921 for digital OTA without Dish subscription

[TexasWayne]

There are a few posts with similar but, not exactly the same question. Apologies if this was answered some time back.

I own a Dish 921 DVR and used it for some time with Dish network programming. We moved out of country about two years ago, disconnected everything and moved it to storage. We are back but decided not to go back to Dish Network.

With antennae connected, I scanned for OTA digital channels. The scan appeared to find 14 but would not display the list of results. The system boots fine and appears to be working.

Am I missing something? Without Dish Network and connection to a dish ...
-- Can the 921 that I own be used as an OTA tuner?
-- Can it be used as a DVR?

Also, I did find a few threads from a few years back where others who own their 921's were trying to expand their disk capacity. In the threads, someone mentioned a data-DVD with an updated SW image.

Any input regarding flash updates, SW version updates or any other way to make the unti useful without Dish is appreciated. I hate to just toss it.

Thx,

Wayne

 

[boba]

As a result of a law suite with TiVo DISH has stopped supporting the 721/921 & 942 there are no more software upgrades/ no purple cards and an eBay market that should be drying up as people find they are buying boat anchors. If it is like the 811 & 6000 they will tune OTA as long as they are connected to a DISH antenna with an active signal. I don't know how the purple cards affect signal detection my 911 has a purple card.