Dish 311 & 111 Receiver Information

[Scott Greczkowski]

Soon Dish Network will be replacing the Dish 301 receiver with a new model known as the 311. The 311 is just like the 301 but it adds a bunch of new features as well.

DBSTalk.COM has obtained some details of some of the new features of the 311.

- 2-day Cached EPG for Fast Access

( Instantaneous extended program information: no more waiting for program information to download from the satellite, info is stored in the receiver's memory for instant retrieval. Dish311's EPG will store up to 48 hours of information with quick access. When the unit is placed in standby, the EPG will update every four hours)

- Alpha Search

(Alpha Search is accessed in two ways: 1) using the # key
(like DishPVR 501/508 and DishPVR 721). The current program's title will be filled in: you can use that to search or clear it and type in another name. Default is "Search by Title". 2) By going to Menu, Themes & Search, then Search. The keywords can be entered with your remote control alpha-numeric keys (cell phonestyle) or using the right/left/up/down blue arrow buttons and Select to access the on-screen keyboard)

- Hide Locked Channels

( Separate locks for adult and PPV channels. Using "Hide Locked" you can hide all locked channels within the EPG, browse, direct channel entry, channel up/down and any searches. The system must be locked to activate any locks chosen)

- Caller ID on the 301 will be Enabled by Default

- Wireless Phone Jack in Phone Setup

- Extended Info from Timer Management Screen

- 3 Prong Power Cord

- NO Removable Smart Card

( The smart card technology has been "embedded" or built into the receiver. Resets of the receiver can be done by pressing and
holding the front panel Power button for approximately five seconds or unplugging the AC power cord and plugging it back in )

Sounds to me like a nice upgrade of the 301, and will be a great base receiver for people not looking for a lot of bells and whistles but are looking for something more then the Dish 111

Whats a Dish 111 you may ask?

Its one of the most basic receivers ever made by Dish Network, it has NO AV or S-VIDEO outputs on it (It only outputs to Channel 3 or Channel 4)

It has no Dolby Digital Outputs, nor does it have a removable smartcard.

But it does have a IR Blaster which I believe can control your VCR, it also has a 3 prong power cord to help ground your system better. This system is the most basic system that will be available.

My thanks to my sources who sent me this information to share with our members here at DBSTalk.COM!

[gcutler]

Sounds interesting...Wonder what the prices are??? For the Kids room or such the 111 sounds like a great reciever (that is until your kids get into "Dolby Digital"), but hopefully a 6 year old won't care, yet!

[Steve Mehs]

If the 111 is anything over $50 it's overpriced. I never thought there would be another satellite receiver made with no svideo out, let alone no RCAs. I guess it would be a great receiver for those on a very tight budget or the elderly who have older tv's and have no need for the svhs and rca outs. But the 111 makes my old model 2700 look like the Coupe Deville of Dish receivers.

[Big Bob]

I guess it would be a great receiver for those on a very tight budget or the elderly who have older tv's and have no need for the svhs and rca outs.

Good thing "the elderly" will have that easy to use remote as well.

;)

[Scott Greczkowski]

Oh boy here we go again. :icon_lol:

[Claude Greiner]

Scott,

Tell me more about this wireless phone jack option in the setup menu's

I saw the same thing on a standard 301 the other day :)

[boba]

Seeing RCA has the DRD435 (I think) it has Dolby digital out, 2 sets of A/V, caller ID, picture in guide and 3 days of programming and I can sell it at $49.95. I would say DISH is still a couple model years behind the times. And the 111 and 311 haven't reached the market place yet. How many more months will we have to wait before they get working software in these basic receivers?

[gcutler]

If the 111 is anything over $50 it's overpriced.

Exactly, $49.99 is the most that should be paid. I wonder how much they could save without the event timer/IR Blaster. But I think that many people would want that feature, and I believe the most basic D* systems include that.

[Jacob S]

Just as I had predicted, the 311 is going to replace the 301. When I first heard about the 311 coming out I knew it was the replacement for the 301.

I wonder if they are dropping the 311 price lower than the current 301 and if so then how much cheaper the 111 would be. Seeing that they are coming out with the 111 and it going to be cheaper they will probably keep the 311 at a $99 retail price and I am expecting the 111 at a $60-75 price level, perhaps $59 or $69. I would not expect it to be too much cheaper or they would not sell many 311's in which would be the main receiver they would want to push.

This reminds me of the 3700/2700 ordeal where one was cheaper than the other, only the 3700 was qualified for some promotions and if you get the second receiver free you got the 2700, not the 3700. I hated having to sell a second receiver that seemed cheaper and different than the first because it was not so similar and it also had a cheaper remote with it too.

Perhaps the receivers will get cheap enough to where they will replace the receivers in the future instead of doing card swaps.

[Mark Holtz]

- 2-day Cached EPG for Fast Access

( Instantaneous extended program information: no more waiting for program information to download from the satellite, info is stored in the receiver's memory for instant retrieval. Dish311's EPG will store up to 48 hours of information with quick access. When the unit is placed in standby, the EPG will update every four hours)

- Hide Locked Channels

( Separate locks for adult and PPV channels. Using "Hide Locked" you can hide all locked channels within the EPG, browse, direct channel entry, channel up/down and any searches. The system must be locked to activate any locks chosen)It would be interesting to see if Dish will accept upgrades from the 301 to 311. My mom has been fustrated because of the guide.

It would also nice to see this implemented in the 50x series of receivers.

[rtt2]

I wonder if they are going to wait until there is a card swap before releasing these new receivers. With the smart card now built in on these new guys E* might wait until the old receivers get their new Dish 500 cards before releasing these new products on the market.

[Tusk]

Soon Dish Network will be replacing the Dish 301 receiver with a new model known as the 311. The 311 is just like the 301 but it adds a bunch of new features as well.

- 3 Prong Power Cord

I knew those folks in development were making major technological breakthroughs, but I never would have dreamed of this. I hope they patent it before someone steals this technology. !rolling

Now Charlie has D* on the run!

[Jacob S]

They are not going to be able to add all the features to the 301 that they have on the 311 because the 311 is getting additional features and/or better functionality due to having more memory.

Also its not a matter of getting all of the old cards swapped for new ones on waiting for the 111 and 311 to come out, but a matter of depleting the 301 stock first since the embedded chip will more than likely be the same chip found on the current Dish 500 smart cards in the receivers you buy today.

[bkwest]

I'm guessing the embedded smart card chips is something they started doing to keep signal theft down... Thats my first view of that on. I just want DishTIVO damn it!

:P

[gcutler]

It would be interesting to see if Dish will accept upgrades from the 301 to 311. My mom has been fustrated because of the guide.

It would also nice to see this implemented in the 50x series of receivers.

Not likely, only prescedent was the upgrading of the DP 7100 to 7200.

Probably best thing to do is buy the 311 and sell the 301 (still a nice reciever, especially for those running a SA TiVo or such and no need for a guide)

[Mark Holtz]

Probably best thing to do is buy the 311 and sell the 301 (still a nice reciever, especially for those running a SA TiVo or such and no need for a guide)I'm on the Digital Home Plan, so the receivers are leased, not owned.

[gcutler]

I'm on the Digital Home Plan, so the receivers are leased, not owned.

I would trade in all the recievers to Comcast Cable for like $400, I just want to be listening on speaker phone when you try and explain that to the Dish CSR. :up_to_som

[bills976]

This is a positive step for Dish. Biggest improvement is the cached EPG... the 301 was ridiculous in terms of time necessary for guide access. The search on a non-pvr is particularly interesting. I wonder how fast this will be.... on the 501/508 this was slow (imo) and even on my Tivo it's slow. That said, this is a really positive step for Dish. The embedded smartcard is a long time coming.

Any word on release dates, Scott?

[Jacob S]

They should have had enough memory put in the 301's to do this but I guess they were just too cheap to do so and now realizing how they should have done this or the price of memory has dropped, one of the two. Every 2 years they have come out with a new receiver lineup.

[BobaBird]

Jacob, I've thought the same thing ever since the channel lineup grew substantially -- to AT60CD!

Why a 111 but not a "411" or "422"?

[gcutler]

Jacob, I've thought the same thing ever since the channel lineup grew substantially -- to AT60CD!

Why a 111 but not a "411" or "422"?

I guess they want the tech level of a 411 or 422 to just jump to the 508 or 522 (makes them look like they are leading the way in PVRs). And I think they are now hitting the subscribers who price is the only concern (Don't care about PQ or # of channels, SHAME!!!), and a 111 is all they want???

[Jacob S]

Didn't I read a little while back that the 411 was going to be a Mitsubishi HD receiver? What about a 2XX or a 6XX? I guess they are skipping numbers with the receivers just like they skip channel numbers on the program guide to leave space for other receivers in the future and then different numbers after the first digit for different versions of the same type of receiver and perhaps in the future they would just add a number in front of these numbers when they come out with a totally new receiver again in the future when there is a new design just as they did when they went from a 3000 to a 3700 to a 301. They changed the 3700 to a 3800 to a 3900, just changing the last digits, now they are doing the same making the 301 go to a 311.

So far we have:

111 - Cheap Economical Receiver without a smart card
2XX - N/A
301 - Current Base Receiver
311 - Future Receiver without a smart card (301 updated)
411 - Mitsubishi HD receiver for the Mitsubishi Tvs (if I'm not mistaken on what I read on here)
501 - PVR with 30 hours record time
508 - PVR with 60 hours record time (501 updated)
6XX - N/A
721 - PVR with 90 hours record time
811 - Future HD receiver
921 - Future HD PVR receiver

Any others that I have not listed that are going to be in the production line in the future?

[Steve Mehs]

The 211 is supposed to be a basic HD receiver w/ firewire out. Also there's the 322, 522 & 544. I bet by Christmas not one of the future receivers will be in production yet.

[BobaBird]

The missing 4-series receiver would basically be an update of the 4900 with 2 sets of A/V outputs and digital audio output without having to step up to a DVR or HD receiver.

The 544 doesn't appear in the 2003 product pamphlet.

[Cyclone]

Also isn't there a JVC HD PVR in the works?

[Jacob S]

Yes there is.

[crkeehn]

It sounds like the 311 is finally catching up to D* advanced program guide. My Samsung 300 stores three days of program listings and allows me to do program searches, although not as effectively as my departed Dishplayer.

[Scott Greczkowski]

I am also happy to hear that the new receivers will have more memory to do these advanced features! I find it shocking at 16 MB or Ram is the same price of 128MB of ram, lets hope Dish capitolizes on these low memory prices. :)

[UnnDunn]

The missing 4-series receiver would basically be an update of the 4900 with 2 sets of A/V outputs and digital audio output without having to step up to a DVR or HD receiver.

The 544 doesn't appear in the 2003 product pamphlet.Could the 544 wind up being the fabled MOXI device?

[Jacob S]

By the time Dish catches up to DirecTv, DirecTv will go a step ahead of them once again. I thought Dish used to be the leader, now they seem to be following, at least when it comes to hardware.

[Marcus S]

One has to wonder especially since shipment of the Toshiba DST-3100 with all A/V output on all the time, advanced w/7 day EPG. HDTivo due out this fall. While most of new E* receivers only have 3 day EPG. But we will have to see how Tivo prices their product. I am also concerned that E* subs wanting the best of product and programming will have to yet again pay for the experience. But then as an "early" E* adopter, I have now been their twice. Fool me once, twice, etc. How many times? Your comfort level may justify the experience(s).

[Peluso]

There is allot more information on the 921 than the HDTV tivo. Assuming the 921 comes out before the HDTV DirecTivo then Dish is ahead. If they come out at the same time then it will be technological parity.

[Marcus S]

While *D and their equipment providers stay relatively mute on the subject until 3 to 6 mo's to actual release, E*'s pattern has been 9+ mo's from announcement to actual release, playing each Chat up more and more on the product on each Chat. Kinda of like a suspense / drama / thriller. Coming soon, coming real soon, coming really soon, any day now. If Chat doesn't try to blame delay on their Q/A department to assure "customer satisfaction", typical deliver is 1 mo after half the Chat is spent on the receivers features in an infinite detailed infomercial. Unfortunately, we all hate the Q/A department <humor>, and average release of more complex equipment is typically 3 mo's late. If you have not watched the infomercial by end of Sept, expect Dec/Jan delivery.

[Jacob S]

Has any receivers/software/programming every come out on time when Dish says it will in the past few years?

[Mike D-CO5]

no

[Claude Greiner]

Marcus,

I will say that the 501 did surprise me when it was released ahead of schedule!

[Steve Mehs]

Okay I have to say it :D But look at the performance of the 501 early on in it's life. The 508 however was released late. I still remember reading a press release from the CE show in Vegas that said Dish said the 508 will be out by the end of Feb, on the next Charlie Chat a member of DBSForums even won one of the first 508s in a contest, and then it wasn't until the end of June that the 508 started shipping.

[Marcus S]

Marcus,

I will say that the 501 did surprise me when it was released ahead of schedule!


And at what buggy price over 2 years to fix problems? E* has abandoned fixing custom CID ringing including anything past 3hr buffering, and has usual, has gotten E* out of the responsibility of offering future feature upgrades because wonderfulness replacement at your cost is coming soon in Jan.

[Jacob S]

Upgrades seem to be more focused on the 721 now. They usually focus more on the higher priced more advanced receivers but thay may also be due to the fact that there are more possibilities for those receivers as well and more functionality with them.

[Marcus S]

I disagree, E* spends more time on low end receivers because that is what sells the most. Though what has always seemed strange, because E* push's what they consider esoteric product the most. What E* consider's esoteric product, 6000, 501, 508, 721. They have been painfully slow on bug fixes. Ironically, the 721 was never the smash as hoped, perhaps price and upcoming HD PVR product offerings. DVD RAM recorders have dropped in price significantly of recent.

[Jacob S]

Maybe they can implement DVD recorders into some type of PVR product or some of the features using those DVD-RW's?

[Marcus S]

I think you are on target. I have had my Panasonic DVD recorder for 2 years, it provides the ability to take your entertainment in the highway, play it on the plane, or play it from a collection for guests instead of the worry of eventually having to delete it. Unfortunatly with it comes black out restrictictions and probably copy guard protection, the later I am not as concerned about.

[Mike500]

Anyone seen a photo of any of these? Are the like book size or the wide and squat like the 301?

[Jacob S]

I have just seen an advertisement for a computer that has a DVD recorder and PVR so it seems like this is getting more popular with computer bundling. It comes with a flat screen moniter and printer for under $1,500 but I think one could buy their own DVD recorder and software for a bit cheaper than this. It even had an 80GB hard drive for pretty good space for video.

[Deuce]

Also isn't there a JVC HD PVR in the works?
Was called the 9000, and has been scrapped, in favor of the 921.

As far as the 111, it will be open tv and will come with an easy remote, thus almost making it bullet proof.

Anyone seen a photo of any of these? Are the like book size or the wide and squat like the 301?

Yeah, I've seen them both, and I have some screenies of the 311 with beta software. The 311 looks IDENTICAL to the 301, even has a smartcard slot, just not active.

The 111 looks like a black dreamcast.

[Mike500]

They need to put at least RCA connectors on the 111. Even the cheapest tv sets now come with RCA connectors.

[Mike Richardson]

They need to put at least RCA connectors on the 111. Even the cheapest tv sets now come with RCA connectors.

Either they need to put RCA connectors (even if it's just mono but I don't think stereo would cost any more than a few cents for another connector, or they just leave off the connector to make it "seem" crappier), or have the RF output be in stereo (MTS or whatever it is, I think they have to use a UHF channel don't they?).

[Jacob S]

I still see a lot of the newer cheapest tv's without the RCA connectors.

[Chris Freeland]

They need to put at least RCA connectors on the 111. Even the cheapest tv sets now come with RCA connectors.

I agree, even my daughters $64.99 Apex 13" tv I bought a couple weeks ago at CC has not one but two sets of rca jacks.

[Homer]

Didn't I read a little while back that the 411 was going to be a Mitsubishi HD receiver? What about a 2XX or a 6XX? I guess they are skipping numbers with the receivers just like they skip channel numbers on the program guide to leave space for other receivers in the future and then different numbers after the first digit for different versions of the same type of receiver and perhaps in the future they would just add a number in front of these numbers when they come out with a totally new receiver again in the future when there is a new design just as they did when they went from a 3000 to a 3700 to a 301. They changed the 3700 to a 3800 to a 3900, just changing the last digits, now they are doing the same making the 301 go to a 311.

So far we have:

111 - Cheap Economical Receiver without a smart card
2XX - N/A
301 - Current Base Receiver
311 - Future Receiver without a smart card (301 updated)
411 - Mitsubishi HD receiver for the Mitsubishi Tvs (if I'm not mistaken on what I read on here)
501 - PVR with 30 hours record time
508 - PVR with 60 hours record time (501 updated)
6XX - N/A
721 - PVR with 90 hours record time
811 - Future HD receiver
921 - Future HD PVR receiver

Any others that I have not listed that are going to be in the production line in the future?

Allow me to help you out

111 - Economy Receiver**
211 - HD Rec w/ 2 1394 Outputs(Mitsubishi TV)**
301 - Current Base Receiver
311 - DP 301 w/ int. card, enhanced guide**
322 - 2 Tuners, 2 TV's, no DVR (Sandwiched 301's)
411 - N/A
501 - Single Tuner DVR - 30 Hrs.
508 - Single Tuner DVR - 60 Hrs.
510 - Single Tuner DVR - 80 Hrs.
522 - Dual Tuner DVR - 2 TV's
544 - Quad Tuner DVR - 4 TV's
6XX - N/A
721 - PVR with 90 hours record time
811 - Future HD receiver**
921 - Future HD PVR receiver**

**Integrated S/card