# DVR 942 - realistically, when?



## frossie

I was planning on getting my husband a DVR 942 for his birthday (which is April 30th) as it seemed like it was a Q1 release. However I'm starting to worry that it won't be available, or if it is, that it will be months before I can obtain a unit. Is it time for me to scrap that idea and look for something else?

(By the way, please don't start on why I should be with DirectTV or Comcast or whoever. Dish is my only available provider, and they sure beat OTA).


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## Ron Barry

Realistically no one knows..... It is hard to say because software is hard to perdict. My guess is that it will ship before April 30th, but I am not sure in what volumes. This is just a guess on my part and purely speculation. You could always place a nice little picture of it in a card just in case.


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## frossie

Ron Barry said:


> You could always place a nice little picture of it in a card just in case.


"This card brought to you in glorious High Definition!"


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## scooper

Just to be on the safe side - I wouldn't count on it for the 2nd quareter 2005 either...


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## Mark Lamutt

It'll be available long before April 30th. The real question is how many will be available initially.


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## P Smith

I guess Mark mean those 112 recievers what we saw last days .


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## scottchez

If a new Sub wants one, does anyone know iof any waiting lists that have been started for the 942?

I was thinking a 942 and 522 under the Digital home plan.


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## Bob Haller

Are you talking about the box with beta buggy software??

Or the semi stable software that will occur a couple years affter release?


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## finniganps

Bob Haller said:


> Are you talking about the box with beta buggy software??
> 
> Or the semi stable software that will occur a couple years affter release?


Bob - switch to D* already - you said you'd switch when you sold the rental. It's gone and we really want to hear your input on D* instead of the bashing of E*.


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## RickB

Mark Lamutt said:


> It'll be available long before April 30th. The real question is how many will be available initially.


Any idea of the price of the 942?


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## garypen

RickB said:


> Any idea of the price of the 942?


Free for new subs. A bazillion gajillion dollars for existing subs, plus $5 per month.


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## Mark Lamutt

$699 without Dish, $749 with Dish for purchase, $250 one time payment plus $5 per month for lease. That's what I've heard, anyway.


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## bavaria72

Mark Lamutt said:


> ...$250 one time payment plus $5 per month for lease. That's what I've heard, anyway.


I could probably swallow that. Perhaps this fall after the inital rollout.... :sure:


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## cdru

Mark Lamutt said:


> $699 without Dish, $749 with Dish for purchase, $250 one time payment plus $5 per month for lease. That's what I've heard, anyway.


$699 (or $250 on a lease) :eek2: All that for a glorified 522. I'm sure they will fly off the shelves at that price.


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## Mark Lamutt

From what I've seen, the 942 is a far superior receiver to the 522. It may be based on the same original code, but after reading through all of the current 522 bugs that are being discussed, the 942 doesn't suffer from any of them. Living very close to Dish's location (and doing what I do) has given me opportunity to play with quite a few new toys...


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## steelhorse

Does anyone have an idea what the deal will be for current subs?

thanks


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## sbturner

Mark will the $250 lease deal be offered to existing subs?


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## Mark Lamutt

I don't know the absolute answer to either of those questions, but my guess is that there won't be any deal for existing subs, and that the lease will be availble for existing subs. But, both of those are guesses on my part. I believe that we'll get answers for both on Monday's Charlie Chat.


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## David_Levin

frossie,
One big question is if they will be initially available to existing subs. The 522 was not available to current subs for more then 6 months from release.

Personally, as far as scheduling, I tend to double whatever E* claims. 1 month becomes 2. 6 Months becomes a year. 1 year could easily turn into never.....


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## Raymond Simonian

Mark, do you know if the 942 will be capable of producing an anamorphic image? It doesn't have an S video out like the 921. I really like making anamorphic movies from HD programs sent through the S video of the 921 to my Toshiba RD-XS32.


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## Danny R

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought it just didn't have an S-video out for TV2 output. 

Doesn't it still has an S-video output for TV1 output?


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## Mark Lamutt

No svideo at all - component and HDMI for TV1, composite and RF for TV2. And yes, it can output anamophically from both, as well as output 480i from the HDMI and component TV1 outputs.


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## David_Levin

Well, 480i would be great for me since my DVD Recorder accepts that (wish they would add this to the 921). Bet you can't get HD from HDMI and 480i from component at the same time (nice when watching and recording and removing commercials).

No matter, I've got $1500 in two 921's, I'll not see a 942 unless E* gives me one. I don't see any sense in E* swapping mpeg 2 receivers for other mpeg 2 receivers.


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## Raymond Simonian

Is there any possibility that the 942 can get added software or hardware to make it MPEG4 compatable? Could an MPEG4 future Dish receiver be pigybacked with the 942? How far in the future is MPEG4 expected to be in operation at Dish. Its my understanding that MPEG4 channels will be added to MPEG2 HD channels and that you could still use the 921 or 942 to store HD from the MPEG2. I am trying to get some justification for getting the 942. Is the 942 for lease or purchase or both? I have purchased all of my Dish receivers up to now and have no comitments to Dish.


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## Ron Barry

My understanding is that the 942 will be available for both purchase and lease. The big question will be how long it will take to have a good supply. 

The MPEG4 question is open. There has been no statement that Dish will have a MPEG4 daughter card for the 942. Speculation is that it will not, however at this time there is no official word from Dish on how the migration will take place. DirecTV has stated that they will upgrade their customers free of charge to MPEG4. 

When will MPEG4 occur, last I heard was end of the year. However, with anything having such an impact it is hard to say when this will occur.


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## dfergie

942 wont do me anygood... better off getting another 921...(no OTA)... First owners/leasers /beta testers on both boards ought to fess up and let the rest of us know though...


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## Scott Greczkowski

I got word earlier tonight that a small quantity of 942's will be made available on or around March 19th. The quantity of units released will be around 500.


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## dfergie

This sounds like deja vu ... the 921 was very limited in release...good luck to the owners/leasors/ guinea pigs... I would get one but... no ota and mpeg4 looming and, I like my 921


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## Scott Greczkowski

BTW I just got a note and was told that the 19th is when the warehouses get them, they start going out to dealers on the 21st.


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## tnsprin

Bob Haller said:


> Are you talking about the box with beta buggy software??
> 
> Or the semi stable software that will occur a couple years affter release?


Nope Alpha software.


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## boylehome

dfergie said:


> 942 wont do me anygood... better off getting another 921...(no OTA)...


I thought that there was 1 OTA tuner in the 942? If it doesn't have OTA then it may be less buggy.


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## Ron Barry

tnsprin said:


> Nope Alpha software.


Well I guess your definition of Alpha software is different than mine. None of the Dish receivers ever released at Alpha phase in my opinion.


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## P Smith

I've seen a report - just made c&p from that log:

PID=0892h Sat Mar 12 2005
New FW:'L220'
List of BootStraps and BuildConfigs:
'1[01]1[A0]' 'MA[BD-F][A-DJ]'
IRD Model: DP942
List of Serial Numbers:
[2] 1-4000000000

Also, Dishnetwork spooling the software with never seen speed 500 Kbps !


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## Mark Lamutt

There is no way that the 942 will be upgradable to MPEG4.


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## Danny R

_There is no way that the 942 will be upgradable to MPEG4._

Thats not 100% true.

Open up case.

Rip out guts.

Place internals of new receiver inside

Close up case.


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## Raymond Simonian

Mark Lamutt said:


> There is no way that the 942 will be upgradable to MPEG4.


I definitely made up my mind not to purchase the 942. I have a 921 and a Scientific Atlanta 8300 (Cablevision, primarily for CBS, ABC and Fox HD) in the living room. In the bedroom, I have a 501 and an 811). I will wate until they have a PVR for MPEG4. By then, they will probably make it internet compatable.

I was thinking of replacing the 811 and 501 in the bedroom with the 942. In addition to the MPEG4 issue, the inputs on my DVD recorders don't include component or DVI. The 942 doesn't have S video I would't be able to pass the anamorphic image from the 942 to the DVD recorders.

Still wondering if they are going to phase HD MPEG4 in gradualy. My hope is that Dish will add MPEG4 HD channels but leave the MPEG2 channels in place.

Mark, thank you for all the information.


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## Mark Lamutt

Ray - you could still pass to your DVD recorder via composite.


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## lionsrule

I know this will seem like a very simple minded question to many of you, but I would like to know how units like the 942 and 522 send the program to the 2nd tv? Is it using the phone lines? Or an electrical outlet? 

Up until now, I only have seperate boxes for each tv (921,301,301). I do NOT have any of my units connected to a phone line due to my not wanting to have a phone cord draped across the room (my wife is already a saint to put up with all of my AV obsessions). If a phone line connection is required, I've noticed that some of the higher end power strips have a phone jack built into them....perhaps that would be a solution?

I ask of of this only because it would be cool to have access to our PVR'd programs for our bedroom tv as well as our 65" HD set downstairs. (yes, I realize that it can NOT send an HD signal to the second tv).

Sorry for my ignorance...........


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## DonLandis

Confirm what Mark said about the 942 will not be capable of upgrade to MPEG4. I spoke to engineer working on the 942 project and the deal isn't even as kludgy as Danny R said. The upgrade to MPEG 4 will be the same as the upgrade to MPEG4 for the 921. You will be given an opportunity to purchase the MPEG 4 receiver when it is out! When I asked about credit given for being a 921 or 942 owner, he said "Maybe" 
In other words, we're really asking for definite answers about something that is not going to happen for quite awhile and is not definite. The last official statement from E* on MPEG 4 is that they are studying it for impact. MPEG4 is not a done deal policy as was said of DirecTV and VOOM. Most likely it will happen but I was quickly corrected in that it was not a done deal yet. They are just looking at it closely as a strong possibility.

The excitement I see for the 942 is for those who absolutely have to watch a High def program on standard Def TV in another room the same time as one watches that program in Hidef. Other than that the 921 is much cheaper.


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## volfan615

dfergie said:


> 942 wont do me anygood... better off getting another 921...(no OTA)...


According to the info from DISH the 942 does have an OTA tuner.


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## BobJ2004

What about a Mother board replacement upgrade option on the 921 and 942.

I mean we got the case, power supply, Hard Drives there, you would mail your box in and Dish would put in the new Main Board, its only 5 screws holding it in and the IDE cablle to the hard drive.

Just an idea to lower the upgrade costs for all.


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## SimpleSimon

As nice an idea as it sounds, BobJ, it's totally impractical.

It would require E* to have technicans that could turn a screw. :eek2:


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## tnsprin

Ron Barry said:


> Well I guess your definition of Alpha software is different than mine. None of the Dish receivers ever released at Alpha phase in my opinion.


Alpha software. Limited release, with KNOWN serious bugs that are still being worked on.


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## Ron Barry

tnsprin said:


> Alpha software. Limited release, with KNOWN serious bugs that are still being worked on.


Well the definition I have been familar with in regards to Alpha level code is a bit different than yours. I also don't think Dish has ever released code that I have used that I would consider ALPHA. Guess we differ on that point.

Thanks for the clarification.


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## Scott Greczkowski

volfan615 said:


> According to the info from DISH the 942 does have an OTA tuner.


Yes it does have a OTA tuner, however ONLY TV 1 will be able to use it, the Tuner will not be available to TV2.

Like I said when I first saw and reported on the 942 a year ago, they should have put two tuners in it.


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## jakattak

Scott Greczkowski said:


> Yes it does have a OTA tuner, however ONLY TV 1 will be able to use it, the Tuner will not be available to TV2.
> 
> Like I said when I first saw and reported on the 942 a year ago, they should have put two tuners in it.


Why would it need more than 1? Isn't the OTA tuner specifically there to get local HD broadcasts? Since it only outputs HD to 1 TV, it should only require 1 OTA tuner. Locals on the second TV would be supplied via the dish, just like standard locals come in on a non-HD E* tuner.


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## Danny R

_Why would it need more than 1? Isn't the OTA tuner specifically there to get local HD broadcasts? Since it only outputs HD to 1 TV, it should only require 1 OTA tuner._

Your reasons are valid for viewing HD content, but the primary need for 2 OTA tuners is in RECORDING it in the first place.

With the current setup, if two networks broadcast shows you watch simultaneously (all too often the case for me), you'll can record them both, but only one of them will likely be HD from OTA, with the other being SD from satellite.


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## the_bear

jakattak said:


> Why would it need more than 1? Isn't the OTA tuner specifically there to get local HD broadcasts?


SD materiel viewed OTA looks significantly better than over the satellite. One possible workaround is: go to the guide, hit record on the show, then go to the DVR menu and hit play. I do this on the 522 from my bedroom when tuner 2 is recording something else.


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## bavaria72

E* has it on their web site now. Got $700?

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/products/receivers/dvr/index.shtml


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## frossie

Well. $150 more than the 921.... given that I don't need the multi-room capability, the question is how much is NBR worth  I don't see much difference otherwise?

Mark, will there really be an NBR patch for the 921?


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## Mark Lamutt

frossie, there's definitely $150 worth of difference between the 942 and the 921. It's like day vs night...

And, no NBR that I've heard of yet for the 921.


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## lionsrule

Day vs Night is a pretty strong statement....please give details. I have a 921 and I've been happy with it. I've had about 6 ZSR's in 4 months, not the end of the world. OTA HD is BEAUTIFUL...all networks come in crystal clear.

NBR means NOTHING, I hope your night vs day isn't solely based on NBR. My 921 is STABLE. Yeah, I'd like to be able to send a 2nd signal from my 921 to our bedroom....it would save me the $5/mo fee for our 301 but what else is so much better about the 942?


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## KingLoop

A couple of advantages in your case, one is you get the DVR functions on your TV2 (currently being run by your 301); another is you can view your HD content in 16:9 format on your SD T.V. from OTA recordings or from your HD sub channels. Also you could sell your 921 and reduce the cost for the 942.


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## Mark Lamutt

I will soon enough lionsrule. Yes, day vs night is a very strong statement.


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## frossie

Mark Lamutt said:


> frossie, there's definitely $150 worth of difference between the 942 and the 921. It's like day vs night...
> 
> And, no NBR that I've heard of yet for the 921.


Ok, I trust the almighty Mark.

Now to see how I get one of these things... that husband of mine had better be grateful


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## Mike D-CO5

frossie said:


> Ok, I trust the almighty Mark.
> 
> Now to see how I get one of these things... that husband of mine had better be grateful


 Try this website for a pre order list if you are interested. Mark also takes trade ins to reduce the price of the 942.

www.dishdepot.com


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## Mark Lamutt

I talked to Mark at Dish Depot today about the 942, and he hopes to have a few available by the end of next week, although that may be a little optimistic.


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## Anthony Falcone

I have the 921 and 3/522's and I really think that NBR is worth having . 

I'd like to go for the 942 mainly for the NBR but wish it had an S-video output because the SD picture looks better on my TV from the S-video output .


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