THIS IS AN EX-SUB DISH NETWORK DVR508 WITH NO CARD. MAY OR MAY NOT INCLUDE REMOTE. IT IS IN GOOD CONDITION. WE DON'T KNOW IF THIS SYSTEM HAS A BALANCE ON IT. Sale price ends when we run out of these. Buy now! Features of this receiver: DISH Video-On-Demand Service provides the ability to pause live TV, play, stop, fast forward and fast reverse at 4 speeds (4x, 15x, 60x, 300x), skip forward (30seconds), skip back (10 seconds), view in slow motion or frame-by frame. Set manual/auto record event timers and quick record, and also includes recorded events management features to play, delete or protect a recorded event. 80 gigabyte hard drive capable of up to 60 hours of 100% digital video recording. Actual recording time will vary depending on content type being recorded. Record a live program while watching a pre-recorded program from the hard drive. Records Dolby® Digital when available. Extended Electronic Program Guide (EPG), with up to seven days of programming, is stored onto the hard drive for quick and easy access to listings information. Use Search to look for favorite program names, subjects or actors. The DVR-508 would probably be considered the mid-line version of Dish Network’s line of DVR’s. It’s basically the same as the DVR-501 but with a 80 GB hard drive (the 501 has a 40GB drive). In this review I’m going to touch upon the characteristics, installation and features of the DVR-508. Highlights of the DVR-508 Include: DISH Video on Demand provides the ability to pause live TV, play, stop, fast forward and fast reverse at 4 speeds (4x, 15x, 60x, 300x), skip forward (30 seconds), skip back (10 seconds), view in slow motion or frame-by-frame, set manual/auto record event timers and quick record, and also includes recorded events management features to play, delete or protect a recorded event. 80 gigabyte hard drive for as much as 60 hours of 100% digital personal video recording. Actual recording time will vary depending on content type being recorded. Record a live program while watching a pre-recorded program from the hard drive. Records Dolby Digital™ when available. Extended EPG with up to seven days of DISH Network programming stored on the hard drive for quick and easy access to listings information. Use Search to look for favorite program names, subjects or actors. 50 event timers for scheduled program recording Enhanced automatic and manual event timers Program the satellite receiver to record directly to the hard drive, automatically tune to a program at a designated time, or to command a VCR using infrared blast to record selected events (VCR must be powered on). Optical digital output for Dolby Digital and Linear PCM digital audio Standard features include parental control locks, program information, themes lists, favorites list, browse, one-touch channel return, closed caption support and alternate audio support. UHF/IR 4-component universal remote control A complete product brochure can be downloaded HERE P1010191.JPG (156993 bytes)P1010194.JPG (136553 bytes)P1010196.JPG (166620 bytes) Satellite antenna input TV antenna/cable input RF Modulated Output: Outputs satellite source on channel 3 or 4, or passes through a connected antenna/cable feed to the television 2 sets RCA-type audio/video outputs 1 S-Video output Optical digital output for Dolby Digital and PCM digital audio 1 telephone jack UHF remote antenna input Size: 3"[h] x 15"[w] x 11.5"[d] Weight: 8.3 lbs Color: Black DISH 508 Receiver Part Number: 111159 DISH 508-22D system (includes DISH antenna/DishPro Twin LNBF) Part Number: 111154 PA130217.JPG (80148 bytes) The remote is functionally laid out for ease of use. The important buttons are larger than the rest which makes it easy to find them when the room is dark. After a few weeks, I found myself almost never looking at the buttons and can pretty much navigate by feel. To help protect the remote, I seal it in cut-to-size freezer bag (pictured above). Installation of the DVR-508 was easy. Like any other receiver, I connected the receiver’s input to the LNB on my Dish 500 pointed at Orbital location 119. Once a signal was established, I hooked up the rest of the cables to 110 and proceeded to the Dish 500 setup screen and ran the switch check. After about 5 minutes, I had both the 119 and 110 satellites at full signal strength. After the initial installation, the receiver downloaded software updates along with the 9-day programming guide. When finished, I called Dish and activated the receiver. Total setup time (not including installation of the dish) was about 30 minutes. Operation of the DVR-508 is straightforward and is one of the main reasons why I wanted this receiver. When pressing a button on the remote, reaction time is less than a second and navigating the menus is very quick. Being a technician, speed of browsing the menus is very important because the more you work with them, the faster and more proficient you become at knowing where things are located. Speed in navigation can become irritating with very slow menus (i.e. the Displayer). When there is a problem with the receiver and it locks up, a simple reboot can be done by pressing and holding the power button for at least 7 seconds. The pictures below show you just a little of how the menus look and are self-explanatory. One thing I like is the search screen. If you find a show you like and want to know when it’s on again, pressing the “*” button on the remote brings up the search screen with the show title already filled in to the “name” field. It’s very nice and a time saver because typing the name in manually is slightly cumbersome using the remote buttons. P1010200.JPG (53460 bytes)P1010203.JPG (69474 bytes)P1010201.JPG (62892 bytes) The event timer management screen is also very easy to follow and the events can be sorted by name or by time. P1010202.JPG (66750 bytes) Then of course there are the Dish Home Screens. If the receiver is hooked to a phone line, you can check your monthly bill or upgrade your programming package. Other available functions are your local weather and movie listings. P1010204.JPG (105136 bytes)P1010205.JPG (72979 bytes)P1010206.JPG (60776 bytes) Operation of the 508 is straightforward. A couple of highlights I really like are the "Time Left" function. When pressing cancel on the remote, a screen pops up saying how much time is left in the program you are watching along with other pertinent information. PA130219.JPG (86726 bytes) Another one is the program info screen. Pressing the info button once gives you a transparent pop-up of current programming information. PA130220.JPG (76942 bytes) Also while scanning recorded or live programming, a progress bar appears at the bottom. PA130221.JPG (60397 bytes) Last but not least, a function I really like is being able to skip back in a program I am watching and record it from the beginning. Say you are watching an episode of CSI. About half way through you decide that you would like to keep the show on the hard drive. All you need to do is scan back to the beginning of the show and press the record button. Voila! The show is now saved all the way from the beginning. PA130001.JPG (100854 bytes) One note about the programming guide that should be mentioned is that with the programming guide open, you can skip forward and back 24 hours in the guide by pressing the arrow forward and arrow back buttons (the same ones that you use to skip forward 30 seconds or skip back 10 seconds while watching a program). This is a very useful feature when manually looking for a show that is a couple of days in the future. Here is a quick look at the programming guide. PA130002.JPG (130799 bytes) The 508 also has a slow motion playback feature. While watching a live or recorded program, simply press pause and use the skip back or skip forward buttons to advance one frame at a time. The forward button works great but for some reason when trying to skip back, you actually skip about 2 or 3 frames. If you press the fast forward or rewind buttons, you get 1/15 or 1/4 slow motion playback. Again though, when going back, several frames are skipped. Since the DVR-508 is basically a computer with a hard drive, noise from the unit is amazingly quiet. I usually have to get within 3 feet to hear anything. Every so often when I'm navigating menus or scanning through recorded shows, I can hear the hard drive accessing but it's really not all that bothersome. However, I would imagine that someone with a very quiet TV room might get annoyed by the small noises coming from the 508. My only suggestion is to place the receiver inside of a cabinet or in a closet. Just make sure there is plenty of ventilation around the unit. It does tend to get hot. Overall, I'm very pleased with the DVR-508. It's easy to use and comes with an array of features. Recent software upgrades have made the unit very stable. Only rarely do I need to pull the smart card or reboot the receiver. Usually that only happens when I have a power glitch or loss of signal to the dish by a passing storm. I would highly recommend the 508 for any home theater system if your goal is a simple no-nonsense approach to having single tuner DVR. |