Price Paid:  $4999.00 from dishnetwork

Summary:
i loved my dvr 501 from the first time i got it . most people buy there dvr but i lease it and pay ten dollar for in home an lease . in late may the hard drive was erasing some of my shows recorded called dish they had me reboot toll me to call in two days the problem did not go away called again they ups me a new dvr and paided to get the old dvr back . as of july 5 th 07 everything is working fine . i think the in home and lease is worth ten dollars a mouth don't buy lease i have had the dvr 501 for 6 years . I think 6 years is a really good run before hard drive going bad . but when it does not run like it should just need a quick reboot by pushing and holding the power butter for 15 second s and letting it reboot it self .and there no mouthly fee to have dvr like some other companys like tivo . i give dvr 501 thumbs up!!!!!!!

Strengths:
easy to program you shows to record . like the caller id when some call . easy to set up favrite list . and blocking channel sfrom list and guide . hideing x rated channels so kid's can't watch

Weaknesses:
can lock up if you try to program tv shows while watching a recorded show unless you don't try to do it to quickly. but other then that it does fine .

Price Paid:  $299.00 from dishnetwork

Summary:
This is a great piece of equipment. Literally cannot tell the difference between " live " and recorded. I have transfered archived movies over to VHS and DVD and the image stays intact. Of course it looks better on DVD but it still looks okay on VHS. The unit can be fussy at times. I have had to unplug it so that it can clear itself, and the hard drive is noticeable if you are listening for it. My receiver is in the bedroom and I've had no trouble sleeping while it's recording. Well worth the money. If the HDTV unit were less money I'd get that as well.

Strengths:
Excellent picture and sound reproduction. Records in 5.1 with proper cables.

Weaknesses:
None really. The hard drive makes some noise but as I said you really have to listen for it.

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $50.00 from Dish Network

Summary:
I got the PVR 501 for the $50 upgrade price when I initially subscribed. The PVR is what caused me to switch from DirecTV, which I'd had for 6 years, to Dish Network.

I must be fortunate in that I haven't had any problems whatsoever in the six months I've had my receiver -- it works as expected and as advertised. I will agree that the hard drive IS a little noisy, especially since we have it in the bedroom, but after turning the PVR off, the hard drive shuts down within 5 minutes or so... although it seems to spin up around midnight every night, I guess to receive the new program guide information.

For the price, it can't be beat... I just hope ours keeps on working as it has!

Strengths:
Low cost, ease of use, convenient.

Weaknesses:
Hard drive noise

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $270.00 from Costco

Summary:
Dish PVR 508 - I set this system up in December 2002. I love the pause and recording features and have no problems with the sound or picture quality. However, I am on my fourth receiver in less than a year, and am on my second remote. The first receiver totally crashed. The second had problems skipping when watching recorded events. The third wouldn't receive a satellite signal. The fourth seems to be running okay except its experiencing remote control problems. I don't know if its the remote or receiver at this point. The customer service people overall have been okay, although I had a major run in with one who insisted I purchased the receiver 4 months prior to when I actually did, which brought it out of the warranty period, and didn't want to replace my faulty remote for free. After accusing me of lying and saying their computers don't make mistakes, I was able to provide them my receipt proving I was right. They then replaced my remote. They risked me leaving for DirecTV for a lousy $40 remote. Also, more than one customer service representative told me that my receiver problems were very unusual, which is obviously untrue based on other reviews.

Strengths:
Great features, ease of use, PVR the best thing since the remote was invented, great sound and video.

Weaknesses:
Very unreliable hardware, obviously poorly made and untested.

Price Paid:  $118.00 from Don't remember, but

Summary:
Works great, no issues with my 508. Seems to be the older the build date the more issues people have.

Tip for some of you (you know who you are):
RTFM, read the frickin' manual and quit whining about functions it doesn't have. shouldn't have bought it if I didn't do what you wanted it to, or, if you read the manual maybe you'd figure out how to use it so it does what you think it doesn't do!!! DOH!!!

Strengths:
Does what I tell it to within the parameters of it's abilities. No monthly fees.

Weaknesses:
Have to wait for scheaduling updates to download about once a month (this was never addressed in the manual), could have been designed to do this while not in use (during sleep mode, screensaver mode), but oh well!

Similar Products Used:
Haven't tried anything else. Don't need to, does what I want since I read the manual before I bought it!