# Can I watch 722 Recorded Program w/o Dish



## dbrakob (Apr 26, 2006)

I have a 722 DVR. Family is moving in August and I have to stay behind 2 months and will most likely be in an apartment with no satellite. Is it possible to watch recorded events on the 722 without it being hooked up to a satellite dish? Will I need to keep my Dish account active? Thinking I can get the family pack for $20 if needed to watch programming. Lastly if his is possible will I need a telephone line at the apartment? Thinking of just keeping my cell and no landline. Thanks in advance for any info.


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## Rob Glasser (Feb 22, 2005)

I know I have watched DVR events on my Dish receivers when I don't have signal, i.e. snow on the Dish, or moving receivers to other parts of the house and haven't run cables yet. It's been a while since I've done that but unless things have changed you should be able to watch existing events on the hard drive.

As for the phone line, you can now use an Internet connection to the RJ-45 jack as well so phone is not required.

As far as keeping the account active or not, I'm not positive on this but I think there is some sort of account suspension thing you can do while you wait for move. I'd check with the Customer Service group on that. I'm not sure if that would do anything to your ability to watch DVR events or not.


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## peter atchley (Apr 1, 2006)

I believe that you can watch recorded programs without being hooked to a dish; however, I also believe that if you deactivate an account while you are hooked to a dish, the receiver may get deactivated. So, my advice is, if you are going to deactivate a receiver or a whole account, disconnect any DVR receivers from the dish first.


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## boy654 (Dec 21, 2006)

peter atchley said:


> I believe that you can watch recorded programs without being hooked to a dish; however, I also believe that if you deactivate an account while you are hooked to a dish, the receiver may get deactivated. So, my advice is, if you are going to deactivate a receiver or a whole account, disconnect any DVR receivers from the dish first.


That makes sense, I wonder if that applies to external drive also.


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## scoobyxj (Apr 15, 2008)

peter atchley said:


> I believe that you can watch recorded programs without being hooked to a dish; however, I also believe that if you deactivate an account while you are hooked to a dish, the receiver may get deactivated. So, my advice is, if you are going to deactivate a receiver or a whole account, disconnect any DVR receivers from the dish first.


I know you can watch the DVR while not being hooked to a dish, but as far as a rec being deactivated, and being able to watch anything I say as well it's unlikely. I would do the same with disconnecting it from the sat sig before having it deactivated. However keep in mind. If it's a leased unit they're going to want it back. I seriously doubt they're going to wait 2 months for it either.


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## CABill (Mar 20, 2005)

I can watch recorded events on my deactivated 622 with or without a connection to the dish. Even deactivated, it will record channel 101 that is available to everybody. I'd think the "Pause Service" for $5/month would work well if you ONLY wanted to watch recorded shows and didn't want to bother setting up a dish at the apt. If leased receivers, I think the Pause doubles to $10, but a CSR would be a better source.

Not connecting to a phone line wouldn't matter if the account isn't active. If you do continue to subscribe to something, it would nag when you turn on the receiver, and if it wanted to phone in and didn't, DISH might add $5/month for not having it connected to a phone line. Cheaper than having a phone line (or Internet connection) installed for two months. If you can mooch a wireless connection from someone, you could avoid the $5/month no phone line fee.


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## ShapeShifter (Apr 21, 2008)

While on the road, and without a satellite signal, I have been able to watch recordings from the 722's internal hard drive. However, I think I have read elsewhere on here that there may be a time limit -- if the receiver hasn't seen the satellite in some number of days/weeks/months (90 days seems to stick in my mind) it will stop playing back recordings.

The external hard drive is different. When the receiver is first powered up, it says the external hard drive is not authorized. The receiver needs to lock onto a valid satellite signal, and apparently download the authorization, before it will accept the external hard drive. For me, that typically happens within about 30 to 60 seconds of getting a live picture on the screen, but it can vary.

There have been times where I've moved some shows from the DVRs in the house onto the external hard drive, and then hit the road. When getting into camp I've been faced with dense tree cover that prevents me from getting a signal. I can power up the 722 and watch old recordings already on the internal hard drive, but nothing new from the external drive. It can be frustrating.


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## dbrakob (Apr 26, 2006)

Thanks for all the info.


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## boy654 (Dec 21, 2006)

I recently tried the external drive with no signal and it said to call Dish for activation, when the signal came back I could access it again. Maybe it's in the new FW?


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## Ozzie 33 (Feb 8, 2009)

dbrakob said:


> I have a 722 DVR. Family is moving in August and I have to stay behind 2 months and will most likely be in an apartment with no satellite. Is it possible to watch recorded events on the 722 without it being hooked up to a satellite dish? Will I need to keep my Dish account active? Thinking I can get the family pack for $20 if needed to watch programming. Lastly if his is possible will I need a telephone line at the apartment? Thinking of just keeping my cell and no landline. Thanks in advance for any info.


I don't know the answer but I can tell you what I recently did. I had a bad HDMI outlet on my VIP 622 and requested a new 622. When it came (yesterday) I immediately switched it out with the new 622, called and activated the new box. I forgot about a few recorded shows on the old 622 I wanted to watch. I connected the old 622 back up but I was not able to view anything. Not the answer you are looking for I'm sure but I hope this helps.


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## ShapeShifter (Apr 21, 2008)

Ozzie 33 said:


> I don't know the answer but I can tell you what I recently did. I had a bad HDMI outlet on my VIP 622 and requested a new 622. When it came (yesterday) I immediately switched it out with the new 622, *called and activated the new box.* I forgot about a few recorded shows on the old 622 I wanted to watch. *I connected the old 622 back up* but I was not able to view anything. Not the answer you are looking for I'm sure but I hope this helps.


Interesting. When you activated the new box, I'll bet they also deactivated the old box. At least that's what I would expect.

When you reconnected the old 622, I assume you connected the output to the TV, but did you also connect the input to the dish? If so, my guess is that it received the signal that it was deactivated, and then that was that. Perhaps if you had not connected it to the dish, it would still think that it was activated, and would have let you watched the recordings?

But if you didn't hook it to the dish, then that wouldn't be the case, and all I can say is "Never mind!" in my best Emily Litella voice. :shrug:


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