# ASK DBSTalk: Is it a bug or a feature??



## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

I've got a couple of questions about 921 operation that I haven't found answers too yet.

1. I was reding the instruction manual, and it says that if you hold the "SD/HD" button down for 3 seconds, the component output should switch to 480p, and should simultaneously output 480i from the other ports, i.e., svideo, composite, and RF.

This doesn't seem to work for me. I've momentarily seen a component switch to 480p, but it doesn't last more than a second or so. Has anyone been able to get this feature to work as per the instruction manual??

2. I saw somewhere that someone figured out how to adjust the screen placement the same way the 6000 lets you move the screen up or down or right and left with the adjust button in the HDTV setup menu. Is there a way to do this on the 921? I haven't found anything...

3. When viewing an OTA channel with black bars, say a commercial, the 921 appears to do an anamorphic squease of the picture. After a couple of seconds, the grey bars appear to fade in. The resulting picture is two grey bars on the outside, two black bars just inside of the grey bars, and then people in an anamorphic squease. They look stretched out very tall. It is very interesting to look at, and almost humerous in some ways. I can't think of any reason why someone would want to do grey bars this way. Am I missing something??

Software L142HECD-N
Boot 120B
Flash F051


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

#1 puts the 921 into a test mode, meant only for initial setup. If you attempt to run in this mode for an extended period of time you will run into problems.

#2 - It's on page 2 of the View Preferences screen, although some people have reported that the screen shift only moves the OSD around, not the picture itself.

#3 - BUG that should be fixed in the next software version you see.


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## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

Hey, that is great!

Thanks for the info Mark!


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

That's what I'm here for (or at least what I try to do).


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## TVBob (Dec 19, 2003)

jsanders said:


> 1. I was reding the instruction manual, and it says that if you hold the "SD/HD" button down for 3 seconds, the component output should switch to 480p, and should simultaneously output 480i from the other ports, i.e., svideo, composite, and RF.
> 
> This doesn't seem to work for me. I've momentarily seen a component switch to 480p, but it doesn't last more than a second or so.
> 
> ...


Wait Mark, where in the manual does it say that this mode is meant only for the initial setup, or is that what the DISH engineers are telling you? What kind of problems will you run into? I think jsanders has logged a good bug here.

A "safe mode" that simultaneously outputs on both component and S-Video at the same time would be very useful, especially if you connect the component output to an HDTV, and the S-Video output to a VCR or DVD Recorder. Safe mode would also be useful for doing side-by-side comparisons with a picture-and-picture TV that can simultaneously display component and S-Video side-by-side, such as your Sony.

Even though it's "only" 480p, that's the best mode for watching and archiving SD it seems, so this is a bug that really should be fixed IMHO.

While we're on the subject, wouldn't it be nice if you could watch one tuner on the HD output and the other tuner on the SD output? Then you could use the more sophisticated features of your PIP TV instead of the limited PIP services built into the DVR-921 (two fixed sizes, no "picture and picture" (side-by-side) mode, limited positioning options, etc.).


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## tgerrish (Jan 20, 2004)

TVBob said:


> ...wouldn't it be nice if you could watch one tuner on the HD output and the other tuner on the SD output? Then you could use the more sophisticated features of your PIP TV instead of the limited PIP services built into the DVR-921 (two fixed sizes, no "picture and picture" (side-by-side) mode, limited positioning options, etc.).


This would be really great, but IMHO before any new features are added, I really think that all of the known bugs should be fixed first.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Bob - 

My response is based on what the engineers have told me. In safe mode, HD output is set to 480p, and PIP is completely disabled. It's purpose is soley to recover a picture if your output settings get completely screwed up. 

The reason you don't want to run in this mode over an extended period of time is that the receiver will become unstable, forcing a reboot.

I think it would be fantastic if both HD and SD outputs were active simultaneously. It would definitely simplify my life with all of my hookups. But, it's not possible, and it's not going to happen. The hardware can't support it. The physical silicon chips cannot do it.


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## TVBob (Dec 19, 2003)

Mark Lamutt said:


> The reason you don't want to run in this mode over an extended period of time is that the receiver will become unstable, forcing a reboot.


If that's the case, then this is a bug that really should be fixed. By definition, "safe mode" should never crash.  


Mark Lamutt said:


> I think it would be fantastic if both HD and SD outputs were active simultaneously. It would definitely simplify my life with all of my hookups. But, it's not possible, and it's not going to happen. The hardware can't support it. The physical silicon chips cannot do it.


OK, just to be clear, you're saying that it's physically impossible for the silicon to output one tuner on component and another tuner on composite at the same time. I accept that. A new plug-in board could add this feature some day.

But outputting the _same_ tuner on both component and composite already works, at least during setup, and it would be nice if we could make it work like that at any time, as stated in the manual.

Can you please find out of it's possible for the _component_ output to support 480i some day, instead of just 480p, 720p, 1080i? Is this a hardware restriction or a software restriction? We need 480i on component to get the best quality when using a Philips DVD recorder :disk:. The Philips has component input connectors in addition to the usual composite inputs, but it can't record 480p, just 480i.

I was hoping safe mode used 480i on ALL outputs simultaneously, but you say it's simultaneously displaying 480i on composite, 480p on component. Oh how I wish this were not so, as it would solve the DVD recording problem quite nicely.


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## David_Levin (Apr 22, 2002)

TVBob said:


> Can you please find out of it's possible for the _component_ output to support 480i some day, instead of just 480p, 720p, 1080i? Is this a hardware restriction or a software restriction? We need 480i on component to get the best quality when using a Philips DVD recorder :disk:. The Philips has component input connectors in addition to the usual composite inputs, but it can't record 480p, just 480i.


Just a bump - any updates on this? I was also looking forwared to trying out the component inputs on my Philips (even had it wired up before realizing you can't get 480i).

(aren't there also some older non-hd TVs out there that could take 480i?)


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