Advice needed: HD DVR or not?

[Trav]

I'd appreciate any advice you guys can give on what a new HD user (me) should do to enjoy HD programming. I purchased a 50" DLP HDTV last week and currently have an indoor OTA antenna hooked up to it for local HDTV broadcasts. Though this works very well, I work 2nd shift and unable to watch most of my favorite shows in HD. So obviously what I need is the ability to record the HD shows from the antenna and/or HD Pak when I upgrade programming with Dish.

Okay, so I have the 522 now with the AT120 package. I've been with Dish for about 11 months, so my 1 year commitment will be coming up shortly. My local cable company (Mediacom) only has 1 or 2 locals in HD and they don't have a DVR that can record from the OTA antenna, so they aren't really an option right now. So these seem to be my best options (unless you guys can suggest somthing better):

1) Replace my current 522 with the 921. I assume that my current monthly costs would remain the same (since both are dual-tuner receivers) except for the additional $10 for the HD Pak. And of course, I'd have to pay the $550 for the receiver itself. Do I understand correctly that the 921 does NOT support name-based recording like the 522 does? What other differences (besides HD of course) between the 522 and 921? What else would I lose/gain?

2) Wait a couple (or more) months until the 942 comes out and just keep the 522 for now. I'm still not clear on whether existed customers will be able to lease the 942 for the $250 fee? Or whether the 942 will only be available to new customers at first? This sounds like a more affordable option and will give me a (hopefully) better receiver but I don't know how long I'd have to wait for it? I would miss all of my favorite shows in HDTV until I got the new receiver! Also, what are the main differences between the 921 and 942?

3) YOUR SUGGESTIONS?

Comments: My TOP priority has to be the ability to record HD content since I am rarely home to watch them. I watch the local channels the most, so recording OTA HD channels is also a TOP priority. And having 2 tuners is also pretty high on the list since many of my shows are on at the same time. Output to more than one TV is NOT a neccessity, however, as I would be perfect content with just watching TV in the living room (we don't watch TV anywhere else except for DVD's for the kids in the bedroom).

I am assuming that the 921 or 942 are my only options with Dish. I have no idea on what Direct TV offers in this area but I really don't want to go through the hassle of switching unless there is a significantly better offering. Though I will probably be interested in watching some of the other channels in HD (Discovery, etc), the locals are my top priority and *if I could find some way to record my locals in HDTV without having to upgrade receivers and subscribe to the HD Pak, I would probably do that for now...

Sorry for so many questions! I appreciate ANY help here.

 

[SimpleSimon]

The search button is your friend.

 

[datwell]

Remember the upcoming MPEG-4 conversion. Unless money is no object, it just might be best to wait a few months. I miss my ancient DishPlayer; however, I plan to muddle along with my rented 811 until the next wave of new technology passes.

 

[wmhjr]

Well, there are questions...

My feedback:

I also have a DLP HDTV, and had Dish. I opted for the 921 because I wanted OTA (Dish only has CBS at best) and thought it would work OK. The 921 really was great - except for OTA.

There are folks who have had great luck with the 921, but there are tons of folks who had nothing but trouble with the 921 - specifically around OTA. Fortunately for me, my cable provider has everything except Fox in HD locally, so I had an easy decision. I returned the 921 and am waiting for my refund.

I would not purchase the 921 if I were you, instead I'd wait and see how the 942 looks. Sounds as though you don't have many other choices. The only other alternative I know is something like the Toshiba Symbio.

Good luck!

I'd appreciate any advice you guys can give on what a new HD user (me) should do to enjoy HD programming. I purchased a 50" DLP HDTV last week and currently have an indoor OTA antenna hooked up to it for local HDTV broadcasts. Though this works very well, I work 2nd shift and unable to watch most of my favorite shows in HD. So obviously what I need is the ability to record the HD shows from the antenna and/or HD Pak when I upgrade programming with Dish.

Okay, so I have the 522 now with the AT120 package. I've been with Dish for about 11 months, so my 1 year commitment will be coming up shortly. My local cable company (Mediacom) only has 1 or 2 locals in HD and they don't have a DVR that can record from the OTA antenna, so they aren't really an option right now. So these seem to be my best options (unless you guys can suggest somthing better):

1) Replace my current 522 with the 921. I assume that my current monthly costs would remain the same (since both are dual-tuner receivers) except for the additional $10 for the HD Pak. And of course, I'd have to pay the $550 for the receiver itself. Do I understand correctly that the 921 does NOT support name-based recording like the 522 does? What other differences (besides HD of course) between the 522 and 921? What else would I lose/gain?

2) Wait a couple (or more) months until the 942 comes out and just keep the 522 for now. I'm still not clear on whether existed customers will be able to lease the 942 for the $250 fee? Or whether the 942 will only be available to new customers at first? This sounds like a more affordable option and will give me a (hopefully) better receiver but I don't know how long I'd have to wait for it? I would miss all of my favorite shows in HDTV until I got the new receiver! Also, what are the main differences between the 921 and 942?

3) YOUR SUGGESTIONS?

Comments: My TOP priority has to be the ability to record HD content since I am rarely home to watch them. I watch the local channels the most, so recording OTA HD channels is also a TOP priority. And having 2 tuners is also pretty high on the list since many of my shows are on at the same time. Output to more than one TV is NOT a neccessity, however, as I would be perfect content with just watching TV in the living room (we don't watch TV anywhere else except for DVD's for the kids in the bedroom).

I am assuming that the 921 or 942 are my only options with Dish. I have no idea on what Direct TV offers in this area but I really don't want to go through the hassle of switching unless there is a significantly better offering. Though I will probably be interested in watching some of the other channels in HD (Discovery, etc), the locals are my top priority and *if I could find some way to record my locals in HDTV without having to upgrade receivers and subscribe to the HD Pak, I would probably do that for now...

Sorry for so many questions! I appreciate ANY help here.

 

[Grandude]

Trav,
One thing I noticed in your post is that you want to be able to record two channels at the same time. The 921 has only one OTA tuner so you would only be able to record one local OTA at a time and this is assuming you don't have the multiple issues that so many of us have had.
Right now I do not even try to record OTA since doing so wiped my hard drive clean of any previous recordings. As long as I only record Dish programming and am careful to not have two channels set to record at the exact same time, I have had no trouble with my 921.
I have to agree with the rest who say it probably would be prudent to wait a little while to see what happens witht he 942.

 

[Trav]

Thanks for the advice everyone. My impatience would have me buy a 921 right now just so I can try recording my HD OTA channels, but $550 is a lot of money to spend when it might not even work well, when the 942 is looming on the horizon, and when there is no clear upgrade path to MPEG4 for Dish users yet. On the other hand, all of my favorite shows (Lost, Idol, Alias, etc) will be ending by the time the 942 is out. I had the day off yesterday and was able to watch American Idol is HDTV... needless to say, I'll be disappointed that I'll still have the record them on the 522 even though I have an HDTV.

But the advice given is what I'll probably do... just wait to see what happens in the next few months. Thanks again!

 

[douweb]

Trav,
One thing I noticed in your post is that you want to be able to record two channels at the same time. The 921 has only one OTA tuner so you would only be able to record one local OTA at a time and this is assuming you don't have the multiple issues that so many of us have had.
Right now I do not even try to record OTA since doing so wiped my hard drive clean of any previous recordings. As long as I only record Dish programming and am careful to not have two channels set to record at the exact same time, I have had no trouble with my 921.
I have to agree with the rest who say it probably would be prudent to wait a little while to see what happens witht he 942.

I have been pretty happy (and must be pretty lucky) with the 921 ... the OTA tuner does fine (in my subjective vision even slightly better than the 811). I have been able to record 2 (sat) sessions at the same time and have been able to record OTA programs back-to-back with channel switching.

Though I get all OTA channels in my area (ATL) very consistently now, it can get finicky at times ... like I lost FOX OTA a couple of days ago and could not pull in the SuperBowl OTA (=HD) ... then yesterday my daughter wanted to watch American Idol in HD and there it was in full glory (ugh-kinda figures). Still hunting this small problem down.

 

[Trav]

Here's an idea.... maybe I could buy the 921 now for ~$500 or so and use it until the 942 comes out (which may be a while anyway for existing customers). When the 942 is available to me, couldn't I just sell the 921 on Ebay? Obviously, I'd lose a little money, but at least I'd have a HD DVR to use from now until then, right?

Of course, this is assuming that I can get the 921 to work with my OTA antenna and everything. What is the return policy? If I don't like it or if it doesn't work right with my setup, would I be allowed to return it for a refund? And can I keep my 522 until I check to see if the 921 works out or do I have to send the 522 back to Dish before I can try a 921? (I'm on the DHA program, remember).

What are your thoughts on this idea?

 

[wmhjr]

There's a 30 day policy

If you buy it you have 30 days to return it. As for selling it on eBay, I wouldn't count on getting much out of it. Personally, I expect them to be selling on eBay for around $125 or so within the next 6 months.

This is of course based on you buying it. I'm not sure how you being on the DHA program affects things. You may not have as much leeway as I did. I had no contract and owned all my own equipment.

Also, even though Dish has had my 921 for two weeks now (when they signed receiving it) I still haven't gotten my refund. Who knows how long they'll take.

Here's an idea.... maybe I could buy the 921 now for ~$500 or so and use it until the 942 comes out (which may be a while anyway for existing customers). When the 942 is available to me, couldn't I just sell the 921 on Ebay? Obviously, I'd lose a little money, but at least I'd have a HD DVR to use from now until then, right?

Of course, this is assuming that I can get the 921 to work with my OTA antenna and everything. What is the return policy? If I don't like it or if it doesn't work right with my setup, would I be allowed to return it for a refund? And can I keep my 522 until I check to see if the 921 works out or do I have to send the 522 back to Dish before I can try a 921? (I'm on the DHA program, remember).

What are your thoughts on this idea?

 

[Grandude]

Trav,
Oh, go ahead and do it. Well, let me modify that statement. wmhjr is probably correct in saying the 921 might not be worth too much later on.
The other point in my mind is how far do you live from the towers that transmit your local HD signals? If you are reasonably close, say 5 to 30 miles or so, and all in the same direction, you may have excellant results with the OTA and a simple indoor antenna. If you do decide to do it, try making recordings from all the OTA channels that you will be using before you fill up the hard drive with programs you want to keep for a while, just in case one of them causes the catastrophic problem of losing everything on your hard drive. There are a number of us that have had this problem and it usually is traced to a specific station that the 921 just can't handle.
(There are a lot of people that are quite happy with their 921 and you verywell could be one of them.) I am one of those, currently, that is fairly happy, but I live in an area where OTA is almost impossible so currently only record CBS-HD which I get off the dish in HD and record anything else I want in SD. Annoying but livable for now.
Due to my location I ended up adding Comcast basic and a HD box (total $20/mo) so that I can watch my favorite network programs in HD.

 

[wmhjr]

Just to be clear...

In my case, virtually any OTA use cause problems such as complete lockups requiring pulling the plug, normal rebooting, missed timers, etc. I spent a great deal of time trying to diagnose it. No particular channel. My HDTV has an OTA tuner, and has absolutely no problem at all with any of those signals either. When I didn't use the OTA portion of the 921 at all, it worked great. Of course, then I didn't get any network HD except CBS (when it wasn't blacked ouu, like for Steelers games prior to the playoffs)

OTOH, there certainly are people who have had great satisfaction with the 921. I just wouldn't roll the dice for the amount of money it costs.

Trav,
If you are reasonably close, say 5 to 30 miles or so, and all in the same direction, you may have excellant results with the OTA and a simple indoor antenna. If you do decide to do it, try making recordings from all the OTA channels that you will be using before you fill up the hard drive with programs you want to keep for a while, just in case one of them causes the catastrophic problem of losing everything on your hard drive. There are a number of us that have had this problem and it usually is traced to a specific station that the 921 just can't handle.

 

[Trav]

I decided to switch to D* and get the HR10-250 HD-DVR. Though it was more expensive than the 921 ($550 vs $800), it came with a 5 yr warranty that is transferable to a replacement model when the current one is outdated. I've had my share of bugs with the 522 I've been using for the last year and it sounds like the 921 is even more bug-prone, so I didn't want the frustration. And as for the 942, it sound intriguing but I didn't want to wait for it... especially since it'll probably only be available to new customers anyway and will probably be full of bugs for at least the first few months anyway.

I don't mean to sound bitter. I'm just not happy with E*'s receiver reliability and it seems like they just can't get them to work right. Perhaps I'll have problems with the Tivo unit as well, who knows, but I'm ready for a switch.

 

[wmhjr]

Please let us know

I'm really interested in how the D* TiVo does. Since Direct has most of the networks in HD I might consider D* in the future.

 

[Trav]

I'm really interested in how the D* TiVo does. Since Direct has most of the networks in HD I might consider D* in the future.

In my area, I'll still need to use the OTA antenna for HD locals, but the HR10-250 has 2 inputs for this and can record from the antenna. I'm hoping this works out well - I may have to get an outdoor antenna because some of the local stations only come in at 65-75 signal strength. They have been working okay with the built-in tuner on my TV, but I obviously can't record... and since I'm rarely home during prime time because of work, I haven't had the ability to record and watch them later.

I'll report back when everything is up and running next week.