The Official AVS Dish DTVPal DVR Topic! - Page 340

Originally Posted by ccrider2

That's closer to me than New York. Still too far to drive not knowing if it will be there.

Someone in the Indy Area got tabs on one of these at your local Sears?
I've tried the Sears outlet site but nothing ever close to me.
Is there a way to search for Indiana Sears stores with these in stock?

Originally Posted by trp2525

Let your fingers do the walking. Call all of the Sears stores in your area that you are willing to drive to in order to purchase the DTVPal DVR and ask for the electronics department. When you get a sales associate on the phone have them check to see if they have item #57709 (in Division 57-electronics) in stock and what the price is. If they say they have none, ask if they can check their computer for stock in nearby stores. You might just get lucky!

Originally Posted by ccrider2

Thanks...I'll give that a try.

On another note....I did a search on Sears for DVR and came up with this.

Has the Channel Master Logo & price, but is listed as a PCT International ANTENNA HD DVR. Go Figure!

Originally Posted by OneFore9

Note that the seller is Atlanta Network Technologies (antonline.com), not Sears. Antonline lists it under both names PCT and Channel Master. Original price $544.50, with a savings of $181.50!

Originally Posted by OneFore9

Note that the seller is Atlanta Network Technologies (antonline.com), not Sears. Antonline lists it under both names PCT and Channel Master. Original price $544.50, with a savings of $181.50!

Originally Posted by dkreichen1968

Remember the Echostar Free*Star DVR? Now we have the PCT International pal-DVR. Why does Sears have such a problem getting the name of the company right?

Originally Posted by ccrider2

Thanks...I'll give that a try.

On another note....I did a search on Sears for DVR and came up with this.

Has the Channel Master Logo & price, but is listed as a PCT International ANTENNA HD DVR. Go Figure!

Originally Posted by OneFore9

Note that the seller is Atlanta Network Technologies (antonline.com), not Sears. Antonline lists it under both names PCT and Channel Master. Original price $544.50, with a savings of $181.50!

Originally Posted by WillN937

This thing keeps getting more expensive. I wonder if it is getting better and is there a possibility of a retrofit to the DTVPal DVR. I expect the answer is no and the $544.50 price may be a mistake or a different product.

Originally Posted by WillN937

I expect the answer is no and the $544.50 price may be a mistake or a different product.

Originally Posted by Rammitinski

Either it's the common marketing tactic where a seller jacks up the *supposed* original selling price up to hopefully fool some potential suckers into believing they're getting some kind of great deal,

Originally Posted by Jedi Master

I was in my local Sears today and I asked the person in electronics if they sold the Dish DTVPal DVR. The idiot behind the counter didn't know what I was talking about. He thought I was talking about the Dish Network and he tried to give me a brochure to call them. I told him I wasn't interested and left.

Originally Posted by Jedi Master

I was in my local Sears today and I asked the person in electronics if they sold the Dish DTVPal DVR. The idiot behind the counter didn't know what I was talking about. He thought I was talking about the Dish Network and he tried to give me a brochure to call them. I told him I wasn't interested and left.

Originally Posted by Rammitinski

Either it's the common marketing tactic where a seller jacks up the *supposed* original selling price up to hopefully fool some potential suckers into believing they're getting some kind of great deal, or it's just a bogus, exaggerated "retail list price" from the manufacturer that they never expect anyone to actually try and sell it for (both variations on the same ploy, really).

Originally Posted by yaz96

..........you're inquiring a product they haven't stocked in a long time, and you are a year too late?

Originally Posted by joekoler

I have my DTVPAL DVR connected to my new HD TV with an HDMI cable but the display on the TV shows 480SD. The same digital antenna I have that's connected to the PAL shows 720 or 1080Hd when I watch the same channels through the TV's tuner. Shouldn't the PAL be in HD through the HDMI cable?

Originally Posted by Chuck44

If you're tuned to an HD channel, yes.

Originally Posted by trp2525

I think anyone looking for a DTVPAL DVR at a Sears retail store right now is hoping to "get lucky" and find one at a very reduced price-like less than $100. Sears actually didn't start to clear these out until April when they lowered the price to $199.99. Prior to that markdown in April they were stocked in the stores (some stores anyway) and were being sold at their full regular price of $299.99. I witnessed this in my area.

I can only speak from my own personal experiences but I was able to buy a DTVPAL DVR at one Sears store in my area on August 6th (for $87.93) and I was able to buy another one at a different Sears store in my area on August 10th (for $79.97). Also johnd393 reported in this thread that he purchased one for $79.97 on August 15th and the Sears store in Hobart, Indiana where he made his purchase still had one more left.

Originally Posted by sf_raven

With all this talk about cheap units I hate to remind people that there are quality issues, even with the most recent firmware update.

I was happily using my dtvpal dvr for the last several months -- maybe 3-4 hours a day. Yesterday it basicly died. I have tried hard boots, soft boots. It will eventually start to present a picture again, but that picture gets frozen every couple of seconds. The only key on the remote that works is the on-off switch to do a soft boot . I can't get the menu key of the system info key to work. I tried to reboot after disconnecting the antenna -- no help.

As a previous poster said, I think I am the proud owner of a door stop.

Any new ideas ????????????????????

Originally Posted by sf_raven

With all this talk about cheap units I hate to remind people that there are quality issues, even with the most recent firmware update.

I was happily using my dtvpal dvr for the last several months -- maybe 3-4 hours a day. Yesterday it basicly died. I have tried hard boots, soft boots. It will eventually start to present a picture again, but that picture gets frozen every couple of seconds. The only key on the remote that works is the on-off switch to do a soft boot . I can't get the menu key of the system info key to work. I tried to reboot after disconnecting the antenna -- no help.

As a previous poster said, I think I am the proud owner of a door stop.

Any new ideas ????????????????????

Originally Posted by dvdchance

Maybe give the remote new batteries?

Originally Posted by girdnerg

From the first post:

# Is there a native output option?

There is no "native" setting to output all channels in their original format. Output through HDMI and component is selectable 480p / 720p / 1080i. You select one and all live and recorded content is converted to that resolution for output to display.

Note these settings do not affect how content is saved to disk, only how it is output to display. If a program is broadcast in 720p, then it will be recorded on the DVR as 720p, regardless of what output option you select.

So you have to go into the menu and change the setting to the one you want.

Originally Posted by joekoler

Thanks for the answer about the HDMI connection. When I first got the PAL I didn't have an HD TV so I forgot about the output choice for that. Everything looks good now.
One related question. Why when the local channels that have more than one channel(3.1,3.2 or 43.1,43.2 ) are the secondary channels never in HD? Is it that they can't braodcast more than one channel on their frequency in HD or they just don't want to?