[daniel steinberg]

Hi there everyone! Hoping some experienced Dish network customers can chime in on a question I have, relating to when you order a hi-def receiver from Dish network.


My in-laws are a current dish customer and a have an appointment on Friday to have their current (standard-def) DVR upgraded to a VIP622 hi-def DVR. It will be connected to a new Samsung Plasma they just bought.


They do not have any extra cables lying around so I wanted to check if anyone knew if the VIP-622 comes with the necessary cables to actually connect the box properly, either an HDMI cable or at least a component video cable.


I called Dish and asked them, and they said that as far as they know, the box only comes with standard red/white/blue A/V cables, as well as a coax cable. I asked the guy if that was the case, how customers get the box connected to actually view the hi-def signal, and it was news to him that composite video and channel 3 coax cables could not do so. I explained to him that those two types of cables do a customer no good in a high definition setup.


I have an extra HDMI cable from monoprice that I can send them in the mail, but before I did so I just wanted to check if maybe the box did come with at least a component cable, and that the rep was mistaken.


If the box really doesn't come with either type of cable, I wonder if lots of dish customers are signing up for hi-def boxes and service, and then having the boxes installed incorrectly with a sub-standard connection. It seems to me the average customer would not know to pre-purchase this type of cable on their own, and customer service certainly did not mention it to my folks when they were setting up the appointment.


Also, does anyone know if there will need to be any upgrades done in their actual satellite dish, to get the new hi-def channels. They only have the one, original sized round dish, no dual dish setup, nor oversized oblong dish like DirecTV required to start getting newer channels. So I was also curious if that was all they needed to work with the latest receivers and lineups.


Thanks!

 

[pamajestic]

I just upgrading in the spring. The installer offered me a set of component cables. I declined as I already had an HDMI. It’s my understanding from reading other forum sites that the installers routinely provide component cables.


Antennas need to hit three satellites in order to get all of the HD channels with a choice of two different view, one to the west and the other to the east. It also depends on what market they are in for the locals for which satellite view they need. What market are they in?


Depending on how old their current antenna is the installer my try to install a second dish the hit the third satellite. Your in-laws can refuse the second dish and ask for one of the oblong dishes.

 

[daniel steinberg]

The market they are in is Albuquerque, NM. I do know that with the single round dish they have, that they are able to get all of the "important" locals, but some 2nd tier locals that they don't care about (various indie channels) do not come in, I guess those must be on that last satellite.


If the installer wants to install a 2nd round dish and combine them, as opposed to an oblong dish, I don't think my in-laws would mind, the dish is on the back of the house where no one sees it and they don't even really see it themselves. Which HD channels should I have them test sure they are successfully getting, so we can make sure the installer does what he needs to?


As for the cables, just to be safe, I had my mom-in-law go get an HDMI at the local big lots store. It was $18, but still cheaper than an HDMI cable would be in other stores, and now she has it for the install on Friday.


Thanks!

 

[gatorman]

If memory serves me correctly, there is a set of cheap component cables in the box. There definitely is not an HDMI cable.


They may or may not need to change dishes, it depends on the satellite where their HD locals are located and whether they want HD locals(assuming HD locals are available in their area). HD locals and SD locals may be located on different satellites.


My guess is that they will end up with a new dish and/or lnb . I don't know what the old equipment is, but they are probably going to need a different lnb than what they may have now. A Dish pro or Dish pro plus. If everything they want is on one or two satellites, they may not need a new dish. If a third satellite is needed they'll need a new, or second dish. Again, it depends on the satellites available to them.


Also note that not all the locals or subchannels are available in all areas and some locals or subs that are available may only be in sd.

 

[pamajestic]

The four big broadcast networks are available in HD at the 129 satellite location. I’m sure their current dish looks at 110 and 119. So a wing dish at 129 or a new three satellite dish will make for a painless install. Maybe 1 or 2 hours. Stop back and let us know what disk they and up with.

 

[daniel steinberg]

Their install appointment is tomorrow.


I emailed them a "checklist" of things to make sure and go through before they let the installer go, (make sure both tuners work, make sure TV out 2 to bedroom works, etc) and one of those checklist items is to make sure and tune in and test the hi-def versions of the "big 4" networks, which are available for Albuquerque according to Dish's website. I also told my folks that it was possible/likely that the installer was going to need to do some dish upgrading to make it all work.


I'm probably being a bit paranoid, but I know that sometimes subcontractors are used and get rushed and overbooked, so I'm having these visions of the guy coming and hooking up the new box, but not actually doing the outside dish work necessary to actually get all the channels they'll be subscribing to. I'll know by tomorrow at lunch what got done.


I guess I should have faith that the installers do this stuff every day and know that if they are installing a VIP622 that the dish outside is going to need to see certain satellites.


Dish's customer service is not very good about reminding customer's that they might need to get a dish upgrade. When we called to sign up for the new DVR, they simply offered the choice of an installation or sending the new box through the mail. At no point did they say anything along the lines of "our records show that we originally installed dish type X for you and your new box will need a newer type, so sending a box through the mail would not make sense for you". I really feel like they should think of these little details when a customer calls in to upgrade, there's no way the average customer would know on their own that a newer DVR would need some upgrades done to the dish outside.


Thanks!

 

[gatorman]

If your parents pay for the Dish locals and they are broadcast in HD, then Dish will provide the equipment necessary to receive the channels even if that means installing a new dish/lnb.


While there are no doubt horror stories regarding installers, if you compare the number of complaints posted to the number of users who post regarding satellite services, the percentage seems to be rather small. I imagine everything will be fine. Let us know.

 

[daniel steinberg]

I got an email from my father-in-law and it sounds like they had a good installer.


He told me that they installed some new dish hardware to be able to see "all 4" satellites, not sure if that means they got a 2nd dish combined or a new single oblong one, but cool either way.


They were also out of VIP622s, so they ended up getting a VIP722 for the same no-charge offer as the 622 was going to be for. Score.


I think they tested some of the new HD channels since he said that they tested some and the picture quality was very good.


So it looks like they are all set.


I also sent him one last email explaining the concept of how some shows are in hi-def and some are not, and how hi-def recordings take up a lot more room on the hard disc. Since his favorite channel is Sci-fi (Syfy?), I used the example that it was worth it recording on the Sci-Fi HD channel for new series episodes of a show like Warehouse 13, but that it makes more sense to record off the standard-def version of the channel for when he does stuff like recording 50 old episodes of twighlight zone

Thanks to everyone for all the help. I have been a cable/TivoHD customer for years now and had DirecTV before that, so I was not too up on how things worked these days in Dish land.

 

[gatorman]

It sounds like he has two dishes and a DPP44 switch. It would be interesting to find out if the installer wired the equipment to actually receive four satellites. He can do that by pressing menu, 6-1-1 which will take him to the point dish screen. Then select the particular satellite to be checked and use transponders 19 and 21. He probably is receiving the 110,119 and 129 satellites. I have no idea what the fourth would be given their location.


Please tell him to make sure the installer grounded the dish. In my experience, they usually don't.


The 722 does have a pretty large hard drive for storage. If he wants more, there is a plug-in external hard drive that is available for even more storage. I think there is an activation fee of something like $40.


Glad to hear it went well.