Dish Network VIP 722k

Dish Network VIP 722k
After digital over-the-air signals axed TVGOS programming downloads (and time signal) to our Panasonic DVR with hard drive, we finally broke down and signed up for Dish Network's offer for free HD upgrade with $6/mo DVR fee (with 2 yr commitment, etc.) -- specifying the 722k. I'm not a big fan of renting equipment, but for some reason (digital licensing issues?) we haven't able to find a DVR with digital tuner and hard drive for a reasonable price. Since the $6/mo fee applies whether you use your DVR or theirs, and since the hard drive seems to have a limited life (though the Dish rep said it depends on how much TV one watches (obviously) -- some hard drives might last 5 years), I figured renting is reasonable -- $72/yr for 2 to 5 yrs is $144 to $360 -- not far from the ~$350 Amazon is asking. And if your hard drive goes out after 2 years, you send it back to Dish and get another for a nominal shipping fee. 

Ours worked fine right out of the box. Features have been well described in other reviews. Heat's not an issue with ours, and it's not overly noisy. It shuts "off" when not in use. What's really neat, though is that we can record (or select a recorded program to view) from the 2nd TV, making use of the UHF remote. Finally, it's so nice to be able once again to select what to record from the on-screen guide rather than having to set up a manual recording. And we can still use the Panasonic for watching DVDs. Incidentally, the "free" upgrade to HD gave us additional channels above the 120 pkg we'd been getting.