Dish Equipment - what makes sense?

[pjmrt]

I'm considering adding a reciever, probably a dual channel HD receiver - my first HD receiver. The kicker is that I own all my own equipment right now - a 721, 7200, and 311. Does it make sense to purchase the new receiver or lease? Does anyone have any experience leasing equipment when its a mixture of owned and leased hardware?

 

[Cold Irons]

I own my 721, lease my 501 & 622 - no problems with this mix.

I always lease when I can - my preference, because I seem to want to upgrade to new equipment fairly often, so the lease tends to be cheaper. The choice of own or lease is pretty much up to your preference & your own cost analysis.

 

[kb7oeb]

I think the main advantage to owning is you don't have to keep a minimum subscription and there is no contract. Otherwise the monthy costs are usually the same either way and I think by leasing they will upgrade your dish and switches if you need it.

 

[mdonnelly]

I have an owned 811, a leased 811, and a leased 211. My bill shows two "Leased Receiver" fees. If I owned them, the fees would be replaced by two "Additional Receiver Access" fees of about the same amount. The upside of owning is that you can sell the box for the residual value (maybe not much after you consider shipping costs).

Dish doesn't have any dual-tuners that will allow you to see different HD channels on two separate TV sets, if that's what you wanted. The TV2 output is RF (coax), and SD only.

 

[bhelms]

I both lease and own. Per others the only real value in owning is the lack of commitment. I bought my 622 because at the time I was still under an agreement with the 811 and otherwise would have waited for 6 more months. In my case since the rest of the equipment I needed for HD was already installed with the leased 811 it was very easy to buy the 622, install it myself, and activate it. If you are planning to own HD equipment don't forget that you will also have to install the extra dish, LNB, switch, etc. like kb7oeb said, which I guess you would have to buy as well. So that alone might be your deciding factor for your first HD installation.

In my case my leased 811 is still the primary receiver on the account and there is no fee for that one - included with the programming package. With the owned 622 I pay one "Add'l (HD) Receiver Access Fee" of $6 per month plus the $5.98 "DVR Service fee" (which is waived at the HDPlatinum level). The $5 per month for the second SD tuner in the 622 is avoided by having the unit connected to a phone line. I also have a leased 311 in the system and that costs another $5 "Leased Receiver Fee".

What will your final configuration be? Do a cost comparison. You might be able to drop to just one or two receivers and save those fees...