VIP Satellite Receiver Retirement

I just assisted in closing a Dish account for my deceased neighbor. He had 1-211 and 2-211Ks. I was told and got an email that said that return of the receivers was not necessary.
Yep, when I upgraded to a pair of Wallys a few months ago I was told the same thing, don't bother returning the VIP211k's, scrap em.
 
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When was the last time the VIP receivers and 322/625 receivers got a software update?
ViP list from a recent New Software thread:

ViP - HD Receivers​

ReceiverCurrent VersionRelease Date
922S1.3212/11/2018
922S1.316/7/2017
722kL9.258/18/2020
722kL9.246/6/2019
722L9.158/18/2020
722L9.146/6/2019
622L9.318/18/2020
622L9.306/6/2019
612L8.978/18/2020
612L8.966/6/2019
222kL8.8310/11/2019
222kL8.826/4/2019
222L7.636/16/2017
222L7.6212/8/2016
211kL8.646/4/2019
211kL8.635/21/2019
211zL9.018/8/2019
211zL9.005/21/2019
211L5.766/5/2019
211L5.755/21/2019
411L5.766/5/2019
411L5.755/21/2019
Sling Firmware05.04.52012/9/2014
Sling Firmware05.03.52012/4/2014
Sling Firmware05.03.4617/10/2014
Sling FirmwareADEDCAAR6/1/2014


Thanks, HipKat!
 
Are the 322s and 625s receivers being installed these days? If so, it’s very very rare that they are installed.
The only scenario I could think of is if someone already has those receiver models, and they move to a new home, requiring Dish to come out and install a new dish for them. Even then, Dish would probably insist on upgrading those receivers to newer models at the time of the new dish install. If the new dish happens to be Western Arc, I suppose the subscriber could refuse the new receivers, and just keep using the old ones as long as they still continue to work. As you said, that scenario would be very very rare though.
 
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When was the last time the VIP receivers and 322/625 receivers got a software update?
All SD receivers are being shut down. If they haven't been already, they will be any time now.

We had to go around and replace nearly 2000 311s with 211's over the last year (most in commercial rack systems). A few places didn't get their 311s replaced, and most went offline a few months back.
 
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We had to go around and replace nearly 2000 311s with 211's over the last year (most in commercial rack systems).
How did those rack systems distribute their video to customers' TVs? I fear it was something dumb like NTSC...
 
The only scenario I could think of is if someone already has those receiver models, and they move to a new home, requiring Dish to come out and install a new dish for them. Even then, Dish would probably insist on upgrading those receivers to newer models at the time of the new dish install. If the new dish happens to be Western Arc, I suppose the subscriber could refuse the new receivers, and just keep using the old ones as long as they still continue to work. As you said, that scenario would be very very rare though.
You're not wrong, I had a customer the other day that has a 625 and a 322 and refuses to upgrade
 
How did those rack systems distribute their video to customers' TVs? I fear it was something dumb like NTSC...
Now days, we put Dish HD Smartboxs into pretty much all commercial MDUs. But we have been doing this for 20+ years, and back then SD Rack systems going out NTSC were it. Some of our accts still haven't upgraded to HD. One of our biggest accounts is an entire states prison system, about 1000 of the receivers went into that. 48 SD channels (2-49) at each facility. They still run SD, mainly because not all the inmates TVs are HD capable, they are mostly 7 to 10 inches, HD wouldn't be real noticeable, and additional cost of HD upgrade.

A fair amount of apartments and some hotels are L-band (receivers in room). Those were an easier upgrade.
 
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