I'm thinking

I've built a house up in the hills and cable is not an option (even a phone seams to be an issue). After reading about both DTV and Dish I think I want a HD DVR so Dish is my option. I only have one HD TV so the others wil just be SD without DVR unless it doesn't cost more. I'm looking for information as to what receivers I would want and what dish I would want. I live in northern Vermont and have heard DTV's HD satelite is lower in the sky than the SD ones, is this the case with Dish? Any help would be appreciated.

The Vip 622 DVR receiver offers HDTV and will output SD to one more SD TV. It has two tuners so you can watch one program while recording another. I have one and I love it!

I'm not a professional retailer/installer so, take the following for what it's worth.

In VT, it seems to me that you'd need "Line Of Sight" to the 110, 119, and 61.5 satellite locations (potentially more depending on the programming you want to receive but, those three minimally). Those three sat locations would be a two antenna dish set-up.

The ViP622 will give you HD on one output and you can distribute SD to multiple other locations throughout your home. Depending on how many SD TV's you have, you may find that the 622 is all you need. There are various configurations on this receiver but, you could (with an "Over The Air" antenna) record up to three programs (various HD/SD/OTA combinations) simultaneously, while watching a fourth pre-recorded program.

Here's a caveat for you, extra fees apply for not having this (or any new Dish receiver) hooked up to a land-based phoneline. If you're having trouble getting phone service in your area, you'll probably want to take that into consideration.

Anyway, I'd suggest asking a professional retailer/installer to do a site survey for you. IMHO that would be the best way to find out what's possible and best in your situation.

Thanks for the info. I assumed I needed the 622 but wasn't sure if I needed two other boxes for the SD TVs or not. I need to install the dish myself, the house I built is a post and beam with stress skin panels so there's no studs to attach to. How hard is Dish to deal with on them installing they system?