Initial thoughts on 921 (was: It's coming to tomorrow)

[Tahoerob]

Another bug:
The 921 was turned off while on a music channel. Later it was turned back on after a DVR timer had already started.
Well, I then had the red record light on the box, a black screen to look at, & the music channel audio coming across the AV receiver.

The screen did not change with any remote commands. I also could NOT turn the recording stream OFF. Of course I could not see if any screens popped up to toggle around.

I ended up doing a smart card reboot successfully. Interestingly, the timer RESTARTED, but the receiver then seemed to be working correctly otherwise.

 

[Tahoerob]

Dual DVR question???
I had it tuned to the channel being recorded. How do I leave that one & go to another live one?? I tried going to the guide & selecting a show but got a message saying that I must stop recording & swithc to live mode??????

 

[sparker]

PIP is disabled?

 

[rtt2]

I wonder whent the DirecTV HDTivo comes out everyone sayes "Its nothing more than a Tivo with HD" Just like previous 721 owners say about the 921.

 

[Tahoerob]

PIP is disabled?

PIP works great with any 2 SD channels.

It does not work with any SD\HD or HD\HD combo. The users manual does specifically state this.

 

[wileadams]

Well, after playing with the unit more... I still like it for the DISH reception. It is exactly like the 721, but with the ability to get their HD lineup. Off-air reception and recording is both very flakey and frustrating. Don't get me wrong on what I am about to say... I love this unit and am glad to have it.

I have had the off-air tuner lock up that has been reported. It happens a lot when just switching from channel to channel. There seems to be no reason for it. I have had both the 811 and 921 connected to the off-air antenna and switched the channels. The 811 will tune right in when the 921 just hangs and can not find the signal.

On several times, I have tried to record from my off-air channels only to get a very bad skipping recording. It will catch a few moments of the channel and then skip a few minutes to record another few moments. It keeps doing with and even when it catches a few moments, it contains a very pixel-filled image. This has happened on more than one occasion. I have had only 2 good off-air recordings in HD so far.

So, last night, I wanted to try it again. So, I programmed JAG to record. I then did a hard reboot of the 921. The program fired about 10 minutes later. I watched JAG on the 811 while the 921 recorded it. There were no drop outs and the signal was at 90 to 92% the whole time. When I went to the 921 to watch the recording, I got the same choppy video and pixel-image. The whole hour show only too about 7 minutes to watch and I was not fast forwarding.

The DISH HD channels had not exhibited this behavior at any point.

I like the fact that the guide is full-screen and not just displayed in the 4x3 area, like the 811. The PIP does work well when viewing 2 SH channels, just like the 721 does. When you try to activate the PIP in HD, it displays the PIP window, but no video and an error window pops up stating that PIP is not available in HD. This looks like a limitation of the HD decoder and not the software.

There seems to be times when I turn the unit back on and the green power light comes on, but no other lights on the unit are on and no picture is displayed on the screen. It does not seem to be related to being on the off-air or satellite channels when I turn the unit off either. I have tried leaving the unit on a satellite channels and off-air. No matter the channel, I will still sometimes get this behavior.

 

[Tahoerob]

Well I attempted to record Mask of Zorro on OTA CBS (which is my strongest SS station).
IT WAS TERRIBLE. The whole recording had constant pixellation & lost sound. Totally unwatchable. I believe all of it was due to the 8vsb\921 probelm & NOT my SS from antenna.
Then it locked 8vsb module up.

At this point, recording OTA is NOT an option

 

[Ransack]

At this point, recording OTA is NOT an option

Considering there is not much else on in HD worth recording, that is a BIG strike against it....

 

[Tahoerob]

It almost worked today with the CBS playoff game. Still frustrating.
Today I was trying to record both CBS HD on a sat tuner & OTA CBS. I then tried to tune to another sat channel. Well, the 921 seemed to want to attempt it but got stuck. Got a blank screen, but would display the upper banner of the attempted channel.

 

[jcrash]

Well I attempted to record Mask of Zorro on OTA CBS (which is my strongest SS station).
IT WAS TERRIBLE. The whole recording had constant pixellation & lost sound. Totally unwatchable. I believe all of it was due to the 8vsb\921 probelm & NOT my SS from antenna.
Then it locked 8vsb module up.

At this point, recording OTA is NOT an option

That seals it for me. I won't be buying one until/unless this is resolved.

 

[Tahoerob]

Component vs DVI
I compared Component to DVI on the 921:

First of all the 921 WILL output to both simultaneously. However, at times when switching back & forth between video outputs on my TV, the component would be blank.

Well hands down, the component WAS BETTER than the DVI.
PQ was better by far especially with color. The DVI color was more faded & washed out looking. Not what I expected.
Also, the component might have been a little sharper, but it could have been related to the color issue.
It was the same on all channels: HD, SD, OTA