[Redlinetire]

I just want to give a big 'Thank You' to all the fine folks here at DBSTalk that have helped me along the way.

I just switched from DirecTV to Dish today and I must say the 722 has blown me out of the water.

My expectations were set by the fine hardware reviews to be found here, as well as the helpful advice on install. But now that I've had a few hours to play the equipment, it's exceed my expectations. I'm extremely pleased with the switch and that's in no small part to the great community and advice to be found on this forum.

Thanks to all!

 

[Radio Enginerd]

I just want to give a big 'Thank You' to all the fine folks here at DBSTalk that have helped me along the way.

I just switched from DirecTV to Dish today and I must say the 722 has blown me out of the water.

My expectations were set by the fine hardware reviews to be found here, as well as the helpful advice on install. But now that I've had a few hours to play the equipment, it's exceed my expectations. I'm extremely pleased with the switch and that's in no small part to the great community and advice to be found on this forum.

Thanks to all!

Congrats on your move to Dish Network. I hear the VIP722 is pretty awesome. I have a buddy of mine that has one and it's a pretty nice piece of hardware. I've always been found of the Dish Network UI.

Out of curiosity, why did you leave DirecTV?

 

[Redlinetire]

Congrats on your move to Dish Network. I hear the VIP722 is pretty awesome. I have a buddy of mine that has one and it's a pretty nice piece of hardware. I've always been found of the Dish Network UI.

Out of curiosity, why did you leave DirecTV?

I've had two stints with DirecTV over the years and both of them ended due to hardware issues - first the H10 and now the HR20.

On the HR20 I've had intermittent blank recordings since January that they weren't able to fix. In the last two weeks, it started to lockup whenever I would pause it. Some seem to blame the latest software releases but who knows. I had fantastic signal strength, newer cable, etc. I just got tired of trying to diagnose things.

My experience with DirecTV was like owning a fancy german car. Amazing when it worked, but it was rarely without problems! :lol:

 

[Nick]

I've been back with Dish for little over a month now with the 'HD Only' pkg.

The 722 is awesome -- zero glitches, solid as a rock .I've had various DVRs
going back to the DP 7200 in 2000, and this bad boy is absolutely the best.
It has exceeded all my expectations.

 

[Lord Vader]

Amazing how DISH could seem to get their DVR right when DirecTV still is having trouble with the most basic of its unit's functions!

(Disclaimer: I'm a DirecTV customer, too!)

 

[harsh]

Amazing how DISH could seem to get their DVR right when DirecTV still is having trouble with the most basic of its unit's functions!

As has been pointed out by one of our resident D* apologists, Echostar has been doing their own satellite receivers for a long time.

If enough people howl, DIRECTV may resume work in earnest on the basic functionality of their DVRs. As it is, the media player and other wizbang features are a lot sexier and the marketroids are running the show.

 

[Redlinetire]

Amazing how DISH could seem to get their DVR right when DirecTV still is having trouble with the most basic of its unit's functions!

(Disclaimer: I'm a DirecTV customer, too!)

It was funny when I called DirecTV to cancel, the young woman on the other end of the phone kept telling me how they have the BEST DVR..."it has all this video on demand which Dish doesn't have and you can see you pictures and listen to music..." and I said "It worked a lot better before you started adding that stuff!" She was simply astounded that I would leave for Dish. But then again, she's paid to try to retain people... :lol:

 

[heisman]

Congrats on your switch Redline. My HR-20 is just a brutally bad piece of equipment. D* definitely knows what they are doing when they make you sign a contract. Anyway, as soon as E* gets Eastern Arc service rolling, I'll be switching back to E* for better equipment, better HD PQ, and better price. Like you, I've had enough.

 

[kstuart]

I want to advise new 622 and 722 users to make sure that they have lots of ventilation for the HD-DVR. Do not use it in a closed cabinet (unless that has a fan to ventilate it).

I had an occasional spontaneous reboot on my 622 until I put a Thermaltake USB fan exhausting the left side of the 622. It is powered by the 622's USB port and cost under $10 from Amazon:

You can see I have my 622 up on blocks to allow air to circulate to the vents on the bottom as well. When I made these minor and easy changes, I stopped having any stability problems.

PS The other stability tip is - when you see that the software version number has changed (press menu twice to check), then (when you are not recording) pull the AC plug out of your power outlet, wait about 20 seconds, and plug it back in. Occasionally the update process will leave something in memory that can cause problems. Once I had a couple of timers that failed to record, right after an update, and a power-cord-pull reset fixed the problem.

 

[Redlinetire]

I want to advise new 622 and 722 users to make sure that they have lots of ventilation for the HD-DVR. Do not use it in a closed cabinet (unless that has a fan to ventilate it).

I had an occasional spontaneous reboot on my 622 until I put a Thermaltake USB fan exhausting the left side of the 622. It is powered by the 622's USB port and cost under $10 from Amazon,

You can see I have my 622 up on blocks to allow air to circulate to the vents on the bottom as well. When I made these minor and easy changes, I stopped having any stability problems.

PS The other stability tip is - when you see that the software version number has changed (press menu twice to check), then (when you are not recording) pull the AC plug out of your power outlet, wait about 20 seconds, and plug it back in. Occasionally the update process will leave something in memory that can cause problems. Once I had a couple of timers that failed to record, right after an update, and a power-cord-pull reset fixed the problem.

Thanks for the tips kstuart. Fortunately mine sits out in the open air, so hopefully no reheating issues. If I do run into issues, I'll try the fan setup.

 

[Paul Secic]

I've had two stints with DirecTV over the years and both of them ended due to hardware issues - first the H10 and now the HR20.

On the HR20 I've had intermittent blank recordings since January that they weren't able to fix. In the last two weeks, it started to lockup whenever I would pause it. Some seem to blame the latest software releases but who knows. I had fantastic signal strength, newer cable, etc. I just got tired of trying to diagnose things.

My experience with DirecTV was like owning a fancy german car. Amazing when it worked, but it was rarely without problems! :lol:

I've have had my VIP622 since December without problems. I've had Dish since October 1999.

 

[Paul Secic]

I've been back with Dish for little over a month now with the 'HD Only' pkg.

The 722 is awesome -- zero glitches, solid as a rock .I've had various DVRs
going back to the DP 7200 in 2000, and this bad boy is absolutely the best.
It has exceeded all my expectations.

OMG! I'm about to faint:lol:

 

[Nick]

Even better than (not then) my two still active SA 8300HD DVRs,
which I can easily rate at 99.99% reliability.