New 921 - Questions - Please help

[UtahSTi]

Hi everyone,

I apologize if these questions have been answered on other threads; I've searched and have found some of the details but not all of the answers. Any help is greatly appreciated.

My setup: 921, both tuners hooked up to Dish 500. Mitsubishi 60" HDTV, 16x9, component inputs. 921 replaced a Dish 6000.

Questions:

1. My 921 receiver won't recognize my 921 remote. I'm able to use a universal remote via IR, and my Dish 6000 remote (via IR I believe, even though it's printed UHF on the bottom).

I've checked that the 921 remote code matches the receiver code (hold SAT for 3 sec, press # #, SAT flashes once, which matches remote ID 1). I've verified that the remote antenna is attached to the correct port on the back of the 921.

Any ideas?

2. Any suggestions on the recommended settings for aspect ratio (16x9, 4x3#1, 4x3#2) and view mode (normal, stretch, zoom, etc)? I ran my Dish 6000 in 16x9 with a stretch view mode. However, on the 921 in 16x9 and stretch mode distorts more and crops ~10% on either side of the screen (most noticeable with logos in the lower RH corner - it cuts them down the middle). 4x3#2 in normal mode looks better - 4x3 content stretches nicely on the 16x9 screen, but then I lose a good portion of the HD 16x9 content.

Any suggestions? Also, I saw a post where someone mentioned that stretch modes were buggy - is this on the list to fix?

3. I think I'm having a blue bar problem per the other posts. I have a single vertical strip just left of center of the TV. It's probably 50 pixels across. It's not a solid blue, but more of a shifted color/frame than the rest of the picture. It's not always there, but I see it enough that it's annoying and noticeable.

Is that the blue bar problem? I see from other threads that this requires sendign the receiver away - how long is the turn around?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[markdl]

#3 definitely sounds like the blue bar problem. Turnaround time has been roughly a week lately to get it fixed.

Stretch and Zoom are on the list to get fixed, but they didn't make it into this software version. Gray Bars did get fixed, though.

 

[jcord51]

As far as the 921 remote problem, call Dish for a free replacement. I too had to replace my remote with a new one, insist that the replacement be FREE.

 

[guruka]

1. My 921 receiver won't recognize my 921 remote. I'm able to use a universal remote via IR, and my Dish 6000 remote (via IR I believe, even though it's printed UHF on the bottom).

FWIW, I had the same problem with my 921. Dish sent a new remote. The new remote didn't work either. Believe it or not, I had BOTH a bad remote AND a bad UHF receiver in the 921. Dish sent a replacement 921 and it works fine. The original remote is still DOA. IR works and UHF doesn't. Since you have the blue line issue, get a replacement 921 AND a new remote.

.....G

 

[bobj2004]

So now there is a Blue Line problem and a Remote Control problem?

How many of these boxes are out in the field? Sounds like only a couple of hundred so far. The failure rate is high?

 

[UtahSTi]

Update

New remote fixed the problem. I got them to ship the remote FedEx no charge.

I haven't noticed the blue bar problem. I've settled on switching between 4x3#2 / stretch for most programming, going to 16x9 for HDTV stuff. OTA is useless - it found my local channels once, but now won't tune to any of the channels. Going back through setup to rescan local channels causes the machine to hang. Rebooting seems to fix the problem temporary.

It's pretty buggy software. Some of these problems are so obvious that I'm surprised that the unit is shipping. I really do feel like a beta tester for new software. Still, when it works, it works well.

Thanks for your suggestiosn. It would be interesting to see a poll of how many bad remotes are out there.

 

[Mainstreet]

It's pretty buggy software. Some of these problems are so obvious that I'm surprised that the unit is shipping. I really do feel like a beta tester for new software. Still, when it works, it works well.

They are not shipping now, and haven't been shipping from most distributors for almost 4 weeks. The first release was a limited release, and hopefully the second release will allow them to get all of the hardware/software issues worked out. There was a HUGE failure rate on the first ones released.

 

[mfrodsha]

Hi everyone,

I apologize if these questions have been answered on other threads; I've searched and have found some of the details but not all of the answers. Any help is greatly appreciated.

My setup: 921, both tuners hooked up to Dish 500. Mitsubishi 60" HDTV, 16x9, component inputs. 921 replaced a Dish 6000.

Questions:

1. My 921 receiver won't recognize my 921 remote. I'm able to use a universal remote via IR, and my Dish 6000 remote (via IR I believe, even though it's printed UHF on the bottom).

I've checked that the 921 remote code matches the receiver code (hold SAT for 3 sec, press # #, SAT flashes once, which matches remote ID 1). I've verified that the remote antenna is attached to the correct port on the back of the 921.

Any ideas?

2. Any suggestions on the recommended settings for aspect ratio (16x9, 4x3#1, 4x3#2) and view mode (normal, stretch, zoom, etc)? I ran my Dish 6000 in 16x9 with a stretch view mode. However, on the 921 in 16x9 and stretch mode distorts more and crops ~10% on either side of the screen (most noticeable with logos in the lower RH corner - it cuts them down the middle). 4x3#2 in normal mode looks better - 4x3 content stretches nicely on the 16x9 screen, but then I lose a good portion of the HD 16x9 content.

Any suggestions? Also, I saw a post where someone mentioned that stretch modes were buggy - is this on the list to fix?

3. I think I'm having a blue bar problem per the other posts. I have a single vertical strip just left of center of the TV. It's probably 50 pixels across. It's not a solid blue, but more of a shifted color/frame than the rest of the picture. It's not always there, but I see it enough that it's annoying and noticeable.

Is that the blue bar problem? I see from other threads that this requires sendign the receiver away - how long is the turn around?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Also in Utah -

BTW - I have a nearly identical setup, except with the 55" Mitsu. Anyway, I set the dish to aspect ratio of 16x9 and 1080 i "Always". Then, I set the viewing ratio to "Normal" so that there are black bars on the side. Then, since I programmed my Mitsubishi t.v. controls into my Sony receiver remote, I simply use the Mitsubishi toggling to expand the viewing area to get rid of black bars when necessary. Thus, all the 1080i /16x9 images come in perfectly, anything that is 4x3 in Normal mode is easily toggled/stretched to 16x9 if I want.

BTW - it was only about a 2-3 day turnaround for me to get a new 921 with no blue lines. In the mean time, I'm definitely enjoying the HD experience.

 

[BobMurdoch]

Just to help build the database of problems or lack thereof......

1. Have a 921 for 6 weeks now.
2. No blue bars.
3. No Remote problem (although it did not want to respond well until AFTER the initial software download)
4. About 1-2 reboots a week (and I have A LOT of recordings..... but only a few are cut in half by reboots during the recording)
5. Also my two young kids are trigger happy with the remote, so it is NOT getting light duty on the remote with the FF/RWD functions getting used a lot.
6. 16x9 setting used for HD programs, I switch to 4:3 #2 on SD programming. All content upconverted to 1080i ouput through the DVI connection.
7. No OTA channels yet as no antenna in place (I'm 42 miles from NYC and 65 from Philly) so I've been spared from the OTA hiccups.
8. Ecstatic with the picture (colors pop vs. my old 721) and I can use the Vivid setting on my Sony without color bleed on HD content (a little softness on SD).

I'm getting used to the TV button on the 921 remote turning off the 921 AND my TV at the same time (this was a little dumb), but it isn't the end of the world. (Turning the unit off during a recording doesn't stop the recording, so don't worry about that(the red record light will stay on).

 

[nicholassjenkins]

My 2c

2. Any suggestions on the recommended settings for aspect ratio (16x9, 4x3#1, 4x3#2) and view mode (normal, stretch, zoom, etc)? I ran my Dish 6000 in 16x9 with a stretch view mode. However, on the 921 in 16x9 and stretch mode distorts more and crops ~10% on either side of the screen (most noticeable with logos in the lower RH corner - it cuts them down the middle). 4x3#2 in normal mode looks better - 4x3 content stretches nicely on the 16x9 screen, but then I lose a good portion of the HD 16x9 content.

Any suggestions? Also, I saw a post where someone mentioned that stretch modes were buggy - is this on the list to fix?

I, too, previously only had Dish 6000. Switching to the 921 is a mixed experience. Obviously the DVR capability is worth the pain. The "pain" in my opinion is exactly this piece. Unless you want to do a lot of switching between 16x9/4x3 modes in the 921, and (in my case) also on your TV, you have to pick which you want; and I will assume that is 16x9, since that's the kind of tv you have. I know that you were probably hoping for an answer more like "Click 1, 5, #, *, 2, 2, 4" and all your screen scaling problems will be solved. That may yet exist, but I haven't found or read about it.

 

[sjhart]

You may want to check out:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=22736

for your remote problem. The 921 remote seems to be really picky....

 

[BarryO]

Note there are two "blue" problems. The first is the notorious "blue line" problem, consisting of several pairs of faint, thin blue vertical lines, most visible in dark screens. it appears only on the component and RGB outputs. This is a hardware problem, and requires sending the receiver in for repair.

Some folks are also reporting another "blue" problem; a single vertical line in the middle. It seems to occur when switching from HD to SD mode. It appears on all outputs. It is likely a software problem.