First Look: Dish 942 HD/SD Receiver (Updated 1/24/05)

[ocaddict]

3. Someone earlier said DISH would not activate a second PVR/DVR on the same account. I have a hard time believing that, but can someone confirm that I'd be allowed to add a 921/942 to my account that already has a 508?

I currently have a 508 in the bedroom and 721 in the living room. No troubles man. I will probably sell my 721 to recoupe some funds towards getting a 921 and leave the 508 in the bedroom. I gotta tell ya though, I'm gonna miss this 721. It is the sweetest receiver I have ever owned.

 

[BFG]

1. Yes (the 942 outputs to 2 independent sources 1HD and 1SD)

2. The 921 does not have name based recording and it willo not, the 942 will.

3. That is false.

4. Any new HD channels added by dish will not be receiveable on the 942. Wether or not the provider will offer a free (or near free) upgrade is unkown at this time, so don't count on getting one by buying this box...

 

[markusian]

Buying the 942 could be a good thing.

Let's say that, next year, Dish introduces model xyz that supports MPEG4, 500G drive and 2 OTA tuners. Then, they offer a "nearly free upgrade" for the 942 owners.

Won't that be good?

-Mark

 

[BFG]

That's only if they do that. But with dish's record I would Highly recommend you don't bank on that... Even if they do offer upgrades, they will most likely do it for 811s and 921s as well. They wont do it for 6000s because they should already be upgraded to an 811

 

[Stargazer]

I do NOT see customers spending one red cent WHATSOEVER to upgrade to MPEG-4 if its mandatory to receive all future SD and HD. Forget it, aint going to happen, customers will drop their service in swarms. I can see them "offering" an upgrade special to previous owners of those HD DVR's at first to try to cut down their expense in the product. Dish knows that their customers are absolutely not going to go for that especially with as much money as they had spent on their product not that long ago. The customers will just go back to cable or to DirecTv instead.

 

[MikeD-C05]

From what Scott said yesterday on his 'talking head site" ( Max Headroom looked better)- both Dish and Directv said that the hd receivers would be swapped out by years end with little if no cost to their customers. OF course this announcement was made at the CES show where there where hundreds of reporters present, so take that announcement with a grain of salt. Some how Dish will get there money one way or the other.

You know why we are paying a large increase in programming cost? It is not because the programmers demand it . It is due to the new ONE DISH solution demanded by the government and the cost of this upcoming conversion to mpeg4. The programmers are a small part of this increase.

Mostly due to the cost of Dish having to come in compliance with the FCC and the cost to upgrade for future mpeg4 compression. Charlie is passing the cost on to his customers . Keep in mind that the one dish solution wouldn't have been needed if he would have done the right thing years ago, instead of thumbing his nose at the must carry laws. Splitting locals up on 2 different satellites was a stupid move in the first place. He was discriminating against the Religious and the ethnic Hispanic stations. Imagine if he would have moved the porn channels to a side satellite the screams that would have caused. He already had plans to move these back by 2008 to a one dish solution, according to his own words. He will have to do it in 18 months instead.

So we are paying for his hard headed, stubborn, attitude & his pig headed mistakes.

 

[DVDDAD]

Someone earlier said DISH would not activate a second PVR/DVR on the same account. I have a hard time believing that, but can someone confirm that I'd be allowed to add a 921/942 to my account that already has a 508?

That's not a problem, I have four DVR's on my account. I own a 921, 721, 508 and 7200. However, there might be a limit on rentals, that I am not aware of.

 

[WorkOutMN]

Dish on 1/6/05:

"No other pay-TV company offers the innovative combination of HD and digital video recording (DVR) features with multi-room capability like the DISH Player-DVR 942."

So myopic.

From Scientific-Atlanta on 1/6/05:

"Scientific-Atlanta announced today the commercial availability of its innovative Explorer® 8300™ MR-DVR set-top. Time Warner Cable, the cable industry leader in the deployment of DVRs, is now initiating the deployment of Multi-Room™ DVR set-tops in its Minneapolis division."

So, Dish announces something that will be available "first quarter 2005" which, like so many of their dates will probably slip, and they take great pride in it. Meanwhile, today I can get from Time Warner a hi-def box that not only has the same features as the Dish box (well, except 160gig vs. 250gig), but also includes an active S-ATA port for storage expansion, and also a FireWire port that, while not active now, may still be activated in the future. And it's available now -- I just called -- and no paying $750 up front.

So no up-front costs, a box that's available today, it's expandable, and may still get Firewire.

Bye, Dish.

 

[ocaddict]

Time Warner rocks dude. I miss it. Moved from Raleigh, NC to ATL and the cable here licks ass. But I do still like Dish.

 

[ocnier]

Time Warner rocks dude. I miss it. Moved from Raleigh, NC to ATL and the cable here licks ass. But I do still like Dish.

Ocaddict, I thought you were with D*.

 

[Stargazer]

Lets see, raise the price $3 more than what you would have in just a year or two and thats a total of $36 a year and over a period of 5 years MAYBE they will make up for part of the swapout costs. Seems hard for them to recoup the costs to me. Maybe $5 a month for 5 years being $60 a year for a total of $300 makes more sense but I bet with churn the way it is a third to half the customers do not keep the service. Dish Network will just have to eat most of the costs.

 

[wied]

When will the 942 be for sale?

 

[Stargazer]

It is supposed to be available later this year. The exact time is uncertain.

 

[ocaddict]

Ocaddict, I thought you were with D*.

If D* is Dish Network, then yes, I am with them. I still don't know which is which from D* or E*. What's the purpose of writing D* or E* anyways? Skool me!

 

[Timmernator]

D*= DirectTV
E*= Echostar (Dish Network)

 

[Timmernator]

Dish on 1/6/05:

"No other pay-TV company offers the innovative combination of HD and digital video recording (DVR) features with multi-room capability like the DISH Player-DVR 942."

So myopic.

From Scientific-Atlanta on 1/6/05:

"Scientific-Atlanta announced today the commercial availability of its innovative Explorer® 8300™ MR-DVR set-top. Time Warner Cable, the cable industry leader in the deployment of DVRs, is now initiating the deployment of Multi-Room™ DVR set-tops in its Minneapolis division."

So, Dish announces something that will be available "first quarter 2005" which, like so many of their dates will probably slip, and they take great pride in it. Meanwhile, today I can get from Time Warner a hi-def box that not only has the same features as the Dish box (well, except 160gig vs. 250gig), but also includes an active S-ATA port for storage expansion, and also a FireWire port that, while not active now, may still be activated in the future. And it's available now -- I just called -- and no paying $750 up front.

So no up-front costs, a box that's available today, it's expandable, and may still get Firewire.

Bye, Dish.

What are you switching to, and where are you located?

 

[DishSatUser]

Firewire, cough, activated in the future, cough.

Don't count on this from "anyone". Sure they'll all add the Firewire or IEEE-1394 (same thing, Firewire is an Apple trademark so unless it's Apple hardware inside they should refrain from the use of that name), but it will continue to remain inactive as they continue to deal with the MPIAA and other consortiums that threaten to sue.

 

[BFG]

Yeah the whole firewire thing is crazy. How come the FCC requires that cable companies supply a firewire box upon user request, but the satellite doesn't need to do the same thing

 

[ocaddict]

D*= DirectTV
E*= Echostar (Dish Network)

Now that makes sense. Thanks d00d!

 

[ocaddict]

Does anyone honestly give a rats ass about firewire support?