Exclusive: Scott Reviews the Dish Player 921!

[zplyonz]

Scott,

I may be confused, but I believe the data sheet on the 921 says that PVR functionality on OTA HD is a "future" enhancement, not included in the first generation. This is a deal-killer for me. What do your sources tell you?

thanks

Chris L
Austin, Texas

 

[jcrash]

The box does not know where you are, you could put the call letters WCBS in for your local CBS station's digital signal, and WCBS's listings would be displayed.

I do not know if this would work. The 6000 actually grabs the station call letters off the digital signal. I bet the 921 would do the same thing.

On the 6000 it asks you for the call letters of the digital station, but then ignores what you type in and just uses what it gets from OTA.

Mine doesn't ignore what I type in, it displays ABC, NBC, FOX, UPN etc (which I typed in) IN the guide. Of course, it doesn't have any listings for them

 

[Ken_F]

I may be confused, but I believe the data sheet on the 921 says that PVR functionality on OTA HD is a "future" enhancement, not included in the first generation. This is a deal-killer for me.

I think you are looking across to the wrong entry on the table. The "Future" refers to the Dish Home Interactive TV Capability.

 

[Nick]

"The HD looked good and was being fed to a Dish Network 40 inch RPTV (which was in need of some calibration) I am sure the picture will look even better on a properly calibrated set...

...What I saw looked good and probably could have looked better, the new Dish TV sets were in use and they were using the out of the box settings the brightness and contrast were WAY high, so while the pictures looked ok, they could have looked much better with some adjustments of the TV set."

That the E* people attending the con would not have thought to have the displays chosen to showcase their new flagship HD receiver tweaked to the max astounds me. Whatever happened to 'putting your best foot forward'? Nothing like viewing an HD picture on a substandard OOB set. The setup guys needs a serious dose of marketing savvy.

While I'm on the subject of marketing savvy, what's up with the still woefully uninformative Dish website? Ho hum! Yawn! Zzzzzz

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Nick nice to have you back my friend!

 

[Smith P.]

We have good news from other forums - RC version for DVR 921 spooling now (at 105W and 110W at least ) :"DP921_L100_AAG1 build921".

I guess when it will turn on to beta then we should be ready for buy it.

Ppl told the version is different then for 721, but really based on predessor's DishLinux; included 9 games and Internet browser.
Santa Clause - are you ready put it in my Xmas sock ?

 

[John Quaglino]

PIP Question

Scott:

When PIP is implemented, how will it work? It is my understanding that it is SD only but what does that mean? Will it only work on SD channels and on SD outputs? Or, hopefully, it will work on the SD channels when they are being output via component or DVI. Any comments?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I believe the PIP will output no matter what outputs are used.

I don't know more about the PIP so I won't venture to guess what and what wont work on PIP on the 921.

 

[SpenceJT]

Scott with all of the DishPro tech along with my planned installation of a DP+44 switch (for stacking the signals for a single cable to the 921), will I stil be able to diplex a signal from my local antenna into the mix?

I will need to do this so I can retain my local DTV/HD channels.

Thanks
Spence

 

[Smith P.]

If your diplexor rated at 2.2 GHz, why not ?

 

[BarryO]

There's a compostie video input on the back panel, according to the spec. sheet. Is this a pass thru and, if so, does the 921 scale it to 720p/1080i on the HD outputs? If so, that would be seriously cool.

 

[larryhdtv]

I hope when the 921 does come out that the rear
dishwire outputs(IEEE-1394 Firewire) is active.
If the hard drive gets full then you have to sacrifice what you want or don't want to keep.
The solution to this is to archive it to a JVC HM-DH 30000u or 40000u High Definition VCR.
This is what I'm planning to do.
I hope Dish Network will have these firewire ports active,because it will be a waste of time waiting this long for the 921 & no active dishwire ports.
I already have the ability to record HD but I need to use a Computer,a HD set top box & the JVC mentioned.
The beauty however of the 921 is all the neat things you can do with it.

 

[thebradybunch]

Other uses for IEEE and USB

Hello Guys, This is my first post but I want to say I have really enjoyed this page since I found it. My question is does anyone know if there are plans for other uses for the USB and IEEE such as using the USB for a connection to a wireless network for viewing JPEGs or playing MP3s thru the 921 like the Linksys wireless media player does? Can the IEEE be used to upload from a minidv camera to be burned to a DVD recorder? I know these functions are not yet available but I was curious if Dish was looking into other uses for them. Thank you

 

[bytre]

Re: Other uses for IEEE and USB

My question is does anyone know if there are plans for other uses for the USB and IEEE such as using the USB for a connection to a wireless network for viewing JPEGs or playing MP3s thru the 921 like the Linksys wireless media player does? Can the IEEE be used to upload from a minidv camera to be burned to a DVD recorder? I know these functions are not yet available but I was curious if Dish was looking into other uses for them. Thank you

The best speculation at this point is that the USB connector can be used for a keyboard. The IEEE 1394 (branded "DishWire") will presumably be used to archive programs to a DVHS deck, but will not be enabled for a few months.

I'd guess that the only opportunity we'd have for using the 921 for playing MP3s or JPEGs over a wireless network is when someone hacks it.

 

[lex61564]

Any news of sofware updates? Still seems really buggy.
Thank you,
Alex