I have an old dish network dvr. I don't pay monthly for it, it's old school, just a built in hard drive. for you guys and gals that have dish now, how does the dvr service work, i'm confused after visining their website, do you pay a monthly fee, or is it built into the receiver like mine? I just got a new tv, so I'm considering switching to HD service. anyone have any insight on how this all works??? is extra money for HD worth it? thanks for any information!! I'm sure if I go to a retailer they can explain it too, but with x-mas and ice fishing starting up, there just won't be time!

thanks guys (and ladies)

We just went through this about 2 weeks ago.

We switched from (2) 501 DVR's and 2 older non DVR's to (2) 722 2 tuner HD-DVRs.

We had to pay $200 for the second 722, and now you lease them.

If you don't have them hooked to a phone line, you're going to pay an extra $5 per month, they want to make sure the receivers are at the address they say they are.

I personally like the HD content on TV, even the wife does, and she hates TV.

Although, with the new TV, it's not absolutely horrible, it just looks like old TV compared to HD TV.

The box will still look like the box you have now, they're just getting more money out of you.

With the 722, you can record 2 shows while you're watching a 3rd one that's already recorded, or you' can watch one show while recording another, or watch P-I-P.

is it worth it to upgrade? my total bill now (no hd or locals or anything) is in the neighborhood of $50. don't want to go much more than that.

With HD, the locals, America's 200, HBO, 6 receivers, we're at $95-ish.

You can upgrade to HD for $10 per month, plus whatever the receiver fee is.

Personally, I feel it is. My wife could go without, but she's impressed with how it looks, soooo.... it'll depend on your taste I guess.

That's just plain crazy......so what about the large number of customers that don't have a land line. Does Dishnetwork really charge them 5 extra a month.....
I know they want the phone-line plugged in for PPV retrieval but that's nut's.

Yes, it's true, at least with the 722s.

I'm sure it's to get more money out of the people that have multiple receivers in multiple locations on the same account.

I know of people that have receivers at cabins, houses, pole buildings, all on the same account.

I would never ever even think of doing that

If you don't have a land line, you can hook it up to your internet connection that's on the 622 and 722 receivers. That will save you the $5.00.

That's what we do. I have DSL coming into the house, and I made them route it behind the TV. I then put the wireless router behind the TV. That way I can easily be connected online with the Dish, and also with the Xbox 360.

KJ

That doesn't help with the receiver in the shop though.

I can't speak to the DVR issue. Our computer has an antenna connection that we pull and record HD network programming from. I wasn't aware of a way of avoiding the $5/mo fee for Dish DVR, but may have to check into this.

We have the last updated HD receiver from Dish (no DVR) and we lease for $5/mo. Pulls in lots more HD programming than we used to for the same $10/mo fee. FSN HD is worth the $10/mo alone. Nothing better than Wild games in HD! A lot of the cable channels now have their HD counterpart which improves the quality somewhat. Most of this programming was not shot in HD though, so it's really just an upcoverted signal. Our bill for top 200, receiver lease (1x), HD, and no locals (pull from antenna) is in the low $60's. Good deal in my mind.

My only gripe is the new receiver no longer displays the program information for OTA channels.