DVR for Dish.

krk123

Member
Original poster
Jul 8, 2008
5
0
Hi Experts,
I am looking to buy a DVR for dish network directly so that I dont have to pay the monthly subscription to Dish. I am looking for a basic DVR with a record time of around 30-40 hours.

Thanks..
krk123
 
Yes. I doubt my 508 will be in use a year from now. I probably won't replace it. I'll just get by with my two ViP722 DVRs.

There are no after market DVRs that work with Dish, you must get your equipment from Dish. No Tivo. That said, there are "work arounds" but they are IMO clumsy, and certainly of questionable legality.
 
Get the 211 or 211k receiver, pay $39.99 to enable the DVR conversion, and buy a USB 2.0 external drive of at least 500GB. That will get you over 30 hours of OTA HD, and about double that for Dish MPEG-4 HD. The minimum drive size of 50GB will store over 40 hours of Dish sub-SD.
 
If you get the 501/508 now that does not have the DVR fee before the swap then they might waive the DVR fee on the new receiver they give you like they did for those 721 users that got converted over to the 522. A 501 gets you 30 hours record time, a 508 gets you 60 hours record time. A 510 gets you 90 hours record time but comes with the DVR fee so you want to avoid it.

The 211 is the best best bet if you can get them to give you the receiver for free but you will have to pay for the external hard drive and the one time $40 upgrade fee as BobaBird mentioned. This may cost you more than getting a 501/508 especially if Dish Network wants a fee to upgrade you to a 211.
 
Get the 211 or 211k receiver, pay $39.99 to enable the DVR conversion, and buy a USB 2.0 external drive of at least 500GB.
:up

The 211 is the best best bet if you can get them to give you the receiver for free but you will have to pay for the external hard drive and the one time $40 upgrade fee as BobaBird mentioned.
You can avoid the monthly DVR fee and still get HD and DVR. You still have to pay a monthly fee for programming, sorry. See what you can get for a deal from Dish, but if you don't like the offer, consider this:

211k: $169
The Dish Store - 211k Receiver
+
EHD: $99
Newegg.com - Western Digital Element 1TB 3.5" Black External Hard Drive
+
DVR Enabling with online chat: $40
DISH Network - Customer Service - Online Chat
 
I would say in the long run your better off sticking with their DVR and paying the small fee that way if your receiver fails they will replace it with a new one vs going through the annoying manufacture steps to have a external replaced, trashing the 200$ receiver you purchased etc... life is simple, don't make it worse.
 
Depends if you own it or lease it. If your receiver fails you don't get to keep the DVR events on it when it gets replaced. With an EHD you can keep it and connect it to a new receiver, plus you save $72/year in DVR fees with the 211k receiver. If you are going to have it for over 1.5 years it's all savings.
 
I am looking to buy a DVR for dish network directly so that I dont have to pay the monthly subscription to Dish.
If you want DISH Network service, you must subscribe to the programming.

The monthly charge for receivers is the same whether you own or buy the equipment.
 
Get the 211 or 211k receiver, pay $39.99 to enable the DVR conversion, and buy a USB 2.0 external drive of at least 500GB. That will get you over 30 hours of OTA HD, and about double that for Dish MPEG-4 HD. The minimum drive size of 50GB will store over 40 hours of Dish sub-SD.

You're off by a factor of two. At a maximum of 8GB per hour, 500GB is over 60 hours of OTA HD, and over 120 hours of satellite HD.
 
Let Dish provide you with the 211 receiver. Your only cost should be maybe a small upgrade fee from Dish to get the 211, free or $50 for that, then $40 for a one time fee to activate external hard drive, and then the cost of the external hard drive itself which is another $50-$100 (might as well go with the $100 one so that you can get your maximum 750 GB allowed). The $6 monthly DVR savings will make up for the cost of the external hard drive and external hard drive enabling penny pinching fee in just a few years.

By the way, Directv only charges one DVR fee per account and does NOT charge an external hard drive enabling fee. Dish does not charge additional outlet fees on the second tuner on satellite receivers though if you keep phone line plugged in which is their advantage (Dish Network now waives the first receiver's additional outlet fee on a dual tuner receiver if it does not have the phone line plugged in). Currently you can only use an external hard drive with an existing DVR that Directv has though but ain't they coming out with functionality to add it to their standard receivers as well?
 
It will be years before Dish is all MPEG4 but they are moving to all 8PSK as fast as they can.

Just to confirm: he is right. It is 8PSK ASAP for Dish. I think Scott said he thought they were shooting for the end of this year.
 

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