# The end of the 921 - 622 forum?



## Larry Caldwell (Apr 4, 2005)

Like most 921 and 942 owners, I plan to upgrade to the 622 and Dish1000 in April. In the meantime, I am going to be watching the feedback on the 622 very carefully. 

When will DBSTalk be opening a 622 forum? I understand that there are already some 622s in limited release, and now that the announcement is official, there will be a bunch of them shipping. 

The only thing that would make me wait past April is if there are a LOT of problems with 622 performance. If it works about as well as my (admittedly clunky) 921, I'm going there.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Larry, at CES we learned there are 6 VIP 622's in beta test. That is the extent of the beta test program! Let the speculation begin. Release is expected to be after February 1st. Of course you know the upgrade path as announced in the CC. It was similar to what we were told at CES. Just a few minor differences. 
I would say that while you will not be forced to make the switch to the VIP series, you will be in the same boat as 5000 owners if you don't. (21 and 942 owners will be without meaningful service when the VIP series is in full swing during the second half of the year. It seems that those who did lease with the 942 are not screwed, those that were able to buy it paid dearly for that privledge, those that paid a $1000 for the 921 suffered through the development pain and suffering of a half baked technology that was cutting edge for the first 6 months and then got to be just annoying since. I view the switch to the VIP622 as a way to lock us into E* for a long term commitment, 2 years or you pay a penalty. The one good thing about it is the hardware will not cost me another $1000 for 2 years of use. Now I just have to see if the 622 will perform like it should with Dish's great HDTV lineup or will my HDTIVO with D*'s existing lineup be the better deal. It is now but D* is headding down a different path, that of concentrating on mostly LIL HD which is not going to benefit me one bit. Because of a D* policy, E* is looking better now but all that certainly hinges on the performance of the 622. To date, E*'s hardware performance has been deplorable, there beta test program has not produced results, and I have to ask, what have they done different that will make this 622 any better. When I asked that question I was not given any defensive answers. When I ask that question here forum devotees come down hard on me flaming that I am slamming Mark Lamutt, and other volunteers. That is not what I'm doing. I'm blaming the administrators of the E* hardware program, not the volunteers in the trenches. 

So, having said all that, Larry, I suspect you will be waiting long past April if you expect TIVO like performance. If you are willing to suffer along a continued experience as the 921 and 942 ( seems the problems are there just different) users then you can make the switch soon and continue to play games as an unofficial buy in beta tester.


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

Are all 622's going to be leased? I gather from the Charlie chat that the "upgrade" is a trade of our 921 or 942's for a leased 622. Not such a good deal since we already paid $549 - $999 for the "prividledge" of being beta testers for E*.

Also I don't need a professional installer. I already purchased DishPro Plus LNB's and can see 3 orbital locations 119, 110 & 61.5. I don't subscribe to LIL's so I have no need of 129. I need 61.5 for my lifetime Sky Angel subscription. I presume that VOOM will have to stay on 61.5 (incuding, I presume, the new MPEG4 channels) for the subs in the far NorthEast who are out of 129's footprint.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

The only 622s that I am aware of Larry are in the hands of Beta Testers.. As to a 622 forum, I am sure when the 622 releases and there is a need for a 622 forum DBSTalk will provide one. 

I am sure there are a number of us moderators and admins that will be making the shift from the 921 to the 622 and are committed to helping improve the quaility of Dish's DVRs. At this point I know I plan on having one in my house. 

I am sure you saw the VIP-211 forum announced. I would look for a similar announcement when the 622 is out in the wild. For the time being, 622 questions should be directed in the Dish HD forum.


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## Larry Caldwell (Apr 4, 2005)

If there are that few 622s in beta, that means they have not done anything to ramp up production. I'm sure they plan on using Dell's "Just in Time" manufacturing style, but half a dozen boxes is not a beta, it is an alpha.

I have only had my 921 for about a year. I think I paid $579(?) for it. That makes it the cheapest single component of my home theater system, except for the DVD player. Playing on the cutting edge of consumer electronics is always expensive. Fortunately, I have enough disposable income that an $89 upgrade and a $200 advance payment on programming (AKA "rebate", but we all know Dish doesn't write checks) is not a problem. I need a Dish 1000 anyway, since I am currently just using a DishPro 500. I'm also going to upgrade my programming package, so Dish is going to come out of this pretty good.

I have been a customer since '97, so churn is not a factor in my case. They just figured out how to get more of my programming dollars.

I haven't managed to find the tech specs on the 622 yet. There were several technical disappointments with the 921, including the inability of the box to communicate with anything else. I had to buy a separate video capture setup to archive programming off of the receiver. HD programming on the S-Video port produces decent DVD quality recordings, albeit minus the 5.1 audio.

The actual functionality of the 921 has been pretty good, as long as I reboot-reboot-reboot-reboot...



DonLandis said:


> Larry, at CES we learned there are 6 VIP 622's in beta test. That is the extent of the beta test program! Let the speculation begin. Release is expected to be after February 1st. Of course you know the upgrade path as announced in the CC. It was similar to what we were told at CES. Just a few minor differences.
> I would say that while you will not be forced to make the switch to the VIP series, you will be in the same boat as 5000 owners if you don't. (21 and 942 owners will be without meaningful service when the VIP series is in full swing during the second half of the year. It seems that those who did lease with the 942 are not screwed, those that were able to buy it paid dearly for that privledge, those that paid a $1000 for the 921 suffered through the development pain and suffering of a half baked technology that was cutting edge for the first 6 months and then got to be just annoying since. I view the switch to the VIP622 as a way to lock us into E* for a long term commitment, 2 years or you pay a penalty. The one good thing about it is the hardware will not cost me another $1000 for 2 years of use. Now I just have to see if the 622 will perform like it should with Dish's great HDTV lineup or will my HDTIVO with D*'s existing lineup be the better deal. It is now but D* is headding down a different path, that of concentrating on mostly LIL HD which is not going to benefit me one bit. Because of a D* policy, E* is looking better now but all that certainly hinges on the performance of the 622. To date, E*'s hardware performance has been deplorable, there beta test program has not produced results, and I have to ask, what have they done different that will make this 622 any better. When I asked that question I was not given any defensive answers. When I ask that question here forum devotees come down hard on me flaming that I am slamming Mark Lamutt, and other volunteers. That is not what I'm doing. I'm blaming the administrators of the E* hardware program, not the volunteers in the trenches.
> 
> So, having said all that, Larry, I suspect you will be waiting long past April if you expect TIVO like performance. If you are willing to suffer along a continued experience as the 921 and 942 ( seems the problems are there just different) users then you can make the switch soon and continue to play games as an unofficial buy in beta tester.


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## Allen Noland (Apr 23, 2002)

I'm sure we will have a VIP622 forum when they are actually for sale.


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

Allen Noland said:


> I'm sure we will have a VIP622 forum when they are actually for sale.


Again, are they actually going to "sell" the 622 or just lease? From watching the Charlie Chat it appears that they want to take our purchased 921 or 942 and swap it for a leased box (based on the graphics shown on the chat). Also they are insisting that a professional installer has to come out, which is not always true. I have all my Dishpro LNB's in place looking at the only orbital locations I will need.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Considering the life span of these receivers, / DVR's, I would think one would be stupid not to go for a lease deal. Remember what we were told? The 921 would be future proof. Back when they were making that claim we were told it was designed for back plane modular capability and the first major development since the 921 design that could take advantage of the modular concept, MP4 the behind the scenes story I got was a change of tune. Now they say the 921 IS future proof because all you do is trade it in for a new receiver. OoooooKay I guess they skirted around that and they really did back it up with their latest CC claim that for the cost of pro installation you will trade in your Dish500 and 921 plus that cost of $99 and you get the 622 with Dish 1000 installed. (after April 1 ) before it is $299. So, really, regardless of the beta program or lack thereof, the deal isn't so bad, IMO. And if you go for their newest platinum which is like AEP plus HD package plus LIL I think they wave the 622 lease price and DVR fee. I'm still waiting to see writen confirmation on that last part but that is what we were told at CES on our little tour. There was a hint about the cost of purchasing the 622 and it was over $900 but nothing official yet. I imagine they are waiting for D* to announce before stating. For now, 921 owners and 942 owners will be hitting E* hard after April 1st.


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## IamtheEggman (Sep 21, 2004)

I'm assuming the 622 is mpeg4, what features does it have? How many tuners, off air tuners etc.? Did Eldon make it??


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

THink of the 622 as the 942 with VOD and MPEG4.

2 Dish Tuners with one OTA tuner
MPEG4 
Larger Hard Drive 
Supports the TV mode.
No it was not made in Eldon as far as I know.


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## tnsprin (Mar 16, 2003)

Ron Barry said:


> THink of the 622 as the 942 with VOD and MPEG4.
> 
> 2 Dish Tuners with one OTA tuner
> MPEG4
> ...


So until a 622 forum opens, look at the 942 forum to find out what is wrong? Makes sense to me.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

The 942 forum might give you some idea and I am sure they have a common code base. However, the 622 is different hardware with different timings etc so my take would be the 942 should give you an idea in terms of features and might give you some clues to some of the known issue, but I am sure there will be some unique issues with the 622 that are not in the 942 and same goes with the 942 having some issue you want see in the 622.


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## tm22721 (Nov 8, 2002)

Will they transfer all of my recorded programming from the 921 to the 622 just like with cell phones ?

Otherwise it's a deal breaker.


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## tm22721 (Nov 8, 2002)

Oh what's this Dish 1000 ? I just got a Superdish installed last year with two wing dishes all DishPro LNBs !!

Dish is making my head spin !!


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## bytre (Sep 10, 2003)

tm22721 said:


> Will they transfer all of my recorded programming from the 921 to the 622 just like with cell phones ?
> 
> Otherwise it's a deal breaker.


You've got a deal breaker then.


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