# 921 to 942 Users - Are you happy with it?



## nextime (Jan 28, 2004)

I'm thinking of making the switch from 921 to 942 and I would like to know from the people who have done this if they are satisfied. What 942 features do you really like and use that the 921 doesn't have? Can you record three programs at once? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Read my review, nextime. I talk extensively about the differences in part 1.


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## kspeters (Aug 12, 2003)

I like mine so far. A couple of small issues to remedy but all in all, I like it much better.


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## rjenkins (Jul 18, 2002)

I've recently switched from the 921 to the 942. I'm *very* happy with the 942. Only a couple minor problems and annoyances.

First, it refused to recognize my phone line. This will result in an extra $5 charge per month for me.  Not sure if I just have a bad modem in my 942 or what, but it sucks. 

Second, since the OTA channel guides aren't complete (same as on the 921), setting up timers for digitial channels that are missing guide information is a lot more of a pain on the 942. With the 921, you could setup a timer using say 005-01 and then edit the timer and change the channel to 005-02, which wasn't too bad. On the 942, when you edit a timer, you can't change the channel. So the only way to create a timer for a channel like 005-02 (which in Salt Lake is NBC-HD and has no guide information) is to do a complete Manual Timer, manually selecting the channel and time of the show you want. More of an annoyance, but still a pain in the butt.

Third, when the 942 crashes, it seems to come up with a HardDrive diagnostic screen, which can be a little scary, since the screen makes it look like your 942 is undergoing melt-down and might never come back.

But the improvements outweigh those problems. Name based recording rocks. The user-interface is nice and much faster than the 921. SD programs look crisper on the 942. Being able to record 2 satellite and 1 OTA at the same time is a big plus for me, also.


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## sampatterson (Aug 27, 2002)

Just installed a 942 to replace my 921 in the living room. After only about 8 hours... I LOVE IT. It seems to be what the 921 should have been.

The biggest plus is the picture quality improvement. The video driver/chipset in the 942 (for dvi/hdmi) seems to be MUCH better than the 921. The picture looks much better in SD, and even noticeable better in HD. The Widescreen guide is also nice.

So far haven't hit any of the 942 bugs but hopefully they will be more forthcoming on fixes than the 921 team.


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

Love the 942 !! 

I only hope the new mpeg4 receivers next year will be based on this kind of receiver but with more sat tuners(4) and at least 2 ota tuners. This receiver really blows the 921 out of the water. I am so glad that I traded the 921 in on this new receiver.  

Now someone else can sit around waiting around for the software updates that will someday fix that little 921 gem.


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## M492A (Nov 18, 2004)

Ditto everything sampatterson and Mike D-CO5 said. 

I ordered mine from DishDepot on March 27th and got it yesterday. The overall look and feel of the 942 interface is SO much nicer and more professional-looking than the 921's. And it's very snappy - the 942's response to button presses is virtually instantaneous. I especially like the widescreen extended-format guide and having NBR capability back (I own a TiVo as well).


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## John Corn (Mar 21, 2002)

I also like my 942 alot better than 921, couldn't be happier.


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## mrplow (Dec 10, 2004)

The best thing we ever did was send back the 921. Being able to record three things at once is really cool!


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## pthibode (Apr 26, 2005)

If you have legacy switches, budget both a 942 and updated switches. Dish was NO help for me in even acknowledging the problem and suggested 15 minutes every single day wasn't a big deal and I don't deserve any service credits nor do I deserve a discount on upgrading to DishPro LMBs/switches.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

pthibode, welcome to DBSTalk. The legacy LNB problem is a bug in the current software version, that will be fixed in the next software download. The fix is in testing now.


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## Mike Johnson (Jan 16, 2005)

Mark,
Could you recap the problem with legacy switches and LNBs? I've read some of the posts, but I'm not clear on what's going on. I have a SW64 and three legacy LNBs and I haven't noticed anything unusual. I do put my 942 in standby every night.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

You're lucky, Mike. Others with various legacy LNB/swich configurations are experiencing loss of video with each nightly update, and are seeing switch error boxes popup from time to time.

The fix for this is in testing now.


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## Shani (Sep 23, 2004)

Yes! Happy!

Got my 942 yesterday from Mark/Dish Depot. It is so much better than the 921. I don't even mind the few bugs... compared to the 921 bugs there just aren't that many. I do want them fixed, specially like the zoom/stretch in HD, but like I said, the 921 had worse problems (0 recordings, etc).

So, I am HAPPY! Record 2 HD, 1 OTA, watch recorded show, all at same time... tis GREAT! And NBR that we 'once upon a fairy tale time' thought the 921 would have, love it!


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## Parp (Jun 19, 2004)

Received my 942 from Dish Depot yesterday. So far, I am very happy with it. Seems to get along with my Vonage line... OTA guide data works fine for me (including my adjacent DMA!) with the exception on my local PBS, which is no surprise. I think this thing could be a winner!

It'll be so nice to put the 921 experience behind me... Probably won't be checking in here quite so often anymore! 

Mark, add my vote to the list for discrete power, and display setting switching! (And THANKS for all of your hard work around here!)


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## Allen Noland (Apr 23, 2002)

I've had my 942 for about a week. Currently I have more "Glitches" with the 942 than the 921. Of course I'm not running L213 on my 921.

The 942 was working fine last night when I went to bed, but when I turned it on this morning it couldn't tune to any satellite channel and the OTA had audio but no video. The only way to fix it was to do a switch check. It was trying to tune to channels on 61.5 satellite. I'm on 119,110,148. Very strange.


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## deweybrunner (Feb 8, 2004)

Allen, you probably have the legacy lnb. I'm changing mine out tomorrow.


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Allen's dishpro. I think there's a bug in there somewhere as well.


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## Jeff McClellan (Apr 22, 2002)

Was


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## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Huh?


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## Jeff McClellan (Apr 22, 2002)

Sorry Mark, I was refering to the question of the thread. This is still the best out their but this OTA weakness has us bummed out.


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## kstevens (Mar 26, 2003)

Any noise about 942 upgrades yet?


Thanks,

Ken


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## vivek1263 (Jul 2, 2004)

nextime said:


> I'm thinking of making the switch from 921 to 942 and I would like to know from the people who have done this if they are satisfied. What 942 features do you really like and use that the 921 doesn't have? Can you record three programs at once? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


I clearly have mixed opinions. I have 3 921's all of which work better than the 942 in some respects. Granted that 921 had its set of issues but one year of software upgrades and bug fixing is a lot better than the buggy 942 which I think will eventually be an excellent receiver (probably obsolete by then with the new MPEG technology on the horizon). The things that I find currently unbearable are 
1. My OTA ANTENNA is clearly inferior to the 921. Cannot pick up 2 of my OTA channels which the 921's pick up like a breeze. Dish is unaware of the problem and do not promise a fix.
2. No stretch modes for OTA channels. I am stuck with watching OTA channels in 4:3.
3. No analog channels support

Good things about the 942 that I like

1. sleek look and a lot lighter
2. Home distribution will help you cut down on the extra receivers that you were donating to Dish
3. Guide, menus are arranged a lot better and easy to access.
3. Name based recording

With the price tag and the problems I am having clearly is making me think of going back to my 921. I am holding on right for now to see if they can fix the bugs and hopefully I will be a proud owner of this equipment

Vivek


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

Just a suggestion:

IF you will put your format guide into 4x3 2 you can have control over your ota and hd channels on format issues. I do this and I can place my picture format into strectch which looks the same as normal in 16x9 . On my ota channel 6 (CBS) when they show sd programming I have to hit zoom , but it will fill the screen , just like the sd programming on the satellite channels. 

THis work around, works fine for me and it is a minor inconvience to put up with till they fix it in a software update. Most of my programming is still sd and there are only a few hd channels in comparison to the sd channels . Try this and see if this works for you.


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