510 DVR - Dish Pro (DP) Personal video recorder/receiver features and description - Complete information & product review
19170 Hidden Valley
Road, Hidden Valley Lake, CA 95467 Phone 707-987-9207
DISH NETWORK Dish PVR 510 PERSONAL TV VIDEO RECORDER
Product review by Jason Rothchild, Microcom/Budget Satellite Chief Engineer
The new DVR510 has 120 GB hard disk that allows for up to 100 hours of recording. All the features are outlined below, but one of the most important is the way the program guide works. You will be using the interactive guide every time you watch TV. With early model receivers, when you hit the guide button on the remote, you would lose the program audio/video when the guide comes up. Then, if you hit the Info button to get a description of a program listed, you would see "Waiting for Satellite" and you had to wait a while to get the information.
With the DVR 510, 7 days of program guide information is continually updated and stored on the hard disk, so the program information is instant.
Additionally, you can select the partial guide as shown above and continue to watch and listen to the current program while you surf your custom guides. Press the Info button to get instant program information and continue surfing. Or, you can press the select button to schedule a program to automatically record on the hard disk or your VCR. Optionally, you can schedule a program to record just once, once a week, every day, or every week day. This is fantastic!
To see the complete interactive guide menu Click here
Other hard disk recorders download program information via phone line, which is slow. All the program guide information and program descriptions are downloaded via satellite up to 9 days at a time. And the information is updated automatically. You simply select shows you want to record on the hard drive and watch them when ever you like. You'll be amazed at how simple this is to use.
You get the highest quality digital recordings, plus features like Live TV Pause, which is wonderful. If you're watching a live broadcast and have to take a phone call, just press the Pause button. When you get back, press the Pause button again and pick up where you left off without missing anything.
You can press the Skip Back button to instantly skip backwards 10 seconds at a time while watching Live TV if someone missed something. Of course, these features work with anything stored on the hard disk, but pausing and skipping back with live TV is truly amazing.
Ideally, you should schedule as many programs as possible in advance for DVR recording, so it's automatic. This means you don't have be at home and the programs you schedule appear on your DVR list. However, you can also press the record button at any time to start recording a live program. If you happen to turn on the TV and find a movie that already started and think, "I wish I'd thought to record this". No problem, as long as the DVR 510 was tuned to the movie when it started, you can just click the rewind button and go back about an hour to the beginning, then tell the 510 to record. Now, you can watch the movie from the beginning and the 510 will record the whole movie for you.
ZAP COMMERCIALS!
Once programs are on the hard disk, you can press the Skip Ahead button and instantly jump forward 30 seconds at a time. I start watching network programs at least 15 minutes after they start, rewind to the beginning, then I use the skip ahead button to skip commercials. Without commercials, an hour news broadcast takes about 40 minutes.
The hard disk also has 4 Fast Forward and 4 Fast Rewind Speeds, (4x, 15x, 60x or 300x) so you can get to any spot in any program that you've recorded in seconds. Each time you press these buttons the speed instantly changes and the speed is shown on the screen. When you reach 300 times normal speed, it loops back to 4 times normal speed. No VCR comes close to DVR. The Dish Pro PVR 510 / DVR 510 is more like using a computer. For example, while zooming along at 300x you watch the program going by. "Hey, I'm almost there!" Click to slow down and when you get to the spot you want, press stop. Of course, you can jump back 10 seconds at a time or forward 30 seconds at a time, in case you didn't stop in time.
Clicking the DVR button brings up a list of all the programs on the hard disk with buttons to Start, Resume, Erase, and Protect . Select a program from your list and you can click to instantly get a full description, resume watching where you left off, watch from the beginning, or delete the program at any time. When you have more than up to 60 hours recorded, the hard disk starts recording over programs on the DVR 510 list. The protect button prevents this from happening.
To record a live program on the hard disk, you must be on that channel. However, you can play back a recorded program while the DP DVR 510 is recording another live program on the hard disk. This is a wonderful feature! To record a live program and watch another live program at the same time, requires a second satellite receiver or the new DVR 721. Review of the Dish Pro DVR 721.
The DVR 510 also includes interactive TV services, on channel 9500, powered by OpenTV with an interactive Electronic Program Guide that provides features like instant weather. Instant Weather means you can get conditions for nearly 1,000 U.S. cities, ski areas and national parks instantly. The current weather conditions are updated every hour, plus, five day forecasts are updated every 12 hours. You can store your favorite listings for one local city plus five additional cities. More OpenTV interactive information will be downloaded via satellite in the future.
SEARCH
You can enter keywords, like the name of the program, the name an actors or anything else that's relevant and a list of all the programs associated with your keywords come up. You can click on anything listed to get discription, or schedule automatic recording.
CALLER ID
IF you have caller ID with your phone company, you can select the caller ID feature for your Dish Pro DVR. If the person calling you doesn't have caller ID blocked, you will see the name and/or number of the person calling you at the bottom of the screen and you can decide if you want to take the call or not.
Dish Pro DVR 510 Features Include:
An optical digital output for 5.1 Dolby Digital sound
Enhanced event timers
UHF/Infrared Remote Control that works from other rooms.
V-chip type technology for parental control. This gives you separate passwords for pay-per-view and adult channels
Transparent channel browse
Easy pay-per-view ordering using remote control.
Software upgradeable via satellite. Never obsolete; new features are added to the DVR 510 automatically as they become available.
DISH Interactive (powered by OpenTV) Electronic Program Guide.
User interactive applications like Instant Weather which is a free service.
Very fast and user friendly, on screen guide menu system with two display options. Select the full screen to see 6 lines of channel listings with current time, date and channel number. Or, use the PIP guide and continue to watch the program on 1/4 of the screen and see 4 lines of channel listings, with the time, date, and channel number.
Instant program guide information. Every four hours all the program information is downloaded
from the satellite and stored in the receiver's Flash memory. This makes getting program descriptions instant.
Skip hours or days ahead. Just bring up the guide, press the forward button to jump ahead 24 hours. This is a great feature.
Event Timers - programs the satellite receiver to automatically tune to programs at designated times. Click a button and you can record any programs on the hard disk or your VCR.
Infrared Blaster that controls your VCR and tells it to record any programs you select, live or from the hard disk. The IR blaster doesn't require the old fashioned wire link. The signal is sent from the front of the receiver and blasts all over the room. This means your VCR can be almost anywhere in the room, as long as the front is exposed. This is great for special shows that you want to save forever.
Scroll through the guide one line at a time or a full page at a time.
Press the Info button to instantly access program
information, including start time, ending time, when available, a brief description of the program. The Info pages are transparent, so you can continue to watch the program while you are getting the information.
The Themes Lists - Allows you to get a list of the type of programs you like by category - Movies, Sports, News/Business, Family/Children, Education, Series/Specials, Religious and Music/Arts. Then, go through the list of programs shown, one channel at a time or a page at a time. Find something that looks good, click the Info button for a full description and press Select to watch the program. For shows coming up at a later time, when you press Select you'll have the option to record the program on the hard disk or your VCR.
Favorites Lists - In addition to the standard All channel guide and the All subscribed to channel guide, you can create 4 custom guides. You have up to 120 channels available and you can name your custom guides whatever you like, i.e., Movies, Networks, kids stuff, etc.. Then, you can switch to any guide by clicking a guide button.
Browse Banner - Once you select the guide you want and start watching a program, you can click the Browse button and a one line, transparent banner displays across the bottom of the screen, without intrupting the program you are watching. It shows what's currently on and what's coming up next. Click Info and get a transparent overlay for the description of the program, without interrupting the current program. Click cancel to go back to the program and the banner. If you have trouble seeing the information, click Info again and the description is opaque. Channel surfers will love this feature.
Recall Button - jumps back and forth between the channel you are watching and the previous channel.
Song titles - There are over 30 categories of CD music channels, listed by the type of music. It's like owning a CD music store with every type of music you can imagine. While you are listening, the title, artist, album and label of the song being played is displayed on the screen.
Pay-Per-View Purchase Summary on the screen. You can order PPV easily with the remote control and review recent purchases.
Closed Caption Support - when offered by the program and selected, dialogue is scrolled across the bottom of the screen.
Diagnostic Testing - A convenient tool for troubleshooting possible problems.
Alternate Language Support - You can select various languages when supported by the program.
MPEG-2 DVB Compliant Technology - Meets industry standards for digital television broadcasting
Dish Aiming screen - Just enter your zip code to see where to aim the dish. Signal strength is shown on the screen and a variable tone helps to align the dish.
V-chip Type Technology provides parental control for access to programming based on Channels, Ratings and Content. Separate passwords can be used to lock out adult and PPV channels.
Software Upgradeable via Satellite - The Dish Pro PVR/DVR 510 automatically receives software upgrades via satellite when available.
Video to Go - even with the DP DVR 510 disconnected from the satellite feed, you can enjoy your favorite programs that you recorded on the hard drive. Simply connect the receiver to a television and turn both on, press the "PTV" (or "PVR") button on your remote, select the program you wish to view and enjoy...anytime, anywhere. Perfect for RVs or the traveler and gives you a lot to watch if heavy rain temporarily blocks the signal.
Front Panel Reset - Not unlike a computer, a satellite receiver may sometimes need to be reset or "reboot" should an operational problem occur. Resetting the receiver can be easily accomplished by simply pressing and holding the front panel power button for approximately five seconds. The receiver takes less than a minute to reset, after which normal operation can be resumed.
Dish Pro DVR 510 Receiver Front Panel with 9 buttons:
Info button gives you instant access to program information.
Menu button displays the Main Menu and allows access to the Program Guide, System Setup, Themes, Favorites, Timers and other functions.
System Info button displays receiver information including the receiver and smart card numbers,
software version and the remote address.
Power button and a button for Cursor up, Cursor down, Cursor left, Cursor right and Select.
Mode Lights: The green LED lights up when the receiver is on. The red LED lights up to show a digital recording has been started.
Smart Card slot with a door.
Rear Panel Features:
Thermostatically controlled fan
Dish/LNB Input
2 sets of RCA-Type Stereo Audio Outputs
2 RCA-Type Video Outputs
Coaxial cable output switchable to channel 3 or 4
Coaxial cable input for TV antenna or cable
S-Video Output
Optical output for 5.1 Digital Dolby and PCM Digital Audio
RJ-11 telephone connection
UHF Antenna Input for the remote control
Expansion port
Accessory Jack
2 prong AC Power cord
Remote Control Features:
41 Button UHF/Infrared Remote Control. Controls satellite receiver through walls from about 100 feet away and can be programmed to control three additional components, like TV and VCR.
Buttons to skip ahead or skip back
Buttons to stop, play, pause, forward, reverse and record buttons
Dimensions:
Width: 15 Inches Height: 3 1/8 Inches Depth: 10 1/4 Inches
Weight: 8.5 lbs.
If you are currently a Dish Network customer, you don't qualify for the promotion offer, but you can order a brand new DP 510 DVR stand alone receiver to add to your system or replace an older receiver. List price for the Dish Pro DVR 510 stand alone receiver is $349 but you can order from us at $269 without committing to any extra programming.
Note: If you subscribe to the Everything Pak there is no additonal cost to use the DVR feature. If you subscribe to any other programming package there is a fee of $4.98 per month to use the DVR feature.
An extra DVR 508/510 UHF remote is only $56 + $7 Shipping. This is a good investment.
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19170 Hidden Valley Road
Hidden Valley Lake, CA 95467
(707) 987-9207
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