# Almost Afraid to Post This !



## Oldcoot (Dec 17, 2004)

I hope I don't jynx myself here but I have now had my 921 for a year and never had any major problems.
My unit is never turned off and is connected to a UPS as well as a wireless phone jack.
The only 2 issues I have had are some momentary freezing of recorded programs and once in a while the format button stops working.
It gets a soft reboot to fix the format problem (maybe once a month) or when there is a download in que, and that's it.

Im I a lucky guy or what ???


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## Rodsman (Jan 29, 2005)

Perhaps it's you! Would you come and lay hands upon my 921 and bless it? It couldn't hurt  

Seriously though, at least someone is enjoying this nutty unit. I'm on my second one and am still having issues with remote responses and these stupid early timer firings. I'd jump ship but where would I go as everyone has issues of one kind or another. All I can say is DISH's MPEG4 units better make up for this or am I just crazy to hope that they can get that right :grin:


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

Rodsman said:


> All I can say is DISH's MPEG4 units better make up for this or am I just crazy to hope that they can get that right :grin:


I have a feeling that the MPEG-4 units are going to have most excellent features and will work rock solid. Why do I say this? They have had all this time to develop, problem solve & correct & adapt. There has been much time for troubleshooting and fine-tuning. This includes feature development. I'm sure that they have already commenced the manufacturing stage so there are plenty of models in stock ready for delivery so there won't be a long delay like we had with the 921. Ah, what am I thinking? :grin: Really though, I think that the HD will greatly expand and will include HD programming on channels like SCFI, WB, FX, UPN and the like.


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## Ken Green (Oct 6, 2005)

Interesting info about the MPEG-4 roll-out *HERE*


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## Raymond Simonian (Nov 22, 2002)

Oldcoot said:


> I hope I don't jynx myself here but I have now had my 921 for a year and never had any major problems.
> My unit is never turned off and is connected to a UPS as well as a wireless phone jack.
> The only 2 issues I have had are some momentary freezing of recorded programs and once in a while the format button stops working.
> It gets a soft reboot to fix the format problem (maybe once a month) or when there is a download in que, and that's it.
> ...


I have had one since Jan 2004. No major problems. I had to reboot it a few times but that is it. Caller ID problems with some of the earlier downloads. Every thing has been good now for months.


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## topom (Jan 4, 2004)

I have also had my 921 since January 2004 - working on 2 years and none of the major issues othrs have discussed. I DO think that given that most posts are with issues that it is helpful to also discuss the fact that many of us have had relatively trouble free 921's - and in my case it was one of the first ones off the assembly line. 

Now whether it was worth $1000....that is an entirely different topic.

:grin:


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

Yo coot, let's hold hands and sing kumbaya. My 921 has been one of the most most stellar pieces of cool stuff I've ever owned. As far as the satguys link for the mpeg-4 reciever, was there any any mention of an mpeg-4 DVR?????


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## invaliduser88 (Apr 23, 2002)

boylehome said:


> I have a feeling that the MPEG-4 units are going to have most excellent features and will work rock solid.


!Devil_lol :thats:


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## Ken Green (Oct 6, 2005)

ntexasdude said:


> As far as the satguys link for the mpeg-4 reciever, was there any any mention of an mpeg-4 DVR?????


nope


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## Ken Green (Oct 6, 2005)

topom said:


> I have also had my 921 since January 2004 - working on 2 years and none of the major issues othrs have discussed. I DO think that given that most posts are with issues that it is helpful to also discuss the fact that many of us have had relatively trouble free 921's - and in my case it was one of the first ones off the assembly line.


I got mine in Nov, 2004, and had hardly any issues with it until I began using OTA a couple of months ago. Had I never connected and used OTA, I would have said the same. With OTA, my 921 is a different animal.


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## rdopso (Jan 26, 2004)

Have had our 921 for several months now and other than a half-dozen stuck aspect ratio issues we have been trouble free. It's a very impressive piece of electronics that one can not do without once it's in the house. It's not perfect, but what is? Keep up the good work Dish -- looking forward to the MPEG-4 version.


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## kckucera (Aug 1, 2005)

boylehome said:


> Really though, I think that the HD will greatly expand and will include HD programming on channels like SCFI, WB, FX, UPN and the like.


Interesting that you say SCFI will be HD (hope it is true), I met a PR guy from DIsh on the plane last night, couldnt help but rag on him about over compressed stations like SCFI. He jumped right into the MPEG4 answer and spoke of 10 more VOOM channels but said nothing about SCFI in HD even though that was the topic he was responding to. Is this from a credible source or more Charlie Chat?


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## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

kckucera said:


> Interesting that you say SCFI will be HD (hope it is true), I met a PR guy from DIsh on the plane last night, couldnt help but rag on him about over compressed stations like SCFI. He jumped right into the MPEG4 answer and spoke of 10 more VOOM channels but said nothing about SCFI in HD even though that was the topic he was responding to. *Is this from a credible source or more Charlie Chat*?


The way I understand it is that once HD via MPEG-4 is on the fly, then some current SD channels will have HD (in addition to the HD LOL's). I guess if SCFI has HD content and links to E* with HD bandwidth, then E* will automatically increase the bandwidth for the HD then can scale back bandwidth for SD. It will be kind like how SD is compressed now but in "HD" version. I'll just say that *what I have stated is theory* even if it is from a credible source.


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## kckucera (Aug 1, 2005)

boylehome said:


> The way I understand it is that once HD via MPEG-4 is on the fly, then some current SD channels will have HD (in addition to the HD LOL's). I guess if SCFI has HD content and links to E* with HD bandwidth, then E* will automatically increase the bandwidth for the HD then can scale back bandwidth for SD. It will be kind like how SD is compressed now but in "HD" version.


Arrggh, hope it will look better than before. I get reruns of some SCFI shows like Stargate SG-1 on Fox at 31-1 letterboxed but not true HD. The image qaulity is soooo far superior to the SCFI channel via dish as to be a total embarrassment to DISH.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

topom said:


> I have also had my 921 since January 2004 - working on 2 years and none of the major issues othrs have discussed. I DO think that given that most posts are with issues that it is helpful to also discuss the fact that many of us have had relatively trouble free 921's - and in my case it was one of the first ones off the assembly line.
> 
> Now whether it was worth $1000....that is an entirely different topic.
> 
> :grin:


I would agree. I had some issues, but it was fairly stable, other than the obvious software issues. Mine finally died when the hard drive croaked. The replacement is worse, as the video output via the line outputs looks like the brightness is cranked all the way up. It's basically become unusuable for archiving.


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## jergenf (Mar 31, 2005)

boylehome said:


> The way I understand it is that once HD via MPEG-4 is on the fly, then some current SD channels will have HD (in addition to the HD LOL's). I guess if SCFI has HD content and links to E* with HD bandwidth, then E* will automatically increase the bandwidth for the HD then can scale back bandwidth for SD. It will be kind like how SD is compressed now but in "HD" version. I'll just say that *what I have stated is theory* even if it is from a credible source.


I'm not sure if the process will involve taking a HD channel and then scaling it down to produce a SD version. With HBO and SHO the HD versus SD counterparts are from different sources. The HD version is always widescreen while the SD is not. If they were to originate it from the same source the SD would be in letterbox all the time. I'm fairly sure that the two versions are being provided by the channel owners and not by dish. This is not to say that the channel owners couldn't use that very technique but they would still sell DN two separate versions of their channel.
Update: TNT seems to be using a simular (but backwards) technique. Often they'll have SD upconverted to HD (which results in better than SD but not full quality HD and also display content as stretched). However more and more they are obtaining source material that HD worthy so the future appears better for TNT-HD.


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## erikjohn (Feb 27, 2005)

Oldcoot,
Saw you from the other post. I have the same exacct expiriece as you and do the same as you except I am not hooked to phone and do not have UPS but do not shut down. That is why I posted where you responded. But this last software has buggered things up. I hope you didn't load it.

EJ


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