should I exchange my 6000 for 811?

[shelly]

I just returned to Dish (hd pak + Voom hd pak only), having left them for Voom when Voom began.

I am using a 6000 receiver, which always gave me a picture that appeared "washed out" when compared to Directv (which I used to have), Voom and now Comcast HD.

It still appears to be washed out and not as crisply clear on the Voom channels as I remeember. I used to see faces with extreme clarity on the HdNews and other Voom channels (facial pores, beard stubble et al), but now the picture is not as sharp.

I own the 6000.

Dish has offered to upgrade me to a 811 for $50, but (a) I have to send them my 6000, (b) I will be leasing, not owning, the 811 for $5/month.

My most important question is:

Does the 811 have a picture with more contrast, crispness and detail than the 6000?

But I also am curious about this:

When Dish moves to mpeg-4, will leased hd receivers be exchanged for the newer models?

I have read a post that indicated the 6000 can be upgraded to mpeg-4. How is this done? Is it just replacing the 8psk module with a different one?

Thanks.

Shelly

 

[mwgiii]

The 6000 CAN NOT be upgraded to MPEG4.

In Echostar's earnings call today, Charlie said they will start to move to MPEG4 in the 4th qtr.

If it was me, I would just wait a couple of months to see what happens. I personally would not pay $50 for a 811 lease since they are leasing them to new customers for $0.

 

[ToUgHsPot]

Shelly, you might wanna check your TV/Projector settings. I'm using a dishnet6000 receiver and a Mitsubishi XD480U projector and all I can say is.........DAYUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[DarrellP]

Shelly, my 6000 also appears washed out, I had to assign it a seperate calibration setting in my projector with the brightness turned way down and the contrast bumped up as compared to my Voom receiver or OTA. I get a fantastic picture after it is setup properly. Some TV's allow custom settings for different inputs, but may not allow for custom settings regardless of input like my pj does. So I basically have 2 settings for component and I use 1 for Dish and the other for DVD/VOOM stb/DVHS/OTA.

 

[Wally]

Yea, well my catch is that my 6000 (returning to service) does not have as sensitive an OTA receiver as my old VOOM unit. I've lost my nearest NBC-HD channel.

Does anyone know if the 811, 921, or 942 have a more sensitive OTA receiver?

 

[shelly]

Shelly, my 6000 also appears washed out, I had to assign it a seperate calibration setting in my projector with the brightness turned way down and the contrast bumped up as compared to my Voom receiver or OTA. I get a fantastic picture after it is setup properly. Some TV's allow custom settings for different inputs, but may not allow for custom settings regardless of input like my pj does. So I basically have 2 settings for component and I use 1 for Dish and the other for DVD/VOOM stb/DVHS/OTA.

I have done that with my tv which has 4 user controlled picture settings which can be used with any input. The inputs per say cannot have separate settings, so I just have to toggle tthrough the 4 presets to get the one that looks best. I have turned the contrast up, color up and the brightness down on one and this helps a great deal except I do not like to run the contrast past the mid point which it now is with the speacial Dish 6000 setting.

But I also have to change settings when I switch back to Comcast HD which has extremely vivid picture. No big deal but I have lived wih the 6000 for a long time and know its quirks.

What puzzles me is when others post that the picture they get with their 6000 is awesome. Voom, Directv and Comcast receivers all showed a much more vivid picture.

Is the 811 picture as washed out as the 6000 or more in line with the others I have mentioned?

Shelly

 

[T2k]

The 6000 CAN NOT be upgraded to MPEG4.

As far as we know, only our Voom STB could be upgraded - too bad no more Voom DBS service.

 

[noremac]

Shelly--

Get rid of the 6000!! If you are into EBay, it can be sold for about the same price as you can buy an 811. I just recently did this myself. Zero net cost for the swap.

I had my 6000 for almost 5 years, and while it served my needs fine, it also aged. The 811, which is by no means Dish's newest box, runs circles around the 6000 in almost every category. The most immediate thing you will come to appreciate is the significantly faster guide and tuning. The guide also has a pic-in-pic feature and contains two days of info, not the 1-2 hours that the 6000 "tried" to display. I could go on listing multiple other little features...no cooling fan, closed captioning, DishHome, ....

 

[shelly]

Shelly--

Get rid of the 6000!! If you are into EBay, it can be sold for about the same price as you can buy an 811. I just recently did this myself. Zero net cost for the swap.

I had my 6000 for almost 5 years, and while it served my needs fine, it also aged. The 811, which is by no means Dish's newest box, runs circles around the 6000 in almost every category. The most immediate thing you will come to appreciate is the significantly faster guide and tuning. The guide also has a pic-in-pic feature and contains two days of info, not the 1-2 hours that the 6000 "tried" to display. I could go on listing multiple other little features...no cooling fan, closed captioning, DishHome, ....

I'll took into this but I have never bought/sold on ebay and feel uneasy about it.

I also just learned from csr that any exchange I do through Dish for a 811 reeiver involved getting at minimum the AT 60 package. Another csr said that I would have to commit for 12 months with any 811 lease program (and would need a minimum package in addition to my HD paks.)

So buying my own 811 isw the only way I can go for now.

When the mpeg 4 receivers come out, my wife, who had never had Dish and has her own last name and telephone number, is very anxious to join Dish for their free offers (while I quit once again.)

At least I get the hd paks for now. And by changing tv settings, I can improve my base 6000 picture. Picture in picture in the guide is a feature I would love but I am not bothered by the guide content/quickness at all.

In fact I have so many hd channels now, I can hardly keep up and watch dvds as well. And I remember when we all got so excited when they changed content on the demo channel in the early days.

I'll explore the ebay site anyway.

Thanks.

Shelly