Dish Network HD Receiver Upgrade

[olds]

Has anyone called to get or gotten their new receiver?
I have wanted the new HD DVR but they wanted me to pay so I skipped it. Are they offering the ViP722? I hope so. Will be calling after dinner.
Cross your fingers.

Dear Valued Customer,

We want to notify you of very important information regarding your DISH Network HD receiver(s) and programming. Due to improvements in our HD technology, it is necessary to upgrade one or more of your high-definition receivers. We need to make sure that you can take advantage of our next generation of HD by upgrading your older model HD receiver(s) for FREE*. Please note that if you do not upgrade your older model HD receiver(s), you will lose your HD programming.

For only a penny more per month, we can upgrade your HD programming so you can start enjoying at least 23 more of the best HD national channels, like Disney HD, ABC Family HD, Discovery HD, Travel Channel HD and The Weather Channel HD. These are just some of the many channels that we are adding to our lineup, with 100+ national HD channels available by the end of the year!

Check out The Weather Channel's brand new studio with the latest in HD graphic technology as well as vivid, on-the-scene reporting where major weather stories break.

Plus, you have the opportunity to add 10 exciting HD movie channels like Starz HD**. Starz HD welcomes you to the world of high-definition where hit movies like Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Starz original programming are enjoyed with a picture that is 5 times sharper than standard TV!

Call DISH Network today at 1-888-383-3727 to schedule your FREE HD receiver upgrade and get the most out of your HD experience!

State-of-the-art HD equipment

100+ national HD channels available this year, like The Weather Channel HD!

100 local HD markets this year

The best sports and movies in HD

Ask for Starz HD and get access to great HD movies!

YOU MUST TAKE ACTION NOW TO PREVENT INTERRUPTION OF YOUR SERVICE. Please call
1-888-383-3727 so we may schedule your FREE receiver upgrade today! We thank you for your business and for continuing to be a valued DISH Network customer.

Sincerely,
DISH Network

 

[nsafreak]

YGPM

 

[olds]

Called them. I lease the equipment.
942 - 622, no cost. Will be installed on Tuesday and they have to replace the LNB and possibly the dish, the CSR wasn't sure.

She did say the 942 would not work at all after 8/01/08. That's bad as I wanted to use the 942 to replace the 510 in the bedroom. I hate the guide on the 510.
They would upgrade it to the 522 but with a 24 month commitment. We may be moving in a couple of months so I want my options open as far as TV signal.

They would upgrade to the 722 instead of the 622 but I stopped her when she mentioned a new 24 month commitment so I don't know the cost.

$.01 per month increase in bill for the new HD package.

If you sign up for automatic bill pay they will waive the $5.98 monthly charge (lease I believe) and offer you Cinemax for $.01 a month for 12 months. It has 8 channels: 5 SD and 3 HD. They also have a new release every Saturday.

EDIT for another question:
I have the 510 as a second receiver for the bedroom. I hate the guide.
I have an unused Tivo (second generation and I have a hacked 1st gen too.) can it receive the Dish Guide/channel line up?
If it can, I may just drop the 510 and use the Tivo.

 

[nsafreak]

YGPM again.

 

[olds]

When I got my HDDVD player and hooked it up to my Plasma, the first words out of my mouth were "Oh my fvcking God!". It looked good.
I had a Dish 942 over components and now I have a 622 over HDMI. That phrase is getting a lot of use. Even the wife can tell the difference which is saying a lot..

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
When I got my HDDVD player and hooked it up to my Plasma, the first words out of my mouth were "Oh my fvcking God!". It looked good.
I had a Dish 942 over components and now I have a 622 over HDMI. That phrase is getting a lot of use. Even the wife can tell the difference which is saying a lot..

congrats. last year i bought a LCD and promptly ordered DishHD with the 622 and it was gorgeous. My 622 died and they replaced with a 722. Sadly im moving to a new place and they dont let us have DISH, so im going to comcast. I always loved FoodNetwork HD with Giada.

My PS3 / Blu Ray is simply amazing as well.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I have a 1080i TV...does it look 'HD' if I were to switch to HD, from SD?

these are the formats :

Resolution formats 480i/480p/1080i/720p

no 1080p :/

 

[olds]

It depends partially on the sourse I suppose. On Dish, I can tell the difference (as can my wife) between SD and HD. On some stations, I assume it's driven by the content, it looks remarkably better.
I am running my 50" Plasma at 1080i. It doesn't do 1080p either.

 

[SlickSnake]

I received a FREE upgrade to a DVR ViP 722 about 3 months ago, after threatening to drop my service for DirectTV instead. I have had 4 different service calls to get the darn thing working properly, too. I also got NO CONTRACT for the upgrade, meaning I can dump it on a whim with no penalties added.

I had a prior setup before with a mixed new SD DVR and and older refurb DISH 811 780p HD reciever that was a major problem and required replacing the unit 4 times to get one to work properly (great refurb jobs there, guys! )

The fun on the upgrade began when a dish installer and a training supervisor both came out in separate vehicles and told me my old dish location would no longer work in the present location. I had 2 dishes pointed at different satellites side by side. One was pointed at the old VOOM satellite that Dish bought out, the other at a SD one. They insisted that this location was not going to work (even though it worked fine for HD, go figure) and spent almost 2 hours convincing me I now needed a new dish planted in the middle of my backyard on a pole because of trees pointed in a completely different direction. Obviously, I was not thrilled with the prospect of an ugly dish mast in the center of my backyard. The 2 on the edge of my roof in the front yard was bad enough already. They convinced me I would have to dig a hole 2 feet deep, otherwise I would have to call someone to confirm there was no underground wiring or plumbing in the way before they could dig. I informed them I had done this already to build a fence a few months ago, but this was not good enough for them. However, if they came out and the hole was already dug, and the trench dug to the house, they could install it anyhow. WTF? So I had to then reschedule the new HD upgrade install.

I had another thing I had to do come up unexpectedly, and had to cancel this second install a few days later before the new install date. As I was leaving, the second installer who did not work for Dish but was a contract installer was sitting in his unmarked van asleep in front of my house about 9:30 AM. The install was to have been for a 12-5 time window. Again, WTF? Talk about showing up early! I woke him up and obviously startled him LOL! and he explained all his other installs were after 12 and I was first on his list. Ok, whatever. So I delayed my plans a bit, and let him get busy. He informed me that my present dish locations on the roof were fine for the HD service which is what I tried to convince the other Dish corporate installer bozos previously to no avail. He had some problems getting my LNBs to work properly, and had to replace a few cables and a switch on them since this was a 3 year old install, after all.

What bugged me was he told me that my old SD DVR and HD receiver would no longer work with the new HD DVR. I was going to use my SD DVR in the bedroom and the customer service operator told me this would work when I originally scheduled this upgrade. But he also told me he could use the second tuner on the new HD DVR to send the signal back over the same coax as the Dish input signal back to the other bedroom without rerunning the coax back there, making it a closed loop system using 2 different special splitters on each end. Well, the TV in the bedroom was not working, since I had to move crap around to disconnect the old receiver, and so he forgot to add the splitter to the new HD DVR on the output from the second tuner. But it worked for a few days on the main HD DVR, until it stopped finding any signal about a week later. By this time I also realized the second TV now did not have Dish service at all, too. So I had to schedule a third service call. Oh, joy!

The second 2 guys came out for the third reinstall, both from corporate this time, and discovered the new switch burned out outside somehow and one of the LNBs was bad. And they also realized the last installer failed to add the second loop back switch on properly to the HD DVR to get the second TV working. I asked them to note on the work order the system was not working, and why. Good thing I did, too.

(to be continued, emergency call)

A bit later, I had received a Dish bill, and of course, they tried to charge me $50 for the upgrade install after the C.S. operator told me it was going to be free. They also tried to bill me for a full month, when I had service for about 10 days. When I pointed this out, they tried to tell me the service tech did not note this outage in his report, even though I told them this on the phone when I called for the repair service. And I told them I had a copy of the report and it did in fact note the system was not working. So they deleted the $50 install charge and gave me like a $9.00 credit on a $40 bill plus tax, WOW, thanks, guys!

Then the service worked for about 2 weeks, and once again, it stopped working properly. But this time, I was now receiving about half the channels I was supposed to be getting. Time for yet another call to repair service. The forth install tech found out that once again another LNB on the other Dish was bad. So he replaced it, and lo and behold, one of the loop back switches was out on the outside which was why the second TV stopped working about the same time as the partial outage occurred. He also replaced a jumper cable inside to the main HD DVR. And once again, I had him notate that the system was not working properly when he inspected it in his report.

I now eagerly await my next Dish bill for another partial service month and my generous $9 credit when I insist on it after I call them up about a full billing error. But so far, it seems to still be working properly. :thumbsup:

But using this new HD DVR setup, I lost my 5.1 and stereo sound on my second HT system, since the loop back coax trick does not send a stereo sound signal. But the DVR does have a second tuner stereo left and right output and I would have to run a stereo RCA cable like 50 feet to add this. There is no optical output for 5.1 for tuner 2 on the DVR. But I may request another free HD receiver upgrade just to fix this problem.

Also, the second tuner loop back setup sends a crappy noisy signal to the second TV from the HD DVR. It is really noticeable on the menu screens, for what ever reason. The solution for this I think is to make them run an entirely separate cable from the second tuner to the second TV, with none of this loop back BS mudding the signal.

I'll be sure to update this thread if I have yet more Dish service problems, for your enjoyment!

 

[olds]

There also seems to be an issue with the 5.11 software. It screws up Fast Forward and Rewind. Before I knew about the software, I called Dish about the problem and they had me pull the power cord to reset the box. That didn't work so they said they will send a new box. I find out tonight that the box they are sending is likely to be refurbished. I think I'll deny the delivery and send the refurbished box back. Supposedly they are working on the software fix.