Soon to be ex Dish customer needs help picking new recievers

[romans8:28]

As the title indicates, I plan to switch from Dish to Direct and I would really appreciate unbiased input form Direct customers familiar with their HD/HD-DVR equipment.

I have 3 HD tv's in 3 rooms and want HD & DVR capability for each location. Currently with Dish I have (1) 722 & (2) 622 receivers. I really like how each tv has it's own independent set-up.

For direct I (think?) that I am leaning toward (3) HR24 units, as opposed to (1) HMC & (2) plain HD non-dvr units.

Any and all advise is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[lparsons21]

I have 3 HR24s now and if I stay with D*, I will be changing that to 1 HR34 + 1 HR24 because I want easier recording management. 2 of my HR24s are at the same location, feeding the same TV in my installation.

With 3 HR24s, you do have full DVR functionality at each location, but you have to be on each one to set a recording. In my case that is a bit of a PITA, in yours it might not be. And each HR24 can only have one remote location viewing on it at any given time, with the HR34, 3 remotes can view at any given time.

If you went with an HR34 + 2 receivers (non-dvr) you only lose one feature imo, and that is you can't do trickplay with live shows, but can with recorded ones. The quick and dirty workaround is to set the show to record and then watch the recording slightly delayed. You can set a recording on the HR34 from the receivers as well as on the HR34 itself. That is not possible with 3 HR24s.

And from a recording management point of view, you cannot manage recordings on the whole setup from a remote DVR, nor can you see a unified todo list. The only thing that a DVR can see on the remote DVR is a unified playlist of recording in progress and already completed.

 

[cave1376]

Don't forget to get whole home dvr. With whole home dvr, you can watch all the recordings stored in the hddvr from any hdreceiver or hddvr on that same set up.

 

[romans8:28]

Thanks very much for the input so far, I trust/value this sort of help more than talking to a CSR (nothing against CSR's)

 

[mdram]

i would say 1hr-34 and 2 hr-24

at the very least 1 34, 1 24 and a non dvr unit.

 

[romans8:28]

Is the HR-34 the same as the HMC? Would going with a HR-34 as one of the three HD-DVR's be worth the cost (as what would that do for me?)

A couple other questions...

Does anyone know if Direct installers are employees or independent contractors?
Would the installer replace ALL of the Dish equipment (dish, mounting hardware, coaxial cable, switches, etc)?

 

[mdram]

Is the HR-34 the same as the HMC? Would going with a HR-34 as one of the three HD-DVR's be worth the cost (as what would that do for me?)

A couple other questions...

Does anyone know if Direct installers are employees or independent contractors?
Would the installer replace ALL of the Dish equipment (dish, mounting hardware, coaxial cable, switches, etc)?

hr34 is the hmc

some installers are employees some are contractors
they may replace the equipment or leave it and do thier own.
i dont think removal is part of a normal install
they cannot reuse the dish our mouonting hardware, some coax can be reused though, if its good enough

give the dishstore a call for pricing, they are very competative and great to work with

 

[romans8:28]

Thank you

 

[whitewolf8214]

HR34 is a great way and way to start with a new receiver plus 2 HR24's

 

[raoul5788]

One thing to consider is if you get the HR34 and two other dvrs of any model, you will need 4 lines coming in from the dish to your house because you will have more that eight tuners. If you get three dvrs or one HR34, one dvr, and one H model receiver, you will be able to have only one line from the dish. All of this only matters if you care how many lines come from the dish!