# At what point in time do we just give up on the 921?



## Ronald K (Jan 11, 2004)

I am there.

I have had the 921 now for 15 months.

During this time my 921 will:

Never be able to archive using the firewire output although it was advertised to do this.

It will not do NBR although it was also advertised to do this.

It has 4 to 8 second ramdom audio drop outs while watching live programing.

Although my local HD stations are only 20 to 25 miles away and I have a professionally installed antenna with rotor, the OTA tuner in the 921 can not go 10 minutes without losing the signal. I had an RCA DTC-100 Directv HD receiver hooked to the same antenna for years before the 921 and the DTC-100 not only picked up my local stations but also picked up Cleveland with no problems.

About 50% of my timers give me an error when they fire. It will not record because it says I am not subscribed to the channel (I am subscribed). I have to pull the plug on the unit and reboot. At that point I have already missed the first 10 minutes so I don't record what I wanted.

In virtually every instance when I attempt to record a show that is currently on (no timer needed), I can not stop the recording. It is necessary to reboot the 921 to stop the recording. Once rebooted the show that was being recorded is lost.

When I go to play a program that a timer recorded, about 1/4 of them are not there. They show zero seconds recorded.

Every download that I have received over the past year has screwed something up that was working and there is no reason to believe that the programers are suddenly going to learn how to program the 921.

Mark - When is enough enough?

I can not take this anymore. The 921 just does not work and never will. Mark, you have been a Saint through this whole thing and I know you are not to blame.

Why hasn't Dish said what their plans are for us? I have about $1500 in the two dishes, the switch and the 921.

It is time for Dish to do the right thing by us. They will likely listen to someone who represents the many unhappy 921 owners.

My I nominate you?


----------



## tahoerob (Mar 22, 2003)

Well, I have started the separation process!!!

It first began when I added Adelphia cable modem & for fun added their HD channels including Starz HD, InHD, InHD2 as well as local NBC HD which I can never seem to get OTA.
They gave me the SA 8000 HD DVR ($7.95/month). It turns out to be a dual tuner DVR!! NEVER CRASHED. Works well with NAME BASED RECORDING, so all my timers worked EVERY TIME. The interface is OK & Adelphia just added Video On Demand. Very nice & good PQ. The only draw back is no 30sec commercial skip (just FF).

So now I have added HBO & Showtime (both with HD channels) to cable (only extra $4/month), DOWNGRADED Dish from AEP to Top 60 w/ locals & HD pak. The only 2 channels that Adelphia does not offer in HD yet here are Disc HD, TNT HD, & local PBS HD. However, other Adelphia locales have Disc HD. If they add that here, then I will drop Dish & sell 921 on Ebay. With top 60, we stilll get the core channels as back up & still kept 501 in treadmill room.

Then I can wait a year for Dish & Directv to hash out MPEG 4 & more HD channels.

So now I get:

704	WRC HD (NBC)
705	WTTG HD (FOX)
707	WJLA HD (ABC)
709	WUSA HD (CBS)
750	HD HBO
751	HD SHOWTIME
752	HD STARZ
770	HD NET
771	HDN MOVIES
772	ESPN HD
774	INHD1
775	INHD2


I cut my Dish bill in HALF. MY cable bill now is basically the SAME as it was for Dish AEP/HD & INCLUDES MORE HD as well as CABLE MODEM and Video On Demand for all the movie channels as and some "free" content!!!


----------



## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Ronald K said:


> . . . It is time for Dish to do the right thing by us. They will likely listen to someone who represents the many unhappy 921 owners.
> 
> My I nominate you?


Here's the deal. Quit your whining and watch TV. Seriously when you got your 921 didn't you think you'd be rolling the dice?? Getting the 1.0 release in *anything * is almost a guaranteed throw away. Look how long MSFT has been working to get Windows right.

Savvy buyers would have waited a while and then seeing the problems reported, reconsidered their purchase.

Why do you think Mark should be asked to carry the water for the rest of us? And why do you think E* cares?? It's not like we're a huge part of their installed base. Who's going to win between Joe 6-Pack and Mr. 921??? Right. My guess is that the 921 has not been a huge financial success for E* for that matter.


----------



## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

JM Anthony said:


> Here's the deal. Quit your whining and watch TV. Seriously when you got your 921 didn't you think you'd be rolling the dice?? Getting the 1.0 release in *anything * is almost a guaranteed throw away. Look how long MSFT has been working to get Windows right.


Are you suggesting that Eldon has done a good job with 921 development?

Microsoft is not a good example for product development. However, there are some differences to note. Mainly that with the 921, the wheel was already invented, it wasn't a new frontier. Dish is in the business selling PVRs. With all of that experience, don't you think they could get it right when it shipped? Why do you think that shouldn't be the case?? Apparently they got the 942 out the door working, according to Mark and Scott, "the way the 921 should have been"! DirecTV got their HR10-250 out the door working as advertised. It isn't unreasonable to expect that level of integrity from a consumer product.

The 921 was, unfortunately, a badly mismanaged product. I don't know the team, or where the exact weak links are (and I don't need to). It shouldn't have shipped when it did, and it should work the way the 942 does now.


----------



## kmcnamara (Jan 30, 2004)

JM Anthony said:


> Here's the deal. Quit your whining and watch TV. Seriously when you got your 921 didn't you think you'd be rolling the dice?? Getting the 1.0 release in *anything * is almost a guaranteed throw away. Look how long MSFT has been working to get Windows right.


I don't understand your comment about "1.0". Nearly all of the problems associated with the 921 are software related and fixable. They are now on build 213. The real problem seems to be that they are unable to truly fix their software. Unlike many consumer electronic devices, they have the advantage of being able to update the software in the field. I think they used that as a crutch when they first released the 921 but then were unable to make it work.


----------



## invaliduser88 (Apr 23, 2002)

I plan to do nothing until mpeg4 hw is available and either Dish or Directv have a good (doesn't cost an arm and a leg) plan for existing customer to transition. Until then, I will continue to use my 921.

Let's see how much effort they take in fixing the current bugs, because there are some significant ones that need to be addressed.


----------



## lapplegate (Jan 17, 2003)

JM Anthony said:


> Here's the deal. Quit your whining and watch TV. Seriously when you got your 921 didn't you think you'd be rolling the dice?? Getting the 1.0 release in *anything * is almost a guaranteed throw away. Look how long MSFT has been working to get Windows right.


JM,
To some degree, I see your point. The problem I have is that the DBS Talk people are just a fraction of the 921 consumers. There are quite a few here that had an idea of what they were getting into and that there would be some trial and error ( the cost of being on the "cutting edge"?).

But E* did not release this thing with a warning. They knowingly put a MAJOR ($1000) purchase item on the market with no public announcement as to what it would take to actually try to use it. As a matter of fact, as stated above, it will not do some of the things it was advertised to do.

What about the 921 consumers that don't know about the forums and can't get this thing to do what it is supposed to do?

There are very few companies that can get away with unleashing a beta version on an uninformed, unwarned public. If you made a major purchase of another appliance and it did not work, you would be upset. E* does address this, they will replace your defective unit. But it will be with another defective unit, as that is all they have.

Do not get me wrong, I have no room to complain. I would love to see this thing work out, but I have my doubts. However, I am involved with this and other forums and knew it would be a rocky road.

Overall, I would do it again. I use my 921 mainly for time shifting of OTA HD and it does a decent job. I have my unit on a timer so it does a daily boot and that helps a lot. I do not, however, depend on it. I use a 721 or 508 as a backup for the "must have" shows. Is that typical of a high end receiver?

I don't keep a 2nd HDTV around to see my shows or a 2nd Audio system to hear them.

I am not trying to bash E*, I do think they are trying, just maybe they bit off more than they can chew, or released too soon.

Either way, it is those "unknowing" souls I feel for. They sunk a great deal of money into an ongoing project, without the proper warning that I had.

Larry


----------



## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

A fun night deep in the heart of NJ last night as well for me, another 921 crash dummy.

This time, I was watching a recording of last week's That 70's show, with 24 recording off of FOX-E last night. Watched the end of the show and was commerciall skipping to see if it caught the last minute which has some funny bits when the credits are rolling. It must have hit the end of the recording, but instead of the OVER screen popping up, it just froze. Remote was then unresponsive. I tried hitting MENU and after 30 seconds the menu screen came up like molasses, I tried hitting the guide listing to try and bring up another channel and it froze on a green screen whch stated it was "loading data.... please wait". I waited and nothing happened. Finally gave up and yanked the plug from the power strip.

Waited the 5 minutes to reboot (WHY does this take so long?). I've lost 5 minutes of my 24 recording as well now. I go to FOX-W (Thank God for waivers), and try to set up a timer for two hours later to record the show again.

But OOPs, the EPG now says "NO INFORMATION AVAILABLE". OK, you POS, I've got your number, and I go and set a manual timer for midnight. It records the show but once again has the wrong label on it as all timers which start at Midnight aren't smart enough to know what show they are recording.

The only good thing I can say is that Daylight Savings time didn't cause any timers to fail (but I knew enough not to create any last week - I feel sorry for the poor souls who don't know what we know and are watching shows that fired 60 minutes in the wrong direction )


----------



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

I have decided to quit worrying about the 921 . In fact I am next in line for my 942 from Mark at DishDepot.com.

He will let me trade in my 921 toward the 942 and receive $250.00 in credit . I also sold both of my 721s on E-bay and got $450.00 for them . With the trade in of $250.00 and the $450.00 I got from the 2 721s, I will have recouped some of the $1000.00 I paid on the 921 last year in May. This will allow me to pay for my new 942 at $699.00. No tax since I don't live in Florida. Got to love that! 

Now I will have to start worrying about the problems with the 942/522 dvrs , since I have a new 522 as well. But at least they have name based recording and seem to work better than the 721/921 class of dvrs. 

The 921 is dead, long live the 942.


----------



## mwgiii (Jul 19, 2002)

I have been pretty lucky.

I have had minimal problems with my 921. I get the "stretch" bug about once a week, but I have had almost no ZSRs.

I am with the 921 until the MPEG4 DVRs come out. At which time I will become a beta-test dummy all over again.


----------



## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

lapplegate said:


> But E* did not release this thing with a warning.


Good point Larry! The 921 ain't a pack of cigarettes! Those have warnings, the 921 doesn't!



lapplegate said:


> There are very few companies that can get away with unleashing a beta version on an uninformed, unwarned public.


Technically speaking, the 921 doesn't fit the definition of beta software! Usually, to be qualified as beta software, it is supposed to be "feature complete", although bugs are still expected. The 921 still, after all this time, doesn't have a complete OTA EPG, regardless of your position on other things, it isn't feature complete. It is technically still in the alpha stage.



lapplegate said:


> I don't keep a 2nd HDTV around to see my shows or a 2nd Audio system to hear them.


Neither do most of us, that is because we can't afford money on such things, and the ones we have work as advertised. Very good point!


----------



## lazaruspup (Mar 18, 2005)

Not instigating anything, but DirecTV did put out the HDTivo without any major snags. Yes, it is a little slow, but it works and works well. As for the 921, I originally pondered the purchase when the 921 first hit the warehouses and I am so glad I didn't. I depend on a DVR to record and record right. If it can't do that, then I have to look to other providers to do it.


----------



## boylehome (Jul 16, 2004)

At this point the best time for a 921 owner to give up on it is when it dies and can't be repaired. Currently, and according to E* CSR, they have no speedy plans to lease the 942 (and it is too soon to tell how it will work), or provide for some type of upgrade process. I just hope that E* will add a few more HD channels before their MPEG4 conversion. Once MPEG4 is mainstream then it will be time to give up on the 921. Looking at it from another angle, with the way the 921 has treated some of us, if I did get another DVR/HD type receiver that works normally without flaw, I'll be quite nervous just waiting for something to go wrong. Now I can say, "look honey it did it again" or, "What in the heck did it do this time?" I have plenty of ammunition to come to DBSTalk 921 discussion. :lol:


----------



## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

kmcnamara said:


> I don't understand your comment about "1.0". Nearly all of the problems associated with the 921 are software related and fixable. They are now on build 213. . . .


I've got a bunch of Win 95 Beta CDs rolling around the house. I'll try to find what the last build was before they went RTM. I think it was something like 390 or 590, I can't remember which, and that was a few years ago. And after the production version shipped, there were service packs. This for a product that was serving millions of end users.

I'm not defending E* in any way. I'm just saying that if you're smart enough to find this site, you're smart enough (or at least you should be) to know something about this marketplace and what you're buying. At least after the 921 had been out in the market for a while. It's not like this product was met with rave reviews (except those that E* paid to get produced :lol: ).


----------



## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

lapplegate said:


> . . . They knowingly put a MAJOR ($1000) purchase item on the market with no public announcement as to what it would take to actually try to use it. Larry


Larry,

I understand where you're coming from. I seriously doubt that the majority of E*'s installed base are interested in the 921 (or even the 942 for that matter). At a minimum, with it's initial release, it was a niche product. And if $1K is a major expense, then I'd expect the consumers to be informed shoppers and not just buy it blindly.

One of the things I like about the 921 is that it does a really good job of handling OTA HDTV chores, much better than the plain vanilla Sammy STB it replaced. That for me is worth a lot and it will keep me with the 921 until I make the decision about my future migration strategy. Which given the state of HDTV programming lately is likely to be with a home theater PC I've just recently installed that has knock your sox off video and audio capabilities, not to mention the fact that it's easy to upgrade.


----------



## TowJumper (Sep 19, 2003)

Cable is going in tomarrow, if it sucks I will try DTV.

Good Luck guys.


----------



## paulrus (Sep 1, 2004)

Just to let you guys know - I spoke to E*'s executive office last night about my 921 problems and this is what they basically told me: SCR3W Y0U

I was told the 921 is a completely functional, bug free device. They said the only thing they could do for me is give me another 921 if mine wasn't working properly. 

When I listed all of the problems I've had and the fact that the dealer misrepresented the 921 as a NBR device (along with the Dish website) she told me that wasn't E*'s problem and that they've corrected the error on the website.

I told her that didn't really help me, since I based my decision on the dealer and the website. Her response was "that's too bad, but there's nothing we can do." - I was then told I should do more research the next time..... nice...

Anyway, I just wanted to give you guys a heads up on what the executive office thinks about 921 owners.

Paul


----------



## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

paulrus said:


> When I listed all of the problems I've had and the fact that the dealer misrepresented the 921 as a NBR device (along with the Dish website) she told me that wasn't E*'s problem and that they've corrected the error on the website.


Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Now that is funny. Corrected the error on their website, ha ha ha ha ha ha. Why not leave the website the way it was and correct the error in their 921 instead! :lol:


----------



## kmcnamara (Jan 30, 2004)

The 921 is bug free? I can't wait to get home tonight and check that out. I hadn't heard that a new build had been released.


----------



## Jon Spackman (Feb 7, 2005)

Mark, is the 921 really still being worked on? should we really expect the team (i realize you assist only to a point (your not a programmer right?) to fix this thing and make it as reliable as say the 510 was before 3.00? Are we wasting time hoping for something that is never gonna come? I can return mine to costco but then i still have to pay extra for a 942 and still ahve to replace it when mpeg-4 gets going. So what would you do mark? wait for software updates that make 921 stable or dump it and get a 942 and pay the extra? Can you really record 3 hd feeds and watch another previously recorded HD show at the same time reliably? I tried one on my dad's 522 to record two and use the search feature and it crashed and had to reboot it. is 942 really that good?

PS if you want to email me that would be fine. [email protected]

thanks Jon


----------



## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

Yes, still being worked on. Trying very hard to get L214 out next week, but I don't know if they're going to make it or not. 

At this point, I really have no idea if the 921 will ever be as stable as the 501/508/510 boxes. My guess is probably not. If they devote enough more time to it, though, I think it can be made as stable as the 721, or the 942. 

I can't really tell you what to do, Jon. I can tell you that comparing use of the 921 vs the 942 is literally night and day. And, yes, the 942 VERY reliably records 3 HD programs while watching a 4th pre-recorded HD program. From what I've read about the 522, and the amount that I've used the 942, the 942 is significantly more stable than the 522 is. I have no idea how they managed that, but it's true.


----------



## Ronald K (Jan 11, 2004)

JM Anthony said:


> Here's the deal. Quit your whining and watch TV. Seriously when you got your 921 didn't you think you'd be rolling the dice?? Getting the 1.0 release in *anything * is almost a guaranteed throw away. Look how long MSFT has been working to get Windows right.
> 
> Savvy buyers would have waited a while and then seeing the problems reported, reconsidered their purchase.
> 
> Why do you think Mark should be asked to carry the water for the rest of us? And why do you think E* cares?? It's not like we're a huge part of their installed base. Who's going to win between Joe 6-Pack and Mr. 921??? Right. My guess is that the 921 has not been a huge financial success for E* for that matter.


"Whining?" I want what I paid for. Frankly I would have been relatively happy after the second download. Unfortunately they broke something that had worked with each succeeding download right up to today when nothing and I repeat nothing works unless I reboot the unit immediately before I use it.

If the 942 works, why are they not replacing the 921s with 942s?

OK I have $1500 invested in something that through no fault of my own doesn't work. I have been patient for over a year. It is obvious that at this point Eldon has no clue what they are doing and never will.

My annual payments to Dish are about $100 per month.. They have my initial $1500 and an additional $1600 in subscription payments since I switched to Dish.

They can't afford to do the right thing by replacing my 921 with a 942?

A good business man would easily recognize that they can't afford not to. If they don't I am going to Time Warner for the same money per month or less.

And Anthony I won't whine when I do. But I can guarantee Dish that they will never get another $1200 per year from me and when friends ask me for advice about an HD carrier, I can assure you that I will make sure that Dish doesn't get there business.

Is Charlie stupid? Are we stupid?

Can someone (Mark?) talk them into doing the smart thing. This has gone on long enough.

From my perspective it has to happen quick or I am with cable.


----------



## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Ronald K said:


> . . . A good business man would easily recognize that they can't afford not to. If they don't I am going to Time Warner for the same money per month or less. . . . From my perspective it has to happen quick or I am with cable.


The smart business man looks at the whole playing field, not a very very small segment (which is what us 921 folks, or even hi-def, multi-concurrent recording meisters represent). If you look around here, I suspect you'd find that most of us came to DBS because of the many problems we had with cable in the first place. So if you think you'll get a better deal from Cox (price, performance, customer service) then by all means unplug your E* equipment and jump on board. Just don't let the door hit you on your ass on the way out.


----------



## bluegreg (May 10, 2004)

Why did I buy the 921?

Since I had a 501 pvr, I couldnt live without PVR and since I wanted High def. It was the only high def pvr from dish that gave an added option of receiving local ota free tv.

did I pay too much?

yes

what do I need to be happy with the 921?

I realy want to see OTA data for free!

or 

an upgrade offer to 942 or later verson since the 921 seems to be almost old junk at this point.

but I must say I love my high def. 

what does the future hold?

and I used to be loyal to dish but the way they treat there customers now I will just go where the best deal is with best equipment and deffinetly most high def channels. I have my 13 months paid for in advance since you get a free month. and then I will decide.


----------



## jsanders (Jan 21, 2004)

I was thinking about this DVR fee they charge us. On a different thread in this forum someone said the CSR told them all DVRs have this charge that have more than 100GB of storage.

It seems to me that this is just dead wrong! I can only record 22 hours or so of HD with this modest sized hard drive. If I could record a hundred hours, that might be a different story. So, what is their story? Why charge us for recording 22 hours? Why charge us for incomplete guide data?


----------



## paulrus (Sep 1, 2004)

Ronald K said:


> They can't afford to do the right thing by replacing my 921 with a 942?


This is something I asked the executive office to do for me, point blank.

The answer I got was (I'm paraphrasing): "If there is a problem with your 921, we will replace it with another 921. However, we will not replace the 921 with a 942 because we see no serious issues with the 921 that would warrant such a replacement."

I spoke to them for probably 30 minutes and they were very firm in their opinion - the 921 is a fully functional device with ZERO issues. If it doesn't do what you want, that's YOUR problem and there's NOTHING you can do about it.

Paul


----------



## tom921 (Jan 21, 2005)

To give an analogy, in 1972 I bought a new Ford Pinto. The Pinto turned out to be one of the worst cars ever built by an American automobile manufacturer. I swore at that time that I would never consider buying another Ford product and I never have or will. I consider the 921 to be Dishnet's Ford Pinto. No, I haven't put Ford out of business but if you compare Ford's world market standing in 1972 to its standing today, they have fallen on tough times. That is because I am not the only one that has voted with their wallet.

I emphatically disagree with a statement made by JM Anthony to the effect that if you are smart enough to find this web site then you are smart enough to know what you are buying. I found out about this site from Dishet's second level 921 support team. I called with a list of 5 issues. The support person had not heard of any of them and could not solve them. He directed me to this site, saying there were a lot of knowledgeable people here. He was right. All 5 issues were well known and had been known for a long time. 

A consumer has a certain quality expectation when buying a product from a major market player. I researched options as much as I could to make the best choice, but I never considered that such a defective product would be sold by a major market player such as Dishnet.

Dishnet second level support also suggested that the 921 unit needed to be replaced but he was not authorized to do so. He said he would have his manager, who had authorization, call me. When I finally got the call, we discussed the problems and the fact that the second level support person hadn't heard of any of them but the people at this site had known about them for a long time. He actually said "we don't tell our support people about all the problems"! It is beyond my comprehension how a company can pay a lot of money for a support team, who are their primary interface for customer satisfaction, and then deliberately withold critical information from them. 

A company that sells such a problem prone product as the 921, has chosen to cripple their customer support team, and claims that the product is functional with no defects, doesn't get the chance to sell me another product. At least the 921 doesn't explode when it gets hit from behind, like the Pinto did. Or does it? I would call support to find out but I am sure that information would be witheld from them. Have any of you had this happen?


----------



## Tomos (Jan 16, 2005)

No I have not tried hitting it from behind yet....

It is still worth actual dollars on Ebay so I'm not going to set it up in the yard and shoot many holes in it with the 243 Winchester. :nono:


----------



## Ronald K (Jan 11, 2004)

JM Anthony said:


> The smart business man looks at the whole playing field, not a very very small segment (which is what us 921 folks, or even hi-def, multi-concurrent recording meisters represent). If you look around here, I suspect you'd find that most of us came to DBS because of the many problems we had with cable in the first place. So if you think you'll get a better deal from Cox (price, performance, customer service) then by all means unplug your E* equipment and jump on board. Just don't let the door hit you on your ass on the way out.


I am the CEO of a large publicly traded company. I know what good and bad business is without hearing your opinion.

Here are the facts:

1) Dish gets $100 per month from me.

2) Other than the cost of a computer sending me an invoice once a month, there are no other direct costs associated with Dish having me as a customer. When I cancel my subscription, Dish 's pre-tax bottom line and cash flow will decrease by approximately $98 per month.

3) Lets say their cost for a 942 is about $500. If they give me a 942 and require a one year commitment, at the end of one year they will be $700 ahead compared to me leaving at this point.

If this is to complicated for you to understand let me say it more simply:

A) If they do nothing, They lose me as a customer, I bad mouth them every chance I get.

or

B) They give me a 942 at no charge. I continue to be a customer, I tell everyone I know about what a class company Dish is. At the end of the first year they have $700 more cash and pre-tax than option "A" above.

Multiply the above times the hundreds or thousands of pissed off 921 owners and it turns into a number that might even impress you.

Like I said - They are morons if they do not do the right thing.

When I left my cable company to become Directv's first customer in Northeast Ohio, the cable company was pathetic. It is a completely different company today than what it was then. They actually want my business. They actually have more HD than Dish has plus all of the networks. They will give me an HD PVR for a few bucks a month. I think that it is an amount equal or less than the Dish local fee that I have to pay just to get the network guide. Their HD PVR works.

And by the way Anthony, you come across as being a shill for Dish.

Mark

We both know that the 921 will never work. No one can speak for us better than you. If you want to help us, get a list of names of people and talk to your friends at Dish. If anyone there has any business sense, the conversation should be pretty easy. And you will be our hero.


----------



## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Ronald K said:


> I am the CEO of a large publicly traded company. I know what good and bad business is without hearing your opinion.
> 
> A) If they do nothing, They lose me as a customer, I bad mouth them every chance I get. . . .
> 
> ...


Yeah, based on your pathetic posts, if you're a CEO of a large publicly traded company, I'm Bill Gates. You come across like a whiny little kid, "Oh, Mark, please be our white knight and save us all." If you were some hot shot CEO, drop and dime and call Charley yourself. :lol:

I think you're a reincarnated version of Stevox, but I'll save that thread for another night.

BTW - I'm no shill for E*, don't even own their stock, do appreciate the way they've taken care of me as one of their customers, definitely in comparison to some of the other DBS service providers.


----------



## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

JM Anthony said:


> I'm not defending E* in any way. I'm just saying that if you're smart enough to find this site, you're smart enough (or at least you should be) to know something about this marketplace and what you're buying. At least after the 921 had been out in the market for a while. It's not like this product was met with rave reviews (except those that E* paid to get produced :lol: ).


Honestly. Which is why I cancelled Dish and went with the (error free for me) HD-Tivo. DBSTalk had a BIG part in helping me decide which way I needed to go.


----------



## MattG (Dec 31, 2003)

For me I gave up on the 921 about 10 months ago. I like bleeding-edge technology as the next person but the gray screens of death and all the buggy behavior pushed me over the edge. At that time I sold my 921 on ebay and actually made a couple hundred bucks from the sale and then I bought a directv HDTivo. I never regretted that decision and other than one lockup 8 months ago my HDTivo has run flawlessly.


----------



## henderson (Jul 6, 2004)

I am jumping ship as soon as HD-Tivo is moved to mpeg4. Unless Dish makes some fantastic offer to offset the poor service with the 921 I am just biding my time.


----------



## Ronald K (Jan 11, 2004)

JM Anthony said:


> Yeah, based on your pathetic posts, if you're a CEO of a large publicly traded company, I'm Bill Gates. You come across like a whiny little kid, "Oh, Mark, please be our white knight and save us all." If you were some hot shot CEO, drop and dime and call Charley yourself. :lol:
> 
> I think you a reincarnated version of Stevox, but I'll save that thread for another night.
> 
> BTW - I'm no shill for E*, don't even own their stock, do appreciate the way they've taken care of me as one of their customers, definitely in comparison to some of the other DBS service providers.


Was I just called a liar?


----------



## erasmu (Nov 17, 2003)

If you are waiting for an MPEG4 HD-Tivo, you may be out of luck. The HD Tivo will probably have the same future as our 921s, work on existing HD channels, but never get any new MPEG4 content. A hardware upgrade will be needed in either situation.

Here are a couple links to info about Directs problems with Tivo and the decision to make their own receivers.

http://www.tvpredictions.com/tivodirectv040405.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20470-2005Apr2.html


----------



## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

Well, just for the record, some years ago, I screamed loud enough (after 3 replacement DishPlayers) that they sent me a 501 for $25 shipping.

So, it CAN happen.


----------



## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Ronald K said:


> Was I just called a liar?


I take it all back. With that kind of perceptive intelligence, you've got to be a CEO.


----------



## Mark Lamutt (Mar 24, 2002)

This "discussion" has far outlived its usefulness. Closing now.

I do what I can to help you guys out because it's what I enjoy doing. But, that said, I work with the technical people at Dish, the engineering teams and the support teams. I don't work much with the executive branch, and as such, am not in a position to lead a user uprising. 

There are others around that are in a better position to do that. One of them runs SatelliteGuys.


----------



## henderson (Jul 6, 2004)

erasmu said:


> If you are waiting for an MPEG4 HD-Tivo, you may be out of luck. The HD Tivo will probably have the same future as our 921s, work on existing HD channels, but never get any new MPEG4 content. A hardware upgrade will be needed in either situation.
> 
> Here are a couple links to info about Directs problems with Tivo and the decision to make their own receivers.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the info. I had heard some rumblings about a possible TIVO/DT spit, it's a shame because Tivo is so dependable.


----------



## welchwarlock (Jan 5, 2005)

Ronald K said:


> I am the CEO of a large publicly traded company. I know what good and bad business is without hearing your opinion.
> 
> Here are the facts:
> 
> ...


----------

