ViP 211 and OTA use

[blackfire]

Hi,

I'm new here and I have a question on the 211. I'm looking at getting the 211 to supplement my current non-hd receiver (moving it to the back room) and to use as an HD OTA receiver. I'm not looking at adding any HD packages, I just want the HD OTA plus what I'm getting now from Dish. I've noted on several websites listing the 211 that "Additional authorization may be required before high definition programming and/or off-air digital broadcasts can be viewed; additional fees may apply." What I am wondering is, will I have to purchase one of Dish Networks HD packages or pay a fee of some sort to enable the HD OTA? Any help or comment will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jackie Bell

[Mikey]

Historically, Dish requires you to sub to their HD pack in order to lease a receiver. If you want to buy it, you don't need to sub to the HD pack. The 211 might be a little expensive to use as a digital receiver only.

[blackfire]

Thanks for the reply Mikey. I plan on adding it on as a second reciever to my current subscription, I am just not interested in paying for their HD packages right now.

[kb7oeb]

The 811 should get really cheap on ebay since they won't allow HD pack activations on it starting next month. Do you have HBO or Showtime? The hd version is included if you subscribe to those packages and don't require the hd pack.

[jscudder]

Hi,

What I am wondering is, will I have to purchase one of Dish Networks HD packages or pay a fee of some sort to enable the HD OTA? Any help or comment will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jackie Bell

You do NOT have to subscribe to the HD Package to receive HD OTA but (I think) you do have to subscribe to your locals for the OTA station information to appear in the guide.

Actually the 211/411 integration of your satellite locals and OTA locals is seamless. I get the Boston locals by satellite and receive the Portland ME locals OTA. In the guide they are all there listed together by their actual channel numbers.

You will notice that the way locals are displayed in the guide on an HD receiver is a little different from a non-HD receiver. The numbers are preceeded by 0's and followed by digits for sub channels. For example my OTA channel 6 appears as 006-01. (You still only have to press 6 on the remote.) I receive HD 6 (NBC) OTA as 6.1, 6.2 (006-02) is NBC Weather Plus, and 6.3 (006-03) is SD 6 (NBC). The guide has only one oddity that I have noticed. Only the first sub channel has programs listed in the guide. In my example above 006-01 lists programs. 006-03 which is SD only says 'Digital Service' even though it carries the same programming as 006-01 the HD subchannel.

The satellite locals are similar. For example channel 4 which I receive in the Boston locals appears as 004-00. When the Boston HD locals light up next month I imagine that the HD version of 4 will be 004-01. It will be interesting to see how the satellite HD locals compare to my OTA HD locals.

John

[blackfire]

Thank you all for you replies.

kb7oeb - I do not currently subscribe to HBO or Showtime. I orginally had HBO when I first signed up for Dish 10 years ago, but found that my viewing time dropped significantly over the first year so I cancelled it.

John - I followed all you said except "but (I think) you do have to subscribe to your locals for the OTA station information to appear in the guide." Are you saying that if I don't subscribe to the local channels, I'll be able to see the channel in the menu, but won't see what the current show is?

[Mikey]

...
John - I followed all you said except "but (I think) you do have to subscribe to your locals for the OTA station information to appear in the guide." Are you saying that if I don't subscribe to the local channels, I'll be able to see the channel in the menu, but won't see what the current show is?The 811 receiver doesn't require you to sub to Dish locals for OTA EPG data. The 921/942 do. I haven't seen any reports yet on wether or not the 211 requires Dish locals for EPG data on OTA.

[blackfire]

I did a search for the 411 manual on google, and the first item took me to the Dish Networks HDTV faq. There it says that "a DISH Network local package must be active on the account in order to receive programming information for off air analog and digital local channels on models 211/411, 921 and 942." My question is, can I still access those channels if I haven't subscribed to the local package?

[James Long]

Based on that wording, you will get the channels but not the guide data.

It looks like E* will be charging a $6/mo penalty for having a HD receiver and not subscribing to the DishHD package. That would be an additional fee that would apply.

JL

[blackfire]

So is that on top of the additional receiver charge?

[James Long]

Yes. We have not seen the rules for that extra charge in print yet, whether it applies just to leased receivers or all ViPs. I don't expect it to apply to non-ViP receivers.

I'm hoping that all this gets spelled out officially quickly.

JL

[kb7oeb]

Wow, thats the first I have heard of this new fee. Dish is starting to sound like the bank in that parody commercial where they charge a fee for talking to the guy, a withdrawal fee, a pen usage fee a research fee and 5 other things I forgot.

[blackfire]

So do I.

[Stewart Vernon]

Wow, thats the first I have heard of this new fee. Dish is starting to sound like the bank in that parody commercial where they charge a fee for talking to the guy, a withdrawal fee, a pen usage fee a research fee and 5 other things I forgot.

On that note... The hands-down winner so far for me in terms of stupid fees...

AT&T, if you have them as your long distance service, has an "itemized bill fee". Basically, they charge $3.50 or something like that for the service of supplying you a bill along with your local telephone bill. Even if you don't make any long distance calls that month, they still charge you a fee just to tell you that you don't owe them anything.

Stupidest fee award in my book! And just one of the many reasons I switched long-distance carriers!

[BobaBird]

I did a search for the 411 manual on google, and the first item took me to the Dish Networks HDTV faq. There it says that "a DISH Network local package must be active on the account in order to receive programming information for off air analog and digital local channels on models 211/411, 921 and 942." My question is, can I still access those channels if I haven't subscribed to the local package?The EKB HDTV Features Comparison (http://ekb.dbstalk.com/233), based on that FAQ on the TechPortal, has listed the 211/411 as having DTV guide info "w/LIL sub" for a few weeks now. Here's to hoping it's wrong but I doubt it given how aggressively they tried to take it away from all 921 users after they briefly got it.