Dish Network VIP 722

• Supports two independent TV's, with DVR, a remote control for each tv.
• HD and SD on TV1, and SD only on TV2
• 500 GB Hard Drive
• TV Resolutions 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, (1080p for applicable On-Demand)
• Picture in Picture

Wow. I am really trying to like Dish Network. I recently switched from DirecTV after being a DirecTV subscriber since the mid 90's. When told it would take almost 6 weeks for a DirecTV service person to come out and replace my dish, I looked into Dish Network, liked what I saw and switched. They were able to have someone out the next day. The price was a lot less for more programming than I was getting from DirecTV. The HD content is wonderful. Their installation guy was hard working and professional and their customer service people were excellent. The only DVR they had was the VIP722. I had TIVO's with DirecTV. Long story short, My first VIP722 died after about 3 weeks. I went through the disconnect, reconnect routine a number of times. I tried plugging it directly into the wall instead of a surge protector or battery backup. Noting seemed to help. To Dish's credit, they were quick to replace it by 2nd day shipping the replacement. I've now had the replacement connected for almost a week and am now getting weird video/audio syncing issues, random reboots, freezes, fast forward stuttering followed by more freezes. In other words, annoying reliability/quality issues. I thought my first unit might have had a cooling issue so with this one, I made sure there was extra ventilation and placed a usb powered external fan on the back/left side to help pull heat out. Off topic but I purchased this along with another external fan for my Onkyo 806 to solve a heat issue with that. If you have an Onkyo unit that gets extremely hot, the fan did the trick. Back to the VIP722: If this one complete fails like the first, I'll give it a go with a third. If that fails, I'll have to cancel my Dish subscription and either go back to DirecTV or cable. Fios isn't available in my area unfortunately. The VIP isn't in the same league as Tivo in many respects, quality and reliability being just two. Regardless and in spite of a relatively non-intuitive interface and a lack of a 'it just works' TIVO record, I was willing to make the change. Boy do I miss my TIVO's. Dish really needs to work this out. Losing subscriptions over a loser of a DVR/receiver would be a shame because in every other respect, Dish is a great service.

UPDATE, 05/08/2009: I'm on my third 722 but this one works flawlessly. No video syncing issues, stuttering video, freezing or constant reboots. The only thing I did differently was to NOT connect this to the internet. This is wild speculation but I feel like the unreliability I experienced with the other two might have been related to software updates via the ethernet connection. Now that I have one that works reliably, I'd give it a 4 star review if Amazon's system allowed for a rating change. TIVO is still the benchmark but once you get used to the 722's interface, everything works well.

UPDATE, 01/01/2012: the hard drive died on my third 722 about a week ago. It had been in service for about ~2.5 years. Dish over-nighted a replacement at no extra cost. The replacement was up and running in very little time. As usual, Dish's customer service was excellent. I guess that after ~2.5 years, I don't have anything to whine about. There was a power outage between the time it was last working and when it wasn't. It's possible that when the power came back up, there was a surge or spike that may have resulted in the hard drive failing. I had it connected to a surge protector though.

Buy Dish Network VIP 722 Now

I made the switch from using Cox Communications and Tivo over to the satellite services about a month ago and so far I've been very satisfied. Dish and DirecTv have solid deals at the moment that I suggest people to research on their websites. In short, it was cheaper for me to switch to a satellite service if I wanted HD and DVR services in the long run over Cox and TiVo.

As far as this DVR goes, I being loving it so far. 60 hrs of HD recording and 200+ of SD. I have 10 HD movies on it and I'm still barely past using half of its available space. The DVR can be hooked up to 2 separate TVs(one of them HD, the other has to be SD). I suggest you plan to have the TVs near each other unless you wish to run alot of cable across the house. Both TVs can access different recordings stored on the DVR at the same time, something very convenient for families. In addition the DVR can record two separate shows at once.

The only downside I've had with the DVR so far is that it's not very user friendly. I have been completely spoiled though from using TiVo as Tivo's strengths is to create very user friendly DVRs and have strong customer service. When comparing this DVR to my previous one it is a downgrade, but nothing like other poor reviews I've read online. It's not that hard to use once you get use to it, you just wonder why Dish didn't design their interface easier at times.

In terms of reliability, I'm no help here at the moment. I've only had the unit for a month, but I can say that I've had 0 issues so far. I will say though that the unit does get warm because it doesn't have a fan that blows the heated air out (My TiVo unit did and never got a bit warm). Otherwise no weird glitches or anything of that sort.

Overall I'm very satisfied with the unit. One feature I hope to see in the later models is that they have the ability to connect 2 TVs with HD viewing on both and a little more user friendly interface. If the unit continues to be reliable, then I plan to be a Dish customer for the long run.

Read Best Reviews of Dish Network VIP 722 Here

** Update 12-14-2009 **

The unit has not failed for about one year. Apparently firmware has resolved the the reboot issue. I'm still using a surger protector despite DN tech support advising against it. Perhaps, the utility company added more power to my household lines ;~) (see comments about DN tech support in my original post). Anyway, the unit has been reliable and has no glaring faults. I haven't connected an external Hard Drive for added storage but it's a nice feature (despite $40 fee to activate). The unit will provide HD viewing to one TV and SD to a second. It's probably the best DVR available at the present, possibly with the exception of the Tivo HD unit. Definitely a better bang for the buck than Tivo, if you just want to watch and record Satellite TV broadcasts.

** Original review **

The VIP 722 is well designed, with the exception that some have reboot problems. A four or five star rating would be forthcoming, if the DVR were more stable.

What's not to like about a DVR that supports High Definition Sat transmissions up to 1080p with Dish's Video on Demand. It has more than ample storage for recording. The menus and recording capabilities are easy enough to find programs and record.

If you have a unit like mine that crashes and reboots periodically, then you will find plenty to dislike. Imagine inviting several people to your home to watch a Pay per View event costing $55 and the machine crashes about 20 minutes prior to the event and refuses to operate. I don't have to imagine.

Supplement the problem with Dish's tech contacts explaining that surge protectors and the houses wiring are the cause of the DVR's failures, and a properly grounded home does not need any surge protectors, and you will find the three star rating to be somewhat generous.

Consider that three seperate home visits were made by Installers (including the initial install) to get the VIP running. The installers lied about the positioning of the Satellite needed to obtain reception and failed to take away the old Dish (it was an upgrade from previous Dish Satellite).

Wrap up your evaluation by recognizing a few design shortcomings, such as the inability of the VIP to allow HD broadcst on two TV's or the movie menus and special features that are merely redundant. The unit has a USB input that allows connection of an external storage drive, but you'll be charged a one time fee of $40 to use the output.

I have had many hours of satisfactory use, but my joy has been severly marred by installation issues, poor tech support, and device failure on a fairly regular basis.

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I've been using the ViP622 and 722 for two years. So far, they have been great! I can tape two shows and watch a third... I can't remember the last time I actually watched commercials rather than FF through them. The 622 had a hard disk die and was replaced under warranty. Even if I had to replace it myself, it would have been an easy swap ( I own my own receivers). The HD recording is fantastic. Someone wrote about QAM tuners... most people get this for Dishnetwork programming (or even OTA programming) but not for recording from cable, so that won't affect the intended target of this receiver. It would have been nice, though, for those of us who own our own DVRs. So while it is missing a few features that would have turned this in the best DVR on the market, it still ranks right up there in the top 5.

We switched from Direct TV to dish and this receiver was installed. From day one when you bump your viewing back with the back button, most of the time it just jerks and goes back to live tv. Sometimes it stays, but 10 min later into the program it will just skip forward and the "Live TV" icon pops up to let you know it jumped to live TV. Tech support was at our house multiple times, the receiver was replaced multiple times along with all of the wiring and the sattellite equipment on the house. Besides all of the following problems, the whole layout is just terrible compared to the TIVO with DTV we had in the past. You will erase everything on the drive when just trying to erase on tv show. TERRIBLE