Want DishNetwork HD, DVR, and DVD recorder (1 Viewer)

[TedM]

I presently have a fairly new DVR 510. The Dish 811 would give me HD for a somewhat reasonalble cost of $400, but won't work with my DVR. I guess one of the new generation DVD Recorders would fit into the mix, but I am not sure how. The 921 is just too expensive since it does not include a DVD recorder. I'm setting here with my Toshiba HD RP TV and dying to see HD, but don't want to give up my "pause" and "record".

Is there some way to connect/hack the 510 and the 811 to work together and then add a DVD recorder?

 

[Robert_J]

A DVD recorder can be added to the 811 but it won't record in HD. The 811 will downconvert the signal to 480i so the DVD can be recorded.

-Robert

 

[TedM]

OK, if I junk (sell) the 510 and get the 811, can I feed the output to something like the Pioneer DVR-810H-S (DVD recorder with hard disk and TIVO) and get all my pause/record/etc. that I am used to with the 510?

Even better, if this concept would work maybe I can find a recorder with a DVI output.

 

[Robert_J]

1. The Tivo can't tell the 811 to tune to HD channels. It doesn't have the "-" for subchannels programmed into it.
2. I'm not sure about the 811 but most HD receivers don't have simultanious HD and SD output. If you forget to change the output to SD, the Tivo records a blank screen.
3. The Pioneer Tivo is $650. I sure you can find someone here or at the satellite forums that got tired of the bugs in the 921 software and is trying to get part of their money back. Then you can add a cheaper DVD recorder to dump your 921 recordings to.
4. You are more than two-thirds there. Just bite the bullet and get a real DVR like the DirecTV HR10-250 (aka HD DirecTivo). It beats the crap out of any Dish DVR with it's Season Passes, Wish Lists, Suggestions and dual tuners.

-Robert

 

[Stephen Tu]

You mean input? This will never happen. Any sane engineer designs an HD recorder like the 921 or the DirecTV/Tivo HR10-250, simply recording already compressed data to disk, rather than trying to deal with breaking encryption on DVI & then recompressing. Any reasonable consumer would demand the same, to get a cheaper product & higher video quality.

I would just go ahead and switch to HR10-250 & DirecTV, personally. (Better product, with 2nd OTA tuner, more powerful software, better reported reliability).

What exactly do you need a DVD recorder for? Unless you are looking to make DVDs from home movies, I really don't think you need one & can use the funds towards HD recording. Most TV shows worth saving are eventually coming out available to purchase on DVD.

 

[TedM]

There are occaisional programs that I would like to archive (like the history changing space flight by Rutan documented by Discovery) which are recorded on my 510. Also, I have a bunch of tapes that I would like to convert to DVD.

 

[Robert_J]

The iLO has been getting good reviews lately.

I dumped my POS Dishplayer almost 3 years ago for the DirecTivo. Best move I ever made at least until I upgrade to the HD DirecTivo.

-Robert