Thanks for the reasonable response.
Though I do take issue with the
smroycro said:
Finally you elect to answer in facts rather than unsupported statements. You have to admit that unless you cite your source, your statements are unsupported....
I also don't agre with several other comments you've made. However...
I do agree that there are probably more people out there having no major issues with the 921 than people having issues. People seem to be in three major groups (I've mentioned before). The first are those people having no issues - many of whom are not using OTA. The second are those having issues including requirements for reboots, etc - but are willing to live with it. The third are those who are having issues and are unwilling or unable to live with it. If you take a look on the forums you'll clearly see those different people, often with comments like "yes, I have to reboot it a couple times a week but I still love it" or "well, it's just like a PC - you have to reboot your PC all the time, right?" (unbelievably ridiculous analogy - I know Bill Gates would LOVE to have the control over PCs that run his SW that Charlie does over his receivers!). My point is that the product is 13-14 months old and STILL has these reliability issues for so many people - issues that cannot be explained by anything other than either defective product or defective design. Then, it's been replace before being fixed. All other variables have been removed. To be honest, the problems all seem to stem from OTA. It's truly unfortunate that Charlie doesn't compete in terms of HD network support. If only OTA were not a necessity rather than a luxury, the problems with the 921 wouldn't be so critical. So, Charlie fell down twice.
The VOD issue is a huge issue - make no mistake. You seem to believe that the Dish DVR functions are the same as TiVo. Absolutely not in any respect. There are fundamental differences.
1) First of all, you can opt to pay for lifetime support of TiVo rather than a higher cost monthly charge. Can't do that with Dish.
2) Next, TiVo is actually a "service". The TiVo hardware only functions completely when the TiVo "service" provides content and features. Examples include things like "season pass", selecting whether or not to record repeat broadcasts, the fact that when the program time changes, TiVo changes the scheduled recording time to insure that the right program is recorded at the right time, the fact that TiVo makes suggestions based on viewing habits, the fact that TiVo allows you to remotely schedule recordings from any internet capable PC if you're not at home, the ability to watch content from one TiVo on another TiVo using a home network, etc, etc, etc.
3) The Dish DVR is a great utility. It has a limited feature set built into the DVR itself, and gets absolutely no content or features as a "service" from Dish. The "point and shoot" recording off the program guide is simply a fancy VCR which only really marks the time and channel that your "selection" happens to reside at. That's why when programming changes, your selection will not. You will get whatever airs at the "old" time that your program "used to" air at. There is no NBR, no season pass, no ability to record only first runs (OK, maybe the 522 is an exception here but it doesn't work properly), no suggestions based on viewing habits, no remote scheduling, no home network, etc. To be clear, with the minor exception of a few things on the 522, there are no feature changes of any import between the original 501 and the newest DVRs.
4) Dish loudly proclaimed a few years ago when the released the 501 that a main selling point was that unlike TiVo there was no monthly charge. However, even though they provided absolutely no additional value, all units newer than a 508 have to pay a $4.98 VOD "Service" charge. For nothing. Unless you have AEP. Then, they deliberately mislead people in describing what it's for. I've had 4 different CSRs tell me that you need to pay the VOD fee in order for the pause, replay and record functions to work - and that they are enabled through the "service" provided by TiVo. Both technically and logically that is a lie - period. When you finally escalate the issue a bit higher, they finally acknowledge that they're charging you because "they can". I would have no issue with the charge, assuming they would provide at least "some" of the value TiVo provides. I would prefer not to have the charge OR the extra features. But, I don't want the charge WITHOUT the features. To be blunt - every single "service" that Dish is trying to charge for is built into the receivers that we already bought and paid for!
So, an analogy. Let's assume that you buy a car from Acme cars with a built in electronic compass (not a GPS for simplicity). The compass requires no interaction with Acme or anyone else - it's all built in. Then, Acme comes to you and says that you need to pay $4.98 for the use of the electronic compass (though they have no involvement in it working). If you don't pay, they disable the entire car so it can't be driven at all. That is a perfect analogy. Dish disables the entire receiver if you don't pay the VOD. TiVo just disables the "service" if you don't pay.
Frankly, the 921 issues really ticked me off. Charlie failing miserably to step up to the plate about HD really ticked me off. But, the VOD fee convinced me that Dish is no longer an ethical company. Even though - like you - I was AEP, I found no reason to trust a company that would behave with such a lack of ethics. For me personally, I can find absolutely no excuse for the behavior, and when I started looking deeper I began to see further cracks in the Dish foundation. Things like no real HD, the 921 issues, the decline in customer service, no clear road map.... That's when I decided that maybe Dish really was at best no better than cable and perhaps worse. When cable came along and offered me more services with better quality at a lower price and not investment or contracts, it became a very easy decision. Cable is less consistent across the country, so that decision is different depending on where you live. However, cable is making huge strides while E* "seems to be" falling behind further each day. The single solitary advantage cable has today is that rural areas with no cable coverage can get Dish (obviously terrain permitting). But, as cable continues to expand, that last frontier will be broached.
Finally, you are hopefully getting the idea that I don't just make crap up. Each position that I take will be backed up by cold hard facts. Justifying those facts for each point would take ridiculously long. In fact, I can say the same thing about your original post. You took the position that there was basically nothing wrong in E* land, and that anybody feeling differently were just whining. You didn't provide any substance as to why that was the case. You did make direct reference to since somebody "had so many problems" a logical insinuation was that the problem was with that persons home, wiring or cabling. In contrast, when I had both I even had a separate post which directly compared both services (Adelphia Cable and Dishnet) providing advantages and disadvantages to both so that all could see. It was factual and unbiased. And, data driven. The problem is that thus far all the data continues to point to a decline in value from E* and an increase in value from their competition. Not to say that E* doesn't provide value, but rather that the value continues to dimish over time.
