# 921... Should I open the box?



## highpwr (Jan 19, 2005)

I purchased a 921 recently and then I found this forum and the descriptions of it's many short comings. UPS delivered the 921 today and I am wondering if I should open the box or just send it back to where it came from? Can the 921 perform most of it's basic functions in a half way decent manner or is it going to be the center of all problems in my home entertainment gear?

I am hoping someone will have something good to say about the 921 as my dish installation is scheduled for next week.


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## 4joe2c (Jan 17, 2005)

Go for it. I read about all the problems some folks have had with the 921. I haven't had any (except connecting a GoVideo VHS/DVD combo). The few questions I had were resolved with calls to Dish support. I had initial complaint about the loud sound of either a fan or hard disk running all the time; Dish said I could send it back for a replacement. However, the sound got quieter, and I've now discovered that it gets louder and quieter throughout the day. Dish says it is probably downloading program data when it is loudest.

My only real complaint about the 921 and about Dish is what I feel is a misrepresentation about HD. I bought the HD package and the channels I get are truly phenomenal on my Toshiba 52 DLP television. But as others have pointed out, you cannot receive a program broadcast in HD unless you get it via antenna, an impossibility for me as I live 100 miles from the nearest major market. I was told and believed that if a program was broadcast in HD and you had an HD TV and an HD receiver, your viewing would be in HD. So I bought a new TV, I bought the 921, and now I find that only the channels in the HD package are truly HD. Much of the SD programming is pretty poor, although some are decent. HBO, for example, looks good in SD; it is smashing in HD.

To allay your fears, remember that most people who are happy do not post "complaints" on bulletin boards like this. That said, I do have these questions I wish Dish would answer candidly:

1) when can we expect more HD programming?
2) Dish apparently has a newer PVR ready to market to replace the 921; will Dish take back the 921 in a reasonable trade?
3) is there anything that can be done to improve SD viewing? the quality of the picture varies from channel to channel and sometimes from one time of day to another.


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

I'm happy with my 921 for the most part. My previous receiver was a 4000, so I jumped up several generations in technology.

I can not speak about the SD vs. HD performance, as I only use the SD outputs at this time (to a 27" Sony Trinitron). I must say that the "PQ" on the SD channels are 90% better than what I saw from the 4000. My main reason for getting the 921 was for OTA locals in digital and for the PVR. While it's not perfect, it's a whole lot better than the analog OTA I hade been receiving, and as I said before the SD satellite channels look better a well.


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## highpwr (Jan 19, 2005)

4joe2c said:


> My only real complaint about the 921 and about Dish is what I feel is a misrepresentation about HD. I bought the HD package and the channels I get are truly phenomenal on my Toshiba 52 DLP television. But as others have pointed out, you cannot receive a program broadcast in HD unless you get it via antenna, an impossibility for me as I live 100 miles from the nearest major market. I was told and believed that if a program was broadcast in HD and you had an HD TV and an HD receiver, your viewing would be in HD. So I bought a new TV, I bought the 921, and now I find that only the channels in the HD package are truly HD. Much of the SD programming is pretty poor, although some are decent. HBO, for example, looks good in SD; it is smashing in HD.
> 
> To allay your fears, remember that most people who are happy do not post "complaints" on bulletin boards like this.


Well I guess I lucked out as I am about 30 miles from a major HD market and currently receive many HD OTA channels on my Samsung set top box. Hopefully the 921 can do as good a job or be better than the Samsung box. And yes I do realize that complaints are the major topics on bulletin boards. It's just that the 921 complaints seem to overpower the positive comments by a large margin and this had me worried.


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## bbomar (Oct 18, 2004)

highpwr said:


> I purchased a 921 recently and then I found this forum and the descriptions of it's many short comings. UPS delivered the 921 today and I am wondering if I should open the box or just send it back to where it came from? Can the 921 perform most of it's basic functions in a half way decent manner or is it going to be the center of all problems in my home entertainment gear?
> 
> I am hoping someone will have something good to say about the 921 as my dish installation is scheduled for next week.


We've discussed this before - see these threads:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=37160
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=37661

A lot of folks are happy with the 921 despite its problems and I include myself
in that number.


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## ClaudeR (Dec 7, 2003)

It's ok, may even get better.


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Do the manly thing, pop the top and enjoy. No it's not perfect, but I've got a 61" Sammy DLP and my 921 does a great job of keeping it happy. I've had mine for about 9 months and am pleased with it's performance. It does a pretty solid job of handling OTA reception. Again, not perfect (I wish it was more sophisticated in how it managed multipath), but worth the price and I paid $1K for mine.


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## highpwr (Jan 19, 2005)

Well the box is now open and manual is out on the table......let the fun begin.


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## LindaT (Dec 16, 2004)

I just received my 921 and I have it scheduled for installation on Saturday 1/29. I am really anxious about this as I have read all the good/bad experiences on this board, but decided to go forward anyway.

I am hoping my 921 experience will be as good as my 721, (a really sweet toy!) which I am moving to my 35" Toshiba dual tuner in another room. The 921 is going on my 65" Mitsubishi dual tuner HD in the family room, the primary viewing area.

I can't believe I have to wait over a week for someone to come out and install this, but, I understand that I need an additional line (for the 721) and a DP34, as I have a total of three sets off the 500. 

D* would not give me the name of the installer company, or I would try and contact them directly.


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## zer0cool (Nov 24, 2004)

Yes, the 921 complaints do far outnumber the positive comments about it on these forums, but you have to consider that: (1) as stated before, unhappy voices are much louder than happy ones. When you are happy with your 921, you are usually watching TV, and when it flakes out, you post about it.
(2) The most important function of these forums is support between 921 users, and feedback to Dish so they can hopefully improve their product.
I've posted a few problems I've had with my 921, but never an out and out "I hate this thing" post. Overall, I'm as happy with it as I was with my 721, and 508 before it, with the added bonus of HD.


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## Tomos (Jan 16, 2005)

Location: Brooklyn NY
Posts: 18 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well we have DirecTV and are strongly considering switching back to Dish. We now hate DirecTV and are waiting until our stupid one year contract is over. As for the Tivo being stable. Don't beleive it. It has one major bug (b&w) that will annoy you. Also other things I am not going to get into like crappy 30 minute buffer and other things. Also we hate the way DirecTV organizes their channels. Really unorganized. PPV's in the front. Shopping channels all spread out. News channels all spead out. Dish was better organized and we actually known the channels. DirecTV with their disorganized mess we still don't know where half the channels are. As for HD. I don't care one bit for it and it is stupid to cancel a good thing to go with DirecTV. Like I am going to pay over $2000 for a overpriced HDTV. They can keep them.


A post I found on another forum and I asure you it isnt alone.

Their is no longer any green grass left, it has all been mowed. These days I guess all we can hope for is good health, laugh at the rest eh.


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## Seb (Jan 11, 2005)

I've now had my 921 for 3 weeks. So far I have ran into 1 bug. ( Aspect button bug, solved by a power button reboot). All my OTA HD, SD, etc recordings have gone off without a hitch, no 0 length recordings, no lockups, etc. Overall all I'm pretty damn satisfied with it. I have my 921 hooked up to a Samsung 62" DLP over DVI and set to 1080i. 

The only "special" things I do is make sure that I always put the unit into standby mode each night and have both the TV and the 921 attached to a 500 Watt UPS. ( This was done mainly for the TV since there is a rather expensive bulb in that sucker )

Ofcourse. now that I've praised the unit I'm sure to hit some new bugs.


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