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Pepper said:

The DVR fee is extremely simple: For each DVR-510, 522, 625, 921 or 942 active on the account, the fee is charged. Why? Because they can. There is no other logical or reasonable explanation.

- Does it have anything to do with DVR capability? No - Although all the receivers that have the fee are DVRs, the 501, 508 and 721 don't have the fee.

- Does it have anything to do with hard drive size? No - the 721 and 522 have same size drives)

- Is it to cover extended (Name-based-recording) or dual-tuner capabilities? No, and No - the 510 doesn't have either, the 721 and 921 don't have NBR, and the 501 and 508 most likely WILL have NBR if and when the 510 gets it.

- Is it to line the pockets of E* stockholders or to help cover expenses (software development or maybe to fund a future legal settlement with Tivo)? Most likely the real purpose of the fee is something in this category.

Some may argue the morality of charging a "because you can" fee, but to me it is worth it. It worked out to a wash for me because before I got the 522, I had two separate receivers with a $5 additional receiver fee on the second; now I only have the one with a $5 DVR fee.

* Note, none of this applies to the $10 Personal TV fee that is/was applied to the 7100/7200 DishPlayer units, part of it at least was for licensing fees to Microsoft for the software.

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griz_fan (edited) said:

First, Dish incurs a cost with developing and maintaining DVR functionality. All those software patches for the 522 don't come cheap! Also, Dish needs to recoup their expenses for basically giving away the hardware. Since DVR receivers have features above and beyond the basic functionality of receiving and displaying a satellite signal, Dish has decided to charge for that extra feature in the form of a monthly charge, as apposed to an up-front cost.

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Simply put, there are costs for Dish to provide DVR functionality. There is also a demand for this feature. Since Dish is in business to make money, they will charge as much as they think they can get away with. If they overcharge, they'll loose customers to DirecTV or the local cable companies. Simple. Basic economic principles will keep pricing in line.

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I spent $1000+ for two 721's... (granted I'm not paying the DVR fee)

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SimpleSimon said:

I spent $1000 for ONE 921 wth the promise of DishWire, I AM paying the DVR fee, and now I'm gonna be taking it up where the sun don't shine over the MPEG-4 conversion.

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kvhollis said:

I wonder if someone called DISH and said that since they are paying for a DVR FEE then the DVR should work at stated by DISH otherwise they want their money back from:

a. lack of support
b. buggy or non-functioning software
c. features not fully implemented or never implemented at all

I wonder what dish would say... ?? Why should somone pay a fee for something that doesn't work or works like sh*t?

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