# 921 users have you been watching the 622 board?



## henderson (Jul 6, 2004)

I was scanning through the 622 board trying to make a decision about the upgrade... looks like they are having some problems with audio syncing and screen freezing... Think I will wait awhile on that upgrade.:nono2:


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## Slordak (Dec 17, 2003)

Yes, I had the same thought... I haven't placed my order for the 622 yet because I'm afraid that it may actually be a down-grade in some ways. That is, even though the 921 isn't perfect, it sounds like the 622 is (for whatever reason) not yet fully mature. It's odd, since it's based on the 942, and the 942 seems to generally be pretty solid.


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## Grandude (Oct 21, 2004)

I've been watching too and can't get too excited about the 622 considering all the problems mentioned. My 921 doesn't have any of these problems.

Brian


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## tthomps (Jul 17, 2004)

I have also been watching. My 921 is stable, and there is little compelling HD content to get rid of my owned receiver for a leased one. I get my HD content OTA or from a rented DVD.


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## lujan (Feb 10, 2004)

I went ahead and took the plunge, but I'm always a glutton for punishment. I was one of the first of order the 921 over two years ago and am relatively late for the 622 since it's been out for over two months. I primarily ordered one for the ability to record two local HD stations at the same time. I primarily watch the major networks primetime HD shows and often want to watch one and record another at the same time and I currently can't do that. I end up watching one on the TVs digital tuner (no DVR) and record the other one on the 942. Just got the 942 about a month ago when the 921 wouldn't take any more updates. I hope I don't regret it because the 942 has had very little problems.


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## mwgiii (Jul 19, 2002)

I check the 622 threads every day. I don't have to have a 622 until August (college football). I am waiting a little longer to see what Dish decides to do about the following things:

1) 622 stability with the HDMI port
2) 622 purchase option
3) D500+ D1000+ dishes


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## IowaStateFan (Jan 11, 2006)

Just remember, more people will post with problems than they will with praise. That'll skew the posts towards the negative. I'm not trying to suggest that there aren't problems with the 622, but based on the posts I've seen, they are no where near what us 921 users have had to put up with. It wasn't that long ago we were all screaming about EPG data not being there, and that's in a 2+ year old receiver.

I agree with tthomps, there really isn't enough compelling HD content out there to justify upgrading. The extra monthly costs aren't worth it, yet.


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## brettbolt (Feb 22, 2006)

I check it too. I even had a 622 on order and cancelled it after reading about the audio problems and freezing. Right now, it doesn't seem worth it to get the 622 since I don't care about the Voom channels. And the HD locals come in fine with my OTA antenna. I also don't need two TVs at the same time.

Advantages of staying with the 921 (for now):
1) I can avoid the $6 HD Enabling Fee and the $6 lease fee
2) The 921 works well enough now (as long as they don't force feed it with a buggy 'update')
3) I wouldn't get the $200 rebate credit since I didn't have the Voom channels .
4) The price of the 622 will probably drop.
5) Here in Northern California, I've heard that good reception of the 129 bird is difficult to acheive. So even if I wanted Voom and HD locals they would experience periodic signal loss.


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## GeeWhiz1 (Dec 6, 2005)

I read the 622 forum and I don't see enough there to stop me from ordering mine (which I did). I agree that you will hear about the problems, but you don't know how many people are getting along without any problems. I have to laugh because I've seen nothing but complaints about the 921 and now there are a bunch of people talking about how stable their's is.

I do see a lot of people making their decision based on comments without knowing how big those problems really are. My decision was based on whether I was willing to take a risk on a new DVR and whether I would use the additional HD content offered. The answer was yes to both because I have had just enough irritating problems with my 921 to think that the 622 really can't be that much worse, and I do want those extra channels.

brettbolt: I don't understand you comment #3. The rebate is for anyone turning in a 921 or 942. It has nothing to do with having had the VOOM channels. I never have had them, but I'm getting the rebate. And I will have the VOOM channels. We'll just have to see how bad the signal from 129 is.


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## lujan (Feb 10, 2004)

GeeWhiz1 said:


> ... I have to laugh because I've seen nothing but complaints about the 921 and now there are a bunch of people talking about how stable their's is.
> 
> ...


That is so true...


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## Zarom (Jun 4, 2005)

IowaStateFan said:


> Just remember, more people will post with problems than they will with praise. That'll skew the posts towards the negative. I'm not trying to suggest that there aren't problems with the 622, but based on the posts I've seen, they are no where near what us 921 users have had to put up with. It wasn't that long ago we were all screaming about EPG data not being there, and that's in a 2+ year old receiver.
> 
> I agree with tthomps, there really isn't enough compelling HD content out there to justify upgrading. The extra monthly costs aren't worth it, yet.


One big difference is all the problems reported in the CNET review on the 622. That is a much worse review than the 921 got when it came out.

My 921 when it works is great. It has been very frustrating the repeated problems that have occurred with it. I'm waiting.


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## penguin44 (Oct 29, 2005)

Yeah, I am happy with my owned 921. Had it since November. Not too many problems. Stable and runs well. Family seems to like it and like others have said, the HD incentive is not enough to drive me over yet. I am happy with the HD I do get. Between them and my cable providers HD. I am covered. Plus where I live, 129 is impossible to get.


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## Ken Green (Oct 6, 2005)

I got my 622 on 2/16, and kept my 921. I'm happy with both. The 921, for the most part, has been trouble-free during the 18 months I've had it. I still get a freeze/reset when using skip-forward too fast. The other issues (aspect-HD/SD freeze, no info, etc) seem to be gone.

I use the 622 with component, no HDMI on my displays. Other than one corrupted recording, which seems to be a result of a bad broadcast, the 622 has been clean.

In comparison to the simplistic recording interface of the 921, it did take a bit to get used to NBR, a 3rd timer, and single/dual mode recording.


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## brettbolt (Feb 22, 2006)

GeeWhiz1 said:


> brettbolt: I don't understand you comment #3. The rebate is for anyone turning in a 921 or 942. It has nothing to do with having had the VOOM channels. I never have had them, but I'm getting the rebate. And I will have the VOOM channels. We'll just have to see how bad the signal from 129 is.


The E* CSR told me I was not eligible for the $200 credit, since I recently activated the 921 (after the announcement). He said it would only be given to those who's 921's were activated before the announcement (I thought he said they had to have been subscribed to HD channels too).


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## Rodsman (Jan 29, 2005)

My two cents: I've never had too many problems with my 921, well the second one anyway, and so I'm just going to wait until later this summer for my 622. The rebate offer is good until August if I've read things correctly and so I'm good for now. The only thing that might get me to switch is the playback freezes that are occurring with some recordings and the hd "clanking" I'm hearing every now and then. Both of these happened to my first 921 and then the hd died. Besides, my wife said if I do it now, she will in no way listen to any complaints I make given what little she has had to listen to about the 921s:grin:


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## ibglowin (Sep 10, 2002)

I'm keeping both my 921's for the forseeable future. I don't like the trade in/lease rules and regulations. My 921's are working just fine, I get all my OTA channels perfectly plus my local CBS station refuses to allow E* to retransmit the HD channel unless they pay them more $$ for it. I have the old $5 Voom package and cant see paying for 8 more channels I will most likely never watch. I do enjoy Rave and Equator. 

I just sold my old laptop I had hooked up to my HDTV that I had all my CD's ripped to and replaced it with a new Dual Core Intel MAC MINI. This thing rocks. Front Row is great. I added an EyeTV 500 HDTV tuner for a second HD Tuner so now I can record 2 OTA HD channels at the same time and play them back on my main TV. That was one feature I really liked about the 622 since they activated the ABQ locals in HD.

I'm going to sit this one out for a bit longer.


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## Airblair (May 1, 2003)

I'm going to wait a little longer. I was going to pull the trigger on 4/1, because I'm STARVING for more HD programming. 

However, the San Francisco HD-LILs aren't up yet and neither is HGTV-HD, which the wife wants. The word is that those will be up in 2Q of this year (i.e., before July 1).

I do need a 622 in time for the World Cup, which starts in early June.

Plus, I'm hoping that the longer I wait, the better chances I have of getting a 622 from a later production run.


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## poncaguy (Apr 10, 2006)

henderson said:


> I was scanning through the 622 board trying to make a decision about the upgrade... looks like they are having some problems with audio syncing and screen freezing... Think I will wait awhile on that upgrade.:nono2:


Had my 622 for a week now, traded my 921 for it. So pleased with it, trading my 211 & 508 for another one. No problems at all.


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## KKlare (Sep 24, 2004)

Is that a $99 for the 921 and a $299 trade for the 211+508 with some possible return?

I have 811+501 with my 921 so I'm interested. I would like to upgrade SW64 61.5 and 500 for 1000 to get locals and possibly keep 61.5 for ARTS. Would keeping one of the others ensure I get a DP44 to drive 5 tuners from 4 sources?

-Ken


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## KKlare (Sep 24, 2004)

This week I had a nasty experience. The 921 was not acting right. After a front-panel reboot or so it would start up but not finish the reboot, just nothing. Heard some soft clunking, like from the disk. No green light, just sequential red, blue and yellow. Not good.

Called dish and while on the line to Tech--3AM--after waiting it out, it finally booted to safe mode (blue and yellow) and I found it lost all (nearly full) recordings, favorites, settings, and schedule to record. Back to original state.

Did I want a replacement? Devil known or devil unknown? I'm keeping it for now.

Some recordings went back to November. It takes a long time to record to DVD the large number of hours of SD I had. I guess I just have to keep up with it better. I'm near 600 recorded DVDs + 140 commercial with less than 70 of the IMDB top 250 to go.

-Ken


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## mwsmith2 (Nov 15, 2004)

I'm thinking that waiting in this case is not a bad thing. I think they have the $200 offer going for several months. I'll prolly wait a few months to see how stuff shapes up.

Michael


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## Larry Caldwell (Apr 4, 2005)

brettbolt said:


> I check it too. I even had a 622 on order and cancelled it after reading about the audio problems and freezing. Right now, it doesn't seem worth it to get the 622 since I don't care about the Voom channels. And the HD locals come in fine with my OTA antenna. I also don't need two TVs at the same time.


I still get the audio drop-outs followed by pixellation on my 921.


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## UTFAN (Nov 12, 2005)

henderson said:


> I was scanning through the 622 board trying to make a decision about the upgrade... looks like they are having some problems with audio syncing and screen freezing... Think I will wait awhile on that upgrade.:nono2:


Already received our new 622, it's being installed May 1. While there are some posts about various 622 bugs, it's actually a small percentage of the number of 622 users.

How many are posting that the unit is working just fine? As much as folks post their 921's are working fine.

Besides, just about anything is better than a 921.

That said, I will report any and all issues related to installation and operation of the unit.


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## rdopso (Jan 26, 2004)

The 622 cannot possibly be worse than the 921, and from all indications to date it is very much improved over the 921. My 921 will be gone after next Monday when my 622 install is scheduled; and no matter what happens after that, I can assure you I will not miss that bug ridden piece of electronics.


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## madbrain (Dec 10, 2004)

rdopso said:


> The 622 cannot possibly be worse than the 921, and from all indications to date it is very much improved over the 921. My 921 will be gone after next Monday when my 622 install is scheduled; and no matter what happens after that, I can assure you I will not miss that bug ridden piece of electronics.


I didn't think that was possible either, yet ... My 622 sure has a lot of spontaneous reboots. My 921 has had its share too, but never to the same scale as the 622.


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## borfhead (Feb 2, 2004)

I have been watching the 622 boards as well and have taken the plunge. I've had my 921 for over 2 years now also, and have been very pleased with it...yes it has had its moments, but I believe I have gotten good value out of it. 

I took advantage of the $99 upgrade/lease and because I'm moving and bought a second HDTV for the new Media Room, I bought a 622 also. Have an install next tuesday so we'll see how it goes. 

I received both 622's last week and hooked them both up to get their downloads going...on both, they did reboot out of the blue after messing around with the menus soon after the download was done, but seemed fine after that for what little bit I played with the free channels (without activating...) 

I will probably hang on to the 921 for a week or so before sending it back, in case the 622's have major problems...will let you all know how they are next week.


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## henderson (Jul 6, 2004)

To all that say they are going ahead with the upgrade please post and let those of us who are sitting on the fence know how things are going. 
I suspect that those of you who pointed out that the unhappy people are the ones that post are right - so if you are happy with the 622 please let the rest of us know.


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## GeeWhiz1 (Dec 6, 2005)

I have my 622 and it is scheduled to be installed on Friday. I will post something once I get through setting it up.

It's interesting to read over the comments in this thread. I think what it shows is that people read into things what their personal perception is. I knew that I was going to get the 622, so reading the 622 Support Forum just confirmed that there weren't any "significant" problems that I couldn't deal with. Others see those problems as unacceptable and that suits their view of things.

Only time will tell which was the right read.


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## Bradtothebone (Aug 11, 2003)

I've had my new 622 since Friday, 14 April. So far, it has been a TERRIFIC machine and a tremendous upgrade from the 921. The only issue that I have had was that the OTA timers were deleting themselves overnight after a guide update. I found out that this is caused by having the "HD Priority" set for satellite local downmapping. Once I set it for "SD Only," the problem went away.

The HD LIL's in Kansas City are OK, but not great, PQ-wise. It IS nice to have them to record, however, as I can now record 3 local HD programs at once, and I actually get guide info. This is a luxury I never had with the 921, having to set up manual timers for every local network show. I justified getting the locals by deactivating my 6000, which I was using for a second HD local source.

The timers have been flawless so far, picking up every "extended" or "shortened" show, and, more importantly, NOT recording any re-runs!

I realize that, at some point, a software version will probably come along that will cause me heartburn, but, for now at least, I'm a happy camper.

Brad


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## russ9 (Jan 28, 2004)

I'm at least going to wait untill the SF HD locals com on. Then I have to figure out how to deal with "moving" back to Oregon, getting the 622 installed, and "moving" back to SF.


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## GeeWhiz1 (Dec 6, 2005)

Just a note to report on my install of the 622.

The installer just left. So it's too early to report on any reboots or other problems with the 622 itself. But the install was great. He actually called and asked if he could come early.

The installer replaced my Dish500 with a Dish1000. He also installed a DPP44 switch. All went smoothly. The system was authorized quickly and all the downloads worked the first time. The actual install took about an hour.

So I probably won't be visiting the 921 Support Forum much anymore. My 921 is in the box and ready to go back so that I can get that rebate.


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## skassan (Jan 10, 2004)

henderson said:



> To all that say they are going ahead with the upgrade please post and let those of us who are sitting on the fence know how things are going.
> I suspect that those of you who pointed out that the unhappy people are the ones that post are right - so if you are happy with the 622 please let the rest of us know.


I had my install on Friday afternoon. No major problems encountered yet. One instance of sound but not picture after power on, but simply power off/on (with the remote) fixed it.

I noticed that the skip ahead is MUCH faster than on the 921. I have to retrain my commercial skip finger.

You can also PIP while watching HD!


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## GeeWhiz1 (Dec 6, 2005)

Just a quick follow up.

We are loving our 622. We used it all weekend, including setting up timers and watching a bunch of stuff. I am definitely satisfied that we made the right move to get it now.

We did have one "reboot" in the afternoon after our install. Then in doing a little research I found out that there is an inactivity timer. If you don't do something with the receiver, it will turn itself off after a specified amount of time. The default seems to be 4 hours. Ours managed to turn itself off just as a timer was about to fire. So we had to set the timer for a later showing and it worked perfectly.

I know that there are people who have had problems with their 622s. But so far, we haven't had any problems.


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## guruka (Dec 27, 2003)

I had almost no problems with my 921. Owned it since Dec 2003. I just sent off to Dish for the $200 rebate yesterday. My 622 is light years ahead of the 921. Much faster, much better software, much better video output quality (no artifacts, no overscan, better color balance) and the timer handling is much better as well. I had two dishes (110/119 and 61.5) and I just added a third dedicated dish for 129. I loved my 921, but I'm not at all sorry to see it go. Also, I've had zero problems with my 622. No BSDs, no reboots, no problems at all. Not even one. It's a rev. D 622 and it's totally stable. Trust me, you do want a 622. You won't ever look back.

.....G


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## debpasc (Oct 20, 2005)

I have had the 622 for 24 hours, not enough time to really know how it will perform. So far though, it is lots faster and easier to use. I have not had the reboots others are complaining of, my timers fired correctly, and it does not run as hot as so many others have advised. It is quieter than the 921 but not by too much. My installer spoke very highly of the 622, thinks it is a quality piece of equipment, says he has had good experience with them in the field, and said he could recall no problems he had been called for after installation. So I guess I'm off to the 622 board, but if I end up with any real issues, I'll drop a note back here for the remaining 921s.


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## borfhead (Feb 2, 2004)

Just boxed up my 921...installed two 622's this week and they are both working great! Only thing I can say I noticed for just a little bit was some video stuttering on a recorded CSI, but haven't seen it since. Much faster menus and having TV2 is really working out great for my setup....even though I thought I had a pretty decent 921, even up to last week it seemed to be acting a bit quirky...so I say take your chances and upgrade, I think the percentages will be with you to get a great box!


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## debpasc (Oct 20, 2005)

Dropped my broken 921 and it's replacement 942 off at UPS today. UPS staff were hysterical when I walked in the door. I was already their 4th Dish box drop off today and they said they do at least that many every day. They wanted to know what was going on. They said their drivers are buzzing with how many Dish boxes they pick up and/or deliver each day. Either there is lots of upgrading going on or lots of broken boxes going back.


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