Advice for Dish owned equipment dream set up?

[AkaDoubleG]

I am a new member of Satellite Guys and I am really enjoying some of the great advice and chatter on here. I am a longtime Dish customer and I currently own my Hopper 3 and 2 Wally's. I have the DP42 and received some great advice about adding the DPP44 to the mix to have the capability of running the best of Dish new and old tech. I have purchased a 211K and should receive it soon. I am planning on potentially getting a 222K as well and a new Joey when they come out soon. I have seen some old threads on here about how many devices you can own on an account and the potential of being a Hybrid customer by also having a Dish Outdoors account? Once I get the 211K set up I might turn off my Wally's for a bit. I would love the flexibility to turn on and off the devices I want to use from time to time and the luxury of owning my own equipment. I would really appreciate some advice. Thank you.

 

[Radioguy41]

I'm curious why you would replace a Wally with a 211K. I did just the opposite, replacing both 211K's with Wallys since the handwriting is on the wall for the 211K's as they approach EOL. When I upgraded to Wallys Dish didn't even want the 211K's back, told me to scrap them.

 

[pattykay]

I am a new member of Satellite Guys and I am really enjoying some of the great advice and chatter on here. I am a longtime Dish customer and I currently own my Hopper 3 and 2 Wally's. I have the DP42 and received some great advice about adding the DPP44 to the mix to have the capability of running the best of Dish new and old tech. I have purchased a 211K and should receive it soon. I am planning on potentially getting a 222K as well and a new Joey when they come out soon. I have seen some old threads on here about how many devices you can own on an account and the potential of being a Hybrid customer by also having a Dish Outdoors account? Once I get the 211K set up I might turn off my Wally's for a bit. I would love the flexibility to turn on and off the devices I want to use from time to time and the luxury of owning my own equipment. I would really appreciate some advice. Thank you.

You came to the right place! I have exactly the set-up you describe. I would be happy to help you get this set up to your satisfaction. You can send me a private message if you would be interested in buying my old purchased ViP222k, or if you have any other questions.

For starters, I can tell you that you may need to deactivate your Hopper 3, at least temporarily, in order to get Dish to activate the ViP222k on your account. After you get your ViP receivers added to the account, you can log into your mydish account at any time to activate and deactivate any combination of these receivers you want, as long as your account is set up as a Dish Outdoor account.

I'm curious why you would replace a Wally with a 211K. I did just the opposite, replacing both 211K's with Wallys since the handwriting is on the wall for the 211K's as they approach EOL. When I upgraded to Wallys Dish didn't even want the 211K's back, told me to scrap them.

The reason why I did it before was that I ran into a glitch that comes with having a ViP222k active as the main receiver and also having Hopper or Wally equipment active at the same time. This combination of equipment can automatically deactivate DVR functionality on any active Hoppers (regardless of which model) or Wally receivers. (Deactivated Hoppers and Wally still work for playing existing recordings, though.) There is a work-around for this (calling a special Dish support phone number to get Hopper DVR functionality re-enabled) but I found that to be too much of a hassle, considering how often I was switching out which receiver I was using at that time. However, with a ViP211k, DVR functionality remained enabled, even with the ViP222k active, and with Hopper/Wally DVR functions disabled.

 

[Jim5506]

Anecdotally, I have never heard of any VIP receiver except the 211 variety being activated on an account with a Hopper of any flavor.

 

[pattykay]

Anecdotally, I have never heard of any VIP receiver except the 211 variety being activated on an account with a Hopper of any flavor.

Here, this shows the last time I had both my ViP222k and Hopper 3 active at the same time, 3/16/2022:

 

[Tvland1]

Anecdotally, I have never heard of any VIP receiver except the 211 variety being activated on an account with a Hopper of any flavor.

I have 3 hoppers with sling a vip222k,one 211k and one wally on my RV account..I started the account through dishformyrv,because dish didn't want to activate the 222k and the 211 together...dishformyrv activated them with no problems..Then I added the rest of the receivers through dish online chat.Each time I activate my hoppers I would get the dvr function available after about 24hr..Before we moved I would use the 3 hoppers so I had 3 dishanywhere apps on 3 tv's giving me 6 tv's with 3 receivers..Our new home has slow internet so I'm back to using the vip receivers

 

[HipKat]

I'm curious why you would replace a Wally with a 211K. I did just the opposite, replacing both 211K's with Wallys since the handwriting is on the wall for the 211K's as they approach EOL. When I upgraded to Wallys Dish didn't even want the 211K's back, told me to scrap them.

Between you and I, I think the 211K is the best utility receiver Dish ever had, in my experience. You can mirror multiple TV's (I've seen 8, using an RF Modulator), add an OTA and an EHD, and use it on any Tailgater-type antenna plus being VIP, it doesn't need peak signal strength to still give you good service, plus it has a decent interactive menu if it's connected to your internet. It's very versatile!

 

[TheKrell]

Between you and I, I think the 211K is the best utility receiver Dish ever had, in my experience. You can mirror multiple TV's (I've seen 8, using an RF Modulator), add an OTA and an EHD, and use it on any Tailgater-type antenna plus being VIP, it doesn't need peak signal strength to still give you good service, plus it has a decent interactive menu if it's connected to your internet. It's very versatile!

I think the extra tuners (one extra sat and one extra OTA) and VOD out of a Wally would make the Wally even better. Caveat: I have never owned a 211 or a Wally.

 

[Tvland1]

I have to agree with HipKat..The 211 ota tuner is stronger than the ota adapter on any receiver..The only problem is that years back dish added the update that requires the ota signal strength to be 70 or above or you get the stupid partial signal loss error which causes people to believe they have a problem with the lnb or receiver..I'm going to trash my wally and add another 211k to my account since I don't use internet on my equipment

 

[TheKrell]

I'm going to trash my wally...

Don't trash it! Ship it to me. I'll gladly pay for shipping. I've never seen one of these receivers so I'd like to play.

 

[pattykay]

I think the extra tuners (one extra sat and one extra OTA) and VOD out of a Wally would make the Wally even better. Caveat: I have never owned a 211 or a Wally.

Between you and I, I think the 211K is the best utility receiver Dish ever had, in my experience. You can mirror multiple TV's (I've seen 8, using an RF Modulator), add an OTA and an EHD, and use it on any Tailgater-type antenna...

I have owned both 211's (two different models: the original and the "k") and Wally. I would just add that the best part of the ViP211k is the built-in OTA tuner, unlike the newer ViP211z and Wally which both require a USB OTA adapter.

I have to agree with HipKat..The 211 ota tuner is stronger than the ota adapter on any receiver..The only problem is that years back dish added the update that requires the ota signal strength to be 70 or above or you get the stupid partial signal loss error which causes people to believe they have a problem with the lnb or receiver..

...plus being VIP, it doesn't need peak signal strength to still give you good service...

Regarding OTA signal strength and being able to scan more OTA channels, I have found much better results with the ViP222k than with any of the ViP211's. The drawback is that the ViP222k requires the add-on MT2 OTA module. The plus side is that it gives you two OTA tuners. Wally also supports the (much newer) USB dual-tuner OTA adapters, but I have not gotten as good of a result from any of those, like I had with my trusty old ViP222k.

plus it has a decent interactive menu if it's connected to your internet. It's very versatile!

If you are referring to the Dish Home (channel 100) interactive apps, there are very few of those left on any ViP receiver. The ViP222k is slightly better since it still has the Game Finder app, which the ViP211 series never had.

 

[pattykay]

Don't trash it! Ship it to me. I'll gladly pay for shipping. I've never seen one of these receivers so I'd like to play.

You beat me to it! I was going to say the same thing. Bidding war?

 

[TheKrell]

You beat me to it! I was going to say the same thing. Bidding war?

Maybe you are closer. I'm in northern VA 22003.

 

[pattykay]

Maybe you are closer. I'm in northern VA 22003.

It's up to Tvland1 to decide. I already have one Wally, though. So, if you'd really like to play with one, then you may win out.

 

[Tvland1]

Let me make sure I can still remove the wally and add the other 211k first and I will give it away

 

[AkaDoubleG]

I'm curious why you would replace a Wally with a 211K. I did just the opposite, replacing both 211K's with Wallys since the handwriting is on the wall for the 211K's as they approach EOL. When I upgraded to Wallys Dish didn't even want the 211K's back, told me to scrap them.

I totally get your point. I guess its nostalgia and I know they are coming to EOL. I wish I would have known years ago that I could have owned my own equipment.

I have to agree with HipKat..The 211 ota tuner is stronger than the ota adapter on any receiver..The only problem is that years back dish added the update that requires the ota signal strength to be 70 or above or you get the stupid partial signal loss error which causes people to believe they have a problem with the lnb or receiver..I'm going to trash my wally and add another 211k to my account since I don't use internet on my equipment

I did find that my OTA adapter I bought a few years ago runs really hot so I stopped using it as it seemed it had a hard time with a reliable signal strength on certain channels. I am looking forward to setting up my 211K today and getting my antenna running through it too.

 

[pattykay]

I guess its nostalgia and I know they are coming to EOL.

Don't be so sure about end-of-life for any of the ViP models just yet. I still have deactivated 512 receivers (standard-def DVR model) hooked up, and they are still chugging along just fine. The deactivated 512's even still work for free preview channels.

I did find that my OTA adapter I bought a few years ago runs really hot so I stopped using it as it seemed it had a hard time with a reliable signal strength on certain channels.

That sounds like the older-model dual-tuner USB OTA dongle. There is a newer model that many of us here use, that runs much cooler than that old tiny space heater. Look for the AirTV dual-tuner OTA adapter. It is white, unlike the black Dish-branded ones. Even though it is marketed as an AirTV adapter, it also works just fine with Hopper/Wally. Just be sure it is the dual-tuner AirTV model. The older single-tuner AirTV OTA adapter will not work with Dish equipment.

 

[AkaDoubleG]

Don't be so sure about end-of-life for any of the ViP models just yet. I still have deactivated 512 receivers (standard-def DVR model) hooked up, and they are still chugging along just fine. The deactivated 512's even still work for free preview channels.


That sounds like the older-model dual-tuner USB OTA dongle. There is a newer model that many of us here use, that runs much cooler than that old tiny space heater. Look for the AirTV dual-tuner OTA adapter. It is white, unlike the black Dish-branded ones. Even though it is marketed as an AirTV adapter, it also works just fine with Hopper/Wally. Just be sure it is the dual-tuner AirTV model. The older single-tuner AirTV OTA adapter will not work with Dish equipment.

What's interesting is I have a co -worker that is a longtime dish customer and her elderly parents like some of the international packages. I guess Dish asked/told her she needed to swap out her receivers for a Hopper and Joeys because some of the legacy receivers would not be able to pick up those channels anymore. She is not very tech savy, so I don't know if she was running 222K and 211's, 722K, or even 322 or 311's if she had an old set up. They did the swap out for her and I wish I asked her what equipment she was running.

 

[AkaDoubleG]

Between you and I, I think the 211K is the best utility receiver Dish ever had, in my experience. You can mirror multiple TV's (I've seen 8, using an RF Modulator), add an OTA and an EHD, and use it on any Tailgater-type antenna plus being VIP, it doesn't need peak signal strength to still give you good service, plus it has a decent interactive menu if it's connected to your internet. It's very versatile!

 

[AkaDoubleG]

I am excited to get it up and running this weekend. I wish I knew about this model sooner. I really like being able to run the receiver with the OTA built in and it sounds like the tuner is great. It seems older tech has better tuners. I find it's the same with some legacy TIVO boxes I use for OTA vs some of their newer models and signal reception. The 222K with the MT2 OTA adapter looks pretty sweet too.