vip 612 ,is it usable?

[Jonhern]

The 612 is fine as long as you don't use the OTA tuner. When I first got it I tried the OTA tuner and had nothing but problems with random reboots, lockups and very poor reception.

Yes it has glitches with it skipping sometimes on HD content but I notice it does it much less now that it is cooler. When it is warmer it would do it more.

Not true, as i said in my post i did this with one of them, left the ota off with the replacement in the living room because i had read that, and connected it in the one in my bedroom. Both started doing the same video and audio dropouts within a few weeks. The ota is not the culprit.

 

[RandallA]

For those of you with problems with the 612 receiver, what were/are your avg. temperatures? I'm thinking that this receiver probably doesn't like to run too hot. Mine is averaging 105 F but I've only had it for a month.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

For those of you with problems with the 612 receiver, what were/are your avg. temperatures? I'm thinking that this receiver probably doesn't like to run too hot. Mine is averaging 105 F but I've only had it for a month.

116 was my average for the 1 the other was 118.
My 622 averages 128, and Never an issue.
My 722 is 122 and same Never an issue.

 

[Jonhern]

For those of you with problems with the 612 receiver, what were/are your avg. temperatures? I'm thinking that this receiver probably doesn't like to run too hot. Mine is averaging 105 F but I've only had it for a month.

The one w/o ota attached is avg: 104 F
The one with ota avg is 109 F, the old one i remember had 114 F
The other main difference is the one with the higher temp has a lot more recording done on it than the other. Again, both show the same problems, the lower one is component, the other is hdmi, so its not the hdmi handshake issue.

 

[RandallA]

All low average temperatures so definitely overheating is not the issue here.

 

[Jonhern]

Similar problems here, have two with 6 different receivers coming through my house in 3.5 months. I think its the hard drive because the problem gets worse with time, works fine for a week or two then it all starts up again. I even refrained from adding the ota to one of the units as people on here have suggested but that did not work. If you have several replacements in a short period of time they will upgrade you for free, but i needed to call executive customer service. Will post what they replace it with, the weather has held up the last receiver i sent back and they need to wait till it is off my account to do an upgrade.

Ok, so just got done talking to the rep and he is replacing both 612s with a duo, he said it really depends as to what the tech has on his truck so it can be a 622,722, or 722k. He also included the OTA module if it is a 722k for both, no upgrade fee and fee tech visit. The only thing is they have to come twice because he could only do one order at a time. He also gave me a $14 credit for one year which will take care of the extra $7 over two years. They come tomorrow to setup the first one.

 

[reddice]

Does the 622, 722 and 722k require you to connect it to a phone line? That is what I like about the 612 since I can't connect a phone line because I have it in the closet and I now the Ethernet cable is hooked up to my PS3 Slim.

 

[Jonhern]

Does the 622, 722 and 722k require you to connect it to a phone line? That is what I like about the 612 since I can't connect a phone line because I have it in the closet and I now the Ethernet cable is hooked up to my PS3 Slim.

Yes and no, you don't have to have it connected unless you want it for ppv and other things and not to be bothered by the audit Nazis. Everyone who has more than one is being charged that $5 fee now since it is in the 2nd receiver fee, it used to be a credit if you had it connected to phone or internet but they will no longer give that. We already have the 612s connected to Ethernet to get dish online so not a problem for us when we get the new ones.

And if the ps3 is in the same closet and you have a line going there already you can just hook up a cheap switch so you can connect multiple components to the internet. I saw a couple at best buy for around $20-30, don't bother with the 1gb switches, you will only get that speed on a home network, 100mb switch is fine for internet. That way you can use dishonline to download content, hdnet movies has some good free downloads up most of the time. Although for some reason many of the other features like ordering ppv and adding programs needs a phone line and can't be done with only Ethernet connected.

 

[reddice]

Yes I do have my PS3 Slim right next to my 612 in the closet. I will have to look at those switches since I don't want to add another 30 foot cable.

 

[Jonhern]

Yes I do have my PS3 Slim right next to my 612 in the closet. I will have to look at those switches since I don't want to add another 30 foot cable.

yeah, i have fios internet and am using an old wireless router now as a switch, but since fios does not allow you to have two routers i had to get around it by daisy chaining so i can have my 612, ps3 and laptop with a wired connection. Was going to buy a new switch since i lose a connection doing it that way and to get faster speed I thought, but the geek squad guy told me the 100mb ones are more than enough for internet, and depending on how fast your internet is the 10mb ones might even be fine. I have never seen the downloads on the 612 go above 3mb/s.

 

[Jonhern]

Ok, so just got done talking to the rep and he is replacing both 612s with a duo, he said it really depends as to what the tech has on his truck so it can be a 622,722, or 722k. He also included the OTA module if it is a 722k for both, no upgrade fee and fee tech visit. The only thing is they have to come twice because he could only do one order at a time. He also gave me a $14 credit for one year which will take care of the extra $7 over two years. They come tomorrow to setup the first one.

So got the first installed 722k and working great. But when i called to setup the service call for the second one the Exec CSR I have been talking too could not get the computer or his manger to send me another one because of the leased receiver limit. But he seemed to understand why I didn't want a 612 anymore, they must get a lot of complaints about them. Anyway, he offered a free 222k or a 722k with $150 off. Since my dad really does not record that much I took the free owned 222k, so I will move one of the 211ks to the living room and add an EHD since we already have that activated and put the 222k upstairs so I can hook up to the hdtv and the sdtv we have in the guest bedroom which only has ota now. He is also sending the ota module for the 222k and 722k, actually sent me three by accident, said just keep the other as a back up. While a somewhat tedious process, I am happy with the outcome, the 211k as a dvr has worked better than the 612 so we will be fine doing that. And I really am loving the PIP on the 722k. Have had it on all day to see if the problem returns and everything seems to be fine, if it stays that way then that will prove it was the 612s causing all the problems, for me anyway.

 

[reddice]

Like I said I love my 612. It's working great. Yes it does have some skips with HD content but it is not too bad and yes the OTA tuner is bad but I just keep my Terk HDTVa antenna hooked up to my TV anyway since I would not trust recording OTA as it can be unreliable.

 

[Jonhern]

Like I said I love my 612. It's working great. Yes it does have some skips with HD content but it is not too bad and yes the OTA tuner is bad but I just keep my Terk HDTVa antenna hooked up to my TV anyway since I would not trust recording OTA as it can be unreliable.

Sorry, but i don't want to deal with audio and video drops during important parts of shows and movies. Maybe you can, but I am not paying over a hundred a month to get that kind of service.

 

[Jerryinvirginia]

After reviewing this thread, it seems that the majority vote thumbs down on the 612. The problems addressed are not being resolved, at this time. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the ratio of working vs. failing will not get higher toward failure. So far, the 2 612's that I use, are working as designed. Wish me luck, Guys.

 

[jrbdmb]

So got the first installed 722k and working great. But when i called to setup the service call for the second one the Exec CSR I have been talking too could not get the computer or his manger to send me another one because of the leased receiver limit. But he seemed to understand why I didn't want a 612 anymore, they must get a lot of complaints about them. Anyway, he offered a free 222k or a 722k with $150 off. Since my dad really does not record that much I took the free owned 222k, so I will move one of the 211ks to the living room and add an EHD since we already have that activated and put the 222k upstairs so I can hook up to the hdtv and the sdtv we have in the guest bedroom which only has ota now. He is also sending the ota module for the 222k and 722k, actually sent me three by accident, said just keep the other as a back up. While a somewhat tedious process, I am happy with the outcome, the 211k as a dvr has worked better than the 612 so we will be fine doing that. And I really am loving the PIP on the 722k. Have had it on all day to see if the problem returns and everything seems to be fine, if it stays that way then that will prove it was the 612s causing all the problems, for me anyway.

I'm currently debating upgrading a 508 to a 612 or 211 for bedroom; 2nd tuner would be nice but not essential. How long did you use the 612 vs. the 211? How do they compare as far as usability - I can't get the wife to buy off on the 211 with EHD if it doesn't work seamlessly like the 508 does now. Any other info on comparing the two would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[reddice]

Might want to replace a couple of 510's down the road with 211's. Do they work as a DVR with a EHD? Is is seamless or does it have problems like the EHD keeps turning off and it freezes and stuff?

 

[Charade]

Might want to replace a couple of 510's down the road with 211's. Do they work as a DVR with a EHD? Is is seamless or does it have problems like the EHD keeps turning off and it freezes and stuff?

We have a 211K (up from a 510) with an EHD and it works great. It's as seemless as a DVR. Well, except for the 612. That's got a mind of it's own sometimes.

 

[Jonhern]

I'm currently debating upgrading a 508 to a 612 or 211 for bedroom; 2nd tuner would be nice but not essential. How long did you use the 612 vs. the 211? How do they compare as far as usability - I can't get the wife to buy off on the 211 with EHD if it doesn't work seamlessly like the 508 does now. Any other info on comparing the two would be appreciated, thanks.

We had the 612s for about 3 and a half months and one of our 211 with EHD for almost as long. The 211 is much more reliable, and if you don't really need two sat tuners you will be much happier with it. Like I said in my post the CSR found out he could not send us another 722k after we had the first installed, so we actually opted for a 222k as a replacement for the second 612 and turned the other 211 we have into a dvr to replace the 612, we just wanted to get rid of them. Plus, you will have much more space with an EHD, the only problem is the limitation in timers, its about 20, but since it sounds like its for a secondary tv it probably will not be an issue. Plus if you have OTA it will have two tuners to record on.

Been almost a week now and everything is working well, would have preferred two 722ks, but I think the compromise of getting an owned 222k and buying another EHD for the second 211k is much better than keeping the 612 with all the problems we had with them. We still get some rare hdmi dropouts with the 722 which the 612 also had, but if you skip back it plays back fine, that was the big problem with the 612, 90% of the time it was not the hdmi problem, if you went back the same thing would happen and you would lose parts of the program because of it, sometimes lasted 5-10secs.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

That it takes 2 visits from 2 different technitions to do a proper satellite install!
Have some pride already, Just be glad you have a job. MANY DON'T!

 

[Charade]

We had the 612s for about 3 and a half months and one of our 211 with EHD for almost as long. The 211 is much more reliable, and if you don't really need two sat tuners you will be much happier with it. Like I said in my post the CSR found out he could not send us another 722k after we had the first installed, so we actually opted for a 222k as a replacement for the second 612 and turned the other 211 we have into a dvr to replace the 612, we just wanted to get rid of them. Plus, you will have much more space with an EHD, the only problem is the limitation in timers, its about 20, but since it sounds like its for a secondary tv it probably will not be an issue. Plus if you have OTA it will have two tuners to record on.

Been almost a week now and everything is working well, would have preferred two 722ks, but I think the compromise of getting an owned 222k and buying another EHD for the second 211k is much better than keeping the 612 with all the problems we had with them. We still get some rare hdmi dropouts with the 722 which the 612 also had, but if you skip back it plays back fine, that was the big problem with the 612, 90% of the time it was not the hdmi problem, if you went back the same thing would happen and you would lose parts of the program because of it, sometimes lasted 5-10secs.

Has the EHD function been enabled for the 222K? If so, I might opt for one of those as a replacement for my 612.