Hi 921 people! (bunch o' questions)

[TuxCoder]

Well I'm happy to soon have a 921. You would think getting a new receiver like this would be a simple event, but not with me. I like to think through all my new possibilities till my hair hurts. Not even 24 hours after my name was drawn and I have many questions.

First, I'm a DHA customer with 522 and AT120+Locals (bill is $39.99 AT120+$4.98 VOD+lousy Ohio tax). It appears DHA will let me add the 921 to my account as if I purchased it, correct? Also, adding the 921 will add another $4.98 VOD fee and a $5 additional receiver fee, right? All the DHA documentation I can find only mentions the $5 rental fee instead of the normal additional receiver "mirroring" fee. I would have the 921 plugged into the phone line just like my 522 is now.

Now it gets a little more complicated. My 522 stays in single mode, so that brings my usage of it much closer to the functionality of the 921. In fact, the 921 seems to be quite a bit more than a 522: HD receiver, more DVR space than 522 if storing only SD, integrated off-air tuner for digital AND analog, A/V input, etc. I can make use of both receivers (even though it's just me living here), but what if I just want to replace the 522 with the 921? Somehow I don't think that would fly with DHA, but does anyone think there would be any hope?

Installation: if I add the 921 to have both receivers, E* wouldn't require a professional installer to run the new lines from my DP34, would they? FYI, I signed up through Radio Shack which means my service agreement is directly with Dish Network. On the other hand if I'm able to, and decide to, just swap receivers I don't see any problem at all with me just disconnecting the 522 and putting the 921 in its place.

Off-air tuner: simple question, the manual didn't seem to answer though... does it store the analog and digital stations intermixed in the channel list? For instance, in my area I would see (among many others): 7 (analog), 7.1, 7.2, 16 (analog), 16.2, 16.3, 16.4, 16.5, 16.6, and so on?

A/V input: does it work well? Just change to channel 0 at any time to see it? PIP support? I seem to remember the manual showing a screen shot of a DVR event being set up for channel 0 (AUX). I assume this illustration was straying from reality--it cannot record off the analog input, right?

Fun & games: I plan on slowly assimilating the 921 into my setup one step at a time. For instance, I'd like to play around with at first it not connected to the SAT feeds, then maybe connect them and play with it some more with its current software version, then let it update and play with the newer version. Finally, I'll have it authorized to fully experience the 921. It's a great learning process for me (go ahead, call me a geek). Any related suggestions, things to try out along the way?

Lastly, no I don't currently have an HD capable TV. But, save your guilt trips , HD is around the corner for me. How far away that corner is right now, I can't really answer. But as I stated above, currently the 921 looks like quite an upgrade to my 522 in single mode, even for SD programs (and downconverted HD programs from my local stations).

Since you made it all the way down here, thanks for reading this!

 

[Pepper]

Congrats by the way on your win last night!

I can't speak to what the effect on DHA would be if you want to deactivate the 522 during the contract term. I do know that you are right, it will cost you approx $10 per month to add the 921 though, VOD and mirroring fees.

Regarding installation, to use both receivers you need either four cable runs which should be no problem if you want to run them yourself, or two DishPro Separators and a DPP44 switch to replace the DP34. Since you paid nothing for the 921 a DPP44 should be no problem

The other questions that are 921-specific I will defer to the other experts here, I haven't had the luxury yet of seeing one in action. Not having HD capability yet at least you are saving the cost of the HD pack, and you should be able to record around 200 hours or so of SD.

Oh, and the offer still stands to trade for the nintendo box if you would rather play games!

 

[SimpleSimon]

Channel 0 (AUX) ain' worth diddly. I've got my garage cam hooked to it - it's good enough for that - but using it has always been flaky.

As for sat feeds - you will not be able to do hardly ANYTHING with 921 until it is hooked up to a pair of IDENTICAL sat feeds, AND taken it's downloads (the factory software is near worthless). Also, there is NO way to stop it from taking the new software immediately upon being hooked up.

 

[Mark_AR]

Fees: The only way you can get around the extra $4.95 receiver fee and VOD fee is to sign up for "Almost Everything Pak" (AEP)

Phone: You are not required to have the 921 hooked to a phone. Mine has been unplugged since January 2003.

Dumping the 522 on DHA: I don't *think* you can do it. It is a lease contract. If you are locked into 12/24 months, you are stuck with it or pay the early termination fee.

Hooking it up yourself: You can use the DP34. Thats what I have. Why spend $200 when you don't have to. 2 more leads from the DP34 and you are in business.

Capacity: 250 hours of SD. 25 hours of HD.

Aux: Never used Aux Input myself.

Off Air: They are mixed, if you have downmapping enabled. Digitals are in BLUE and easily identified.


Software: Just hook it up and let it download. 45 minutes. You won't really note any visible difference in menus or functions between versions. Without hooking it up, it is kinda useless anyway.

You will appreciate the LINUX built in games MENU-8(I think). I can't stand them myself. Most are unplayable without the Keyboard anyway.

In closing: You can use the SD PIP (just like 522 single mode) but HD is the way to go. I still like DIscovery HD and HDnet. I've watched a show 4 or 5 times just because it is in HD. Even the old Hogans Hero's looks good in upconverted HD! I even flip to the Dish HD barker channel when people come over, just to show off the detail.

Oh yeah.. COngrats on winning the 921!

 

[TuxCoder]

Thanks for all your replies. I kinda would hate to get rid of the 522 so maybe I won't really worry about that anymore. It would save me $10 (on the other hand, it would only be saving me $10) a month... Also, just to clarify, I'm not on the DHA-12 or DHA-24 contracts, just a "service agreement" I guess would be the term (not the most unconfusing set of terms, I have to say).

And I agree Pepper, the DPP44 is tempting (a cool gadget to simplify my connections--always gets my attention) but just running two more lines from my DP34 is considerably cheaper and not very much effort. Although it is getting cold outside...

I know (from reading, at least) that the receivers are basically worthless with factory software. It's still fun to explore a little though, since once it takes the upgrade there's no turning back (who would want to, I know ). And I like seeing/experiencing things with my own eyes. But I'll probably just be in a hurry to get it fully running anyway.

Mark - I saw games included in the 721 GPL'd source posting on Dish's website but didn't know what those were actually for. I didn't know the 921 also had them, and that they were accessible like that. "Appreciate" is probably the appropriate word. I'm sure I'll get a kick out of them but not sure just how much I'll enjoy playing them.

 

[TuxCoder]

BTW, Mark, I notice your receiver collection is almost a perfect match with mine (and thanks again for my Pansat ). Just curious, are you a Digital Home Advantage customer or did you buy your 522? If you're DHA, was there any grief from Dish when you were getting the 921 added to your account? Or is that a perfectly normal procedure that both their CSRs and their account management software can handle without it getting screwed up immediately or in the future...? Almost couldn't ask that one with a straight face.

 

[TuxCoder]

OK, got my 921, seems to work great and everything.

But it started flashing its power light at exactly 10:00pm EST (NIST time) to download the software and it's still doing it now (39 minutes later)... how long should L2.11 take to download? Also, I'd love to turn it on and see the download progress. According to Dish's website I should be able to go into the software update screen and see it download on the unused tuner, right?

 

[bbriggs]

OK, got my 921, seems to work great and everything.

But it started flashing its power light at exactly 10:00pm EST (NIST time) to download the software and it's still doing it now (39 minutes later)... how long should L2.11 take to download? Also, I'd love to turn it on and see the download progress. According to Dish's website I should be able to go into the software update screen and see it download on the unused tuner, right?

Don't know that you need an unused tuner. You should have turned it on and watched, it's as fun as watching clothes go round in a front-load washer. You can, as I recall, watch 101 on the second tuner while it downloads on the first, equally fun.

 

[TuxCoder]

Hehe... retraction, about 4 minutes after I posted it did finish and update to L211. And now I just got off the phone to add it to my account.

Let the fun begin.

While waiting for activation, it did let me scan in all my digital OTA locals, and I seemed to be able to use DVR functions (hmm... maybe I can avoid the extra $10 and use it as a digital locals DVR? ). However, when on my digital OTA locals, my audio receiver just spits at me at a constant high rate. This is through the optical connection. I'll have to look into that.

Already though I've gleaned some interesting stuff out of the 921 while playing with it in the various stages I described above. For example, it had some funny guide data hardcoded into it (I've got pictures).