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Possibly upgrading to HD

5K views 49 replies 11 participants last post by  mccoady 
#1 ·
My mom has two Dish receivers a 3700 and either a 300 series or 500 series receiver and I have been trying to get her to upgrade to HD for a couple of years now, one receiver is in her living room and one is in her basement. She does have a sd Tivo (single tuner) on her living room tv but the digital converter box it requires to receive OTA locals does cause her problems so it would be nice to just retire it.

So what she really needs is a HD dual tuner dvr on her living room tv since this is where she does most of her viewing, plus I have her current sat and Tivo signal sent from this location to two bedrooms via Leapfrogs. It would also be nice to upgrade her basement sat receiver to HD but it wouldn't have to be a dvr unless it was cheap enough but it's important the living room tv has a dual tuner to that tv.

She does not get her locals through Dish but rather via a OTA antenna. Questions:

1. If she signs up for auto pay and paperless billing should she quality for "free HD for life"?

2. What HD receivers would you recommend one needs to be a dvr and if possible that dvr needs to be able to receiver a signal from a OTA antenna?

3. I believe she has the 250 channel package but I'm trying to figure out how much more a month this upgrade will cost her if she qualifies for Free HD since currently she doesn't pay a dvr fee?
 
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#30 ·
mccoady said:
Looking at receivers on Dish website I do not see listed the 622 but there is a 625?
While the ViP 622 is no longer manufactured, but they are still floating around in the system as refurbished models and new old stock.

Any similarity between the 625 and the ViP 622 stems from sloppiness on the part of forum posters omitting the "ViP" element of the model number.
 
#32 ·
I have a 522 and I'm thinking of adding an HD receiver (adding, because until I get a new receiver there is no way I can empty the 522). They would need to add to or replace the satellite dish with one that receives HD signals. Would a new one be able to feed both receivers?

Also, when recording to an HD receiver - I guess you have a choice of HD or SD programming. Can you record two HD programs at a time? I know you can only view the HD programs in HD on one TV (from one HD unit), right?

How much is upgrade installation these days?

Thanks.
 
#33 ·
neilo said:
I have a 522 and I'm thinking of adding an HD receiver (adding, because until I get a new receiver there is no way I can empty the 522). They would need to add to or replace the satellite dish with one that receives HD signals. Would a new one be able to feed both receivers?

Also, when recording to an HD receiver - I guess you have a choice of HD or SD programming. Can you record two HD programs at a time? I know you can only view the HD programs in HD on one TV (from one HD unit), right?

How much is upgrade installation these days?

Thanks.
The Dish 1000.X dish has a built in switch that will feed up to 3 dual tuner HD receivers and that includes dual tuner SD receivers. Just run one cable to the HD receiver and one to your 522.

Dish HD DVR's can record at least 2 HD satellite feeds and can also record at least one HD OTA feed (722k with optional OTA module can record 2 OTA signals at the same time).

You must contact Dish for up grade pricing.
 
#34 ·
Jim5506 said:
The Dish 1000.X dish has a built in switch that will feed up to 3 dual tuner HD receivers and that includes dual tuner SD receivers. Just run one cable to the HD receiver and one to your 522.

Dish HD DVR's can record at least 2 HD satellite feeds and can also record at least one HD OTA feed (722k with optional OTA module can record 2 OTA signals at the same time).

You must contact Dish for up grade pricing.
Thanks for the information.
 
#35 ·
Finally got my mom convinced to upgrade so they are coming to do the install tomorrow hopefully bringing a 722 and 211 with the former running in dual mode to one of the bedrooms. The install includes runs to 3 tvs LR tv (TV1), BR1 tv (TV2) and basement tv (211). I told Dish agent I wanted to play extra to mirror off of the TV2 feed to a second bedroom but he insisted it couldn't be done without setting up a second appt which would cost $95 instead of $45 with tomorrows install (two different CS agents said this) so I'm not too happy about that.

What are the chances of the installer agreeing to run a mirror to BR2 if I pay him directly? I think to run the cable to BR1 (which is included in install) he will have to run the cable on the outside of the house and come back into the BR1 but BR2 is right beside BR1 so a simple splitter could be used at that point making it fairly easy to run into BR2.

Never used a Dish dvr before only a Tivo and D* HR24 so I'm hoping it will be easy for me to figure out and explain to my mom.

Is there anything I need to know about setting up Season Passes/Series Links besides bringing up the guide, hitting record, and selecting new/first run, I assume there is a priority list I can rearrange?

Does using the 722 in dual mode effect how I setup Season Passes (weekly shows) I will probably get in front of the 722 and setup all her programming I will want to record HD shows over SD ones. She will have OTA antenna connected to the 722 plus having locals through Dish (HD 250 Package).

I don't really understand Record Plus or whether she needs to use it, her 722 just needs to be set so she can live watch programming during the day from LR tv plus also record Dr Phil and Oprah... then in the evening she goes to the bedroom to watch live programming or watch recorded shows. Does the 722 need to be set to record any particular way to achieve this or will it simply record on whatever tuner not in use?
 
#36 ·
Do not use season passes, they record the show wherever it appears (any channel), instead, just set up a timer for the channel needed and the receiver will record it weekly (that is unless you want EVERY episode of the Simpsons - reruns and all).

Record plus allows you to specify the primary recording tuner for all non conflicted recordings. In this case it's probably best to set it to record using the TV2 tuner leaving the TV1 tuner free for anytime viewing. This will only impact viewing on the remote tv in BR2 (must watch what is being recorded if recording is active).

There is no way to specify that the receiver record on the tuner not in use, you either record on the tuner where the timer is set or use Record plus to record on a specified tuner (usually TV2).
 
#38 ·
mccoady said:
Jim is setting up a recording from the guide by selecting a show to record weekly considered a timer recording or Season Pass?
Via the guide would create a normal timer recording. A "Season Pass" (DISH Pass) is set up through the Daily Schedule or Timers List menus and allows one to set up a timer that searches for text instead of a specific program.

The options for DISH Pass are different ... one can select a channel by number or all channels, one can also set preference for SD or HD recording (yes, one can set SD only). On normal recordings it only applies to the channel chosen with no regard to HD or SD or other options. (If you set a timer on a SD channel it will record the SD channel even after a HD channel is added. One must recreate their timers to go between SD and HD.)
 
#40 ·
mccoady said:
Sounds like setting up a timer from the guide is the same as Season Pass/Series Link so that is what I want to use.

James when setting up a timer from the guide will it select to record a program in HD or SD?
It will choose the channel you have chosen from the guide. For example, if you choose "The Daily Show" from HD 107 the timer will set on the HD channel. If you choose "The Daily Show" from the non-HD 107 the timer will set on the SD channel.
 
#42 ·
What I have done on one of my receivers is lock out all of the SDs that have HDs then hide locked channels. Never see them again! :)

I wish DISH had the option to replace channels with mapdowns instead of requiring favorites lists or locked out channels.
 
#43 ·
James Long said:
What I have done on one of my receivers is lock out all of the SDs that have HDs then hide locked channels. Never see them again! :)
How do I exactly do that?

I spent all day at my moms yesterday since the install which the installer said should have taken 2 hours turned out to be a 5-6 hour job, he said her prior installation was so bad he had to start from scratch. He installed the 722K in the LR and then ran mirrored it to both her BR's which is great and then installed a 211 for her basement tv. He wired the 722 so she has the option of using either in single or dual mode which is also great.

I will say I think after using a Direct Tivo and DirecTV HR 24 I found the 722 much harder to use and I think my mom was pretty confused when I left last night. Some questions:

1. Guide: Why is it necessary for it to display so many numbers for a given channel that's a lot of information to process when looking at the guide? For instance on D* receivers if a channel's number is 10 then that's all it lists in the guide not 10 with a bunch of zeros or whatever like Dish does I know it was confusing to my mom and I have to agree.

2. Are there shortcuts on the remote to go directly "My Recordings", "Daily Schedule", and "Timers"?

3. In single mode is there a way to flip back and forth between tuners like the Tivo's and the HR24?
 
#44 ·
mccoady said:
1. Guide: Why is it necessary for it to display so many numbers for a given channel that's a lot of information to process when looking at the guide? For instance on D* receivers if a channel's number is 10 then that's all it lists in the guide not 10 with a bunch of zeros or whatever like Dish does I know it was confusing to my mom and I have to agree.

2. Are there shortcuts on the remote to go directly "My Recordings", "Daily Schedule", and "Timers"?

3. In single mode is there a way to flip back and forth between tuners like the Tivo's and the HR24?
1. I don't know what you're talking about. It lists 10-000 for the satellite channel and 10-001 etc for OTA because those are the digital subchannels it's reading, ie those are the actual channels.

2. My Recordings: DVR button 2x. Daily Schedule DVR button 3x. Timer is on the Daily Schedule screen.

3. The Swap button. You can also swap while you're in PIP mode.
 
#45 ·
Thanks for the reply regarding #1 with the D* guide our local channels are displayed as one or two digits 3 (NBC), 8 (PBS), 10 (ABC), etc. while the sat channels are three digit 206 (ESPN), 209 (ESPN2), etc.

My D* guide doesn't show sub channels but since we only have two stations they have them and I don't watch either it doesn't bother me.

Maybe I didn't spend enough time with the Dish guide but I thought it displayed a lot more digits for the same channels I listed above.
 
#46 ·
mccoady said:
Thanks for the reply regarding #1 with the D* guide our local channels are displayed as one or two digits 3 (NBC), 8 (PBS), 10 (ABC), etc. while the sat channels are three digit 206 (ESPN), 209 (ESPN2), etc.
When I say "sat channels" for things like 3-000, 10-000 I mean they're the locals that are being delivered via satellite. They're mapdowns. Their actual channels are much higher.

All nonlocal channels are 3-digit or more.
 
#47 ·
mccoady said:
How do I exactly do that?
Menu-5 Locks-(password if set)-2 Channel Locks
Pick the channels you want to lock out.
Select DONE.
On the locks menu select 8 Hide Locked (if it displays as 8 Show Locked you're OK, locked channels are hidden)
You will also need to set a password if one is not already set (option 5).
You may also want to lock PPV and Hide Adult programming ... mom's choice, of course.

There are high numbered versions of the HD channels and unsubscribed channels that you may want to lock out as well. One caveat. If you lock out a SD channel it will no longer appear on the channel 100 matrix screen. Those channels change from time to time and I rarely use channel 100 so it doesn't bother me that they are locked out.

I will say I think after using a Direct Tivo and DirecTV HR 24 I found the 722 much harder to use and I think my mom was pretty confused when I left last night.
One could probably say the same about the DirecTV or any cable tuner when coming from something else. People who get used to one way of doing thing often have trouble with the new way.
 
#48 ·
All this info has been priceless!

Last question (I hope) my mom has decided she made a mistake by having the 722 installed in her living room instead of her basement where the 211 was installed.

How big of a deal would it be to have the Dish installer to come back out and install the 722 in the basement and the 211 in her living room keeping in mind he wired it so the bedrooms mirrored the 722 and she has the option of using either single or dual mode?

Do you think this would be more than a $100 charge?
 
#49 ·
mccoady said:
All this info has been priceless!

Last question (I hope) my mom has decided she made a mistake by having the 722 installed in her living room instead of her basement where the 211 was installed.

How big of a deal would it be to have the Dish installer to come back out and install the 722 in the basement and the 211 in her living room keeping in mind he wired it so the bedrooms mirrored the 722 and she has the option of using either single or dual mode?

Do you think this would be more than a $100 charge?
do u have the protection plan?
if u do i think its $15
if not its $95
 
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