Dishplayer 500 = GREAT VALUE!
Written: Nov 09 '00
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Pros: Low Cost, Easy to Use, Convenient
Cons: Have to pay for the "Personal TV" service
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| mathesius's Full Review: Dish Network DishPlayer 500 Channel Satellite Syst... |
I purchased a DishPlayer 500 system after two months of research. We recently moved into the country and couldn't get cable, so satellite TV was the only choice since we wanted more than the broadcast TV stations.
I have family and friends who own both DirecTV and other Dish Network systems, so I had plenty of feedback from others. Nobody I knew owned a DishPlayer though.
I settled on Dish Network because they appeared to offer more channels at a better price than DirecTV.
I settled on the DishPlayer 500 after deciding I wanted the ability to easily record shows.
So then, what did I get and what does it do?
I bought the DishPlayer 500, model 7222 which allows for up to two receivers to be connected. This would let me have two TVs watching two different channels. I only got the one receiver that comes with the kit, so I can't actually use this right now. But if and when I want to add a second receiver in the future, I can.
I did a self-installation which took me about 4 hours. I'm a technical guy, and planned on it taking much less, but I ran into a problem. Physically the satellite dish is 20" around, and has two LNBs (the pointy things in the front of the dish). This is because the dish has to get signals from satellites in two different parts of the sky - at 110 degrees and 119 degrees.
Ok, so far so good. Each LNB has a coax cable that runs a few feet, where it plugs into a "switch". The "switch" combines the signals from both LNBs into one coax cable. This let me run just one coax cable down to the receiver.
When I hooked up the receiver I could only get a signal on 1 satellite, not both locations like I should have gotten. I got my signal strength up to 99% on that satellite, but had zero on the other. I spent a lot of time trying to point it better, and double-checking everything. Finally I started swapping pieces around. Eventually I found out that I had a bad piece of coax cable from one of the LNBs to the switch. Aargh! Replacing that piece of coax with another piece fixed the problem.
I paid $50 for my DishPlayer 500 and had to agree to one year of programming at $39.95 or greater. I bought it from a store on the Internet called SatelliteOne and they shipped it promptly and answered all my questions quickly when I called them. Dish was running three promotions at the time, and I signed up for all of them:
Three months of free movie channels
Three months of free Personal TV
$199 rebate
I signed up for America's Top 150 at $39.95 for programming.
The Top 150 package has an incredible selection of channels, including many channels I'd never heard of (Discovery Science for example)
The DishPlayer has a number of features that make it unique from other satellite TV systems IF you buy the Personal TV service for $9.95 per month too. I hope Dish runs some offer where you can get a lifetime subscription for $100 or $200. I don't like paying the $9.95 per month for these features, but it is worth it:
7 day enhanced program guide:
This gives you a full seven days of TV listings and their descriptions. It downloads to the receiver at 3 a.m. each day, so is right there waiting to be accessed. Other satellite systems take a while for the program guide to come up, and take a while to scroll around the guide. This guide is fast and you can SEARCH it by keywords which could include titles or actress's names, or you can view it by date & time or category (like Movies). You can either by a cordless keyboard or use the on-screen "keyboard" to type in your search. I use the on-screen keyboard which is kind of slow to use, but works well enough. The guide is very friendly, attractive, and easy to use.
One Buttom Record:
See a show you like on the TV listings? Hit the Record button on the remote and that's it. The unit will turn on at the right time (if you had shut it off) and record the show just like you wanted. Then it'll be waiting for you in the "Personal TV" section, or tune to channel 1. I watch shows that I want, when I want.
The unit has a hard drive that can store around 12 hours of recorded shows. There are directions on the Internet for ugprading the hard drive, but that voids the warranty. I've found that 12 hours is enough for me. When you do click Record, you can program it to record the show just this once, or to record it every week. I usually have it record the show just for the time period I clicked "Record" on, but the ability is there to record a show every time.
You can also watch a recorded show while recording another show.
Pause:
The recording is also always on while you're watching TV. So you can hit the pause button and it'll freeze the TV show. You can also rewind if you missed something.
I use the Pause button quite a bit. Whenever I get up to get a snack or go to the bathroom, or whatever, I can pause the show I'm watching. I come back in a few minutes, and pick up from there. And when you take it off "Pause" you can then Fast Forward through the show too.
Games:
Another small feature are games. The receiver has a few games built in that can be played on the TV. They include solitaire, Doom, and You Don't Know Jack. I don't play the games, so can't comment on them. (I did play Solitaire once, just to see it. Solitaire is Solitaire.)
WebTV:
One feature I don't use is the "WebTV" ability. This unit has a built-in WebTV system, so if you wanted to use it to access the Internet on your TV it could do that. It uses the phone line, not the satellite dish, so the Internet is just as slow as a regular modem. It also costs extra because you have to subscribe to the WebTV service.
I use a regular computer, so I don't do anything with the WebTV stuff.
I debated buying the DishPlayer but NOT subscribing to the Personal TV service at $9.95 per month. If I had done that, I would have gotten a regular 2 day program guide (TV listings), and you could only record the first 10 minutes of a show with the "Record" feature. Pause would still have worked for up to 30 minutes.
If you've read through the review this far, you're wondering why I think it's a great value since I don't like paying $9.95 for the Personal TV subscription.
It's because the only other way to record shows without VHS tapes is by buying a separate box from Replay or TiVo. Those cost several hundred dollars by themselves! I got my receiver for NEGATIVE $150 (after the rebate), and it has the satellite receiver and the hard drive to record to all built-in to one box. Otherwise I would have had to buy a Tivo AND a satellite receiver, and deal with two remotes, two interfaces, etc. This is all built-in to one package and is easy to use and very convenient.
Given all that, I'm ok paying the $9.95 for the Personal TV service. I wish they'd let me buy a lifetime subscription, or just get rid of the fee altogether, but even at $9.95/month it's better than buying both a receiver and a TiVo.
At $50 minus a $199 rebate, I got PAID $150 to buy the unit. That's a lot cheaper than buying a receiver AND a TiVO too. Since it's cheaper and more convenient, that's a great value.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 50
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Epinions.com ID:
mathesius
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Member: Steve Mathesius
Location: Milton, WI
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 8 members
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