DISH DVR

[gorak]

I recently signed up for DISH with some international channels added. Only after installation I recognized that the equipment (VIP211K) I had ordered (received for free) was not a DVR, but a normal receiver. Now when I went and asked them they are charging me a heft $300 for equipment and installation. I simply can't live without the DVR. What's the way out to get a DVR now without paying that hefty price? Are there any promotions that i can avail? Pls help

 

[Mr Tony]

I know on some receivers you can add an external hard drive for a one time $40 fee

I **think** the 211 does have that option....hope someone can confirm (or correct me)

 

[paultry]

Buy a compatible external hard drive, pay Dish the one-time $40 fee to enable it to work with your 211K, then enjoy the DVR while avoiding the $6.00 per month DVR fee.

 

[Mr Tony]

cool so the 211 does work with an external drive then

 

[gorak]

The $6.00 fee that you are talking about is separate from the cost of getting the DVR from dishnet? Actually Dish is charging me $300 for exchanging the existing receiver for the DVR. While I'm glad to know that I can have an external hard drive to the existing receiver, I just want to explore the options for upgrading the DVR for free, too.

 

[Mr Tony]

yes there is a $6 per month charge to use their DVR and is limited to the capacity of the hard drive...you can add an external one if you like but then you pay a one time $40 fee AND $6 month

The external hard drive on the 211 has a one time $40 fee and no additional fees. And you can get up to a 1TB drive

 

[gbs]

I also have a new 211K receiver and I purchased a new 500 gb ext HD to use with it. I paid the $40 one time fee a few years ago for my 622K which I still use and now Dish wants another $40 to activate my 211K's HD. Ia this right? I thought a one time fee was a one time fee.

 

[Jonhern]

I also have a new 211K receiver and I purchased a new 500 gb ext HD to use with it. I paid the $40 one time fee a few years ago for my 622K which I still use and now Dish wants another $40 to activate my 211K's HD. Ia this right? I thought a one time fee was a one time fee.

there are two separate fees, one for VIP dvrs so you can archive programs, and one for 211s which turns them into dvrs. I have read on here about people getting around $15 off you might want to ask and see if you can get a discount.

 

[gorak]

Can someone tell me how many hours of HD/SD programming can a 250gb hard drive hold on an average?

 

[?Sa?dma???]

yes there is a $6 per month charge to use their DVR and is limited to the capacity of the hard drive...you can add an external one if you like but then you pay a one time $40 fee AND $6 month

The external hard drive on the 211 has a one time $40 fee and no additional fees. And you can get up to a 1TB drive

Or as they mentioned on Monday's tech chat ..... you will be able to add a 2TB
drive shortly......

 

[Mr Tony]

oh ok...I was just reading the specs on the Dish site and it said max 1TB
minimum 50GB.....where the heck do you find a 50GB drive?

 

[netdecal]

Is the 211K the only model that this works with or would this also work with a 222K?

 

[Mr Tony]

The 222K does too

 

[MikeD-C05]

As far as I know the 222k does NOT work with an external hard drive period.

 

[Mr Tony]

oh sorry...I figured it would since the 211 did

 

[Dish VIP]

Keep in mind that the 211k only has ONE sat. tuner and cannot watch one show while recording another.

 

[mrschwarz]

Keep in mind that the 211k only has ONE sat. tuner and cannot watch one show while recording another.

That's not true. You can tune to a satellite channel and an OTA channel at the same time. You can record two shows at the same time (sat. and OTA) and watch a third one. I have a 211k and do it all the time.

 

[davepo]

That's not true. You can tune to a satellite channel and an OTA channel at the same time. You can record two shows at the same time (sat. and OTA) and watch a third one. I have a 211k and do it all the time.

Me too......record ota and sat while watching a recorded show. Really cool.........I had one of the first shipment of 501s, so I can say how cool this is.

 

[bebop]

Can someone tell me how many hours of HD/SD programming can a 250gb hard drive hold on an average?

I have a 250GB external HD connected and have 100 hours of HD programming recorded onto it, and 2 hours of SD, with only 1GB left over. It depends on the size of the recording, because some 2 hour movies take up only 3GB, while others take up 7GB or more.

On average, the 2 hour HD movies I record take up 4.5 to 5 GB of space - which is consistent with the approximately 103 hours of recordings I about fit on the 250GB drive. I don't know if this is a good rule of thumb, but for HD recordings, I'd estimate 1 hour of recording for every 2.5GB. I also don't recommend putting all your eggs in one basket if you don't want to loose all your recordings if the drive dies. Get 2 and put some of your favorite shows on one and some on the other.