Well, I called back today to make sure they send a 522 since I need the dual tuner and they claim the CSR I talked to yesterday told me the wrong receiver....so who knows. I'll just have to wait to see what shows up in the mail.
Why is Dish shutting down the 721?
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Well, I called back today to make sure they send a 522 since I need the dual tuner and they claim the CSR I talked to yesterday told me the wrong receiver....so who knows. I'll just have to wait to see what shows up in the mail.
My 721 was owned by me and I was also told that there would definitely be no Lease or DVR fees for the upgrade. Well, my 721 upgrade to a 625 was installed on 9/20/08 and my account was immediately charged a monthly LEASED RECEIVER FEE of $5.00 plus taxes. Called their billing dept. and was told that the lease and DVR fees apply.
Can anyone else check their account and see if they have been charged.
Guy came today to replace my 721 with a 625 as well. (Don't know why they didn't just ship it to me all that had to be done was swap the box)
He joked that he hasn't seen this box since 2004 and the guys back at the office are going to have a kick when they see what he is bringing in.
The 625 runs nice and I am happy to finally have the feature to record only the New episodes lol.
He joked that he hasn't seen this box since 2004 and the guys back at the office are going to have a kick when they see what he is bringing in.
The 625 runs nice and I am happy to finally have the feature to record only the New episodes lol.
UPDATE ON 721 DVR'd ITEMS W/NO SAT CONNS
OK- I just turned off my 721 (left plugged in) and disconnected the two satellite leads. I then turned it back on.
It attempted to tune in the last station played. I could see the info box at the top, the rest of the screen was black. Pressing Guide displayed all the info it had before. I went to the last program I had recorded and left on the 721 DVR (PVR). It was there, and played fine. It was so censored it was unwatchable, but it was there. Easily watched.
So yes, if you disconnect the 721 from the sats & keep it connected to the TV, you can watch your DVR'd programs at leisure.
No default to menu or check switch or anything. Just worked, sans current programming.
I also looked at the games. They worked. I suppose if you had young kids, it would be worth the $10 to keep it and see how long they'll play them.
I thought there used to be an option to set the 721 Guide to wide (16x9) but I sure couldn't find it today. My ViP722 arrived today, joining it's brother and a 508, so I will shortly bid a fond farewell to my 721.
OK- I just turned off my 721 (left plugged in) and disconnected the two satellite leads. I then turned it back on.
It attempted to tune in the last station played. I could see the info box at the top, the rest of the screen was black. Pressing Guide displayed all the info it had before. I went to the last program I had recorded and left on the 721 DVR (PVR). It was there, and played fine. It was so censored it was unwatchable, but it was there. Easily watched.
So yes, if you disconnect the 721 from the sats & keep it connected to the TV, you can watch your DVR'd programs at leisure.
No default to menu or check switch or anything. Just worked, sans current programming.
I also looked at the games. They worked. I suppose if you had young kids, it would be worth the $10 to keep it and see how long they'll play them.
I thought there used to be an option to set the 721 Guide to wide (16x9) but I sure couldn't find it today. My ViP722 arrived today, joining it's brother and a 508, so I will shortly bid a fond farewell to my 721.
At the point someone thinks that 2004 is a long time ago, is the point where I don't want that guy in my house - he can leave the receiver on the doorstep and go.
What would he think of:
*snaps* Damn. Can't remember who said that was going to happen... Let me think on it for awhile.
That implies he's been a tech for 4 years, 48 months. That's about 15x the average experience of the techs sent to my house over the last 11 years.
Bet he'd get a kick out of my 4700 too. Or maybe I should hook up he 3000 just for kicks next time I have and install/service call? (I need to have my super dish LNBs replaces due to high drift) Naw, it'd only see one sat as my SW42 is gone (dish took it when they installed the super dish and SW34) and I don't have another SW21 handy.
Don't you think it would be prudent to actually unplug it from power (as opposed to just turning it off, which is NOT the same thing) AND disco'ing the sat cables, & then seeing if it still works w/out a sub - you might be surprised. (unless you guys NEVER have a power failure or have to unplug equipment, you know...)
I agree that the above is great, but what is odd to me is, just a couple weeks before I received the letter from Dish, my other 721 died, and they replaced it with a 522 that has the DVR fee waived, and is not a leased unit, but owed by me.
In this case, there really is very little difference. A leased unit will need to be returned if you drop dish.
For the sort of person who bought a 721, that is probably at least a year from now, maybe longer, and by then a 522 is not going to be worth much - they may even no longer use them on Dish.
Digital technology is not like cars, where a 1960s Mercedes Benz can be worth more than a new one...
I think it is a bunch of bull and hassle. Dish Network supports all of these other older receivers (some older ones) but cannot support the 721? I think the box that the 721 came in said future software upgradable and it was my understanding that they did NOT have to swap out this receiver to another MPEG-2 receiver to continue receiving service when I got it. I would have never imagined that when I got it. Some say it is due to Tivo while others say they just don't want to write new software for the very few that is out there.
Remember the 721 runs linux underneath. It's the only Dish receiver I know of that does. It was also the first dual tuner receiver. So, in a way it was an experiment.
I can easily see Dish wanting to drop the only linux based system so all their developers are working on the same system, better pooling of resources. (Of course I'd have rather seen more linux based systems).
Similar to the DishPlayer line, whe the Microsoft "partnership". That didn't work out too well either, and they are pulling them from service too.
The TiVo suit playes into the 721 a bit, tough the same sort of software change could be done as with the 50x units. But again, small user base, and an unusuall OS makes for a large investmnt and poor use of resources. Same with the new smart cards/encryption updates. It's cheaper and faster to just change the units to a current, better supported, more popular model.
Just be glad Dish is offering any upgrade path. The don't have to. Many of us remember when they didn't offer current customers any sort of upgrade path, short of outright purchas of of a unit at 4-5x the price to new subscribers.
Dish could easilly have asked for $25 shipping, lease fees, and PVR fees. You'd have 2 choices, upgrade or swith. How many would switch? I wouldn't. I've stayed with Dish for 10 years, and DirectTV offeres nothing to really interest me.
I can easily see Dish wanting to drop the only linux based system so all their developers are working on the same system, better pooling of resources. (Of course I'd have rather seen more linux based systems).
Similar to the DishPlayer line, whe the Microsoft "partnership". That didn't work out too well either, and they are pulling them from service too.
The TiVo suit playes into the 721 a bit, tough the same sort of software change could be done as with the 50x units. But again, small user base, and an unusuall OS makes for a large investmnt and poor use of resources. Same with the new smart cards/encryption updates. It's cheaper and faster to just change the units to a current, better supported, more popular model.
Just be glad Dish is offering any upgrade path. The don't have to. Many of us remember when they didn't offer current customers any sort of upgrade path, short of outright purchas of of a unit at 4-5x the price to new subscribers.
Dish could easilly have asked for $25 shipping, lease fees, and PVR fees. You'd have 2 choices, upgrade or swith. How many would switch? I wouldn't. I've stayed with Dish for 10 years, and DirectTV offeres nothing to really interest me.
Nope.
All current BCM based receivers/DVRs are running Linux.
There is no problem to implement new G3 cards support for 721 or 921.
Same for avoid TiVo infringement.
It's just Dish fears - practically all parts of 721/921 [Dish]Linux reside on a disk and open for research, plus it have big advantage - compiled for x86 platform ( read PC).
All current BCM based receivers/DVRs are running Linux.
There is no problem to implement new G3 cards support for 721 or 921.
Same for avoid TiVo infringement.
It's just Dish fears - practically all parts of 721/921 [Dish]Linux reside on a disk and open for research, plus it have big advantage - compiled for x86 platform ( read PC).
Is there something that someone can do with this Linux source code to use this receiver in some way after it is no longer able to be used with Dish Network? Can it be turned into a standalone DVR?
BCM based
Broadcom? They make a CPU/MCU?I haven't looked in a while. At that point the only code released was for the 721 and 921.
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