In a reply to one of my other topics somebody mentioned you can use an external hard drive with the 211. I am curious if other people have done this and are you happy with it? Does it work EXACTLY like having a 722 or 612? Can you pause live TV?
211 with external hard drive
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All the same, but timers max at 20 timers whereas my 622 max's at around 90 timers. so we use the 622 as the primary recorder and the kids use the 211
PLEASE stop starting new threads. You could have asked this question in the ONE that was MERGED from your other TWO!!! Iceburg, do your thing!
My apologies but I don't see how this was the same as the other topic. In this topic I was specifically wanting to know about the positives and negatives of using a 211 with external hard drive. My other topic was about moving from a 722 to two 612's.
I know if I was searching for information about a 211 with external hard drive I would never click on a discussion about 722's and 612's. Just my opinion.
Back to topic:
It works well except you cannot watch one thing while recording another unless the other thing is using it's OTA tuner vs. satellite tuner. It only has one satellite tuner.
Also, you cannot take the EHD off a non-DVR reciever and try to use it with a DVR like the 722. It will NOT work.
It works well except you cannot watch one thing while recording another unless the other thing is using it's OTA tuner vs. satellite tuner. It only has one satellite tuner.
Also, you cannot take the EHD off a non-DVR reciever and try to use it with a DVR like the 722. It will NOT work.
I have a vip 211 with an EHD attached also. It works great, the only thing I really would like is the ability to record more than 1 program at a time. I know I can do this with an antenna hooked up but have not felt the desire to spend the extra money for this. Mainly because many of the programs I would like to record simultaniously are not OTA channels.
Easy and absolutely the best HD DVR I've ever owned,$79 for the USB2.0 Western Digital drive at Wallmart and $40 to Dishnetwork for the one time EHD activation fee. 
I do have the outdoor (Off The air Antenna-OTA) and use it to record my local news,NCIS HD,NCISLA HD and PBS HD channels while recording other stuff off the sat channels at the same time.
I do have the outdoor (Off The air Antenna-OTA) and use it to record my local news,NCIS HD,NCISLA HD and PBS HD channels while recording other stuff off the sat channels at the same time.
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I use my 922 for recording multiple shows , up to 4 at a time: 2sat/2ota. For my wife , I have the 211k with ex hard drive set to record all her decorating shows in the bedroom. She can go in there and watch all she wants without cluttering my receiver hard drive with these shows. My son is 10 and he watches nothing but Kid shows , when he is not playing : play station2 , Wi , Xbox etc. So a 211k with hard drive in his room does the job , since he never watches anything live .
There have been numerous threads in the recent past. To repeat my $.02, the 211 with external HD vs 622/722 (I have all three): It is not exactly same capabilities of 622/722. Main differences are:
1. You obviously only have the one tuner in the 211, so cannot record one show and watch another.
2. The back button for the 211 "rewinds" 30 seconds, the 622/722 are 10 seconds.
3. Unlike the 622/722, the 211/EHD combo does not allow for the use of folders to organize recordings.
4. The 211/EHD may be a bit slower "rewind" / "fast forward" due the the lower bandwidth of a USB connection.
5. Anything recorded on a 211 EHD cannot be used on a 622/722 - different formats.
Other than that it works quite well. Just be sure to get a compatible EHD to save a lot of grief. Take your time researching the EHD, many of the new ones have horrible reliability issues, and, try to get one without firmware backup utilities that cannot be disabled. The $40 will not enable to add EHD to your 622/722, you get to pay a second time to hook up *your* equipment to the Dish receiver.
1. You obviously only have the one tuner in the 211, so cannot record one show and watch another.
2. The back button for the 211 "rewinds" 30 seconds, the 622/722 are 10 seconds.
3. Unlike the 622/722, the 211/EHD combo does not allow for the use of folders to organize recordings.
4. The 211/EHD may be a bit slower "rewind" / "fast forward" due the the lower bandwidth of a USB connection.
5. Anything recorded on a 211 EHD cannot be used on a 622/722 - different formats.
Other than that it works quite well. Just be sure to get a compatible EHD to save a lot of grief. Take your time researching the EHD, many of the new ones have horrible reliability issues, and, try to get one without firmware backup utilities that cannot be disabled. The $40 will not enable to add EHD to your 622/722, you get to pay a second time to hook up *your* equipment to the Dish receiver.
+1 on my 211K folders work great.
If I remember properly I had to manually switch on the folders option.
Let me amend my earlier post. If, unlike me, you are smart enough to figure it out, the folders options works JUST LIKE the 622/722. Thanks Wolf & Matt for letting me know it can be done. That's what this forum is all about.
At some point there was a limitation on the size of EHD. Will the 211K work with a 1 TB or 2TB?
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Found the answer in another thread. If the information I found is still valid, 1TB (self imposed Dish limitation)
I am sorry but I have to ask. If you have the time to devote to making 7160 postings and actually noticing something like this; When do find the time to do what this entire website is about, Watch Satellite TV.
Jeeze, aren't we getting a bit nit picky. You know the other day I was thinking of signing up for Direct TV because of the deals and whole house DVR and I made a post for an account referral number and it was deleted in less than 5 minutes. That kinda Irked me. Iceberg was nice enough to send me one but the more I thought about it I was just Irked, so ended up walking over to my neighbors house who I had never met and talking to them because they had a direct dish and asking them for their number.
I know this is a bit off topic but I did not want to upset anyone any worse by starting another thread about moderators that may be a bit overzealous.
Jeeze, are we a little bit late to the party..and as you say, totally off topic, and not making any sense by now? Overzealous moderators??? Don't dive into an empty pool.
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1. Your statement may be somewhat misleading. The 211/211k actually has two tuners, that many people use.
One satellite and one OTA, so technically you can record one show and watch another.
2. For most practical purposes, the 211/211k "skip back" goes back 10 seconds.
Dish info is the following, "ViP211/ViP211k skips back 30-seconds on the first instance and skips back 10-seconds subsequently."
What actually occurs is this.
If you are at live TV, and press the skip back once, it goes back 30 seconds. That is the only situation when it goes back 30 seconds.
If you are at live TV and press skip back twice, it goes back 40 seconds.
If you are already at any time frame other then live TV (previous skip back or rewind), the first press of skip back goes back 10 seconds.
If you are watching a recording, the first press of skip back goes back 10 seconds.
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+1 on my 211K folders work great.
If I remember properly I had to manually switch on the folders option.
How do you manually change to the folder option?
I looked through the menus, and don't find anything other than grouping and list order.
