My "I like $9" deal with Dishnetwork is due to expire this month, (I live in a rural area & am stuck with Pegasus as a provider for Direct TV programming, so there are very few deals on equipment for Direct TV, thus I ended up with DishNetwork)

Anyway, I'm considering a Dishnetwork PVR 501 for $199 + the monthly fees etc, it seems to be the only deal available to current Dishnetwork subscribers & I'd like to try a PVR. My current 301 Dishnetwork IRD is pretty poor quality, remote works intermittently is my biggest complaint....

Any experience with the 501 reciever or thoughts?

Thanks

I'm thinking about the 721, but the cost to go from a Dish Player 500 to the 721 is about $700 (receiver and new cables, switches, etc.). Any deals for the 721?
If not, I may do the 501 too.

I've had the 501 for about 6 months now (my first digital sat experience) and love it. I've never lost signal, frozen up or lost any of my recorded programs. Plus with the 501 you get DD5.1 (on some channels). My only complaints are with the video quality of some of the channels and I like the search options of Directv better...but if you've been living with the 301 than this should be nothing new. Hope it helps!

BTW, you can get a cheaper 501 on ebay used.

This topic comes up way too often but here we go again (in bold no less):

I used to work for Dishnetwork Technical Support. The 501 is easily the WORST satellite receiver ever made. The fail rate is rediculous. Stay away at all cost. It will be the worst mistake you ever make.

Buy a 721. Those things have proven to be pretty damn reliable. You might here people complain that the DishPlayer is the worst receiver, but the 501 has a much worse fail rate.

joshd2012

That's just the kind of input I was looking for, the 301 is pretty sad compared with the Direct TV IRD's... Was a little concerned about the 501.

Thanks

As a Dish Network Dealer I can tell you that anyone who actually admits to being a current or former Dish CSR is the LAST person you want for advise on Dish equipment. Dish's CSR's are some of the most uninformed people out there! Just go to any Satellite forum and you will get hundreds of complaints about the horrible knowledge of these CSR's. We have to battle constantly with these CSR's who give bad advise to customers causing them to be charged $300+ more for breaking their contracts with Dish and the dealers!

Now to the original poster's questions, I can say that the early released 501's were not real relaible but with new software upgrades and the switch of hard drive manufacturers, the bulk of the 501's early problems are no more! It is now a very good valued PVR compared to anything else out there. You pay $199 and you get a no-fee PVR for life. I still can't believe people pay $10 a month for a hardware feature they already own! Yes the 721 is a better unit... it should be for something that cost three time as much!

Not to challenge your knowledge on the subject, but being that I was a CSR/ATR trainee in one of the Tech only facilities (impress me, name it), I think I am better informed than you. True, a lot of CSRs are worthless, but I was one of the better ones who was recommended to work ATR (do you know how to do a mem dump?). I had to deal daily with people whose unit had a faulty hard drive, either straight out of the box or after a few months of use. I didn't like telling people that the only thing we can do for them is to ship them another 501 and hopefully this time it will work.

Not to bust your bubble, but retailers are even worse then the laziest CSR. They know next to nothing besides features and program information. To say that you have any knowledge on the functioning of a 501 is laughable. Don't put down my comments just to boost your own incompetence.

All people such as you know is how to answer a call and read pre-done scripts done for certain problems! We, who are out there selling and installing the systems are the ones in the field actually working with the equipment so I hardly think your knowledge of Dish equipment approaches mine or most other dealer/installers.

And to answer your memory dump on a 501 question, you hit Menu, 6, 3 to Diagnostics screen, Info, >, < to Memory Dump screen,
TV/VIDEO & hold in PWR button on front panel to reboot. You guys are great at jumping to a memory dump at the drop of a hat even though it kills all the recorded material by the customer. Their only done as a last resort not one of the first things to try.

Impressive. But it has to suck when your wrong. The only reason I wasn't promoted was because I didn't use the scripts. They reward you for being a slave rather than knowing the material. I had everything memorized. And if dealers/installers are so great, why would have have atleast 5 of them call me during a single shift? I have installed and worked on Dish Network receivers hands on. I can install any system as well, or better than you can. I can fix any problem as long as it is fixable with out replacement.

This is why all employees at my facility are referred to as ATRs even though we are just CSRs. And that is why the ATRs in my facility are a step before Sorya's team. If you were any sort of quality retailer, you would know how troublesome the 501 is.

Is someone going to lock this off topic flame war?

Holy flamage batman!!!!!

This is freekin' out of control.. Frank S and joshd2012
please give it a rest...to quote a line from Star Wars

For me the 501 is an invaluable piece of equipment, I couldn't live without it. For $199 its worth every penny. Now that the 721 is out, I'd obviously prefer that since programming conflicts are a pain to deal with and I continually am running out of space.

My first 501 was problematic - started having problems after one of the software releases - a bunch of others had the same problem. I sent it back and got a new one and its been flawless ever since.

On the topic of Dish CSRs - they suck. I just got a Dish 6000 unit yesterday and called them up to activate it. The first CSR was fine, said it was activated and I should get programming on it withn 5 mins. 1.5 hours later still no programming, so I called back up. The next lady I got just sucked. I told her repeatedly I could see the program guide, I could get the free channels, just any other channel was disabled. She kept asking me if cables were connected, telling me to turn it off an on, smart card resets, checking if the satellite was getting a signal. Finally after about 10 minutes of me rolling my eyes she went to transfer me to a tech person. After about 5 minutes on hold, she came back on the line and informed me she found the problem, the first CSR didn't activate the receiver correctly. Sigh, I'd been telling her that for 10 minutes. 2 incompetant CSRs in one night.

anyone have an opinion on the 508? it has a bigger hardrive then the 501.

i have the 501 for over a year now. It works ok.. but there are times it acts wierd on me, forcing me to reset it by taking card out and in.
and it seems that sometimes while playing a recoded show, it plays the show too fast. usually i turn it off and back on and its ok.

just curious in case anything happens to my unit.
also where are you seeing the 501 at 199$ ?

Crap. Stupid server farted right when I sent this. Let me try again.

Jeraden - It is crappy CSRs like this which give good CSRs like myself a bad name. I personally don't know why people are buying the 6000 receiver when the 921 is around the corner.

Sathlin - The 508 is just a 501 with a bigger hard drive.

Here is a fact that retailers won't tell you, and most probably don't know: 1 of 6 501/508 units will be returned to the company as defective.. That number comes straight from the RA department and is a real fact. I say defective because many more will be returned in working condition because the CSR didn't know how to fix the problem. Think about that before you throw your money into one of these units.

*Ctrl A. Ctrl C.*(just in case)

The reason people buy the 6000 now is the 921 is announced for a first quarter release and every new technology receiver they have ever come out with has had it's release delayed by 6 months or so.

The 1 in 6 failure rate may have been the case in the first 3 months of release but as I said before the 501's now with the new software upgrade and hard drives from new manufacturer are are much more stable receiver. It's just as stable as any other PVR unit out there.

In regards to the 508's question by Sathlin, The 508's do indeed have the bigger hard drives and to date seem to be much more solid then the current 501's out in the field.

I admit I'm no Dish CSR or retailer, but I gotta ask you; why are you so sure the 921 is 'around the corner'? Charlie's been saying that ever since the first info on it came out. Every time there's a tech chat or charlie chat, he gets asked about it and everytime his answer is the same, 'it's coming soon (as soon as we get the merger done)'. It seems that dishnetwork is only concentrating on the merger and doing very little to get the 921 out to consumers. A definite date would be nice; definite specs would be good; a price range maybe would be helpful. This is exactly the reason I bought a 6000; because DN has no clearcut idea of when the 921 is coming out.

Insider info... but that could all change with a failure during one of the test.

thanks for the info on the 508, but now i'm curious about the 921.

any info on this unit? i dont see any on dish networks site.

thanks

Well, I got the 6000 + 8vsb tuner off someone used for under $500. Even new that combo runs around 600 or so. From everything I've heard, the 921 is going to run well over $1000 dollars, closer to $2k from what people are guessing. If it turns out to be cheaper I'll just get the 921 and sell my 6000. If its really that expensive then I think the 6000 is fine for my needs since I already have a 501 to record with. Sure, I can't record HD, but I can live without that ability to save $1000.

Sathlin - The 921 is going to be similar to the 721 but it will be a high definition receiver.

Jeraden - That is a pretty good deal for the 6000 and 8vsb tuner. I have no idea what kind of price they are going for, but a 6000 ready to go at that price, thats a good deal.

Frank S, this is very close to a personal attack. You are a great contributer here so I will leave this open and warn both you and joshd2012 to step back and let this thread continue on topic.

I have the 501 receiver and I have had to send it back to them twice now because it keeps making noise. Now that I have had the third one running for about a month, it to is starting to make noise. Argh!

The unit that is upstairs has not had a problem, so they are not all bad, just the ones that I have had in my living room.

I got my 6000 + 8VSB tuner off someone on HTF for under $400. It's a great deal IMO and an even better one when you see the HD it gives.

I have a 508 and love it...Best $64 I ever spent.