Anyone have a DISH 211k with extra drive for DVR?

[bullydogs1]

Want to add a disk drive for DVR use with our 211k box...but it has to be powered on its own and not the USB according to DISH...(one at Costco was good, but not powered on its own)....please furnish a link or exact specs so I can get one..I know it is a $40 one time charge..but for DW..willing to pay it...

[bullydogs1]

Well, I got it in and it is working with an external powered hard drive...what a ***** as the small portable hard drive I thought would work did not...BUT, DISH has to enable it first..long story short...the person at DISH that did know what they were doing, walked me thru it and it came alive and credited back the 40 bucks for activation...Put the bigger hard drive up in the slot above wife's seat...barely able to fish thru USB cord to DISH box..that thing is tight in this floor plan...they later moved the location in SKQ style in 2010...thanks all, DW will be happy..

[AllegroD]

If your RV is stored on site and close enough to the S&B, you could try moving the Hopper to the MH and spread Joey's around the house. This could reduce you to 1 account. Drawback is that when the RV was on the move, house would have no signal, unless you downloaded the Hopper before it moved. May not work well, unless all are in the rv when it moves.

[dkreuzen]

When I changed to the Hopper system in the stick house the account only allows one standard receiver, otherwise you have to add another full account at full price. I had a dual receiver in the coach so I had to down grade to a 211k. When I set up the entire new package I asked if I could move my existing external hard drive from one receiver to another, and they said no problem. Well it worked when I moved it from the old DVR to the new Hopper DVR but when I went to move it to the 211k, it wanted to reformat the drive which will erase it. So I could not take my recorded movies to the RV.
I think my next move is to install a Hopper + Joey system in the RV. That way I will have three receivers, a shareable DVR, and RF remotes. I can add the new Hopper to the stick house system and copy movies to it then put it in the RV.

[fredbon]

Portable automatic dishes are not compatible with DVR receivers.

fred

[AllegroD]

Don't bite to hard. You could lose a tongue.

I have Dish4MyRV (Pay as you go) account that requires specific receiver(s) & antennas. That's why.

[BB_TX]

Gator48 wrote:
I am confused here

The Disk network VIP 211K is a single TV HD receiver without DVR. Are you saying you can connect an external hard drive and use this receiver as a DVR?

Where does the "DVR" software come from? It doesn't appear to be resident on the stock receiver.

Help please

Dave

I suspect the software is probably already resident in the receiver and they just send a signal to activate it. In any event if I remember correctly I just plugged the external hard drive in an a screen popped up on the TV with instructions to activate it. I seem to remember it provided a number to call to get it authorized.

[Dutch_12078]

I've read that you can watch one channel and record another with a 211K+HD, IF one of the channels is OTA and the other on satellite. With your OTA antenna hooked up to the 211K of course.

[wilco]

Depends on your needs/wants/usage I suppose. In my case, I had an available HD that worked. New features albeit limited, cost nothing. At the time, the real DVR was $399 where I live....now a much more "reasonable" $299! Still don't need it.

[zman-az]

I'll bite.

Why not just replace the unit with a DVR and be able to record and watch.

I will say the DVR is the top on my list for inventions in the last 20 years. If it did not exist I would never pay for satellite.

[AllegroD]

You pay $40 to Dish for the ability to use an external HD as a DVR. They send the programming to your VIP211K. The VIP211K formats the drive.

Don't read into this. We are giving you our experience. I was told that it needed external power source but when I plugged in the Passport, the 211K powered it.

[wilco]

You can do this with the limitation that you can't record on one channel and watch another since the receiver has only one tuner. You can record a program while watching it or program it to record when you are away. Click on any program in the guide that is in the future and a menu will pop up which gives you several options. You can also pause program while watching.

My experience was with Bell who uses the same (relabelled) equipment. It was as simple as hooking up the hard drive (with external power supply), turn on the receiver and a menu came up to the effect that "I see you've hooked up a hard drive, press OK to format". Then "hard drive ready to go, press Done". That was about it. There may be an additional "hoop" to jump thru with Dish since they charge a one-time fee for this service.

Some seem to have been able to use a USB-powered HD but I didn't try that. Had an old drive kicking around so I decided to try it. Has been working well for a couple of years with the above caveats/limitations. I use it at home and have found it quite handy, but the real DVR would offer more flexibility at a much higher cost.

[Gator48]

I am confused here

The Disk network VIP 211K is a single TV HD receiver without DVR. Are you saying you can connect an external hard drive and use this receiver as a DVR?

Where does the "DVR" software come from? It doesn't appear to be resident on the stock receiver.

Help please

Dave

[BB_TX]

I bought a Hitachi 500 GB hard drive from dishformyrv.com the same time I bought the vip211k. Has external 120 vac power. I think any external HD with separate 120vac power plug will work. I think you can use up to 1 TB.

[bullydogs1]

You say it is powered by USB...yet DISH told me it has to be externally powered...so your USB powers it..without a conventional AC cord to a DISH 211K???the thing was right in my hands yesterday but DISH said externally powered...so who is right?...Thank you for your help.