# Superdish Delay



## Jason (Aug 8, 2002)

Does anyone know the real deal about what is going on with the Superdish delay. It has been posted that the Superdish is not available in a bunch of states including Michigan where I live. Is there a problem with the satellite that was launched in space for certain states? Or is there just a shortage of them? 

I have the 921 preordered but I'm thinking about just cancelling my order because of all this confusion. I don't want to have to get a 2nd dish installed for a few months and then have to upgrade to the Superdish then. If I do that I am not sure that Dish will give me the free Superdish upgrade when it becomes available. Has anyone talked to Dish about this and gotten some concrete info? I can't get any answers from them and I'm ready to just forget getting the 921 at the moment and waiting until Spring when more info will be available and the HDTivo may be an option then as well.


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## Bob Haller (Mar 24, 2002)

The existing satellite doesnt have enough signal strength for all of the country, a major E oversite.

If I were buying a 921 I would wait till spring, that gives time for them to fix the bugs, historically speaking


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## tropicaldreamer (Sep 15, 2003)

Jason said:


> Does anyone know the real deal about what is going on with the Superdish delay. It has been posted that the Superdish is not available in a bunch of states including Michigan where I live. Is there a problem with the satellite that was launched in space for certain states? Or is there just a shortage of them?
> 
> I have the 921 preordered but I'm thinking about just cancelling my order because of all this confusion. I don't want to have to get a 2nd dish installed for a few months and then have to upgrade to the Superdish then. If I do that I am not sure that Dish will give me the free Superdish upgrade when it becomes available. Has anyone talked to Dish about this and gotten some concrete info? I can't get any answers from them and I'm ready to just forget getting the 921 at the moment and waiting until Spring when more info will be available and the HDTivo may be an option then as well.


Hello Jason,
Where abouts in Michigan do you live. I just gave up on E* and went with D* and a Channel Master small antenna. I really like this set up although it doesn't have TIVO. I read today that D* HD TIVO unit will ship 1Q04 and have FOUR HD tuners in it! I will then sell my Samsung T160 receiver and buy that one. I live in Bay City. The U of M game on Sat.in HD was awesome!

Gregg


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## Jason (Aug 8, 2002)

I live in Lapeer, MI. I cannot get HD locals yet in my area. Is it your belief that Echostar is going to launch another satellite that will support the Superdish in the states where it currently does not work in? If not, how will people in the areas where Superdish is not working watch the new HD channels that E* will add next year? I thought that all new HD channels would be available on Superdish only.


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## tropicaldreamer (Sep 15, 2003)

Jason said:


> I live in Lapeer, MI. I cannot get HD locals yet in my area. Is it your belief that Echostar is going to launch another satellite that will support the Superdish in the states where it currently does not work in? If not, how will people in the areas where Superdish is not working watch the new HD channels that E* will add next year? I thought that all new HD channels would be available on Superdish only.


I don't know what E* will be doing. I noticed previously on their website that our area was scrapped until further notice. I couldn't even get on their website today. I really like the picture on D*. The only local I can get in HD is ABC Channel 12, out of Chesaning.


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## Jason (Aug 8, 2002)

I just spoke with someone from the Dish Executive office and he told me that they still do not have any release date for the 921 or the Superdish. The thing that really pissed me off was when he told me that I have to pay $100 to get the 2nd dish installed! So I have to suffer and pay money out of my own pocket just because Dish Network screwed up and their Superdish isn't functioning in my area. I was going to get the free Superdish upgrade but it sounds like Michigan won't be up and running until 3rd or 4th quarter next year. I am going to cancel my 921 preorder and probably end up switching to DirecTV when their HDTivo is released.


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## boba (May 23, 2003)

AMC 15 will be launched 3rd quarter 2004 so you will have to live with the existing AMC 2 signal till then.


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## ClearCom (Jul 1, 2002)

From what I understand, the SuperDISH is being delayed to allow for stock to pile up in inventory. 
According to the last chat there was mention that the 148/61.5 birds will continue to provide HD programming for some time, allowing DISH to get the bugs worked out.

Since I started doing DISH 5 years ago, there has not been ONE promotion, or receiver that has come out that did not need to be updated or tweaked to make it right. Since the SD is more complicated and the dual tuner receivers more complicated, it only stands to reason a continued delay in releasing the product.

DISH effectivedly KILLED my historically best season for sales. I guess that is why I sold 22 DTV systems last month and ZERO Dish systems!!


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## Jason (Aug 8, 2002)

It's official...I just cancelled my 921 preorder. I was on board to get one back in June but the 100 delays and the fact that Dish doesn't have a clue about when the Superdish will be available in Michigan left me with no choice but to cancel. There is a slight chance that I may decide to get one in about 6 months after you beta testers complain enough to get E* to make a software update. I got burned buying the 501 at launch as well as the 721. That is another reason why I cancelled my preorder. Having to beta test a machine for over a year and still not have it worked as advertised leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That HDTivo is looking like a better option each day to me.


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## Bob Haller (Mar 24, 2002)

Yep, if they cant get the 721 software right after so long why does anyone believe the 921 will be better. after all the platfoirm is the same.


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## Jerry G (Jul 12, 2003)

Bob Haller said:


> Yep, if they cant get the 721 software right after so long why does anyone believe the 921 will be better. after all the platfoirm is the same.


Because you so much want the 921 to bomb, I predict it will work very well. You'll have conniption fits over that. :grin:


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## Matt Stevens (Jul 30, 2003)

Jason, me thinks you cancelled minutes before all the good news hit.


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## Jason (Aug 8, 2002)

Matt Stevens said:


> Jason, me thinks you cancelled minutes before all the good news hit.


Me knows that the Superdish will not be available in Michigan until the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2004. Me knows that me will not pay $100 to have a 2nd dish installed. Me knows that E* doesn't know how to write software that functions as advertised. Me knows that the 921 will be buggy as hell at launch just like every other E* DVR has been. Me knows that it will take at least 6-12 months before the 921 will faithfully record the PVR events that you have setup without missing one. Finally, me also knows that the HDTIVO will be superior to the 921 in every possible way and only require a single dish setup at launch!


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## Matt Stevens (Jul 30, 2003)

The Tivo will be inferior because of a lack of FIREWIRE.

DirecTV HD sucks because it is compressed and softened. It cannot touch the quality of E*'s HD channels.


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## Jason (Aug 8, 2002)

Matt Stevens said:


> The Tivo will be inferior because of a lack of FIREWIRE.
> 
> DirecTV HD sucks because it is compressed and softened. It cannot touch the quality of E*'s HD channels.


I could care less about FIREWIRE because I'm not going to spend an additional $800 to buy a D-VHS recorder. Everyone knows that VHS has been dead for years and D-VHS isn't going to extend its life cycle. Sales of D-VHS units have been pathetic thus far.

Until there is a HD DVD recorder available (we are still years away from that), the firewire is useless.

Have you seen a side-by-side comparision of E* and DirecTVs HD channels?


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## Matt Stevens (Jul 30, 2003)

Okeedokee then. You are entitled to your opinion, of course. But you need to be corrected big time on a few things.

$800 for a D-VHS deck? You are living in the past. The JVC30K is around $400 right now (refurbs have been bought for $299) and the 40K is anywhere from $475 to $600 street. I have two 30K's and a Panasonic D-VHS deck. One 30K is a refurb and works flawlessly.

I record using a DISH 5000+Modulator/Samsung SIR-T165 combo and each and every recording I make to the JVC or Panasonic deck is perfect. 100% of the time. If the D-VHS deck has a stable signal, it will record it properly.

D-VHS is not VHS. VHS = crap while D-VHS = High Definition. For a number of years it will be the ONLY option for long term time shifting. 15 to 25 hours of Hard Drive recording won't last most people a month. Hell, I go through that much time shifting every two weeks.

So Firewire will be very usefull, unlike what you say.

As fo DirecTV's HD channels, yes *I have* witnessed a first hand demo of D* vs E* HD content. That's the beauty of a D-VHS. You can bring it along to the home of someone who has DirecTV and compare E*'s broadcast to the DirecTV broadcast. I have done this with a number of films (Episode II, Spider-Man, Shrek, to name a few) and in each case the E* had more clarity and near zero compression artifacts compared to the very compressed D* image. The DirecTV subscriber in question is switching to E* as soon as the PVR921 is available. He's seen the light.

This issue isn't even up for debate. It has been debated to death at AVS forum and confirmed that D* is reducing the resolution of their HD channels and then compressing them down considerably. The reduction in resolution is to keep the artifacts from becoming too problematic. Of course, it is a problem.


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