Dish/622 questions from a newbie

[StormyQ]

Howdy folks,

Long time Comcast subscriber preparing to make the jump. I live in the Dallas area (McKinney) and the recent switch to TWC was, for me, the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back". I've had my eye on Dish forever but stayed w/ cable for one reason or another, chief among them a $34.99 promotional price for the last year that is expiring on 10/1. Now the status of the NFL Network is unclear, we lost a ton of OnDemand programming, there is an annoying little ad right in the middle of the TWC program guide, no HDNet, a buggy Moto 6412 box, etc...

So it's going to be Dish and the VIP622. After many months of reading about the receiver, packages, promotions, I still have some newbie questions. I have read and searched the forums extensively, and although I'm quite sure every one of the questions I am about to ask have been answered somewhere, I either didn't see the answer, didn't comprehend the answer, or forgot the answer. I consider myself a pretty tech savy guy but some of this stuff just doesn't permeate my thick skull apparently.

• I have 1 HDTV (Sony 51" RPTV) in an upstairs gameroom. It's about 3 years old so it has only 1 DVI input and 2 component inputs (no HDMI). What is the recommended connection -- component or a DVI>HDMI cable?

• In my location (Dallas/McKinney), will they install 1 Dish or 2 if I want all the HD channels including locals?

• I've read all of the technical documents from Dish and every post I could find on this topic but it's probably the one that still confuses me most. Can I hook up my HDTV in one room and have dual tuner (dual HDTV) capability in addition to using TV2 for a 2nd TV (SD) in an adjoining room? In other words, can I watch 1 HD show while recording another HD show on TV1 while someone is watching a SD show on TV2? That confuses me so much I barely know how to phrase it.

• If the 2nd TV I want to connect to the VIP622 is in an adjoining room, does the standard installation include running the wire from the receiver to the TV2 location? What if the 2nd TV is actually a Media Center PC with a TV tuner card? Will that work?

• With the setup I've described above (1 HDTV & 1 SDTV upstairs), will I still be able to connect 2 more SD TV's downstairs in the bedroom and family room, either w/ basic or DVR receivers?

I think that's all for now. My sincere appreciation to anyone who takes the time to read this thread and offer some guidance. For the sake of discolsure, I did post this over on DBSTalk also just in case someone who had similar questions spots it and can give feedback.

Thanks!

 

[bhelms]

1) Try both and use whichever you prefer. Keep both connected and make an occastional comparision and switch to the one that looks "better" for the given program and ambient conditions. Some prefer component full-time. Whatever you do, don't get sucked into BB ("big box" store) prices on the cables - get them online at a place like www.monoprice.com.

2) Depends on where your HD locals are coming from. Check http://www.dishchannelchart.com/ (credit to TNGTony and others) to see which sat. covers your location. You'll probably end up with a single D1000 to receive 110/119/129 sats.

3) With the 622 you have a total of 3 tuners (2 sat. and 1 OTA) and all 3 record HD. You could be recording 3 different programs and watching 2 different pre-recorded programs at the same time! You can be watching any program that you are recording, but there are limits to which tuner "feeds" which TV output. When you use the dual mode, each viewing location has control over one tuner. In the single mode, TV1 has the primary control over both tuners, but the same programs can be watched on TV2 and the PIP mode is operational on both TVs. Watching 1 HD program while recording another and watching a separate SD (or down-converted HD) program on TV2 will work if you are using all 3 tuners to do that, i.e., one program will have to be from the OTA tuner.

4) You can connect TV2 via coax or the composite connections (including the S-video) so use whatever you need to make the best connection to your TV or PC. The installer will probably only offer to connect by coax - you'll probably need to make any of the other connections yourself.

5) For now you can feed both of those SD sets with the same TV2 signal and control the 622 from any of those locations with the TV2 UHF remote. When you're ready to expand E* will install what you need. With 1 additional receiver that can be done simply by running another cable to that receiver from the LNBs at the dish. With 2 additional receivers you will need a switch and 3 cables running from the LNBs to the switch then whatever cables needed to feed your extra receivers run from the switch. No equipment will need to be replaced but some additional equipment may be needed depending on what you are adding.

Good luck with your installation! I believe you will like the 622 and E* - I certainly do! Welcome, BTW...!