Echostar 501 Questions For Purchase

BOSHAE

Member
Original poster
Apr 14, 2004
11
0
A guy from work has an echostar 501 REG ID-011 that he doesn't use any more.(dtv) I went to his house to look at it but his kids lost the card. I let it boot up to the info screen software version-P118DCED-N and boot strap-12EBCED. I've been wanting a pvr thought this might be a good deal. Reciever, no card, regular remote, dish 500, twin lnb $ 150 dollars maybe lower.[/U]

questions
1. is it a good deal
2. how could I get a card how much
3. will I have trouble activating it
4. is echostar as good as jvc or is there a difference
5. 40 gb or 120gb he said it was 120gb
6. upgade to 120gb how could i tell

Any info will be greatly appreciated guys on technical forum came through great on recent upgrade problems!!!!!!!

Thanks in advance, Mike
 
BOSHAE said:
A guy from work has an echostar 501 REG ID-011 that he doesn't use any more.(dtv) I went to his house to look at it but his kids lost the card. I let it boot up to the info screen software version-P118DCED-N and boot strap-12EBCED. I've been wanting a pvr thought this might be a good deal. Reciever, no card, regular remote, dish 500, twin lnb $ 150 dollars maybe lower.[/U]

questions
1. is it a good deal
2. how could I get a card how much
3. will I have trouble activating it
4. is echostar as good as jvc or is there a difference
5. 40 gb or 120gb he said it was 120gb
6. upgade to 120gb how could i tell

Any info will be greatly appreciated guys on technical forum came through great on recent upgrade problems!!!!!!!

Thanks in advance, Mike


answers
1. Not really. Dish supposedly has reburbed 501s for $149. You can pick-up the Twin and Dish 500 on Ebay really cheap.
2. You can get a replacement card from Dish. They aren't cheap.
3. Maybe. Depends on whether there are any unpaid PPV's tied to it.
4. Same.
5. 40GB
6. Not likely. The owner would have had to hack the ROM and make it think it was a 510.

One more thing. That's a really old software version. You would want to contact Dish and see if it's upgradeable to the current version.

NightRyder
 
Definitely not a good deal.

You would'nt consider getting the $79 deal for the 510 from Dish? The only thing is that it comes with a $5/monthly fee. But it also has almost 4 times the recording space, is completely new and you'll get a warranty.

That's insanely old software, of course when you hooked it up, it'll get the newest. I'm interested in what the software looked like back then. I know it was missing quite a few features and was pretty unstable.
 
AppliedAggression said:
Definitely not a good deal.

You would'nt consider getting the $79 deal for the 510 from Dish? The only thing is that it comes with a $5/monthly fee. But it also has almost 4 times the recording space, is completely new and you'll get a warranty.

That's insanely old software, of course when you hooked it up, it'll get the newest. I'm interested in what the software looked like back then. I know it was missing quite a few features and was pretty unstable.

It might get the newest :confused: I know of a couple of instances with 4700 receivers where they were so far behind that they couldn't/wouldn't load the newest software. Don't know if anyone has tried updating a 501 from that far back. If I remember correctly 116 - 119 were released over 3 month period and 118 wasn't one of the better ones ;)

NightRyder
 
I believe a new access card will set you back $50. That receiver sounds like there is a good chance of an outstanding balance that you would have to pay before DISH would activate it.
 
Yeah, heck with it.. get one from Dish that's safe.

Once you get a DVR, you look at TV sooo much differently. As one of my customers put it "Let the TV revolve around you, put it in it's place."
 
By the time you would pay $150 for the receiver PLUS $50 for the card you could have found someone selling a used one for $200 without risk of a balance with a card, might even be able to get a 508 with twice the storage space on it. A 501 has 30 hours (with a 40GB hard drive) and a 508 has 60 hours (with an 80GB hard drive). A 510 that has the $5 DVR fee has 100 hours (with a 120 GB hard drive).
 
BOSHAE said:
Could I switch the card from an old model 1000 I just deactivated?

The cards are "married" to the receiver they are activated with. Dish could authorize your card with another receiver but whether they would or not is another question. :cool:

NightRyder
 
Stargazer said:
By the time you would pay $150 for the receiver PLUS $50 for the card you could have found someone selling a used one for $200 without risk of a balance with a card, might even be able to get a 508 with twice the storage space on it. A 501 has 30 hours (with a 40GB hard drive) and a 508 has 60 hours (with an 80GB hard drive). A 510 that has the $5 DVR fee has 100 hours (with a 120 GB hard drive).

You could get a 508 from the dishstore. They're $235 and no fee, they are a refurb. Just got one and I love it :)