We've had our Dish Network HD DVR for two days now, and overall, we're very happy with it.  It's very, very good, but it's not quite perfect.  Here are our observations so far.

The Good

I've got a whole list of good things to say.

• Dish has way more HD channels than Time Warner KC.  We've spent 80% of our time with National Geographic HD, which wasn't available on Time Warner.
• The DVR is reliable - Which is a huge advantage over Time Warner.
• No crappy analog channels.  Time Warner KC still has any channel below 99 on an analog signal, and it was very noticeable, and very sucky.
• The user interface is very friendly and very aesthetically pleasing.
• On-screen caller ID that works with any telephone service (we use Vonage).  Time Warner's caller ID only works with Time Warner's telephone service.
• The price is comparable to Time Warner.
• Built-in home distribution.  This is the slickest feature.  It actually has two output displays - The primary, which is high definition, and the secondary, which is a standard definition signal that it broadcasts to the rest of our house over the existing coax.  It comes with a second remote that operates via a UHF signal, so it doesn't have to be used line-of-sight.  This is great for our bedroom TV, a 32" standard TV that was our former living room TV.  It has all the channels and DVR stored programming available to it, and can watch any of it independently of what the primary TV is watching.  THIS. IS. AWESOME.  Connor can watch this morning's Blue's Clues in the bedroom while we watch last night's Heroes in the living room, or vice-versa.  And all of our high-def content is available either room, because it actually downscales HD programming for SD.  Wow.

The Bad

I found one issue worth complaining about.  I could do it on my old Series2 DirecTiVo, and I could do it on Time Warner's craptacular DVR, but I can't do it on Dish's DVR.  It's a little complicated, so bear with me...

Say I set up an Event Timer to record new episodes of a show, say, The Simpsons, on the local Fox affiliate and assign it a high priority, so I always pick up new episodes of The Simpsons.  Great.

Now say I set up a Dish Pass (equivalent to TiVo's wishlist, basically a way to tell the DVR to keep an eye out for something you like) for The Simpsons, any time, any channel.  I want to pick up Simpsons reruns on the local Fox affiliate as well as in syndication.  I assign this a low priority because I don't want to give reruns any priority over new programming.

At this point, the Dish DVR will accept the new Dish Pass, but it will not schedule any recordings based on that, and it will not allow me to add ANY additional Event Timers or Dish Passes, claiming that I have reached the maximum number of timers and that I need to delete some before I can add any more.  This error is wrong, though.  If I delete that additional "Simpsons" Dish Pass, I can add more Dish Passes and Event Timers to my heart's content. 

I'm aware I could just set a Dish Pass to record the Simpsons on any channel at any time, but the point is that I want to give new episodes the priority, as well as set them to "preserve" (not delete automatically).  I've tried several permutations of this with Dish Passes and Event Timers, and it's always the same result.  The best I can figure is that it has something to do with trying to have multiple event timers/Dish Passes with the same name - It's as if the name has to be unique.  I have a hypothesis that I can work around this with manual timers (e.g., telling the DVR to record a specific channel at a specific time), but that's a pain.

I emailed Dish Network about this, but I imagine they won't thoroughly read what I wrote and will just send me a canned response to delete some event timers.  We'll see.  It's certainly not a deal breaker.  I probably waste too much time on reruns anyway.

(Note:  The Simpsons is just one example of a show I want to do this with.  Others include South Park, Family Guy, and Battlestar Galactica.)

The Ugly

• The local NBC affiliate, KSHB 41, has some kind of an issue with their HD feed to Dish.  The audio sounds like it's in a tin can, like someone turned on "stadium" mode on their receiver.  And I've heard of the video stream having some artifact issues.
• I wish there was a clock on the front.  That's about the only thing I really miss about Time Warner's DVR.

Update - 2/25/2007

I got a reply from Dish Network's tech support:

Dear Mr. Soper,

Thank you for your e-mail. We are aware of the issue with this receiver. It will not set up two different types of timers for the same show. It will either setup a dish pass, or a normal timer. To record all episodes at two different priorities is not available at this time.

We are always looking for ways to improve our service, and we appreciate your input. We will forward your comments and concerns to the proper department; however, we can not promise this will be implemented. Thank you again for choosing Dish Network and please feel free to contact us again with any future concerns.

I'm very pleased that someone actually read and understood what I wrote, but it doesn't appear that there's a way to do what I'm asking.  I still give this DVR high marks...  Say, 8 out of 10.