942 Mia

[Peluso]

Per Scott's reporting from CEDIA:

Nope no Dish 942 on Display, the word I got is it has been pushed back to at least Q1 2005.

It seems that Dish has made a tactical error in it's resource allocation. (a major problem through out the organization). The 942 is a huge product that could potentially eliminate 4 receivers.. the 811, 921, 522, & 322. That may be stretching things a bit but it could immediately replace the 921 & 522 and if properly designed, the 811 as well. All of this plus a competitive advantage in price to boot. Less Rx's to support means greater operational efficiencies.

If they made the product as bullet proof as the 311 then the entire organization could run for a year or two, or even longer off this one platform.

I just don't understand why Dish isn't plowing ahead with the product throwing every spare development resource on it to get it out ASAP. If they were I'm sure we'd hear more about it.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Well, you can't just add development resources to move up a schedule. That' like saying if it takes one woman 9 months to make a baby, you should be able to get a baby in a month if you have 9 women.

I'd really like to think that they might actually be trying to do this right, and stabilize the software before releasing the box. It would be a first for E*, but I can dream, can't I?

It would be too much to ask to hear Charlie say "We're going to hold off on releasing the 942 until it's fully tested, so you guys are going to have to wait a little longer for it.".

 

[DVDDAD]

It would be too much to ask to hear Charlie say "We're going to hold off on releasing the 942 until it's fully tested, so you guys are going to have to wait a little longer for it.".

He said that about the 921 a year and a half before the 921 was released and then released the bug ridden 921 in limited quantities. He even said that people paying over a thousand dollars for a piece of high end home theater equipment would expect that it works out of the box, to explain why the 921 was delayed. Go figure!

 

[SimpleSimon]

Didn't know that.

Then all my E* programmer bashing is fully justified.

 

[TuxCoder]

That' like saying if it takes one woman 9 months to make a baby, you should be able to get a baby in a month if you have 9 women.

I hereby offer my services to test your hypothesis.

 

[SimpleSimon]

:haha

 

[mike123abc]

It would be better if they used the delay in the 942 to add a second OTA tuner. Then it truly could be a replacement for every DVR unit dish sells. With the costs of HD tuners dropping rapidly, combined with falling disk prices the manufacturing costs of this unit could be low enough by next year for it to become the only DVR Dish needs.

Of course the box Dish should be working on now is a 4 satellite 4 OTA tuner box, a 500 GB HD (and an easy expansion slot for a second 500 GB HD), MPEG-4 and WM decoders built in. The box should have a full complement of HD connectors for 1 TV on it, plus 4 RF back feeds on it. It also should have some type of communications that it could do to remote boxes that would allow HD TVs to be hooked up on any of the 4 ports remotely (like 1394b, Ethernet, or perhaps even the RF coax). This Super Receiver would solve every problem with a DVR for up to 4 TVs at once (any combination of the 4 could be HDTV) with only one mirror charge (provided the phone line is plugged in of course!).

 

[Martimus]

Well, you can't just add development resources to move up a schedule. That' like saying if it takes one woman 9 months to make a baby, you should be able to get a baby in a month if you have 9 women.

Sounds like you're almost quoting one of my favorite books from the early days of Software Engineering. The book was the "Mythical Man Month" by Fredrick Brooks. In the book Brooks showed that throwing additional resources at a software project not only didn't speed up its creation it actually slowed it down.

 

[David_Levin]

Let the slippage begin....
Would've been a miracle to have a 942 for Christmas 2004 (MAYBE they'll be in volume for X-Mas 2005).

Dish have NEVER initially released a bug-free DVR. I'm not sure why we should expect one now.

I think 942 will be too $$$ to replace the std-def boxes. Only time will tell what Dish will charge to lease an HD DVR.

 

[rad]

It would be better if they used the delay in the 942 to add a second OTA tuner.

Agreed. Somewhere else, someone posted that their sources at E* say they don't want to do LIL HD, not worth the legal bills and fight, and let D* handle that. So if E*'s counting on OTA for HD delivery they REALLY need to have dual ATSC tuners in this box since there's still a bunch of programming on ATSC sources that folks want to watch (example Sunday's NFL games).

 

[Neutron]

To me the 942 is vaporware, just like D*'s 5 LNB dish....

 

[SimpleSimon]

Sounds like you're almost quoting one of my favorite books from the early days of Software Engineering. The book was the "Mythical Man Month" by Fredrick Brooks. In the book Brooks showed that throwing additional resources at a software project not only didn't speed up its creation it actually slowed it down.

Or, he's quoting me.

Actually, I probably learned it about the same time he did.

That book first came out in 1975, a few years after I got into the computer business.

 

[SimpleSimon]

...I think 942 will be too $$$ to replace the std-def boxes...

Especially because Charlie thinks he's "subsidizing" the 921 with a frelling $1K price tag. At least that's what he said tonight on the tuna boat.

 

[SimpleSimon]

...So if E*'s counting on OTA for HD delivery they REALLY need to have dual ATSC tuners in this box since there's still a bunch of programming on ATSC sources that folks want to watch (example Sunday's NFL games).

Yup - just tonight on the tuna boat, Charlie actually told a caller they should get their local HD via OTA - or - yeah really - believe it or not - CABLE!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Or, he's quoting me.

Actually, I probably learned it about the same time he did.

That book first came out in 1975, a few years after I got into the computer business.

Neither are vaporware. They just are not ready yet. Both are real and I have seen both.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Did anyone else notice on the picture of the 921 it said at the bottom " Not available under the dish-n-up program YET" ? I guess this means it will be available by next year like the 522 come January--- According to that ladie's question that Charlie answered. I sure will upgrade my other receivers to the 921 if I can legally do it under dish -n- up program. They should make all the new receivers available under the dish-n- up program come next year. Then they can move more customers to the lease program.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Scott: I assume you meant to quote Neutron:

To me the 942 is vaporware, just like D*'s 5 LNB dish....