment if I should stick with the HD models? Now Questions:

1. Is $125 kind of the going rate to upgrade to a 722? Is this a one time rental fee? Does this price also include upgrading to a newer dish?

2. I'm only interested using a 722 (or whatever) with a single tv should this affect which model I should get?

3. If I get a 722 will there be any upgrade special for upgrading her other old receiver like being free or would she have to buy it?

4. If she gets the 722 would there be any problem keeping her other older receiver even though the former could get HD channels?

5. Do I understand it correctly that the 612, 622, & 722 can all be hooked up to an OTA antenna whereas the 625 couldn't? If so then if she got the 625 it sounds like she would still need to keep the Tivo to record the locals as she doesn't want to pay Dish to get them.

6. My mom uses a wireless Leapfrog to transmit a signal (currently using Tivo since it has audio/video outs) to another bedroom. In the case of hooking up either the 612, 622, or 722 to her tv I assume she would need to use the HDMI out to her new JVC HD LCD HDMI input, but could she also run similtanously the composite audio/video outputs to the Leapfrog? In the case of the 625 if it was hooked up to her tv using S-Video could she similtanously hookup the composite outs to the leapfrog?

7. I assume you need to keep all of the above receivers hooked up to a phone line but does the caller ID within the receiver cause any problems with your phone caller ID's?

I understand if you get a HD receiver you have to get a HD package with the cheapest being $10 so I thought I'd see if my mom would downgrade to America's top 200 to offset the price hike, this would also help on the DVR charge.

So do I have the prices right on these two packages:

Monthly charge for using the 625
-----------------------------------------
$44.99 America's Top 200
5.00 Second Receiver
5.98 DVR Service
-----------
$ 55.97 + Tax


Monthly charge for using the 612-622-722
-----------------------------------------------------
$ 44.99 America's Top 200
5.00 Second Receiver
5.98 DVR Service
10.00 HD Service
-----------
$ 65.97 + Tax

 

[boba]

You didn't like the answers in your other post?

 

[mcoady]

Someone hijacked my thread to a different topic, some questions weren't answered plus I had several more questions as you can note above. Hopefully someone can specifically answer all my questions here without getting off topic.

 

[topcat0399]

Man, you are asking somebody to do alot of research for you here, just because you dont feel like dealing with a CSR? lame. I'll give you some of the answers if i can, the rest, i suggest you go to dish's website and fiqure it out. you obvioulsy have internet.

you need to decide what you want the end result to be.

HD or NO, Each TV with remote or No. OTA from antenna or no, Locals from Dish or No.

I'm trying to see if it's feasible costwise to upgrade my mom's Dish receivers and I've tried to do alot of reading but still like some things clarified before I have to deal with Dish's customer service. She has two older models regular receivers (one in living room, one in basement) possibly 300 or 500 series and gets America's Top 250 package. Right now she is using my series 2 stand alone Tivo (with lifetime) to record her locals via an OTA antenna which has great signal strength but she isn't able to record her sat channels. I originally had her sat channels being also recorded by the Tivo (using IR blaster cable) but one day she lost her ESPN channels and Dish came out and installed a little box and ever since she's not been able to record the sat channels. I never delved into it to see if they changed some of my cabling around thinking by 2009 I would need the IR blaster cable to control a digital converter box for use with the Tivo so I kind of left things like they were but now she would like to record her sat channels again.

Her current bill:
$54.99 America's Top 250
$5.00 2nd Receiver
$3.18 Tax
----------
$63.17


Okay thinking about either a 625, 612, 622 or 722 but I'm wondering for future proof equipment if I should stick with the HD models? Now Questions:

1. Is $125 kind of the going rate to upgrade to a 722? Is this a one time rental fee? Does this price also include upgrading to a newer dish?

get from dish website or csr. you pay an upgrade fee that covers installing the receiever and the new dish if needed.

2. I'm only interested using a 722 (or whatever) with a single tv should this affect which model I should get?

any dual tuner can be used with a single tv, great for picture in picture or watch one record another. why not replace one older receiver with TV2 from the 625 or 722.

3. If I get a 722 will there be any upgrade special for upgrading her other old receiver like being free or would she have to buy it?

Dish will give you $10 credit for each old owned reciever RA'd by the technician when you upgrade and lease the new reciever. nothing is "free".

4. If she gets the 722 would there be any problem keeping her other older receiver even though the former could get HD channels?

if she wants to keep the other tuners/receivers, fine, just decide what you want. each box other than the primary carries an "additional outlet fee - $5.00 per month".

5. Do I understand it correctly that the 612, 622, & 722 can all be hooked up to an OTA antenna whereas the 625 couldn't? If so then if she got the 625 it sounds like she would still need to keep the Tivo to record the locals as she doesn't want to pay Dish to get them.

a VIP receiever has a digital tuner for OTA in it, the 625 has only analog. After the OTA change next year, your tivo wont record OTA either without a converter box.

6. My mom uses a wireless Leapfrog to transmit a signal (currently using Tivo since it has audio/video outs) to another bedroom. In the case of hooking up either the 612, 622, or 722 to her tv I assume she would need to use the HDMI out to her new JVC HD LCD HDMI input, but could she also run similtanously the composite audio/video outputs to the Leapfrog? In the case of the 625 if it was hooked up to her tv using S-Video could she similtanously hookup the composite outs to the leapfrog?

yes, but why not use the TV2 feed from a dish dual tuner? gives you a radio remote.

7. I assume you need to keep all of the above receivers hooked up to a phone line but does the caller ID within the receiver cause any problems with your phone caller ID's?

no

I understand if you get a HD receiver you have to get a HD package with the cheapest being $10 so I thought I'd see if my mom would downgrade to America's top 200 to offset the price hike, this would also help on the DVR
charge.

you choose.

So do I have the prices right on these two packages:

Monthly charge for using the 625
-----------------------------------------
$44.99 America's Top 200
5.00 Second Receiver
5.98 DVR Service
-----------
$ 55.97 + Tax


Monthly charge for using the 612-622-722
-----------------------------------------------------
$ 44.99 America's Top 200
5.00 Second Receiver
5.98 DVR Service
10.00 HD Service
-----------
$ 65.97 + Tax

i never discuss final programming costs with any of my customers. that is the csr's job to screw up, not mine.


good luck dude.

 

[mcoady]

Boy I'm sorry I posted on this site for help what a unfriendly place to visit, I am almost 60 and my mother is almost 80 so it's not like I deal with things like this everyday some of it gets above my head. No I'm not afraid to talk to Dish customer service as I have before and have had a hard time understanding their english so it's nice to be able to understand what they might be talking about before hand. If you think that's lame I guess that's your opinion.

For the record my mom has a MX-500 for each tv setup with macros so having to use the rf remote of a dual tuner receiver makes her use another remote.

Thanks for the answers you did provide but I won't be posting in this forum again.

 

[boba]

When you call DISH choose the option for tech support you have a better chance of getting an American CSR.

 

[megamike]

The rate went up to $200 for the 722 for me, I just checked the web site. I guess that's why they say hindsight is 20/20.