I’ve been meaning to write this report for a few weeks, but haven’t had the chance. I previously leased a Dish 722 (not the k receiver) and a 942 before that. Used to own one of the original Slingboxes, but that unit died on me. That’s another story. Oh, and I used to own DirecTiVo before that.
When I heard about the 922, I was very excited. A built-in Slingbox, 1 terabyte of space, new UI, web browser…who could ask for anything more. Prior to the announcement of the 922, I was contemplating a 722k with the OTA module that provided the capability to record two OTA shows at once. You could add a Slingbox to the 722k and add a 500GB external harddrive; however, the convenience of having one box instead of 3 made sense.
Before I get into all the issues, I wanted to start by stating what I like about the 922.
PROS
I know some of these things sound small but when you add all these up, it makes a big difference. Bottom line is that it takes me longer every week to baby sit the 922 than the 722. It doesn’t make sense why some of features are removed. I’ve been hanging out at these forums for years and no one has demanded that these features should be removed.
Unless you really think you need the future 922 features, my advice is to go with the 722k (plus OTA module) with an external Slingbox and a 500GB external drive. Thanks for letting me vent.
When I heard about the 922, I was very excited. A built-in Slingbox, 1 terabyte of space, new UI, web browser…who could ask for anything more. Prior to the announcement of the 922, I was contemplating a 722k with the OTA module that provided the capability to record two OTA shows at once. You could add a Slingbox to the 722k and add a 500GB external harddrive; however, the convenience of having one box instead of 3 made sense.
Before I get into all the issues, I wanted to start by stating what I like about the 922.
PROS
- 1 Terabyte hard drive – Nice, very nice. Not much more to say about this.
- One box that includes Sling – It’s very convenient not having to have yet another power cord and running wires between the two boxes.
- Improved Visual Design with the “tiles” interface – It’s looks better than my 722, but don’t confuse that with better usability. I’ll discuss the usability issues in the CONS section.
- Fast performing guide and menu system – What I’ve always liked about Dish receivers is how fast the guide, menu system, adjusting timers, etc. is. Much faster than my old DirecTiVo. Though it’s not any faster than my 722.
- Not stable and missed recordings – The 922 misses recordings from time to time. There no discernible patters to this. For example, the show 24 recorded last week, but did not record the week before. I’ve had other shows that just won’t record from time to time. Also, sometimes the receiver with freeze or lock up for some reason, requiring a reboot.
- No web browser – Yes, I know this will come some day, but it should be mentioned.
- Ability to record duplicate ‘new’ shows – On the 722, I would typically record the OTA and satellite episode for all ‘new’ versions of the show. I recorded the satellite version of the shows as a backup in case the OTA signal failed for some reason. The 722 allowed you to not only record a duplicate show, but all duplicate shows with one click. Just to clarify, I don’t want reruns, just duplicate ‘new’ shows. Now with the 922, I have to go through the schedule list and select each show one at a time and mark the duplicate show to ‘record this.’ Again, on the 722, you could mark ‘record this and all duplicate shows.’ Very time consuming to do this week after week.
- Ability to delete history items - On the 722, you could select one or more search history items and delete that from the list. Otherwise, the list gets polluted over time. Even my TiVo had the capability to save a search and/or delete it.
- Usability of Search History – When I first started playing with the 922 and search, I couldn’t even figure out how to get to search history. I had to go online to ask if this feature was removed. Turns out, it’s buried at the bottom of the search type droplist menu. If you search for something, it takes several clicks to get back to the history. On the 722, you could easily get back to it with one click because there is a big “History” button right on the screen.
- No manual recordings – Not sure why they removed this feature.
- Unable to use the numeric buttons to access menu functions – On the 722, you could navigation the menu tree using the numeric buttons on your remote. For example, if want to access Closed Captions after selecting Menu, you press 9-6-1 (or something like that). On the 922, you can’t do that. You end up having to press the arrow keys to navigate. It now takes more than 15 sequences to turn captions on/off. Speaking of which, when will Dish have an option to turn captions on/off with one button press. We’ve been asking this for many years.
- Built-in Slingbox can’t get to menu functions such as OTA (local channels) signal strength - I was trying to adjust my OTA antenna and use the Sling as way see the OTA channels signal strength without having to run up and down from the attic to the living room. I used to do this when I owned a separate Slingbox. All the Menu options were available with the separate box. On the 922, many menu options are removed.
I know some of these things sound small but when you add all these up, it makes a big difference. Bottom line is that it takes me longer every week to baby sit the 922 than the 722. It doesn’t make sense why some of features are removed. I’ve been hanging out at these forums for years and no one has demanded that these features should be removed.
Unless you really think you need the future 922 features, my advice is to go with the 722k (plus OTA module) with an external Slingbox and a 500GB external drive. Thanks for letting me vent.
...hope it helps mike let me know how it works for you thats how it works for me.
