VIP 411 and External Hard Drive

[jgags6]

Well since Scott broke the news about the enabling of 211's to have external hard drives, i became excited.

I have a 411 and I went onto the great chat help on dish.com and asked them if the external HDD feature was supported for 411s and got two answers, one saying yes and one saying no. Anyone know what one this is.

Also, how big are the HDD on the 722, i was thinking about getting one that is comparable in size if i can in fact connect it to my 411!

Thanks alot guys.

 

[Poke]

If it should work the only difference between the to is the 411 does not have a Ethernet port the 211 does. But I think the both have a USB port and that's all you should need.. Thats the way I understand it I could be wrong..

 

[KAB]

411 uses old 942 interface. Don't think so.

 

[jgags6]

Thats what I was thinking....Stupid tech service.

 

[Pepper]

I don't have either, but I was under the impression that the 411 and 211 have the same software.

 

[jgags6]

Thats what i thought too, pepper.

 

[teachsac]

I don't have either, but I was under the impression that the 411 and 211 have the same software.

I thought they did, also. I had one until the stupid HDMI port stopped working. They replaced it with a 211.

S~

 

[jgags6]

Well Ive chatted with 4 CSRs. 2 said yes, 1 said no, 1 said no then I asked him if the 211 and the 411 had the same firmware and if they did why the 211 would have it and the 411 wouldnt and he said, "I am very sorry, but I have found out that the 411 does support this feature."

 

[navychop]

Keep in mind, it's a 411, not ViP411. And there can be common software that takes advantage of whatever hardware features might be available. Fairly common practice.

I don't believe that the 411 will take advantage of any EHD. But this is based on my opinion, no hard knowledge. There seem to be very few out there. Maybe they will offer to swap with you for a ViP211 for free.

 

[peano]

My 411 has L523 software. I read somewhere the EHD will work on the 411. I think it was a Dish CSR posting. I'll connect one and see what happens.

 

[navychop]

Sounds great. I look forward to your report.

 

[jgags6]

The only problem, is that I OWN the 411 not lease it, so I dont think theyll swap with me.

 

[peano]

No luck! I attached the hard drive and the 411 recognized it and a screen came up saying to call Dish Network to activate the DVR feature...blah..blah.

Did that and got the automated activation line. Went through it and agreed and the recording said it was activated...............but it wasn't.

Called tech support and the automated system had added a SECOND archive HDD feature to my 722 and 622 - not the DVR feature to the 411. Spent awhile on the phone with a knowledgeable tech and he could not find the code to activate the 411. Only the 211 and 211K.

Drats!

 

[navychop]

Thanks for reporting back.

 

[BBfromCA]

I have reported on the 411's in another thread. I have 2 411 receivers and have been trying to get the EHD activated since Wednesday. Here is what I know:

The 411's will work with an EHD. I have spent the past few days on the phone with upper tech people confirming this. It is in the tech manual that the 411's will work. (That page of the manual seems to be well hidden, but was told it was there.) I had them note this in my call record so they don't have to go looking it up every time.
The problem is that the activation codes for the 411's are not "in their system" yet and so they are not able to activate them.
They told me that they would call me when they will be ready to be activated (I won't hold my breath).
I ended up writing an e-mail to "ceo@echostar.com" and received this reply. It was nice to get a quick reply:

Thank you for your email and bringing your concern to our attention.

I have forwarded your concern to our back office support team for more information. The External Hard Drive activation for non-DVR receivers was implemented on 11/19/2008 and it is possible that our systems have not been fully updated. I will follow up with your concern as soon as I have a firm answer. We thank you for your patience in this matter.

I apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused you and please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.

Thanks,

Gregory Wall

DISH Network Corporation

Executive Communications

 

[Smith P.]

There is no difference in software [FW] between ViP211 and 411; both use SAME FW !

 

[peano]

True enough. You just can't get them to turn on the 411 yet. Its all in their computer system. I am pretty sure it will work.

The tech told me if I had a 211 and 411 on my account, turning on the 211 would probably turn on the 411 too.

 

[Smith P.]

That's the real solution for you - Dish told that ! Can you activate EHD for 211 now and check 411 after that ?

 

[peano]

If you send me a 211, I would be more than happy to test it for you!

 

[Smith P.]

OK, I'll forfeit your initial payment for the service .