Have the 211 receivers been reliable ?

JimMcC

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Apr 4, 2004
580
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Have the 211 receivers had many problems? If so, have they been straightened out? I want to upgrade my two 811's to 211's. Thanks.
 
Yes they work but as with any DISH receiver they vary from software release to the next. Seeing your 811 is obsolete except as an OTA tuner you don't have much choice unlees you want a DVR.
 
I've had both the 211 and the 811, the 211 is a lot better than the 811. Granted some times with new software releases they seem to break something but that happens with all Dish Network receivers. :)
 
I've had one for nearly a year. I bought it off E-bay. It was reliable as hell (Toslink, HDMI, component, OTA antenna, etc. all worked) It just broke last night.

It keeps trying to find a satellite signal, it won't respond to any remote codes and the component! video output doesn't work. The HDMI is fine, though. :rolleyes:

I wonder if they pushed some weird software update last night.

Update: I had the blue and green switched--weird light today! It looks stable again!
 
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Thanks guys.



i think if you wait for Dish to contact you in the near future, they will be swapping those 811's for 211's for free for you anyway.

its the mpeg II conversion project. we are putting them in full steam right now.

no commitmant, no cost, but you have to give up your 811's to Dish even if you own them. the 211's stay as leased equip i believe.
 
upgrade problem

Hi!
I took the dish upgrade from 811 to 211. I am using the dish 42" projection tv. the picture does not fit my screen. the 811 did just fine even the replacement one the sent about 1 year ago. espn was a perfect fit. the new box, 211, I was not satisfied from the moment it was installed. and voiced my complaint with the installer. the picture is bloomed on all 4 sides. this was with component video input. I bought a hdmi to div cable and the picture did get better but still does not fit. I had several conversations with dish and a tech come out to adjust it.
that was a disaster. after continually setting it to different formats it came close to fitting only at 4X3#1 and 480i resolution. I said that was not a HD quality picture and is not acceptable. I later got him and dish to send out a supervisor. he could not get my set to adjust......funny he showed up with his 10 year old son to transulate to his spanish what my problem was. he only kept advising me to upgrade to the dvr receiver saying that was not a good one. I called dish back up demanding them to deliver my 811 that they took and take this piece of crap receiver out of my house.
the HD picture quality was poor especially for the over air stuff too. they said they will not replace the 811. I threatened to take them to court since I paid cash for it. they are suppose to send me out a cardboard box to allow them to receive the 211 back. I'll use my 3700 until the 811 problem is solved. at least with that receiver I could watch a good quality OTA even if I loose the HD on sat.
I've been with dishnetwork for 10 1/2 years........some valued customer.:mad:
I wish I had the 811 back, now I looking for a OTA receiver and possibly a new provider though I might just buy a blueray and subscribe to netflix. I can always visit friends for cable games or the local pizza parlor.
my rating for dishnetwork out of 5* being good zero being poor.
-:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
Hi!
I took the dish upgrade from 811 to 211. I am using the dish 42" projection tv. the picture does not fit my screen. the 811 did just fine even the replacement one the sent about 1 year ago. espn was a perfect fit. the new box, 211, I was not satisfied from the moment it was installed. and voiced my complaint with the installer. the picture is bloomed on all 4 sides. this was with component video input. I bought a hdmi to div cable and the picture did get better but still does not fit. I had several conversations with dish and a tech come out to adjust it.
that was a disaster. after continually setting it to different formats it came close to fitting only at 4X3#1 and 480i resolution. I said that was not a HD quality picture and is not acceptable. I later got him and dish to send out a supervisor. he could not get my set to adjust......funny he showed up with his 10 year old son to transulate to his spanish what my problem was. he only kept advising me to upgrade to the dvr receiver saying that was not a good one. I called dish back up demanding them to deliver my 811 that they took and take this piece of crap receiver out of my house.
the HD picture quality was poor especially for the over air stuff too. they said they will not replace the 811. I threatened to take them to court since I paid cash for it. they are suppose to send me out a cardboard box to allow them to receive the 211 back. I'll use my 3700 until the 811 problem is solved. at least with that receiver I could watch a good quality OTA even if I loose the HD on sat.
I've been with dishnetwork for 10 1/2 years........some valued customer.:mad:
I wish I had the 811 back, now I looking for a OTA receiver and possibly a new provider though I might just buy a blueray and subscribe to netflix. I can always visit friends for cable games or the local pizza parlor.
my rating for dishnetwork out of 5* being good zero being poor.
-:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:


did you sign the work order after the install was completed? that signifies that you were satisfied with the completed work. that was your opportunity to say yea or nay.

if you were not satisfied then, the tech could have simply put the 811 back and reactivated it. now its in the RA system and good luck getting it back.

i can never understand why a customer signs off on a work order as completed and then later changes their mind and raises hell expecteing everything to be changed back free of charge.

its just not right.
 
did you sign the work order after the install was completed? that signifies that you were satisfied with the completed work. that was your opportunity to say yea or nay.

if you were not satisfied then, the tech could have simply put the 811 back and reactivated it. now its in the RA system and good luck getting it back.

i can never understand why a customer signs off on a work order as completed and then later changes their mind and raises hell expecteing everything to be changed back free of charge.

its just not right.

Depends... I've found that if you subscribe to a numer of premiums, Dish will still immediately send a service tech out to you.

To the OP, re: your 211, either your box is defective or (most likely) it wasn't properly set-up. 4x3 #1 at 480i is old school 480i. 4x3 #2 if I recall correctly is squished 4x3 like on a widescreen SD DVD. Based on everything you've said you just might have a defective box. Your 42" display is 16x9, right? Even if it's an EDTV, it should accept 480p 16x9 over component.
 
got fed up after years of problems with the 811 I wanted back. they sent out a box and I shipped it (211) back. but I did try to get my old 3700 turned on and they would not activate it or said they could not?!? but they wanted to send out a new 3700 that they would own and take mine back no charge....I laughed:" so that is why you will not turn my receiver on? you want a additional $5/month rental for that huh?"
I canceled dish for good!
just OTA with new samsung dtb-h260f....I get 49 channels on my old ancient antenna.
I'll buy a blueray player next using the $75 that I'll save a month it will get me a few discs every month.....may even try netflix too.
 
I think the *only* customer complaint I've had with the 211 over the 811 is the fact the remotes are not UHF. For whatever reason, Dish chose to not include that with the 211. Too many HD subs don't have the receiver near their television. Or in the case of projection sets, said receiver is actually behind them.

I was absolutely shocked that if you b*tch and moan enough, that Dish will send IR/UHF pyramids to customers that have been MPEG4 upgraded...for free! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the occasional "hook'n'book" service call as much as the next tech, but this sort of thing has happened three times in the past month.
 
I have three 211s, all very reliable, been working non-stop for more than two years. The only consideration in replacing an 811 with a 211 (besides the IR remote issue) is that the 211 only has one set of component outputs, vs two for the 811. Usually that's not a show stopper.
 
Another difference, not that it matters much anymore or will at all in a few months, is that the 811 had an analog OTA tuner. For folks like me in a fringe area for OTA channels, that was useful as several of mine were still analog only, and having the analog capability was useful in pointing/tuning the antenna for a couple of stations that were sending co-located analog and digital signals.

The single 211 I have had since the upgrade "deal" a year ago has been rock solid, something the 811 was not...
 
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