DVR solution for Dish Subscribers ? (1 Viewer)

[Corey Albers]

i've been looking at the Dish 501 but i'm wondering if anyone has used Tivo or Ultimate TV with their Dish receivers... anyone have good results???

 

[Bob McElfresh]

I have not used Tivo/Ultimate with Dish, but I can state that the PVR should produce a superior audio/video experience over Tivo/Ultimate.

The 2 external solutions are like a VCR - they take an analog signal and digitize it for hard-drive storage. This extra conversion will cause loss. (Like making a copy of a cassette, then making a copy of the copy - the second copy is usually very poor. This is called "Generational Loss").

Using the PVR501 recorder from Dish, the entire signal, bit-for-bit is recorded digitally so you playback looks exactly like it would if you watched the original broadcast. There is NO extra analog->digital->analog conversion that you would get with Tivo/Ultimate.

 

[Robert_J]

Corey,

Ultimate TV is a DirecTV only product. It has an integrated dual tuner and records the digital bit stream directly from the satellite. DirecTivo is a similar product.

-Robert

 

[Corey Albers]

thanks. i guess the 501 is probably the best Dish solution out right now. plus i understand they're updating the firmware to do 10 days of programs so that will be a plus...

 

[Jay H]

I believe it's 9-days but there's still no search function... P135 I think is the lowest firmware you need for the 9-day guide. The latest is P136 the last time I checked which is basically to fix a major bug with P135.

Jay

 

[Scott Littlefield]

I use a standalone TiVo with the DISH network and it works flawlessly. The picture quality is virtually unchanged and the TiVo offers many features that the DISH PVR doesn't.
Go with the TiVo, you'll never regret it.
For more information check out the TiVo Forum. Do a search and you'll find many people who have both!

 

[Lyle_JP]

Scott,
The standalone Tivo will stop working flawlessly on Dish Network very soon. Must carry kicks in on January 1st, and ALL local network stations on Dish are being moved to the 8000 block of channels. Channels with 4 digits. Tivos don't have the software to deal with a 4 digit channel.
Corey, get the Dish Network PVR 501, it's the best solution out there.
-Lyle J.P.

 

[Scott Littlefield]

Lyle,
That is not entirely correct. TiVo is currently beta testing 4 digits for their DISH owners and will be ready for mass rollout by the time Must Carry kicks in. If you have a TiVo, you can sign up for the beta test and get 4 digits now if you follow the link in my previous post.
And if you compare the features of the DISH PVR to the features of TiVo, you'll see that the DISH PVR is definitely not the best solution out there.
As a DISH and TiVo owner, I try to keep up with these things...
Scott
edit: I had a moment and found the link for anyone who is interested. You can sign up for TiVo/DISH 4 digit support at http://www.tivo.com/4digit