Old receiver with a new dish?

[David Taylor]

Guys,

I just upgraded from an old Dish 500 system to an HD system. I have 3 HD receivers and am really enjoying it. I have an old 508 DVR receiver laying around. I was thinking about selling it, but I've heard conflicting information. Is is possible to hook up an old receiver to a new dish? I have a dish that was installed in December and points to the 3 "western arc" satellites. I'm assuming the old receiver is not compatible with this setup, but the installer said it was.

I just wanted to double check before I sell the 508. If it *CAN* work (albeit std def) I may yet have a use for it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dah-Henny]

It'll work with the western arc, but not the eastern arc.

 

[David Taylor]

So I *can* hook it up to the existing LNB? I have 3 receivers. Does anyone know what kind of split/switch I'd need to add a 4th receiver?

 

[Dah-Henny]

You need a DPP44 switch.

 

[Dah-Henny]

The 44, when used with a 1000.2 dish, will support 4 dual tuner receivers.

 

[David Taylor]

I wonder why I was told by Dish CSRs that the older receivers are not compatible with the new Dishes and couldn't even be added to my account. That is weird.

 

[Dah-Henny]

Honestly, David, as long as Dish hasn't bricked the receiver, it will work with mpeg2 western arc. Dish may well NOT allow activation.

 

[Dah-Henny]

I just searched, and folks are still using the 508.

 

[David Taylor]

Interesting. I asked several times--which is why I was surprised that the installer had said it would work. I wonder if they have some sort of policy in place not to activate those older receivers. I guess they are going to try to move everyone to MPEG4 eventually, right?

 

[David Taylor]

Actually, I wonder if someone who works for Dish can answer this question: Are there any policies pertaining to activating older receivers (like my 508) on newly upgraded accounts?

 

[Dah-Henny]

That's correct, but I imagine that it's gonna take a good while to get all of the western arc subs changed over.

 

[Dah-Henny]

The Dish ERT folks usually sign in around 5 pm. Matt, Tony, and Phillip @ Dish Network. They're good guys and can definitively answer the question.

 

[MattG@DISH]

Just getting in now. If you own the receiver there's no reason we wouldn't be able to activate it on your account. We wouldn't be able to activate it if it is a leased receiver, or is on another account that has a balance.

 

[David Taylor]

Thanks. No, I own it--and there is no balance. It was on my account before I upgraded to HD everything. But I'd asked and was told (by Dish) that I couldn't activate any of my old receivers on my account now that I'd upgraded. Of course, I cannot connect it at the moment because I don't have the proper switch. I was just checking for the future in case I decided to put a small TV in the kitchen.

 

[MattG@DISH]

If you have a 1000.2 it will work with it just fine. I will personally activate it for you if you want, if I can't activate it, I'll give you a good reason why.

 

[chainblu]

I'm sure I speak for many here..
When you Dish People first showed up here, SOME (I won't mention names) of us didn't exactly roll out the Welcome Mat. But you guys are really starting to show your value here. Thanks.

 

[MattG@DISH]

Glad to hear that we're becoming of some use. On a side note, I looked at David's account, and was able to activate the 508 just fine (is deactivated until he wants it back up and running). So I have no idea why the CSR said it couldn't be done. My guess is they saw the 1000.4 tag on the account and assumed it was EA.

 

[rthomp03]

I just searched, and folks are still using the 508.

I just gave my old 508 to my father-in-law last week and got it activated. He had my original 301 which bit the dust.

 

[MattG@DISH]

Most of the receivers that we've had as a company are still able to be activated, there are some that we require be upgraded however.

 

[boba]

Most of the receivers that we've had as a company are still able to be activated, there are some that we require be upgraded however.

Receivers like the 1000/2000/3000/4000/5000/6000 original DVR and thanks to TiVo lwsuit the 921 & 942. Did I miss any others?