Scott's 921 Has Arrived!

[TheForce]

Matt- If I owned a vulnerable Plasma screen I would use stretch mode but otherwise I don't like watching my programming distorted like that. I don't care how great you think wide people look? It's a personal choice. I'm happy it's there for Plasma owners and for people who have to fill their screen with picture... yuk yuk!

 

[guruka]

DVI Cables

I got mine at www.cablestogo.com

Item #: 26911
Product: 2m DVI-D M/M DUAL LINK DIGITAL VIDEO CABLE
Quantity: 1
Item Price: $24.99

This is 'cause my Hitachi HDTV has a DVI-D connector. If your TV has a DVD-I connector, then order that cable instead. The DVI-D will connect to the 921's DVD-I socket.

.....G

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I think the stretch mode is important.

I use it all the time on my 6000 for SD Channels, it does not make people look fatter, but it does on the 921.

I am happy to report that the 921 does indeed go out 9 days now.

Now only if they would make it easier to record from OTA digital channels it would be a really really nice unit.

 

[slimoli]

I don't understand why the receiver stretch mode is so important:

When you watch pure SD channels (80% in my case), the 6000 only works in "normal" mode. If you want to stretch the picture you need to use the TV/projector AR. That's what I do to avoid burn-in on my RPTVs.

If you watch SD through components you are actually upconverting the picture to 720P or 1080I. I have 3 6000 with different combinations of TV and FP and in all of them the SD picture is better through the S-Video, therefore no stretch mode is possible with the receiver . If you prefer to watch SD through the components you can use the receiver AR control but, again, the picture seems to be worse than watching through S-Video.

HD picture should be watched in normal mode, so no need to stretch it.

The only use I found for the receiver stretch mode is when you watch HD channels showing non-HD material. Only in this case I think it could be better to use the receiver AR instead of the TV since most HD TV locks in "full mode" when the components are being used. In my view, however, this is not very important since you normally have a non-HD channel showing the same program that can be viewed in SD mode.

After viewing all these posts about the 921 I actually believe it's much more "ready" than I expected. My only beef with Dish is the lack of the DP44+ to allow me to use a single cable. The 921 is a milestone in the HT industry, IMO.

Sergio

 

[SlicerMDM]

About the OTA guide data... Isn't it supposed to just use the data provided by Dish's program guide for the locals in each area? I thought you were supposed to be able to assign the call letters?? or channels?? (from Dish's guide) to OTA channels.

 

[markdl]

SlicerMDM - that's the way it currently works on the 6000, but not yet on the 921. There's no local OTA guide data at all for analog or digital channels yet.

 

[ScottChez]

"About the OTA guide data... Isn't it supposed to just use the data provided by Dish's program guide for the locals in each area? I thought you were supposed to be able to assign the call letters?? or channels?? (from Dish's guide) to OTA channels."

This is the way that the HDTV Direct Tivo is doing it today in there beta run so we know it can be done.

Dish must of missed it in the software release or maybe it had a bug so they delayed this feature for now.

The 921 sure is sounding like a Beta release.

I have been following the HDTV Direct Tivo beta testers and I have even seen one working.

The bugs sure do sound similar, at times, for both units Tivo has worked through them very fast and most are already solved.

Makes me think they are using a similar core chip set.

The HD Direct Tivo is due March 1st, this also sounds like when the 921 will be fully working with the guide data also.

 

[normfink]

You also can not record from 2 tuners and try to watch OTA programs.

Scott: I'm new to this forum and (most likely) new to Dish Network. Like so many, I'm extremely interested in the 921.

I've been a DirecTV customer for about 8 years, currently own the Panasonic DMR-E80H SD based PVR which was perfect until my purchase of Mitsubishi (WS-65813) 65" HD RPTV. I also own the Mitsu D-VHS via 1394 interface, but going back to a tape mechanism (despite an incredible quality HD recording) just won't cut it.

So before I cancel DirecTV and switch to DISH /921 I want to get clearer on your post about NOT being able to record from 2 tuners while watching OTA broadcasts.

Does the 921 allow simultaneous recording of 2 turners (2 sat or 1 sat and 1 OTA) WHILE watching a previously recorded program? This is an essential function for me.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ok lets say both satellite tuner 1 and 2 are recording, and you want to watch live OTA TV on your 921... YOU CAN'T.

Yes you can record on two tuners and watch a recorded show, it does that no problem.

 

[normfink]

Thanks Scott. I assume that the quality of the HD recording is equal to the live HD reception?

Lastly: Any advice w/ respect to Dish Vs. DirecTV?

 

[CAL7]

Ok lets say both satellite tuner 1 and 2 are recording, and you want to watch live OTA TV on your 921... YOU CAN'T.

I am trying to figure out why the 921 won't let you watch live OTA with two recorders going. The only reason I see is that the buffer would constitute a third recording stream. I would think it would be technically capable of displaying the OTA if it didn't have to buffer it. Maybe a SW option to "watch-without-buffer" would enable this. DISH might not want to enable that because of the user confusion that would result.

 

[drcos]

...aybe a SW option to "watch-without-buffer" would enable this.

Probably another delay in shipping more would be the result :shock:

I was going to post an actual question here for Scott, but realized it would involve recording 3 streams... so here's my other question.
Can you record consecutive programs as different programs, such as Alias from 9-10 and then The Practice from 10-11? Seems that when I would try to go 9 - 9:59 that I would lose the previews for the next show, and when I would try 9-10 and 10-11 that I would get a programming conflict (on a 501)...