Any charge for OTA recording of HDTV after Feb 1st?

[ItsDon]

I currently have a 522 and just upgraded to a 56" DLP HDTV. My SD picture is now not so stellar! I have a CM4228 antenna on the roof and am able to pull in almost all the big locals (Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC) but, for obvious reasons I'm now having to watch TV live (like to bad old days!) if I want to see them in HD (which is phenomenal BTW). I really want to record them and am trying to decide between building an HTPC or upgrading my 522 to a 942 or 622.

Since I only want to record OTA as that's the bulk of my viewing habits and don't necessarily need/want anything else (it can still be SD) will any of the upcoming changes affect what I want to do? I don't want to pay Dish any more than I do now. Ideally I'd like to just get a 942, have it activated and have my 522 deactivated. Then I could record HD OTA while leaving everything else SD. This way my monthly bill wouldn't change and I'd only be out the cost of the 942 less what I can sell the 522 for. Am I thinking correctly here?

I pretty much need to know if I have to jump on something before Feb 1 or not.

 

[BFG]

the DVR fee is for the recever - $5.98, it doesn't care or matter about what you're recording.

so yes there will be no change to your bill if you deactive the 522 and active a 942, a dvr for a dvr

 

[ItsDon]

Makes sense. Is the new $6.00 HD access fee going to come into play with this scenario? If so, would it matter if I did the swap before or after Feb 1st?

 

[KyDave]

Don't think so. According to another thread here, as of Feb. 1st only the vip211/411, 222, and 622 will be considered HD receivers.

 

[gdarwin]

They should be considered MPEG4 receivers. You don't have to subscribe to HD....

 

[garys]

gdarwin is correct. If you buy the 942, you are not obligated to subscribe to HD programing. The dvr will still work on the digital/HD OTA signals.

 

[ItsDon]

Since I subscribe to AT120 would that negate the $6.00 monthly charge for the 622 even if I don't subscribe to any HD package? Also, if I decide to purchase the 942 can anyone recommend a good place to get one? Thanks.

 

[DSquared]

Since I subscribe to AT120 would that negate the $6.00 monthly charge for the 622 even if I don't subscribe to any HD package? Also, if I decide to purchase the 942 can anyone recommend a good place to get one? Thanks.

http://www.dishdepot.com/622_mpeg4_hd_dvr.jsp

I have purchased all my equipment from Mark at DishDepot.com. I recommend him highly.

 

[BFG]

Since I subscribe to AT120 would that negate the $6.00 monthly charge for the 622 even if I don't subscribe to any HD package?

Nope. you need the HD package to avoid the $6 charge

 

[Airblair]

Nope. you need the HD package to avoid the $6 charge

I don't think that's right. I've seen this on quite a few other threads:

Customers who do not subscribe to AT60, AT120, AT180, AEP, DishLATINO, DishLATINO Dos, DishLATINO Max, LEP, DishFAMILY, DishHD Bronze, DishHD Silver, DishHD Gold, DishHD Platinum or Great Wall TV Package will be charged a $6.00 per month Access Fee.

So in ItsDon's case, he subs to AT120, therefore he doesn't get hit with the $6 access fee. (If that's the fee you're referring to. There are so gosh darn many of them nowadays . . . )

 

[kb7oeb]

You also have to sub to locals for the guide to work. I would go with a HTPC especially if your tv has firewire.

The 942 might get really cheap next month, I think you will be able to activate it for OTA and Dish SD after 2/1

 

[kb7oeb]

I don't think that's right. I've seen this on quite a few other threads:
Customers who do not subscribe to AT60, AT120, AT180, AEP, DishLATINO, DishLATINO Dos, DishLATINO Max, LEP, DishFAMILY, DishHD Bronze, DishHD Silver, DishHD Gold, DishHD Platinum or Great Wall TV Package will be charged a $6.00 per month Access Fee.
So in ItsDon's case, he subs to AT120, therefore he doesn't get hit with the $6 access fee. (If that's the fee you're referring to. There are so gosh darn many of them nowadays . . . )

They charge an extra $6 if you don't take an HD pack on the mpeg4 boxes

 

[BFG]

yup, that's what I was refering to

 

[Airblair]

They charge an extra $6 if you don't take an HD pack on the mpeg4 boxes

I've seen nothing anywhere that states this.

I will repeat what I quoted, which came from the Retailer fax blast in this thread.

Customers who do not subscribe to AT60, AT120, AT180, AEP, DishLATINO, DishLATINO Dos, DishLATINO Max, LEP, DishFAMILY, DishHD Bronze, DishHD Silver, DishHD Gold, DishHD Platinum or Great Wall TV Package will be charged a $6.00 per month Access Fee.

While it doesn't explicitly state so in the fax blast, I believe this applies only to the new MPEG-4 capable receivers. (And in fact you assert the same thing, so we're both on the same page here so far.)

And if you're not familiar with the new packages, it's my understanding that DishHD Bronze is simply AT60 + the new HD package, Silver is AT120 + HD, etc.

So let's all be clear here: ItsDon asked if he would have to pay the $6 per month fee if he got the 622 and AT120. The answer is obviously NO..



However, I now see another line in the fax blast that probably makes liars out of all of us:

All HD upgrades will require the customer to subscribe to a minimum of DishHD Bronze entertainment package or higher.

So ItsDon won't be able to do what he wants to do, which is get the AT120 on the 622. He'll apparently need to get the DishHD Silver package, or buy a 622.

 

[ItsDon]

I went ahead and bought a store demo 942, it should be here in a week or so. I live in San Jose and get all the locals from my CM4228 antenna and those are the ones I want to record. The rest of my programming can be SD. The 942 has no HD charge and, according to Dish (I have it in writing) won't have a charge after 2/1/06 - the 622 will.

I believe the 942 will become cheaper in the short run but more expensive and in demand in the long run from folks who just want to record OTA HD without a monthly charge. Folks who do that (like me) are probably the reason Dish invented the stupid $6.00 HD access charge in the first place. Look how popular (and scarce) the 508 is because it doesn't have the mandatory PVR charge that the 510 does.

If I were to cancel my account with Dish, would the 942 still be able to record the OTA channels? I know there won't be a guide - just curious.

 

[kb7oeb]

I was just going by this http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=53793

 

[garys]

To ItsDon: I understand that if the receiver is deactivated, you will not be able to view OTA. The receiver must continue to receive a signal from a E* location, so it may work for a bit, then you would start receiving error meassages or aquireing satelite messages making it useless. My 6000 worked for a while, I got a download from E* and the OTA became very problematic.