Does anyone have Dish Network with 5 TVs?

4bama said:

My assumption is you will never have 5 "different" people watching 5 different TV's at the same time. For example, I use a distribution amp and distribute a single receiver's output to TV's in the kitchen, bedroom and sewing room, those are the rooms my wife will be watching TV from most of the time. I bought some extra UHF remotes from DISH and programmed them for each different TV and location.

Do the same for a 622 and I can watch from 6 different locations but only need 3 receiver outputs, 2 from the 622 and 1 from the 508, 2 receivers total....

If you have such a large family or boarding house where you need 5 independent receivers to dedicated TV's then I would split my house into 2 mailing addresses so you could get up to 8 receivers, just on two different accounts/addresses.

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You're right, there probably won't be a moment in time when all 5 TVs are watching different channels. My original idea was 1 HD receiver, 1 regular receiver, 1 HD-DVR, and 1 DVR, with the last 1 operating 2 TVs.

I could also (unwillingly) delete the standard receiver and have the HD-DVR operate 2 TVs as well, but with that if the 2 TVs connected to it are on, then it would not be able to record anything (unless one of the TVs was watching the recording program). However, even that is not possible as I would still have 5 tuners in the house. Based on what I got from Dish they'll allow 4 tuners, not 4 receivers. And, there's no easy way to send to 4 tuners to 5 TVs, especially without sacrificing DVR functionality. The only receiver that won't get regular use is the HD one, but that would be located in the basement and I doubt the RF remote would be able to control it.

If I'm limited to 4 tuners, than I can have 2 DVRs and that's it. I'd like 2 DVRs and 1 receiver at minimum . I find it strange that DirecTV has no problem with my having 6 tuners on the house but dish won't allow more than 4.

DISH will allow more than 4 tuners, but they have a limit of 4 LEASED tuners. You would be much better off with one 622 and one 625. The two DVRs can be put on different UHF channels. Pretend UHF 31, 42, and 51 are unused there. 622's TV1 can be 31, its TV2 is 42, and the 625's TV2 is 51 all on the same piece of coax that goes to all the TVs in the house. Distance to the receiver from the remote rooms shouldn't be a problem with the UHF remotes (many solutions available). The TVs in the room where the receivers are located will get a better picture than the coax to a remote room. It is easier to only control TV2 on each DVR remotely and let the people by the TV next to the DVR have their own "TV1". The other rooms must fight amongst themselves for the two TV2 outputs.

You can also just buy a standard receiver for about $100 list - but then you have the issue of connecting to the satellite. You would have to pay a little more for a 508, but that would give you a DVR without the DVR fee. The Sat connection could be a non-problem - depends on what you see when you select Switch Check. If they installed you with a DPP44, you may have a free connection for the other receiver. If you have a single cable from the 622 to the dish (and a separator connecting that cable to both 622 inputs), you likely do have a DPP44 and a free connection. If you have two cables from the 622, you likely have a DP34 and all 4 outputs are used. Connecting a 5th tuner would be possible with another DP34, but not as easily.

It would be $5/month cheaper if the two regular receivers were a dual output 322 (or 625 but that would add a DVR fee).

I just went to DirecTV and tried to do a 5 TV setup
https://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/wizard/buildYourSystem1.jsp

You'll also get FREE installation in up to four rooms (includes a satellite dish and remotes). Plus, great deals on DVR, HD Receiver and HD DVR upgrades.

The limit there is two DVRs and I can't even select a single HD DVR - it is a wait list item.

I'm unclear if you said OK when the installer showed up with a 622 and two regular receivers, but assume that is what you have and installation is complete. That would make it your $ to get a 211 in the basement if you want HD there. That's more expensive than adding a SD receiver to a bedroom. If you don't need to be watching different HD programs in LR and basement, you can feed HDMI to one HD and component to another (w/ length restrictions). TV1 on the 622 can watch the RCA / S-video provided for TV2 if someone is watching HD in the basement and they want to watch something else. Those connectors are a better picture than coax (especially after a long coax run), but it is possible to setup a home distribution system to compensate. You can see this now with whatever you do have and a coax run to a distant bedroom.

Even if a bedroom gets a receiver, I'd run the HD DVR's coax to as many BRs as possible. You can pause/stop the show you were watching on the LR TV1 and pick up where you left off in the master BR.

If you have two BRs that could share their own single tuner DVR (a 508 would have no DVR fee), I'd probably go with that. Those two rooms could watch either the 508 DVR or the 622 DVR and use the same remote (622 is Sat button and 508 is Aux button).

I'd hope the TVs were modern enough to have RCA and S-Video connectors as well as Coax connections. My master BR has its own 508 and I need to select Line 1 on the TV to watch it. When I select a channel number there, it uses the coax input. That input is what I send to all the TVs. At the 942, I take the OTA antenna and the 942's Home Dist output and connect that to a splitter/combiner. That output goes to another splitter that feeds the coax into TV1 and an amp to send to the rest of the house. If I want to watch the 942's TV2 output, I select channel 37 on a TV or a regular OTA channel if I want that. The 622 can put both TV1 and TV2 on the home dist output but my 942 is limited to TV2 output. I could also move the BR 508 DVR to the living room, combine its output (limited to channel 3/4) run that through a Channel 4 combiner so that my 942 and 508 output were available in any room by selecting channel 4, 37, or some OTA channel (using a 6.2 UHF Pro remote to control both the 942 and 508).

Many people have their receivers in a closet and combine their coax outputs for home distribution. After 100' of coax, the picture isn't as crisp as 6' of RCA cables right at the TV. In my master, I watch the 942 in the living room at least 90% of the time. Probably closer to 95% of the time. The 508 may have a better picture, but it is used more for when TV2 is "busy" on the 942.

The standard 311 receivers don't have a UHF remote so it isn't easy to control from another room. The 211 HD receiver is IR only as well if you want an HD receiver dedicated to the basement. You'll need to pick between a 622 and 211 for two HD receivers and a standard single receiver OR a 622 and a 625 and then it would be up to you to buy a 211 for the basement HD. If the 622 isn't that far from the basement and you don't mind limiting the basement to whaterver is on TV1 of the 622, I'd probably try the 622 and 625 combo (4 tuners), one $5 extra receiver fee, two $5.98 DVR fees (I'm assuming you can connect the 622 to a phone line to avoid that $5 fee). I don't know where you'd choose to put the 625, but its TV2 output can be combined with the 622's home dist output to go to the other rooms.

A downside to the 625 and 622 combo is that the installer COULD give you a Dish 1000 with a DPP Twin to accomplish that (only two outputs from the LNB, but each can satisfy a dual output receiver). Picking a 622, 211, and a SD receiver might get you a DPP 44 switch which would leave you with a 4th output you can use to connect to another receiver (that you'll have to purchase). I have no idea if the installer can give you the DPP 44 knowing you were told you'd have to do the 5th TV yourself. I'd certainly make it a point to ask him about it. You can feed more than 4 tuners by ganging DP34 switches too and run two coax cables to the dual tuner receivers.