is 921 worth it?

[warper]

I am considering a 921 but am very concerned about E* support. I currently received an 811 form them less than 2 weeks ago. It puked and died less than 2 days later. I liked what I saw and it had 284 software on it. The sent a new one that I received on Monday. That one will not get anything newer than 281 and what a sad piece of software. I have lockup and guide problems like I can't believe. I have had dish for 3 years and never had any real problems with them with my 301 receivers. There support has been very sad now with this issue and they state to me that there is nothing they can do since 281 is the current software and that they have know way of forcing an upgrade to the 811.

Well I want to know what to expect from a 921 and if I will see these type of problems. I question whether I really want to even continue with dish at this point because support answers such as these make me concerned.

Sorry for the rambling on.

 

[rad]

I'd recommend that you seach this site and the www.dbstalk.com web sites and find the information yourself. The problem with the 811 and 921 is that for some folks they say they have no problems and others say they're the biggest POS's they've ever seen. So do the homework and make your own informed decision.

 

[slimoli]

I had mine installed yesterday and so far so good. There is something fishy though...I just got a call from Dish offering me another 921 with ANY dish/switch/LNB upgrade needed to install it. It seems that Dish really wants to get rid of the 921s and they are available at most Costco stores now at very low price.
Everything is working fine,including the OTA guide.I made my decision to go for it when I realized that most cable HD-DVRs are also buggy and even the TIVO HD has some problems.

Sergio

 

[WeeJavaDude]

I would agree with Rad. There are a number of differing opinions and depending on how you use the units your mileage may vary.

I have both a 811 and am a new 921 user. My 811 has been solid even with the 2.81 release. I have used the 811 since December of last year and I have had to deal with my share of bugs. We all have different tolerence levels and we all have different requirements. If you are on 2.81, you should be getting 2.84 soon so my suggestion is if you don't need time shifting and you want HD hang on 2.84 should help.

Everyone should be on 2.84 by the first week in January if I recall. As to the 921, my experience is that it is has stability issues for me. WIth the holidays, I have not had a chance to play around enough with it but if you do some searches you should get an idea of its current state.

 

[kluken]

I am regretting getting my 921!

Have is 7 days and alreayd had to unplug it 3 times to reset it. It random drops ausio on ND OTA and their HD channels, you rewind to hear what you missed, which tells me the receiver got the complete signal. The DVR menus seems quirky most of the time and on 3 occasions I have had the DVR and Menu buttons refuse to work. Their support is a joke, you have to go through the call creener level 1 tech after being on hold, then on hold again for the "advanced" tech and then before they will do anything there is a special "921 support team" that has to handle any 921 problems that might require a replacement receiver. I have spent a few hours on the phone with them already on 3 occasions only to be told that all my quirks and problems are not documented as known. Finally today I told them swap the recoever or take it back and refund me, their choice, but no more hours of tech support. My new receiver is due in 3 days, but from reading here I am expecting the new one to suck as well. If that is the case then it will go back and I will either go back to my 501 until Voom gets their DVR our or will jump to Directv, which I was with from 95-00.

 

[TBarclay]

I've had mine since June and while it's not perfect, I've been happy (course I'm comparing it to the old Dishplayer!) I don't have any OTA available so I only use it for Satellite channels so that might have something to do with my satisfaction. But I have found the 921 to be pretty reliable lately and I love the ability to time shift HD programs.

 

[DSquared]

I've had an 811 since they announced the $149 deal (around 6 months ago) have had a few problems with it.

I purchased the 921 once the $549 deal was announced. It has worked perfectly since day one. No reboots whatsoever. I guess I'm a bit lucky.

 

[BuddTX]

Fry's in my neck of the woods has the 921 (JVC) for 399 on sale.

2 questions:
Is the 921 MPEG2 or MPEG4?

I already have a 508. Is the 921 a worthwhile upgrade, or should I wait for the "new stuff" from Dish?

My biggest (and only) complaint for my 508 is that the Digital Audio (toslink) does not work with my new receiver.

Thanks.

 

[Texas Red]

I have two 921 receivers and have had no problems.

 

[BuddTX]

In reading some more, I found my answers.

1. No Dish receiver has MPEG 4.

2. Like almost everything, while some users report problems, most are happy overall with the 921.

3. While it has not been offically announced by Dish, most people think that the 921 is considered a "discontinued" model from Dish.

4. MPEG4 receivers will not be out until probably 2005.

I think I will stick to my 508 until MPEG4 comes out.

 

[BobaBird]

A 921 for only $399??? That's only $50 more than I paid several years ago for a 501, and only $100 more than the cheapest OTA DTV tuner I've found. The 921 has 1 OTA tuner (analog and digital), records OTA digital, and has 2 satellite tuners. In the still rarefied world of DTV pricing, I'd call that a bargain.

 

[warper]

I wish frys had it for that price by me. I checked today and they said nope. I would have bought one.

 

[Neutron]

One thing you'll need to watch out for on the 921 is if you don't have the locals package you will be forced to get it to get the guide data for the OTA channels.

 

[iceshark]

One thing you'll need to watch out for on the 921 is if you don't have the locals package you will be forced to get it to get the guide data for the OTA channels.

A small price to pay for having nice guide for OTA! I have voom and just bought 921. My same double flyswatter Channel master OTA antenaa pulls in 5 more channels on scan on 921 vs. Voom box. Plus I like having Analog for weaker channels that you may not get digital lock on. I dont mind the 5.00 to record local programming HD.
My two cents.

 

[TuxCoder]

Before my 921, my setup required the 522 for Dish Network channels, my Hisense receiver for digital OTA locals, and my VCR for analog OTA locals. Now the 921 does all that and more with DVR capability on digital OTA locals! The real kicker is I think I could have gotten by without ever activating the 921, as it allowed me to use the DVR functions on the digital OTA locals out of the box (well, after taking an upgrade) but before I called in the activation. However, I make good use of that DVR space on the Dish Network channels so I don't mind the extra monthly cost. Except for the bogus $5 DVR fee.

Now of course I still have all the other boxes in use (522, Hisense, VCR). The VCR just doesn't have an antenna feed anymore--and that's just to keep attenuation to a minimum.