Help about Dish/HD/Standard...

Benjamin Linus

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Original poster
Feb 15, 2008
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Newbie here, but long time Dish Network Customer. I have been trying ot find out some info from them, but they never really answer my question, and the $ amounts are always different.

In my house, I have 3 TV's, one HDTV 1080i, and two standard 4:3 TV's The HDTV has the original standard receiver without DVR, as does one of the standard TV"s. The third standard TV has a 30 GB standard DVR.

I am looking to upgrade to HDTV programing with HD-DVR for the HDTV, and see if possible to upgrade the other two receivers to HD-DVR. The reason being is two fold. I plan to upgrade one of the standard TV's to a 1080P HDTV, and keep the third standard until I can afford to replace it as well (1-1/2 years off).

I would like all three receivers to be HD mainly for the reason of more hard drive space for recording shows. The one I have now maxes out around 28-30 hours standard. I know the HD-DVR's can keep around 200 hours in standard and 55 in HD.

I have been told by Dish that I can have 1 HD-DVR, and one standard DVR. The third TV would not have a box, just a line run to it from the HD-DVR. Yet the assure me that that TV will be able to watch different shows than the HDTV set at anytime, and that I can record one show and watch another.

I am trying to have all three with the HD-DVR, so I can DVR an all three TVs (three people in a house that watch a lot of different programs). I have been with Dish for over four years, yet every call I ask about this, they change from "That might be possible, but will cost you $400-$600 upfront" to "Well, you can only have on HD-DVR and you have to keep you existing 30 GB DVR, sorry" to "Let me put you through to some who can help" only to get hung up on.

I am hoping someone can help me. I have the top package through them , and have never missed a payment these 4+ years. Yet, when I call to ask the same question and say I am new customer, they have a line down cold, promising me the moon and then some. Yet a loyal customer is told "sorry, those are the rules".

Just hoping some here can help me. I just want to have three TV's all be able to DVR. One in HD and Standard, and the other two for the larger drive that HD has to record standard over 200 hours. And so when I upgrade the two standard TV's to HDTV's, I don't have to call them again, and have to get the receivers then.

I also want to upgrade my receivers for the on demand feature, but they have ben of no help at Dish. It seems like they just want to keep me on these 3 old receivers and pay my bill and not bother them.

Sorry if this is covered elsewhere, but I have had no luck getting any answers online or thru Dish.

Thank You for any help.
 
Hi Henry Gale, errr Ben Linus (nice name)....I'm not an expert, but since I'm a fellow Lost fan, I'll give you my limited knowledge.

The HD DVR ("722") has two tuners for sat, plus another tuner for over the air (requiring antenna). This means that you can record two shows while watching a third (e.g. tuner 1 recording sat channel; tuner 2 recording different sat channel; you watching OTA channel). The 722 has HD output to your main tv (hdmi or component outputs), but also has the capability to send SD signal via coaxial cable to any number of SD TV's. From reading these forums, people have run long HDMI or component cables from 722 to other rooms to allow this box to service a second HDTV. (Under that scenario, however, you may--not sure--have second tv watching same sat channel as main tv.) Regardless of which tuner "records" the program onto DVR, any of the tvs could access the dvr programming, so I don't know that you "need" separate DVR's. As far as wanting extra capacity, you can add an external hard drive (e.g. 750 gb) to the 722 for external storage.

I believe you can upgrade to a 722 now (which will give you ability to service your main HDTV and 2nd and 3rd SD tv's, with ability down the road at least to run HDMI cable to future HDTV). You can have 2 different TV's accessing dvr programming at same time and have very-high capacity external HD storage for a reasonable price.
I suggest you read through the forums to find out what deals you can get as an existing sub to upgrade. Good luck
 
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