Anyone have the Dish DVR 510?

[fustercluck]

Anyone out there have the dish DVR 510? I can get one for like $10 a month. Think it would come in handy a lot. How do you like it? Any downsides?

 

[FoBoT]

my wife uses ours a lot, all the time

 

[DarkManX]

i cant live without my PVR.

 

[fustercluck]

Yeah...that's great.

Can anyone tell me anything about it?

 

[mugs]

I have the two-receiver version of it... 522 maybe? It's great. The interface is a bit slow, but I'm using the RF remote. The DVR menu structure could be a little more intuitive. And for some reason 30 minute shows take up about 50 minutes of my available recording time... anyone know why this is? Is there a quality setting somewhere that I could change?

I've been very happy with it though. Why $10 a month? The DVR fee is only $5 a month. Would it replace one of your other receivers, or are you adding it?

 

[fustercluck]

Adding it, there's some kind of rental fee or some bullcrap.

Just to make sure, you can delete previously recorded stuff to free up space right? I don't want to get it then find out otherwise. Appliances don't like me.

 

[SearchMaster]

Yes, you can delete stuff to free up space. You can't change the quality setting; as for why the 30 minute show takes 50 minutes, I think the available space is pretty much a guesstimate. Sometimes after recording a show you'll have more available space. People will probably come on and say it's not as good as a Tivo, which is probably true, but you'll love it especially if you've never had a PVR device before. We got ours about a year and a half ago and I hate going somewhere and not having the functionality.

[edit]: As for downsides, there really are none compared to a non-PVR unit. The quality is as good as live, etc. The conflict resolution absolutely sucks - let's say you have it set to record a particular show every week, but one week you want to record something else. You have to delete the original timer, then add it back later or you'll lose your weekly recording. BTW, this is for the 722 (I think that's the model) - they may have changed the interface slightly.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I had an earlier version, mugs is right about it being somewhat unresponsive to the remote, seems like that's not a priority when Dish specs out their stuff to be built, and if you have a Dish reciever or 2, you're probably already accustomed to it.

Having used both Dish & DTV TIVO, I like the DTV TIVO a lot better, but the Dish Network PVR is worlds better than trying to use a VCR, and again worlds better than a non PVR unit...

 

[lobadobadingdong]

I don't pay a fee for my DVR from dish, it's only $50 to outright purchase it with a 1 year contract. (many dish installers offer it free from time to time)

right from thier web site....free DVR upgrades

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: mugs
I have the two-receiver version of it... 522 maybe? It's great. The interface is a bit slow, but I'm using the RF remote. The DVR menu structure could be a little more intuitive. And for some reason 30 minute shows take up about 50 minutes of my available recording time... anyone know why this is? Is there a quality setting somewhere that I could change?

I've been very happy with it though. Why $10 a month? The DVR fee is only $5 a month. Would it replace one of your other receivers, or are you adding it?

I have been very happy with it for the 4 months i have had it. At least until yesterday! The darn thing had a HD die! ahhh! so now im out of TV (well in the basement room and living room) until they ship me a new unit.

Not to mention i losed all my shows! anyone know a way to pull them off so i dont lose them again?

 

[SearchMaster]

You're pretty much screwed, waggy. The files on the DishNetwork PVRs are encrypted and nobody has broken it yet (to my knowledge). Some of the old, original units can be ripped, but not the newer units (one of the reasons I wanted to switch to DTivo, but the government says I can't).

 

[fustercluck]

Could I watch another program and record another on a different channel at the same time? Could it record in my sleep with the TV off and such?

Well, the free DVR upgrade from dish was what i was looking at, but it sounds like there is a rental fee, plus a service fee, maybe i can finagle out of that with a CSR. Think i could just ask to purchase it for one year for $50? That'd definitely be better. I guess i could always threaten to switch to Direct TV, which people seem to like more anyways.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: jacktackle
Could I watch another program and record another on a different channel at the same time? Could it record in my sleep with the TV off and such?

the Tv can be off

you cannot watch another channel while it is recording (at least not with the model we have)

you can watch a recorded show while it is recording something new, but not something on a different channel

since my wife records a lot, this effectively eliminates that TV from use a good bit of the time, that is the only downside I have with it

 

[fustercluck]

What's a PVR again? I forgot

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: jacktackle
What's a PVR again? I forgot

Personal Video Recorder = Digital Video Recorder

 

[FoBoT]

i think that was really a "bump"