Tell me about DVR, specifically with DISH Network

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am thinking about upgrading to the DISH-Network offered DVR service. I don’t think it’s TiVo, since DirecTV seems to have some sort of contract with them. This seems to be specific to DISH Network, as in their own propietary service.

What do you think of it? Is it worth the price of 99 bucks to get the hardware installed, and then 5 dollars a month for the lease of the equiipment, and 5 bucks more for the DVR service? Would I be better off buying a TiVo unit and shelling out 12 bucks per month for that? Keep in mind that the cost of the TiVO would be about 100 bucks more, since I would have to get another receiver to go specifically with it (I’ll be adding a new receiver to my house as well, so that my house will have a totla of two feeds coming in. If I get the Dishnetwork unit, it comes with a receiver built in.)

Opinions?

2

I got mine back in November 2001.

It’s the 2nd generation unit. It has a 62hr harddrive (not sure about the Gb size). It is not like TiVo in that it will seek out types of programs you want. You use the Program Guide to decide what to record.

You can set four types of timers:

  1. PVR (this will record the program on the HD)
  2. Reminder: a reminder block will pop up on the TV 5 minutes before the program is scheduled to start
  3. Auto Tune: will switch to the program at the scheduled time (a clock icon flashes in the lower left corner 5 minutes before the show comes on. You can get rid of the icon by hitting the “cancel” button, but it won’t cancel your timer)
  4. VCR Tune: You program the PVR to send out a record signal to a VCR. The VCR must be on and can be anywhere in the room.

You can have unlimited timers (at least, I haven’t found the limit. I’ve had as many as 20 timers). You can set for one time only, daily, weekly, or Mon-Fri.

The shows you record will stay on the drive until you run out of space. Then the oldest recording will be erased unless it’s “protected”. If you run out of space due to “protected” recordings, the timer will not activate.

If the unit loses power, you don’t lose your timers or recorded programs.

You have the option to modify start and stop times. I always stop and start 3 minutes around the scheduled time.

Other TiVo like features:

Stopping live programs: there’s a 60 minute limit at which point the program starts “playing” from the original stopping point.

Ten second “instant replay”: go back in ten second increments for up to 60 minutes, but only on the current channel. If you change channels, the 60 minute limit starts over. You can also go backward at 4x, 15x, 60x, & 300x speeds until the limit is met, at which point it will play.

Thirty second commercial jump.

4x, 15x, 60x, & 300x fast forward when watching a recorded program.

Stuff you can’t do:

Record one program while watching another (unless you get the pricey dual tuner model), but you can watch a prerecorded program while recording another one.

Is it worth it?

YES!

3

It sounds like a VCR that has a few extra program options

4

Pretty much yes, except it can’t accept any outside input other than the satellite signal.

5

Indeed, it sounds like much less than TiVo, which will actively seek out the programs you tell it you want to record (for example, find “Stargate SG-1” anytime it’s playing and record it.)

Of coursem TiVo is 13 bucks a month, and this service is only 10 (hardware lease plus dvr service).

Thanks Mr. Blue Sky!

6

I got mine about 8 months ago. It’s the 522 unit, which has 2 tuners for 2 TVs. It’s really, really awesome. Because its a central hard drive, I can watch recorded programming at either of my TVs. If I’m watching TV in the living room and something else comes on I want to watch, I can record it at the same time.

I’ve never had TiVo, so I don’t miss the active searching or anything. For me, this does the job really, really well. I don’t watch live TV hardly at all anymore, and find myself watching less TV because I can skip commercials and only watch what I want to watch.

I love it. I can’t recommend it highly enough. All my friends thought I was insane for loving it as much as I did until they saw it in action. Now they all want one.

7

I am confused. Do you have two TVs that close together? I am not sur eI see the point of having a dual-tuner machine except to watch something while recording something else.

8

No, one is in the living room and the other is in the bedroom. There’s 2 outputs on the rear of the receiver. One goes right to the TV, the other goes to a cable that goes back outside, up a story in my house, then back into my bedroom. The receiver came with 2 remotes, 1 IR for the living room. The other is RF, so I can control the receiver from anywhere in the house. Pretty neat stuff.

9

I just got mine last week. I got it free, although there is the $5/mo service fee. It’s a 2 TV unit which records up to 100 hours. I can tell it to search for shows and automatically record them (I accidentally asked for every ep of Law & Order SVU, and got 5 eps in one day). I can tell it to look for an actor or a title and it’ll do that. I’m still learning all it can do, but it’s very cool. I’m very pleased with the service.

StG

10

This is with the Dish system? I have the old one and I’m thinking of upgrading.

11

Please tel us how you got it for free. they are telling me I have to pay 99 bucks to get new equipment.

12

Interesting. Wonder how well that would work out with a universal remote. I could probably use the uni in the living room and the other in the bedroom, assuming it’s not too far away to work properly.

13

Is that deal coming directly from Dish? If so, shop around for local companies who install the equipment. There seems to be a deal going on all the time.

14

My offer is for Dish Network, I think the deal I received expired at the end of the year, but the sales folks called me yesterday to ask how I was liking the my service. They told me the company (Dish, not the sales company) were sending me some cards to give out to allow others to have the same offer. For each person I “recruited” I’d get a $5 credit on my bill. I haven’t received the cards yet, so I don’t know if it’s a local (Middle Tennessee) deal or a national promotion. I’ll keep this thread in mind and if it’s a national deal I’ll come back and see if anyone wants me to send them one.

StG