A good, solid receiver
Written: Feb 23 '03 (Updated Feb 23 '03)
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Pros: Cheap, gets the job done, nice extra receiver for a bedroom
Cons: This is a spartan receiver, don't look for bells and whistles.
The Bottom Line: The 301 receiver does nicely in an extra room in your house, however, as a primary receiver, it is lacking in several areas.
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| net100k's Full Review: JVC TU-DP301DU Digital Satellite Receiver |
Seeing that I'm the first to review Dish's 301 receiver on Epinions, I'll try to be as thorough as possible.
Background Information
The DP301 is Dish Network's basic receiver. It's branded under the JVC (as it is here), Echostar, and RCA names. They are all the same product, being manufactured under the auspices of Echostar. There are currently available three other Dish receivers, the 508 (which is a PVR i.e. Tivo receiver, can be had for around $200 for current subs), the 721 (a dual tuner PVR which is WAY overpriced, we're talking $500 bucks here), and the model 6000 (the HD receiver, I am not familiar with the pricing on this one). Essentially if you're not looking for Tivo service or don't have an HDTV, this (the 301) is going to be the receiver you'll end up with.
General Feel (Software)
The software is similar to the 508's software (I currently have the 501/508 as well) minus the PVR features. The feel is pretty nice, the menus well laid and thought out. The only complaint in this area is that in order to view the program guide, you have to wait for the actual receiver to download the guide from the satellite (which takes several minutes). So in other words, if you want to see what's coming up at 9 PM, you have to wait two minutes for the guide to download. Because the 508 has an internal hard drive, the guide is pre-downloaded and there is no wait. If this feature is important to you, then the 301 is not for you. Dish also just added a feature called "Dish Home" which enables you to get local weather, sports scores, news, etc. I've found that this feature crashes the 301 more often than not, and most of the information is out of date, but your mileage may vary.
Picture Quality
The 301 does a pretty decent job decoding the Dish Network signal. I have it hooked up to my 13 year old Sony box and the picture is much better than cable ever was. The 301 comes with the standard coaxial output as well as RCA jacks and an S-Video port. However, unlike the 508, there is only one set of RCA jacks that will output. In other words, if you, have, say a VCR that you would have liked to output the signal to, you'll have to settle for the coaxial output. I personally use the coaxial output as I have an older TV, and although the quality isn't as nice as say S-Video, the 301 still does a decent job.
Other general comments
The actual box itself is pretty slim. It should be able to fit just about anywhere there's space for a set-top satellite receiver. Completely changing subjects, I've found the universal remote to be fairly intuitive. The buttons are fairly well laid out, however I've found the VCR functions to be lacking (though they usually are lacking in a universal remote).
Final Verdict
The 301 is an excellent receiver for the extra rooms in your household. However, as a main receiver, it simply doesn't do the job. I would suggest you look into the 508, which Dish usually throws in for around $150 additional if you're just subscribing to Dish. However, if you're simply looking for a box which will decode the satellite signal, and will not use the guide on a regular basis, the 301 should do the job nicely. In all seriousness, this shouldn't be your primary receiver. I would recommend the 508 for that role.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 0.00
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Epinions.com ID:
net100k
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Member: Michael Sullivan
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 1 member
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