Dish - How to get single tuners?

[Polypro]

Did you Dish guys call to sign up and tell them you only wanted single tuner boxes (for Sage)? When I configure on the website, they want to use that 2 tuner receiver that they have...no joy with Sage. I'd love to be able to call the local installer. Any help appreciated, thanks.

P.S. I'm moving into a new house and still debating DirecTV, Dish, and Comcast...I *will* be getting Comcast broadband...so weigh in on that as well if you want

P

[wammer23]

i use the VIP222 dual tuner with Sage and it works fine. why do you think it would have problems?

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Polypro

Did you Dish guys call to sign up and tell them you only wanted single tuner boxes (for Sage)? When I configure on the website, they want to use that 2 tuner receiver that they have...no joy with Sage. I'd love to be able to call the local installer. Any help appreciated, thanks.

P

Yep, I had to call to get it set up the way I wanted. They won't allow you to pick select single tuners from their website (unless you only want 1 tuner).

[pianophase]

I just used the site to select four tvs. That got me two VIP222 tuners. I use the primary tuners for hd-pvr's and the secondary run over cable rf to my tvs (standard def).

I'm pretty sure the price is the same per month whether you use two 211's or two 222's. The 222's probably drain a little more power but I like the backup tuners just in case i want to watch a third thing while recording two.

Now the VIp222 is the one with some incompatibilities with the HD-PVR so no 5.1. Not sure if the vip211's have that problem...

[briands]

I set it up on line with two 222 boxes, tried to call and get it changed but couldn't get it through to the agent, so when the installer came, I just told him that I wanted 4 single boxes which he happened to have on his truck... you should have seen the confusion when I told him they were all going to set on the same shelf. He didn't even know about the IR channel feature.

[wammer23]

guys...what am I missing out on by using the vip222. why are you guys requesting the 211's?

thanks,

dish vip222
hd-pvr

[Polypro]

I may be wrong, and hardware may have changed, but....I thought the dual tuner that they had when I last checked, was RF control for the second one (it was designed to be used on a TV in a different room). If the hardware has changed, can Sage control both tuners through 1 IR blaster? It seems that going single just is easier. Thanks for the replys. So you guys are happy with Dish over DirecTV?

P

[PLUCKYHD]

They can both be controlled ir now at least my 422's can. But you are limited to sd on the second feed.

[wammer23]

I'll check when I get home if I can control both w/IR. I do know the second remote has an internal switch i think (in battery compartment) that switched between IR and RF. So I would assume it would work either way.

[Polypro]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

They can both be controlled ir now at least my 422's can. But you are limited to sd on the second feed.

Good to know, thanks.

P

[thomaszoo]

Originally Posted by Polypro

Did you Dish guys call to sign up and tell them you only wanted single tuner boxes (for Sage)? When I configure on the website, they want to use that 2 tuner receiver that they have...no joy with Sage. I'd love to be able to call the local installer. Any help appreciated, thanks.

P.S. I'm moving into a new house and still debating DirecTV, Dish, and Comcast...I *will* be getting Comcast broadband...so weigh in on that as well if you want

P

I have been a long time Comcast customer, but last summer I got fed up with the high rates. At the time Dish had their "Ultimate HD" package that gave me all the HD channels I wanted and then some for $30/month. I ordered it via the website along with 2 single tuner boxes. When the guy showed up he had 1 dual tuner box. Trying to get things straightened out through their customer service was the most frustrating thing I have ever attempted. They flat out refused to deliver to me what I had ordered because they "no longer offered the "Ultimate HD" package". Long story short, I have come to appreciate Comcast customer service. They have always delivered what they promised. IF I could get the Dish package I signed up for, I would probably switch. But otherwise it just wouldn't be worth the effort for me.

Wayne

[wammer23]

no luck with my vip222. it doesn't seem to have a way to switch to IR (the switch in the battery compartment is for different RF channels).

Any ideas?

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by wammer23

no luck with my vip222. it doesn't seem to have a way to switch to IR (the switch in the battery compartment is for different RF channels).

Any ideas?

That's why Single tuners are necessary. The secondary tuner is always tund by RF because they are designed to have the box sit in one room and a run to another tv in another room. You can't control the box (STB) from the other room using IR and there is no current way to tune channels via RF (some have speculated in ways, but I have yet to see a device that does so).

The only way it would be practical to use a dual tuner would be to have Sage use the IR tuner and then another tv to use the RF tuner; however, that sort of defeats the purpose of having a Sage server and would have raised my monthly costs as I still would have needed 3 IR controlled tuners (so if I went all dual tuners I would have to pay for 6 tvs?!?!?!).

Plus, the Dish CS told me that as long as went single tuners, they wouldn't charge me the $5 a month for not hooking my receivers upto a phone line. I am not sure if this is really true or not, but I was already planning to buy single tuners so it was just comforting to know that my lack of a landline was not going to jack my cost up.

[pianophase]

If you use a dual tuner, they charge double if you don't hook up to a phone line. This actually also includes hooking up to an Ethernet line (how I run my setup). Given all the problems I've had with the HD-PVR, I've been glad to have the secondary tuners sending to my tv's as a fall back. (The set top boxes are not close to a watchable tv).

Personal preference I guess...

[stanger89]

I've got a tangential question for ya....

If I want to get an additional box on my current service, without agreeing to a service contract, what are my options? Am I forced to buy one outright, or what's the fee without an agreement? I see that they've got their "Dish'n It Up" thing but that requires an 18month agreement.

Basically I'm trying to figure out if there's an option that will save me much over the currently discounted R5000 pre-modded price.