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festivus
08-21-2006, 10:57 AM
Got Dish installed on Saturday. Got the dual tuner HD DVR (622) and a SD dual tuner (322) Here are my initial impressions:

The HD DVR is awesome. The only issue that I've had with it is that that UHF Remote in the other room sometimes has problems communicating with the unit. I think that the issue is that the UHF antenna on the back of the unit is not upright due to the fact that the installer put other cabling in after it and has forced it to a nearly horizontal position. I'll need to fix this. But I'll have to pull out my rack, disconnect cables, etc. Haven't gotten to that yet. Other than that, I love this equipment. Hooking up the OTA antenna was very simple. The signal strength is great on all channels.

Now, on to the 322 SD dual tuner. I'm having major issues with it. The picture on both TV's using the 322 will freeze intermittently. On any satellite (local channels and others). I've reset the unit many times, same issue. Also, every 30 secs or so, I get the error (An internal communication error has occured). It flashes on the screen so fast and disappears that it's hard to read. Tech support has told me that when I go home tonight to reset everything (even the HD unit) to see if this fixes it. I'll do that but I have a feeling that it's the cable from the basement to the 322. This particular run is prewire that was done when my house was being built. It wouldn't be the first time that I've has an issue with this prewire. I'll probably end up running my own RG-6 to the jack. That's the major issue with the 322 but like I said I think it's a cabling issue in my house. Also, the 322 cannot accept a simple OTA antenna input. So, unless you change your setup to something more complex, you need to purchase locals from dish to see them on the 322.

In conclusion, I think that the installer was in too much of a hurry to adequately test my setup thoroughly. The cabling with satellite is pretty complex and it seems that more can go wrong than with a cable system. Also, since I didn't have a phone line in the room, he set up some type of bypass. He said that I could hook up the phone later and not get charged for the bypass. So later on Saturday (about an hour after he left), I ran a phone line to each receiver through the wall. Dish still wants to charge me $5/receiver for the first 2 months for the bypass. I'm fighting this. Not a good first sign. $20 charge for an hour of "bypass".

It's going to take me some to fully understand all of the equipment and the wiring for this thing. Thus far my feelings are very mixed. More to come.

ja5477
08-21-2006, 09:31 PM
festivus,
does your hi def remote have a dash button for tuning in over the air broadcasts? I had dish installed friday, my remote has no dash button. My standard dvr is doing fine, no issues like you are having.

Timcredible
08-21-2006, 09:51 PM
you don't need a dash button, just put in 0101 for 10-1, etc.

ja5477
08-22-2006, 09:48 AM
Thanks, I'll try that.

festivus
08-22-2006, 11:34 AM
My HD DVR (622) has a menu option to scan in OTA channels. I got a ton of them including 53-1 and I think it was 51-1, some strange channel I've not seen before. I can't remember the menu sequence, but I believe it's under installation, etc. All channels are very strong even with my little TV top antenna, Terk HDTVi.

Regarding my plight with the 322, I was on the phone with Dish Tech support for an hour last night. It still won't function correctly. Error #122 keeps flashing, video freezing, etc. When I reset the box, it won't lock into the satellites correctly. Gets stuck on #15 screen. Eventually tunes into a channel but still hiccups. I even swapped wall jack inputs to each of the receivers in order to check my cables. The 622 again fired up without a hitch and the 322 croaked again. So it's not my cabling from the basement to the wall jacks. It still could be the cabling that the tech installed to the 322 from the wall jack. I didn't want to mess with that nor did I have time. While on the phone with the tech he did everything that he could do. Even blasted down new software/firmware (whatever) to the box.

I have a Dish Tech coming out free of charge on Saturday afternoon. I'm guessing that I got a bad receiver or the installer used a bad cable/connector to it. Luckily, my TWC won't get turned off until Thursday so I'm running that feed to the TV's affected by the 322. I have a brother-in-law that had the same types of issues after installation. Once those were fixed, he's been really happy with Dish.

festivus
08-22-2006, 10:33 PM
Forgot one last thing that is really cool about the Dish 622 HD DVR. It integrates your OTA feed into the program guide for easy DVR functionality. Just select the show that you want to record just like on a Dish provided channel.

posty-mcpost
08-23-2006, 06:09 PM
Forgot one last thing that is really cool about the Dish 622 HD DVR. It integrates your OTA feed into the program guide for easy DVR functionality. Just select the show that you want to record just like on a Dish provided channel.

Actually it doesn't. It just copies the information from the LiL SD and only if you pay for it. Don't expect any PG for WOSU-HD. The 622 is great but this is one thing it doesn't do well. It should also allow you to pass through a program at native resolution. They had better come to an agreement with TiVO too or the 622 will cease to function as a DVR. Other than these issues it is the bext sat/cable box I have ever used.

jchiso
08-23-2006, 06:34 PM
Forgot one last thing that is really cool about the Dish 622 HD DVR. It integrates your OTA feed into the program guide for easy DVR functionality. Just select the show that you want to record just like on a Dish provided channel.

Are there any DVRs or apps that do not do this? I know ReplayTV units have always used integrated program guides, and I've not seen a software product (SageTV, beyondTV, GB-PVR, MythTV, etc.) on which this was not standard. I assumed set-top DVR boxes would be at least as capable.

festivus
08-24-2006, 09:18 AM
Actually it doesn't. It just copies the information from the LiL SD and only if you pay for it.

Ah, interesting. It still works for me though. I am forced to buy locals from Dish for my 322 (no OTA capability) so it works for me. I love how the 622 enables me to prioritize recordings as well. Move scheduled stuff up or down the list. Or assign it a priority number when scheduling it. I thought that was really neat.

festivus
08-29-2006, 03:42 PM
Well, they swapped out my 322 for a new one. I had a lemon. New one works perfectly.

Got one fairly major complaint about the hddvr 622. If you set it to record a program ahead of time, and end up watching the program, it occupies both tuners. This really stinks. To get around it, I think that you need to cancel the scheduled timer and just use the record button to record the show as you're watching it. Otherwise, the second TV using the DVR is stuck watching the same channel unless the recording is cancelled. The scheduled recording takes up one tuner, TV1 takes up the other. TV2 is screwed.

Anyone else run across this? Am I missing something?