Continue to wait for HD?

[kavula]

Hi guys! I've been shadowing the forums for the last few days trying to learn as much as I can. I'm getting ready to majorly upgrade my system for the first time since I got E*, probably 6-7 years ago. I've had an HDTV for almost two years, but the cost of HD equipment and programming never justified itself. I'm getting a little tired of waiting.
I'm planning on upgrading to SuperDish so I can get my local channels and hopefully save $12 a month since I currently subscribe to New York/Los Angeles/Denver/SuperStations for almost $20 a month. If I get HD, I want to be able to use my current dish to get 61.5. Right now, I have a Dish 500 system with three receivers off of a quad LNB. I don't know whether it is legacy or DP; I checked through my 501 and it said "500 quad". The actual LNB didn't say either, but I didn't take it apart. So which is it? And when I get my SuperDish, for what cost (if any, hopefully) can I get a DPP44 since I will sooner or later get a dual tuner receiver and replace two receivers with one?

My dilemma is with MP4 coming out sooner or later, whether I could lease an 811 for a one year equipment and programming commitment for $50 minus $25 for equipment trade-in (will they accept an ancient 1000 receiver?) plus $5 a month lease fee and $5 discounted HD Pack. I only talked to a CSR once, so I don't know whether to trust this offer anyway, but I assume it is correct. What I eventually want is a 942 with MP4. That's end of the year, earliest. If my dream receiver comes out before my one year is up, do I have any chance of upgrading? I could move the 811 to a non-HD tv (the TV2 I would have on my future 942 w/MP4) and keep it for the rest of the one year commitment. But in order to get a new receiver, would I have to commit to programming or more importantly can I commit if I still have several months left in the 811 commitment?

Confused? I am. Or I could just scrap all of my HD plans, get the SuperDish (hopefully with DPP) and buy, say, a used 522 and call everything good (it'd be cheaper without the HD; is the HD worth it?) Also with and without OTA on the 811 and in general 522, are they any good at all? I've read so many horror stories. I don't know if I could handle rebooting a receiver several times a day after my experiences with my bulletproof 1000, 4700, and 501.

 

[kavula]

BTW, I think I don't really want to buy an 811 since they'll be obsolete in less than a year with MPEG-4. But I don't have a problem buying a 522, since they won't be obsolete for up to 3.5 years or so. What do you think? Also, for my HDTV, I only have component inputs, if that makes a difference on 811 quality.

 

[datwell]

Kavula: It depends. Where are you located? In certain areas, E* will provide a free 61.5 dish to receive all of your locals. That was my case - there is one local Washington, DC station on 61.5, so E* put in the dish with legacy LNBFs to match those in my old Dish 500, removed the old SW21s and put in a new SW64 in order to terminate all 6 RG-6 leads. That was in January, 2005. I understand the older SW64s could be troublesome; however, I have had no problems with mine. On May 1, VOOM became available and I got those too. If MPEG-4 is on the way and the HD subs will be changed out first, then leasing makes the most sense to me.

da Doug

 

[BFG]

Not gonna happen for him. he said his locals are on a superdish.

it sucks that you got HD after you already Had dish because unfortunetly dish gives all the great promos to new customers

 

[kavula]

All my locals are on SuperDish. That's why I want to use my Dish 500 for the 61.5 and probably install it myself so I don't have to spend $100.