Turn Dish 211z into DVR for $40
My 2nd Dish TV thread. My HD upgrade [tow vehicle and TV] involved a new Vip211z receiver from Dish. Doing some reading on other forums, I found out you can change the 211z into a DVR by simply plugging in a cheap external hard drive and paying a 1 time $40 activation fee [no monthly DVR fee]. I had a WD 500MG hard drive that I purchased to store pictures and never used. I plugged it into a USB port on the back of the receiver and a Dish message screen popped on the TV telling me I had to call the number given to activate the hard drive that had been detected. I did and although they don't seem to know about this feature in customer service, I got to a tech [who likewise had never heard of it] and after he took a couple long breaks i'm sure to do some research with a more senior tech he came back and said I would have to pay the fee [a screen had already popped up saying that my DVR feature had been activated] and shabang!! I have a DVR in my TT.
Really a slick feature, one because it works, and 2 because you don't have to pay the usual monthly fee. It works exactly like the regular Dish DVR's with full controls via the remote. You can pause live tv, back space live tv, set future shows to record, the whole deal. Love it when a plan comes together.
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