I had been drooling over the Tivo box they didn't know how to hook up at Boscov's for about four months before I heard of the DishPlayer from Echostar.

The DishPlayer 7200 usually comes packed with a dish under a separate model number, 7222. The supplied dish for Dish Network, is a Dish 500 model, which is why this product is sometimes referred to as DishPlayer 500.

For $30 I could have gotten only the receiver without the dish, but I figured that a trip to Sears and $30 more was better than the week shipping (usually more) that Dish speaks of.

Hookup was ridiculously easy with my existing dish already set up. I simply plugged the appropriate wires into the appropriate ports and turned on the unit. When it powered up, it walked me through a step-by-step setup of the internal settings. Separate detailed help pages were available throughout.

The receiver itself is a bit deeper and wider than my old receiver, but not quite as tall. This is something to consider when placing the unit into an entertainment center.

The user interface of the system is beautiful - much better than my previous standard receiver - and very easy to use. There are almost too many transitional screens in the interface for more advanced users.

A feature which stood out upon first inspection is the ability to display the program guide and the current channel at the same time, or preview the selected channel from the program guide as the highlighted channel is changed. Very handy.

The recording features are remarkable. The unit is supposed to hold 12 hours of recorded video, and it does work. In comparison to the Tivo, the DishPlayer will not automatically record programs that it thinks you might like. It will only record programs that you specify.

Recording quality is always as good as the original. No setting is available to compromise picture clarity for recording time due to the nature of how the video data is captured directly from the incoming satellite-fed MPEG-2 stream.

The WebTV features are amusing, after having used a computer since I was 8. Connecting via dial-up is excruciatingly slow with my ISP, and there seems to be no way to hook my broadband connection to the unit to speed things up.

The WebTV aspects are also easy to use, if slow, due to the connection speed. They would be much more easy to use if the unit included a keyboard, which came standard with the previous 7100 model.

Unless more programs intend to use the interactive TV features, I don't have a reason to use the DishPlayer to connect to the internet. I could sooner boot my computer, get the information I wanted, and shut-down than dial into WebTV.

The main reason I bought the DishPlayer 7200 is for the recording features, which work beautifully, provided that the clock of the TV network that you are recording is set the same as the Dish clock. If not, it may miss a minute or two of the beginning or end of the program. There seems to be a feature that will extend the length of a pre-programmed recording, but it would be useful to provide the same thing for the beginning.

Another nice recording feature is the ability to record the same program regularly. You can set to record a show every week. Live TV pause and instant replay are features I used within two minutes of watching TV with this. The next model of this receiver should include two satellite tuners so that you can watch a show while another is recording - a feature lacking in this model.

The remote is very confusing at first. It will certainly scare away the technically un-savvy in the household.

I have, as yet, been unable to see the 7 day TV listings promised with the Personal TV service. You must pay for this service ($9.95/month) to use any of the recording features. Hopefully, it will update within the week or a call to Dish will be forthcoming.

This product is perfect for people who have satellite TV and want to watch programs on their own schedule without having to record everything onto tape with the intent of watching it once.



Recommended: Yes