Are people giving up on the 921?

[mfrodsha]

There are basically few if any new threads on this receiver. Have people just given up and decided it isn't worth the energy?

What to do about the $1,000? Can we get a refund from Dish before a year is over, and apply it to a new 942 receiver, assuming it's better (huge assumption, I realize)?

I still can't believe they don't display local channel guide information on the local channels.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The 942 is NOT better, infact I consider it a step down.

They are still working on the local channel guide info. It is supposed to be here by the end of the next month.

I am VERY disapointed in the 921 and the software upgrades we have seen, in 7 months no major improvements have been made.

 

[WeeJavaDude]

Scott,

Why do you consider the 942 a step down? I thought it has the same OTA and Dish Tuners available for recording. What am I missing here?

 

[Tahoerob]

The 942 is NOT better, infact I consider it a step down.

They are still working on the local channel guide info. It is supposed to be here by the end of the next month.

I am VERY disapointed in the 921 and the software upgrades we have seen, in 7 months no major improvements have been made.

They do at least have stable OTA now & have caught up fixing other problems. Unfortunately, these should have been tested in pre-release beta instead of post -release beta
The LACK of OTA guide data & locals in locals is disappointing but the combined dual DVR & OTA HD DVR is still better than having a 501, 721, 0r 6000.

 

[duvallian]

I just got my 921 last week and like it. I am hopeful that E* will continue with the software upgrades and fully support the product.

 

[boy921]

Things should get better

Right at this very moment, my feeling is that I wish I had gone with the HD TIVO. It has two OTA's plus you can upgrade to lager memory capacity. I hope that the folks who provide the 921 will step up to the plate and swing the bat. They better value their customers. I wonder just how good the HR10-250 works compared to the DVR921?

 

[Mike Greer]

I wonder just how good the HR10-250 works compared to the DVR921?

Night and Day!

The HR10-250 isn't perfect but it works very well. The biggest issue now is an audio problem with HDNet. Someday they'll fix it - I hope. The thing people notice first is that it is much much slower than the 921 - but did I mention it works?

 

[SimpleSimon]

Well, overall, my 921 works just fine for what I use it for - satellite-only. Of course, OTA wasn't gonna work with a bunch of Brits trying to do crap in a lab instead of the real-world.

Plus of course, the attitude over there of everything must be "in it's place" just doesn't work in chaotic America. You can see it in the software design and how the bugs manifest themselves - I'll bet a huge percentage of them are "should not occur" fall-throughs. There's simply no error checking or data integrity anywhere in the box.

 

[Neutron]

How is it that Directv can get it right and include OTA guide info and DISH can't? I'm not bashing DISH but I'm curious.

 

[Tahoerob]

How is it that Directv can get it right and include OTA guide info and DISH can't? I'm not bashing DISH but I'm curious.

Directv does what it does best: provide satellite download content
Hardware is made by hardware companies. ie. Samsung, Sony, etc. This is what they do best.
They license Tivo (the innovators of DVR) for DVR software.

Dish tries to do it all. They need to open source more for other vendors. They are making a similar mistake that IBM did with PCs & Sony did with Betamax, and Apple still does with PCs. Microsoft did not try to build hardware at first. They did what they did best: software. Now they rule the industry.

 

[ScooterS]

I've had my 921 for a week or two. So far, I find it basically stable. It sure is better than my old setup of switching between a 501 for PVR and 6000 for HD. I finally have everything down to one remote control.

The OTA recording and timer issues are still a mess, but should be resolved in future software upgrades. When... is the big question.

I'm concerned/surprised that the software isn't more polished on a unit that was supposed to be ready-to-go by LAST Christmas. Candidly, I'd assume that they are looking at this COMING Christmas season for a fully-functional unit.

Overall, I'd give it a "cautious thumbs-up."

 

[Mike Greer]

It was supposed to be 'Ready' the Christmas before last!

 

[Charles Lapple]

I just got my 921 last week and like it. I am hopeful that E* will continue with the software upgrades and fully support the product.

I agree. Had mine for about 10 days and love it. Of course we did not have to endure some of the early growing pains. Still a few things to fix; but I wouldn't give it up for twice the price.

 

[rjruby]

I have one on order that is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow.

Bob

 

[tm22721]

Out sourcing of complex product development has always been a problem for the consumer electronics industry but most large companies figured that out long ago and fixed the issue by having an American centric development team to specify and test a product before release.

E* has yet to learn this lesson and we are their guinea pigs.

 

[memphismafioso]

I just switched to DirecTV though I haven't disconnected the Dish yet. I was hoping to stay with the DP44+ one-cable run but didn't want to have a second dish for CBS HD and any others that come along. The whole OTA issue may be a non-issue for many of us if NBC and ABC are in HD on satellite in our markets before the fall season. But too late for me, I guess! 6 years of Dish and I'm moving on.

 

[David_Levin]

They do at least have stable OTA now & have caught up fixing other problems.

I don't think OTA is stable for everyone.

Channels without PSIP data cannot be added (though other OTA tuners can deal with them just fine).

For some, there are still channels without PVR functionality.

The beauty of the 921 is that fixes for some people, seem to break others. If it's working for you today, it may not tomorrow .

Scott: I also would like to know why the 942 is a step down?

 

[David_Levin]

As to the title of this topic...

The post volume is dwindling because there just aren't any new bugs to report. They are not fixed, but have become old friends.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The 942 is a step down because of the issue of only having one OTA tuner.

Because the 942 can output to two TV's (1 in HD and the other on SD) if one person is watching an OTA channel the other one can not watch OTA programs.

Also when you setup the 942 to record, its going to lockout viewing of other channels on the tuner you told it to record on.

If it were up to me, I would have 3 (yes 3) satellite tuners and 2 OTA tuners.

 

[WeeJavaDude]

The 942 is a step down because of the issue of only having one OTA tuner.

Because the 942 can output to two TV's (1 in HD and the other on SD) if one person is watching an OTA channel the other one can not watch OTA programs.

Also when you setup the 942 to record, its going to lockout viewing of other channels on the tuner you told it to record on.

If it were up to me, I would have 3 (yes 3) satellite tuners and 2 OTA tuners.

So how is that a step down compared to the current 921 that also only has one OTA Tuner. Yes two would be nice (3 Dish would be great too), but I am not sure I would call it a step down. Since 2nd output from the receiver is downcast the 2nd TV could watch the locals rather than the OTA output of a local channel.

To me the 942 looks like a possible alternative to the 921. I would not consider it a step up, but based on what I have read about it I also would not consider it a step down. Kinda of a sideway step.

Guess we will have to see what the 942 looks like when it is down.