Home > Consumer Reviews > Dishnetwork ViP722 DVR HD Receiver

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.

After years of comcast I liked the sound of Dish HD plans. I didnt need all the extra channels cable had that I never use and its a bit cheaper.

My first VIP722 died in about 2 weeks. It rebooted itself and was never able to finish booting up again.

Kudos to Dish for sending a replacement right out without much hassle.
They sent me a refurbished unit as a replacement though.

The replacement lasted a week and a half. One night it started rebooting itself and would work for a little bit before rebooting again, by the end of the night it would no long find signal before rebooting again.

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.

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.

I'm not sure what Dish Network a previous evaluater uses, because I have DishNetwork with Turbo HD and I do not get charged for owning my receiver...in fact, I would have been charged $7/month to rent one...the receiver works fantastic.