# Dish DVRs vs DirecTV DVRs?



## Kevin Brown (Sep 4, 2005)

I have had the 522 and the Dish Network since about May. Like it a lot. I do have a love/hate relationship with it though. Love the DVR and that it makes it more efficient to watch TV. But I do now watch more TV. And I don't like the dropouts.

I have heard that DirecTV DVRs might be better for no dropouts? Anyone know?

I don't know if I'd switch just because of this, but it also turns out that OLN, the channel the NHL will be on this year is on the 180 package I don't have, but not the 120 package I do have.

But I don't want TiVo. I don't want to pay their extra fees. I just want a generic DVR.

Thanks.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

There are no extra fees for TIVO if you have a DirecTV receiver w/ TIVO built in. You just have the minimal DVR fee, which is waived if you subscribe to DirecTV's top package.


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## pcasher (Feb 28, 2005)

I like the dual and independent outputs on the 522 allowing viewing of recorded shows on either output. Being able to feed the output(s) back to the house coax wiring (using a splitter in reverse) and the uhf remotes controlling the output(s) on different TV's a definite plus, (the TV1 vhf output isn't stereo but I don't use it on stereo TV's anyway). I have the TV1 composite output driving the main TV (stereo) in the living room, and use the Vhf signal to drive the kitchen TV, the family room TV and my bedroom TV. I just use the TV2 output for my wife's bedroom but am able to switch to either output by changing the channel (3 or 73). I purchased extra uhf remotes on Ebay.


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## Kevin Brown (Sep 4, 2005)

Any info about DirecTV DVRs and dropouts?

Silly me, but I know a little bit about programming and video and hard drives, and it ain't rocket science to get it all to work together...


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Speaking from experience, I haven't had any.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Kevin Brown said:


> ... Silly me, but I know a little bit about programming and video and hard drives, and *it ain't rocket science* to get it all to work together...


No, but satellite TV *IS*.


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## vprasad (Sep 23, 2005)

Just curious: what do you mean by dropouts? I've got a Dish 625 (supposed success or to the 522) and when playing a recorded show, it drops audio every once in a while.


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## retiredTech (Oct 27, 2003)

if you mean by "drop out" (glitch causing very brief loss of audio and/or video)
Then it might not be the DVR itself.
1st verify that your signal is stable and with no obstructions.
(IE all connectors clean,dry,tight & dish fastened securely, aligned properly, signal level acceptable, no trees, plants, storm clouds etc interferring )
2nd be aware that garbage in equals grabage out 
(IE some channel's video feeds do have occasional "drop outs")
3rd just because someone says another product works better doesn't always mean it does.
(IE different people see the world differently, some might have "drop outs" and not even notice)
4th (perhaps most overlooked) encoding
since the signal is being "very compressed" and there are so many channels to fit in the limited bandwidth there ARE going be some "MISTAKES" in either... E* or D* encoding.


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## Racerx (Dec 5, 2004)

If they are speaking of the "dropouts" I am also getting, then, no, it isn't an obstruction / reception issue. I can watch the same show, live and/or recorded, twice, and one time it will drop out on a location, and the next time through, that same location is fine. This seems to be a problem inherent of the 522, and they have been quite unsuccessful in solving this, as well as other, issues on them. Personally, I think at THIS point, they sould be replacing all 522s with newer, reliable units, cause this thing has been a pile of excrement, from day one, and I am already considering other options, once my years is up, which ends around January. My Email about this issue never event GOT a reply, so all Dish has managed to do, for me, is leave a bad taste in my mouth.


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## Kevin Brown (Sep 4, 2005)

Dropouts: it's not the intrinsic Dish signal. It is the DVR pure and simple. Like I mentioned up above, 90% of the time when I have an audio or video problem, and then I rewind to play the affected section, the defect is not there. From my rudimentary knowledge of all this, they are just not doing a good job of buffering audio and video from the hard drive.


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