Best Dish HD DVR Receivers for 2 HD Tvs

[WAGirl]

Here's the deal. Right now we have 1 hd tv with a 622 receiver and 1 sd tv, but will be replacing the sd bedroom tv with one in hd. Question is, what's the best receiver configuration? 722 and 612? 622 and 612? keep the 622 and buy another fairly cheap 622 from ebay? It would be nice to avoid the extra receiver fee, but I'm not sure that's the way to go. We've been Dish customers for a long time and have the "Everything" package. The thought of forking over more money for another receiver isn't very appealing. Also, we've had the 622 since it came out and I'm not sure of the quality of any of the other Dish receivers. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks a bunch.

 

[KAB]

I would consider the VIP 211, which is a single HD receiver, but which can be turned into a DVR with an external hard drive. That would only cost you $7.00 per month. You would have to pay a one time $40 EHD activation fee, BUT that EHD would not be compatible with your 622 if you have and EHD on it.

 

[shaudods]

How far away are the two TV's? I had a 622 (have recently gotten the 922)... Our house has a crawlspace and the living room and bedroom are just separated by a wall, so when we upgraded to an HDTV in the bedroom, i bought a powered HDMI splitter and 30' HDMI cable from monoprice.com for around 60 bucks, and ran the cable through the crawl space. I left the existing Coax cable in place. With this setup, as long as you want to watch the same thing on both TV's, both TV's will be in HD. If, however, say your wife wants to watch something different from you, she can switch the TV in the bedroom back to Coax (usually channel 73 or whatever), and you are back to the exact same setup you have currently (HD in living room, SD in bedroom). It is a fairly inexpensive solution as long as you are OK with having your HD signal the same on both TV's... If not, I agree with KAB... I would add either a 211 or 222 receiver (which as he said, can be turned into a DVR with and EHD).

 

[KAB]

If not, I agree with KAB... I would add either a 211 or 222 receiver (which as he said, can be turned into a DVR with and EHD).

EHD only with 211, NOT 222.

 

[old corps]

How far away are the two TV's? I had a 622 (have recently gotten the 922)... Our house has a crawlspace and the living room and bedroom are just separated by a wall, so when we upgraded to an HDTV in the bedroom, i bought a powered HDMI splitter and 30' HDMI cable from monoprice.com for around 60 bucks, and ran the cable through the crawl space. I left the existing Coax cable in place. With this setup, as long as you want to watch the same thing on both TV's, both TV's will be in HD. If, however, say your wife wants to watch something different from you, she can switch the TV in the bedroom back to Coax (usually channel 73 or whatever), and you are back to the exact same setup you have currently (HD in living room, SD in bedroom). It is a fairly inexpensive solution as long as you are OK with having your HD signal the same on both TV's... If not, I agree with KAB... I would add either a 211 or 222 receiver (which as he said, can be turned into a DVR with and EHD).

+1
I do exactly this with both our 622 and 722. I use HDMI splitters from Monoprice as well but you can also use component/audio cables at the receiver near your main TV and HDMI to the other or vice versa (sp?) for HD.

Ed

 

[datwell]

WAGirl: Take a look at my signature. We have the 2 units (LR & BR) with an external hard drive (EHD). OTA is not an option in our location, so we have up to 4 tuners available at one time. We "sneaker-net" (aka, hand carry) the EHD between the two as needed. So many of the shows we like are on at the same time and this arrangement has proven to be a good solution to our problem.

---Doug

 

[shaudods]

EHD only with 211, NOT 222.

I know its off topic, but are you sure about that.. i was actually thinking it was the other way around... you could add an EHD with a 222k but couldnt with a 211k? When you said you could do it with the 211, I just assumed you could do it on both...

 

[KAB]

I know its off topic, but are you sure about that..i was actually thinking it was the other way around... you could add an EHD with a 222k but couldnt with a 211k?

Positive!!!! Only 211.

 

[TheKrell]

i was actually thinking it was the other way around... you could add an EHD with a 222k but couldnt with a 211k?

No, KAB is right. Perhaps you're thinking of the OTA module...