508 is working great!!

[firephoto]

Well, I turned my 508 on today and it worked great! All my PVR's are there (like always), features of the P168 upgrade are working flawlessly, and all my timers are functioning as expected.

I don't know what I would do without my PVR after having one for 4 months. It's great for when you can't sit down for an hour at once to watch something.

So how about some more positive comments about the 508 here. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one that thinks this is a very good receiver.

Tom

I'm not trolling for complaints so keep them to the other threads please.

[hikerak]

Just ordered one today and hope it is a great as yours is... Glad to hear the positive especially just after I ordered mine... : )

[Turbohawk]

And so far I love it. I guess I would have really enjoyed a dual tuner feature, like the 721, but not for the price.

The only "gripe" I have is that I don't seem to be getting a full 60 hours of capacity...only seems to be about 40 hours. I did get a 508 and the box says "up to 60 hours" so I guess it all depends...on what though?

Picture quality is awesome, even though I have had a few "hiccups" on some recorded programs, nothing too distracting...but not perfect. Does seem to be intermittent.

I don't have 1.68 update yet but I've had my timer cue full too. I just love being able to zip past those commercials. I can actually stand to watch some of old favorites now and even TLC and such (damn they have a ton of commercials!).

I would like to be have the option of adding a much larger HD and even adding another tuner. I've heard mention of a 522 that has dual tuners. I might "upgrade" to this or the 721 IF and when they offer it cheap.

Peace out.

[Jacob S]

It depends on what you record as to the space on the hard drive it will take up. Sporting events, ppv's, and movie channels in the 300's will take up more space because there is more bandwidth for those channels.

[Steve Mehs]

The 50X has had it's problems early on, and some minor problems a few months ago, but currently it's an awesome unit, and I've had no problems in the past few weeks. Only time I had to do a reboot was right after I got 168, not mandatory, but I did it just wanted to be safe.

[Jacob S]

The 501 and 508 had a lot more bugs when they first came out than they do now and most users are more satisfied with the product than what they were.

[Turbohawk]

Originally posted by Jacob S
It depends on what you record as to the space on the hard drive it will take up. Sporting events, ppv's, and movie channels in the 300's will take up more space because there is more bandwidth for those channels.

Ok, so any idea what the max capacity would be (approx.) while recording the high bandwidth movies?

[Steve Mehs]

It depends how much compression E* is using on that specific channel at that time. The better the picture quality is the more bandwidth it uses so the more hard drive space it takes up. Compression levels fluctuate so it's hard to say how much time you would get if you filled it to the max with HBO programming and PPV movies.

[boba]

Turbohawk there is an erase function on the PVRS they are not designed for permanent storage unless you want to always be out of space. If a program is important you can download to another media to free up space on the hard drive.

[tampa8]

My 508 (2 of them) have been great. The software update was a great enhancement. Actually, my previous 4900 and 4700 receivers had no problems either. Luckily I never owned a Dishplayer!

[hikerak]

boba, is that what the expansion port is for? I just ordered one and should get it this week.

[dtcarson]

What's the difference between 501 and 508? We just got the 501 installed on our living room Saturday [a 301 for the kitchen] and as far as I can tell from doing a little research, the main difference is ~35 hours vs. ~60 hours. Certainly more is better, but we are leasing the 501 [didn't know enough about the technology to be confident in a purchase] and they didn't offer the 508 for lease.
Is the HD size the only difference?

So far I really like the 501 and Dish [never had sat before, always cable.] The search is very handy, and the navigable program guide with Info is worth any price differential itself.

I've already got about seven things programmed as Timers.
I don't think the HD size is going to be that big a deal for me; I am probably going to use it mostly to time-shift programs and movies I've never seen, then delete them.
I already love the PVR :)....We were running out of videotapes, and it's always such a pain to find a tape, set the VCR, watch it later on, etc. And of course analog cable onto VHS tape was never that pretty.

I watch a lot of animation and stuff on BBC/AMC/IFC, and my wife watches a lot from HGTV and Food, so I wouldn't imagine those channels or those programs take a lot of HD space, so I should get somewhere near 25-35 hours, I would think.

To get 40 instead of 60 seems a little short to me; but I guess if one recorded nothing but big, active, DD-sound movies, or active and colorful sports, that would take more of the space.
I agree on picture quality--everything is very clear and crisp [except of course when the source material wasn't, ie, old movies.] The cable into my wife's tv in the kitchen always had about six channels that ranged from Slight flurries to New York lake effect snow levels; but so far the sat's picture is superb.

Much like broadband internet, in about a week, I'm going to be asking myself 'Why did we wait so long?'

[DarrellP]

I always do a Power button reset after receiving new software, which I did right after receiving 168 and I've had 2 lockups with my 501 in the last 2 days. It was working so well.

[Jacob S]

The 501 stores 30 hours of video while the 508 stores 60 hours of video therefore has twice the size hard drive the 501 has. That is the only difference.

[ScottK]

I find that with my particular mix, and with anywhere from 18 - 30 hours of recordings stored, the total of the recording times and the estimated remaining time is usually in the 47 - 50 hour range on my 508.

I always have a mix of premium movies (some with Dolby Digital), 1 hour shows from TNT, FX and superstations, and half-hour shows from TVLand.

[tm22721]

You can get two 508's $500) for about the same price as a 721 ($550).

The advantage is 160 GB of HDs, ability to drive two separate TVs, black instead of silver box.

But on the downside - no PIP, two remote controls to juggle.

[Gruss]

Another downside: $5/mo for additional receiver fee? I didn't think that applied with the 721. After 10 months you are in negative territory.

[Turbohawk]

Has anyone seen anything on the web about the 522 or is it just a rumor? Sounds too much like the 721 to me.

[Steve Mehs]

Here's the thread with the news article and pics of the 522.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6653&highlight=522

The 522 can out put to 2 TVs were has the 721 out puts to one. I would imagine the 522 will be based on the OpenTV OS whereas the 721 is based on Linux