DISH Solo HD Receiver (ViP 211z)

Ordered this brand new here then called Dish to add this to my extra bedroom. They activated it for $7 a month. They wanted me to sign up for another 2 year contract if I ordered this receiver from them, thats why I bought it instead.*Please note* when you install this receiver you have to go into the menu where it shows signal strength and put in your zip code or the receiver will not have the strongest signal. I learned that part the hard way and was about to have Dish tech come out until I discovered that.I also hooked up an external compact WD hard drive USB 3.0 500GB ( USB POWERED ) and for a $40 one time fee from Dish for the lifetime of this receiver for DVR service. I want to add and confirm you DO NOT I repeat DO NOT need an external hard drive that is AC powered. I've had zero problems with idle or the receiver going into sleep mode. In the receivers menu, there is an option for the receiver to not go into sleep mode. You can even turn the receiver off and touch the hard drive and the disc is still spinning and recording whatever you have it set to. You do have to watch whatever it's recording though as it's only a one tuner receiver. The pause, fast forward, rewind on live TV also works flawlessly. I also get close to 50hrs of recording time with a 500GB hard drive recording in HD and 185hrs in SD. I don't see a need for a 1T hard drive with this setup.So bottom line is I have had no lag nor any problems at all with the guide, DVR, Live TV. Not sure what others are experiencing with a few reviews I have read but I couldn't be happier. It performs even better than my older VIP211K. I have not updated the firmware at all either with these results. And the way it's performing, I don't ever intend to.

Dish activated it right away after I hooked it up. No problems at all. I have 4 of theses in my house and they work really good with Dish.

I used this with a mobile Dish satellite with tripod. It is working good, and I had no problem getting it all put together BUT the directions on how to connect it to a receiver to get a satellite signal was very vague. I messed with it at my RV site for multiple days and calling the people at Dish was like talking to wall, they were NO HELP. They will not send out a worker to help at the place my RV camper sits year round. I had to hire a guy in a town close by to come set it up, he informed me that it's almost impossible to deal with Dish on the telephone because they only read from cards so unless you have done it several times it isn't an easy fix. The cost was $75 where I'm located in southeast Missouri, it was worth it because I leave it in one place, but would not want to deal with it if I traveled often in it.

Did what we needed it to do!

I have a love hate relationship with this receiver. I had to read tons of reviews before deciding on this receiver, and I will put everything I learned both through lots of research and first hand experience into one place to hopefully save someone some time.Notes:First off the one we received did include an access card (some reviews say its not included or built in), its behind the front flip down doors (where the white model number and dish logo is on front of unit).It came not activated, which means unlike a directtv receiver, you cannot see preview channels or do anything until it gets an activation signal and added to an account, it stays stuck at a bootup wizard screenIt came with out of date firmware which can only be updated with a dish that is either a fixed 3LNB oval home style dish, or a very smart auto tracking dish (ie not the tailgater), so if you have a tailgater (or other simple carryout dome) and buy one of these, chances are you must find a friend with dish network or a friendly local retailer that will let you plug into their dish to get the firmware.Since hard drives can be notoriously unreliable in a mobile application, we mount a SSD (solid state disk) 180GB in a 2.5" USB enclosure and plugged it into the unit to add DVR capabilityThe Good:This thing is super slim/sleek, about half the height of a cable box, similar in size to a PS3 slimIt runs super cool, unlike some other satellite receivers that can't be mounted in a cabinet and need lots of space for ventilationPower consumption is extremely low (as I run it from a large battery bank in a mobile application this is important)Does not require a phone/network connection to functionHas DVR Capability (hardware and license required)Navigation through the guide and channel changing is smooth and the user interface is fastIR Remote has excellent coverage, does not need to be pointed directly at receiver to workThe Bad:The thing feels cheap as its pretty much 100% plastic including the top lid.This thing has an IR remote, if you need UHF capability (ie want to mount the receiver out of sight in a cabinet) using the dish UHF remote, you must buy a special kit that costs $100 (as much as the receiver itself). If you want to put this in a cabinet or don't have line of sight, buy a receiver with built in UHF remotes (ie VIP222k)Compared with the VIP211k, it does not have a free built in Terrestrial (OTA) internal tuner, you can add (purchase for another $40-60) a USB external tuner, but its an extra box dangling off the back of the unit.No Analog HDTV Output (y/pr/pb) - only a problem if you're not using HDMI, the previous VIP211K had this featureThis receiver can get pretty expensive for an entry level receiver (the cost of receiver itself + USB OTA Tuner + USB Storage drive + DVR License fee + UHF Remote), if you want these features, you are probably much better off buying a receiver that has them built in alreadyBootup can be a little slow, even if the satellite dish is aimed and has full signal, from a cold start (unplugged), it can take 5 minutes before you get a pictureIf you want to use the DVR, they charge you a $43 "license fee" to activate the feature in addition to the hardware cost of adding a USB storage device, the upgrade is tied to the receiver (not your account), so if you have to replace or upgrade the receiver, you have to pay the license fee again on the replacement unitOnly has single room/tuner capability (since dish charges you per receiver activation, not per tuner), if you want to support multiple closely located TV's watching different channels, consider the VIP222kIf you are using a USB OTA (terrestrial) tuner, if you are in a mobile application and change areas frequently, the process of deleting stored channels before scanning for new ones so you don't clutter the guide is manual and tedious.The ugly:I use this with a mobile in-motion dish unit, supposedly this is the ONLY dish receiver that is "approved" for mobile installations. But it does have a software annoyance with respect to this configuration. Since "most" inmotion dishes (domes) only lock on to one satellite at a time, every time you change channels, the dish moves to grab a different satellite. This process to lock on to a different satellite varies between dishes and usually takes about 1 to 1.5 seconds. This receiver has a feature where if you put on a high definition channel, and it fails to receive a signal from the satellite in about .75 seconds, it will assume there is no signal, it gives up, and and jump to the low/standard definition satellite and tune the equivilant channel in non-high (standard) definition. If you are watching a non-hd channel on satellite 1 and you tune to a high definition channel on satellite 2, the dish will start moving toward satellite 2, and since the receiver does not wait long enough, it will assume that satellite 2 is not available, and jump back to satellite 1 to get the standard definition equivilant channel. This feature is super annoying if you are using an inmotion (dome) type dish. This annoyance would not occur on a home 3LNB style dish as it is locked on to multiple satellites simultaneously and does not need time to switch.