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June 07, 2005

Lost everything on my DISH DVR

I recently have been having problems with my DISH network 310 reciever. It's an odd problem because nothing will work that involves a hard drive... I can't get the programming guide, I can't access the dvr ( It will just say data not available) and of course I can't rewind live tv.. all I can do is change channels and even to do that I have to go into the menu and go to point sigularity and cancel it EVERYTIME I turn it on, then I get a black screen so I have to scroll up or down to get the channels. I got the reciever pretty much for Free considering it was part of the agreemant ( you know the one where you have to pay the 49.99 activation fee but get that credit on ur bill) and when I called them about getting a replacement, or possibly upgrading to a 2 room system they said I have to BUY it now. I was wonderinging if anyone has had a similar problem with their DVR?
-- Jason

June 7, 2005

Answers

I think you mean a 510 instead of a 310, anyway I had a 510 that crashed and burned about 3 months ago and all I could do was change channels.

Dish advised me they would replace the 510 with a 510 for free as the defective unit was under the 1 yr. warrantee.

As I wanted to upgrade to the 522 dual-tuner, they charged me $100. for the upgrade fee, under their "Dish-it-up" lease program.

Additionally,they charge you about $5/mo to lease it and another $5/mo for the dvr service.

I would highly recommend leasing any dvr unit from Dish as their units are rather troublesome.

In less than 2 years, I've had three 510 units and I'm on my 2nd 522 (ergo, the lease recommendation).

Some of the 522's still have serious bugs that Dish has been promising to fix via a corrective download that I'm still waiting for on mine.

Their new 625 dual-tuner dvr is available to new subscribers and would be they way to go if you could figure how to become a 'new subscriber', also they don't charge new customers one of the $5./mo fees previously mentioned.

Having the dvr features is the only way I'll have my sat tv-the time saved by zapping out the commercials and being able to record with ease is worth the hassles and extra expense, just wish Dish would get it's equipment a bit more reliable and more accommodating when something goes wrong.

Hope this helps.

r

Posted by: Superb Guy at Jun 15, 2005 5:30:10 PM

I have a directv dvr I have hade for about aslong as I been with directv I never hade a problem like that I mean I hade problems with my dvr but nothing like that I rather have a dvr from directv anyday you have season pass and its easy to work with you with season pass never worried about recording a program it does it for you if you wanna know anything else about directv dvr email me at luispadilla30@aol.com ill never go with dish network ever thanks luis

Posted by: luis padilla at Dec 9, 2005 11:24:34 AM

I've had my dish dvrs for over a year and have never had any problems. that's kind of how it is for anything? You may have 100 people who have had lots of trouble with a certain peice of equipment but you'll also have 500 who never have any problems.

If your 510 has totally lost dvr function and won't come back after troubleshooting steps then it would need to be replaced. if you call dish to troubleshoot for this problem an RA (a return) will most likely be the end result. but the black screen is usually more of an authorization issue which could be caused by signal loss. if you don't get any resolution over the phone just ask to speak to the persons supervisor or ask them to transfer you to advanced tech support - which should be happening anyway if the person you're speaking to doesn't have the authorization to RA a unit.

If you had to pay $49.99 when you signed up then you have DHA? which means the unit is leased and would therefore be replaced with no charge for the unit itself but you may be charged $14.99 shipping. All shipping and handling charges are waived if you sign up for credit card auto-pay so that's an option to avoid shipping charges for the future. Or you could also just sign up for the $4.99/month warranty and receiver cost plus shipping is waived. You'll also get a discount on a service call if you need that, too.

Also, to the person stating that new dish customers don't have to pay the lease fee... untrue. Anyone leasing a receiver is paying a $5 lease fee on each receiver/tuner beyond the first. When you say they don't have to pay are you speaking of customers who choose a dual tuner model (522/625/942)?. For any customer with a dual tuner receiver the $5 lease fee for the second tuner is waived if you keep the unit plugged into a phone line. But beleive me, everyone pays.

There are additional charges for dvr receivers in the form a $4.98 per receiver charge. The only way to waive that charge is to subscribe to the Americas Everything Pak.

I have to say i've been extremely happy with my service. Though to be honest i should say i used to work for dish so i know how the receivers function and can fix whatever problems come along. After listening to so many people calling in with problems on the 522 i decided to go with 510's instead. To be fair the 522 isn't all that awful and most of the calls arose either because the user had no idea how it works or because the person selling service over the phone didn't know how the receiver worked so people were calling in trying to do things the receiver was never meant to do.

Personally the only problems i've had are coming home to a fuzzy screen because my hippie roommate doesn't understand how the tv works.

Posted by: mang at Jan 21, 2006 2:51:31 PM

I was thinking of getting a 522 because I have 1 TV but want to record 2 shows at the same time.

Is that the right way to go?

Thanks

Posted by: Morris at Mar 31, 2006 12:33:58 PM

I have Dish with a 522 reciver. If you choose this modle I do recommend lease or some kind of protection plan. Before my one year was up I developed a problem of the recordings pauses during all replays. Dish is finally sending me a replacement. They are charging me 14.95 for s/h even though I have auto-pay.

Posted by: W at Apr 9, 2006 11:27:47 PM

I am on my second dvr in about a years time. Now this one is rebooting.... not sure what is going on... Is there a alternate dvr to use other then the dish one? can you buy aftermarket. NOt haveing much luck with dish... Like the service. Just not the support and billing...thanks...

Posted by: joe Juhl at Apr 8, 2007 2:27:38 PM

I have had multiple problems with the dvr's - turning off at odd moments, losing some of the saved shows, locking up, etc. I replaced the 2 dvr's at least 5 times in the past year. I have had to endure accusations from some of the tech support that I must be causing some of the problems. In Feb I learned that there were softwear problems and they can't fix the problems. The only way to have a trouble free dvr is to get a dual room dvr. Dish wanted me to pay the $100+ fee to "upgrade" (although there is no other trouble free dvr available). If you threaten to cancel and they may waive all fees.

Posted by: franklinchica at Apr 28, 2007 7:10:00 PM