The Costco 622 Deal

[birkoff]

I'm walking through Costco and notice they have a pile of 622's.
They were priced at about $470, with a $270 coupon, so a net
of $200, but there is a warning about it then becomes "leased"
from *E.

How does the "lease" work. Do I have to pay a monthly fee?

I have an old HD receiver which has limited programs.

Is the change to the 622 a good one. Are you happy with it or
frustrated. Is there a better system just around the corner?
Does Costco have the best price?

Birkooff

 

[navychop]

Sounds like the same deal you can get from Dish. Call Dish and eliminate the middleman, and you won't have to fool with the coupon.

No, there is no better system just around the corner. The ViP622 will allow you to get MPEG-4 programming such as the Voom channels. It's a very good DVR, I love mine. I also have a 508 & 721. Some folks have problems, but every product has some that don't work perfectly under all conditions. Certainly faster than Tivo. External storage via USB is expected by year's end. And it has NBR. And yes, you'll have to pay a lease fee.

 

[Smith P.]

VOOM channels still in MPEG-2 actually.

 

[Jordan420]

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=77646&highlight=costco

 

[manyultra]

External storage via USB is expected by year's end. And it has NBR. And yes, you'll have to pay a lease fee.

Where did you get the info about external storage and is this going to require the customer use a PC with HD burner or??






.

 

[riffjim4069]

We were all expecting to see USB storage by the end of last year...then Spring...then Summer...then Fall...now by the end of the year. The bottom line is that nothing has been announced and, since this doesn't appear to be a money-maker for E*, don't be surprised if people are still asking the same question come January.

 

[navychop]

Voom has the "fake headers" that make it so only an MPEG-4 capable receiver can view them. Older HD receivers will not receive Voom or certain other programming.

The external storage is a USB hard drive that you plug in to the ViP622. It expands the storage on the particular DVR you recorded it on, and will initially only playback thru that machine. No PC required or allowed. I'm sure they'll make it difficult to burn to a disc, due to copyright restrictions. You can burn a disc today by hooking up to the analog outputs. To copy from digital outputs, HD or SD, requires a hack.

There are many posts in many threads about USB external storage. IIRC, the nut is that it is expected by the end of 2006; at a later date they will add the ability to port the external USB storage to any machine on your account. That feature has not been completely debugged yet. Think about it- you could save programming via your ViP622 and play it back on a ViP211, eliminating the need for a second DVR. Or maybe one day the ViP211 will be able to save directly to USB external storage (I know, now I'm getting feverish). I believe Scott was the source for some of this. Yes, of course it may not happen. But I believe someone has posted that they got this date from a source inside Dish.

Yes, it's a money-maker. It's an added feature that may attract new customers and induce existing ones to get a ViP622.

I certainly didn't expect to see external storage on a ViP622 at the end of last year.

 

[Smith P.]

I have strong feeling the feature already developed and ready to use - see CEDIA reports.
The "problem" ( for Dish ) is how to serve it on a plate with a PRICE TAG !
I concurr with speculations about "link to the account" or "link to the receiver" - not nessesary to go this route if each disk already "married" to original DVR or "allow to play on 211" - it's could be done later in future software updates.
Just one real point - DTV already use external HDD in HR20. No more arguments. Period.

 

[Kaydigi]

I have strong feeling the feature already developed and ready to use - see CEDIA reports.
The "problem" ( for Dish ) is how to serve it on a plate with a PRICE TAG !
I concurr with speculations about "link to the account" or "link to the receiver" - not nessesary to go this route if each disk already "married" to original DVR or "allow to play on 211" - it's could be done later in future software updates.
Just one real point - DTV already use external HDD in HR20. No more arguments. Period.

Any major problems for D* users?

 

[iafirebuff]

My 811 receives the VOOM channels.

 

[RandallA]

My 811 receives the VOOM channels.

IIRC, there are 5 Voom channels (newest) that have the MPEG4 headers. The rest are MPEG2.

 

[bhelms]

My 811 receives the VOOM channels.

Well - actually it's a mixed bag. The original 10 voom channels E* carried (and still does) are presently MPEG-2 and thus any HD E* receiver can receive them with the appropriate HD programming packages. The last 5 voom channels added several months back (TreasureHD, GamePlay HD, World Sport HD, World Cinema HD, Family HD) are all MPEG-2 format but headered as MPEG-4 so only the newer ViP receivers can decode them. I get all 15 with my 622, but only the original 10 with my 811...

EDIT: Well RandallA beat me by a nanosecond - sorry for the repeat information...

 

[iafirebuff]

I forgot the "new" channels are considered "VOom". I always think of pre-merger Voom when I think of Voom

 

[navychop]

Yes, I forgot it's only some of the Voom channels so marked.

 

[Smith P.]

And those channels flagged as "ViP only" ; there is nothing related to MPEG-4 as you just continue repeat BS from DN.

 

[navychop]

 

[TBoneit]

Any major problems for D* users?

From my reading the External (ESATA) drive on a HR-20 replaces the internal drive which becomes inactive. Drawback 1.

Drawback 2, The external drive will only work on that particular HR-20 so if the HR-20 goes bad wave bye bye to your recordings.

Drwaback 3, Hooking up a external means you need to recreate all your timers, etc. Since the external drive becaomes in effect a Newly installed HR-20

Other than that no problem.

 

[waltinvt]

I'm walking through Costco and notice they have a pile of 622's.
They were priced at about $470, with a $270 coupon, so a net
of $200, but there is a warning about it then becomes "leased"
from *E.

I wonder when the thread will start for those that go to the store, hand over $470 (or $200 if it's an "instant" coupon), install & activate the receiver and then at some point find out what they think they bought really doesn't belong to them?

 

[Walter L.]

Good thing about Cotsco is that you can always take the merchandise back to the store, even after a long time. I wonder if they have any different restrictions on the 622?

 

[Pepper]

And those channels flagged as "ViP only" ; there is nothing related to MPEG-4 as you just continue repeat BS from DN.

translation for navychop and others (which Smith did a good job of explaining in other thread):

it's a "ViP only" flag, not an "MPEG-4" flag - if older HD receivers' software had not been broken by E* to specifically exclude these channels which are MPEG-2, they would show up fine just like the other MPEG-2 channels.