What has changed in the last 3 years???

[idreos]

:confused:
Three years ago I moved to Europe and at the time stored my Echostar 4000 receiver away. Now I am thinking of reconnecting to the dish network.
I no longer have the dish network satellite dish and am uncertain if I have a good direct sight to the echostar satellite from my current residence location.
As I have been out of the dish network loop for awhile I am trying to catch up t the advances and curent equipment situation.

Can I still use the old 4000 receiver?

What can the current crop of dish network receivers provide that the old one can't?

Are the current dishes basically the same size? Do they have any new features?

If I get a used dish can I use the 4000 to see if my new location can receive a decent signal?
Thanks for your help!

[P Smith]

Yes, your model still working, it will just DL new software after connecting to a dish. Major change for it's need to use Dish500 - 20" dish with Twin LNBF; you will need to use it for pickup channels from both sats - 110 and 119.

[lee635]

Welcome back. I still have a venerable old model 3000 in service as our primary unit. We have a dishplayer for the kids too.

We've kept the 3000 because my wife and I really like the simple, easy to read program guide. Some of the newer units have program guides with lots of colors and fancy graphics that look "kewl" in the showroom, but gave us each a headache after a week or so. There are some newer units with more basic program guides too.

If you just subscribe to the AT50, you don't need a dish500, but even with AT50, you get a few extra public interest channels with a dish500. If you get a higher package or a premium channel, you might miss an extra channel or two without a dish500.

In case you haven't heard receivers that record your shows on a hard drive instead of a video tape are all the rage. D* has units called Directivos that have a better set of features and more options but you have to get their top tier service or else pay a monthly fee or about $5. E* offers what could be described as more basic units with no monthly fee attached, but they tend to sell for more than the D* units.

The other big change is that locals may be available for your city. You can check E* and D* websites to see if either or both offer your locals for about $6 a month with a dish500.

[gcutler]

Once you get your system up for a while, you may want to consider replacing the 4000.

The 4000 will do the job, but for around $75 you can get a 301 (which will give you a nicer interface, etc...Only thing is No Dolby Digital, No UHF Remote, and only one set of outputs)

Or even better replacing your 4000 with a 508 will give you everything you had, plus Dolby Digital, PVR, 1 week+ guide on the hard drive. I gave up my 4000 2 years ago for a 301 then replaced the 301 with a 508 and each upgrade was worth it.

The addition of locals and all other channels will make the memory limited 4000 really annoying with the guide (and because it is UHF only, not many Universal Remotes will work with it)

[Steve Mehs]

Welcome back to DBS, Idreos and welcome to DBSTalk!

I agree with replacing your 4000, yes it will work fine, but the 301 is a great basic receiver ora 508 to record your favorite shows without the use of video tape. The guide on the 508 and the ability to pause live tv are worth the extra cost alone.

Some of the newer units have program guides with lots of colors and fancy graphics that look "kewl" in the showroom, but gave us each a headache after a week or so. There are some newer units with more basic program guides too.

Huh? The Open TV EPG isn't that much different then the traditional EPG. Instead of being green the background is blue and channels you sub to are white instead or grey. There's no graphics in the EPG at all, unless you consider the little timer icon when PVRing an event a graphic. All current receivers (plus the 3900 and 4900) have the OpenTV style EPG, except for the 721.

[DarrellP]

First of all, be prepared for a shock. The picture quality you remember from 3 years ago is probably a lot worse now. Though Dish has made SOME strides in improving PQ over the last 2 years, it is still down significantly from 3 years ago, thanks to adding a zillion local channels.

[dishrich]

Originally posted by lee635
If you just subscribe to the AT50, you don't need a dish500, but even with AT50, you get a few extra public interest channels with a dish500. If you get a higher package or a premium channel, you might miss an extra channel or two without a dish500.

Actually, you DON'T need a D500 with AT100, either - the other exception besides the extra PI channels is Turner South, which would ONLY matter if you lived in it's territory.

I even have a customer who does NOT have a D500 & subs to just AT100 + St.Louis locals. They don't watch PPV much at all, could care less about the PI channels & the St.Louis locals all happen to be on 119, so why should they bother to upgrade? (They originally had AT50 & just upgraded to AT100 for just a couple channels, but are thinking about dropping back to AT50) Since they also have 2 4000 units, about the only thing a D500 upgrade would do for them is to slow the guide down on their units even MORE!