Many people are aware of the fact that Dish Network provides satellite receiver hard ware at no extra charge along with subscriptions to its programming packages, but you may not be aware that this offer extends to high definition television programming packages. When you sign up for an HDTV programming package from Dish Network you'll receive one of the two high def receivers that Dish Network is providing to its subscribers right now. The basic model- the ViP 211- does all of the things that Dish Network's basic model standard definition television receiver does. That included providing access to the Dish Interactive Electronic Program Guide, Parental Control Locks, on screen Caller Id, and all of the other goodies that make watching TV a more enjoyable experience.
The more advanced model of HDTV satellite receivers that Dish Network provides is called the ViP 622 DVR. As you might guess form its name, the ViP 622 DVR has a digital video recorder built into it, which allows this model to record up to thirty hours of high definition television TV shows and movies, or up to two hundred hours of standard definition television programming (or some combination of the two which will obviously be less than two hundred hours but more than thirty). To increase its functionality even more, the ViP 622 DVR can also provide a TV signal to a second TV installed in a completely separate room of the house from the home entertainment center. The second TV set is connected using a coaxial cable and controlled with the use of a special remote control that uses a frequency that can penetrate walls, furniture, and other obstructions. This feature makes it so that you can watch TV on either set as if they both had satellite receivers built in. The only disadvantage of this system is that any HDTV signal is converted down to standard definition television before it's sent to the second TV. That said, this feature can be enormously beneficial to any household with more than one person who loves TV living in it.
Of course just because you're aware that there are such things as high definition television receivers and that Dish Network provides them, that doesn't mean that you understand why you need them or what exactly they're used for. The main reason why you need a high definition television receiver to view HDTV is because HDTV is a separate, but related, television format from the standard def format that you're sure to be more familiar with. High definition television has a wide screen 16:9 aspect ratio and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound for its native sound format, and a higher resolution picture than standard definition television programming. Even though standard definition television can have the 16:9 aspect ratio and or Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, it can never have a picture resolution as high as that of HDTV. HDTV is also distinguished by always having all three of those things together. If it doesn't have all three of those features then it's not really HDTV programming.
The fact that Dish Network also has more channels of HDTV programming makes it an even better value.
