# Upgrade to 222..



## patricw (Jul 5, 2007)

Hello. I'm new to the forum, having just purchased an HD television (Panasonic 50" plasma). I have had Dish since December of last year. My current receiver is a 322 (standard def.). I currently have my TV connected via composite (tried antenna and s-video connections, but the composite seemed to provide the best picture - no component or hdmi on this box), so everything is coming into the TV at 480i. I have it reasonably dialed in considering the feed, and the connection, and the picture is pretty good, but I know it can be much better. When I first purchased the set, I ran a basic t-bar UHF antenna to try OTA and picked up two Denver channels, one in 1080i and one in 720p, and they looked amazing, but the reception is spotty (Denver is supposedly the last market to get it together on HD broadcasts due to a antenna/tower dispute). My question is, if I upgrade to a 222, and use component or hdmi, will the picture be very much improved from the 322? I know in theory that it should be, but my experience with upgrading electronics/equipment is that many times it just doesn't provide enough of a difference to make the switch. I'm not interested in any kind of DVR service, so that's why I was considering the 222 box; my second TV that would be connected to the 222 is a standard CRT, so I'm not real concerned about anything except the picture quality on the new plasma. My main concern is how well the 222 upconverts/upscales SD signals - is it a big difference between what I have now in the 322 box? Sorry if I'm not completely up to speed on the correct terminology; I hope I made it clear enough that someone could provide a couple of answers. Thanks.


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## dahenny (Apr 16, 2007)

I've had my 222 for a few weeks now, and I also have a 322. The HD locals on the 222 I believe from a technical standpoint will never be as good as the OTA locals. However, my locals via dish are very good, and comparing them to my OTAs, I can't see a whole lot of difference in PQ.

I do believe that your PQ will be a little better coming from the 222, than from the 322 IMHO. BUT, if you subscribe to the HD pac, you'll be blown away with the dif between the HDs & the SDs.

I think the scaling job of the 222 is very good. My TVs native res is 1366 X 768, which is "close" to 720p. I tried the 222s output at 720p for a while, then changed it to 1080i, I'm not sure, but I think I get a better pic from the 1080i output, especially on SD channels.


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## patricw (Jul 5, 2007)

Thanks for the quick reply. Another thing I forgot to ask - does anyone have experience upgrading from the 322 receiver to a vip222 - specifically, is it just a swap of boxes, and activation of the HD programming, or does the dish/lnb/etc. have to be modified, replaced, etc.??


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

patricw said:


> Thanks for the quick reply. Another thing I forgot to ask - does anyone have experience upgrading from the 322 receiver to a ViP222 - specifically, is it just a swap of boxes, and activation of the HD programming, or does the dish/LNBF/etc. have to be modified, replaced, etc.??


Depends... IF you are just now upgrading to HD, and you do not already have a dish that hits 129 or 61.5, then Dish will probably swap out your antenna to a Dish 1000. I also do not know if they are allowing self installs on a 222 yet. As such they may require installation. But the 222 should be very close to a drop in replacement for the 322.


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