# How much life left on 942



## dojoman (Jan 12, 2006)

So anyone knows when E* will convert all HD channels to MPEG4? Eventually 942 will become obsolete but when?


----------



## Neil Derryberry (Mar 23, 2002)

There aren't any known plans for such a conversion.. at least none that I have heard - i dare say that anyone who might claim to "know" that isn't employed by E* is just plain wrong. Given the fact that some of E*'s oldest receivers still work and can receive service my bet is that the hard disk will fail before the unit would ever be obsoleted.


----------



## Jason Kragt (Dec 20, 2002)

I read that they will convert all HD to MPEG4 by April of next year. The fact that they won't even sell the HD Package (unless you are grandfathered) indicates that they are serious about this. They want to get as many as they can to upgrade to the 622 so that they won't have to turn off existing HD channels to customers.

Even after that happens, the 942 will not be obsolete. It will be able to receive SD programming from satellite and record huge amounts of it on the hard drive. It will be able to receive and record OTA HD broadcasts. The only thing the 942 won't be able to do is receive any satellite-delivered HD channels.


----------



## dojoman (Jan 12, 2006)

April next year seems quite soon for total conversion which means I will also have to upgrade my 811 also.


----------



## Jon Spackman (Feb 7, 2005)

Here we go with the speculation. 

Fact: Dish has a lot of HD customers.
Fact: Dish just barely released mpeg-4 boxes.
Fact: Dish wants to keep their HD customers.

Bottom line: Dish may, if ever, change all HD channels to mpeg-4 when they have many more mpeg-4 receivers in their HD customers hands.Its just doesnt make sense to upset that many people. April seems like an early estimate. (Where did you "read" that april is when?)

Jon


----------



## Neil Derryberry (Mar 23, 2002)

Since this isn't a direct request for support I've moved the thread here..


----------



## zephyr (Jun 25, 2005)

more pure speculation:

If it is a business goal to move to MPEG4 completely in one year, the company incentives (trade-in value, lease deals, etc.) to get customers to return their MPEG2 receivers should increase over time, not decrease. This at the same time that market resale values will continue to go down.

My market (Grand Rapids, MI) is not even on the schedule for satellite HD locals, so except for VOOM and a few other channels, there is not much incentive to take a loss on a six-month-old receiver.


----------



## zephyr (Jun 25, 2005)

Neil Derryberry said:


> Since this isn't a direct request for support I've moved the thread here..


where's here?


----------



## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

j5races said:


> Here we go with the speculation.
> 
> Fact: Dish has a lot of HD customers.
> Fact: Dish just barely released mpeg-4 boxes.
> ...


I figure they will time it to about the time all the old HD pack customer's contracts run out. Considering that they were signing customers to 2 year deals under the old package thru late 2005, they probably won't cut totally to MPEG4 until the end of 2007.


----------



## dave1234 (Oct 9, 2005)

LtMunst said:


> I figure they will time it to about the time all the old HD pack customer's contracts run out. Considering that they were signing customers to 2 year deals under the old package thru late 2005, they probably won't cut totally to MPEG4 until the end of 2007.


My quess is also 2 years, but I have absolutely no data or theory to back it up. I'm holding on to my 942 for now hoping a better deal will come along in a couple of years. That's assuming I can resist the temptation to aquire a 622...


----------



## IowaStateFan (Jan 11, 2006)

dave1234 said:


> My quess is also 2 years, but I have absolutely no data or theory to back it up. I'm holding on to my 942 for now hoping a better deal will come along in a couple of years. That's assuming I can resist the temptation to aquire a 622...


FWIW, *my guess *is that it will be a lot longer than 2 years. The reason that they are switching to MPEG4 is because of bandwidth issues. I suspect the move to MPEG4 is to make room for the locals, which means that the current MPEG2 stuff will be a very small part of their HD (50 markets this year @ 4 channels per market = 200+ new channels this year alone compared to the 15 or so in MPEG2). Switching the old stuff over won't gain them much bandwith in relation to their total needs. They'd also be making all of the older receivers nearly worthless. They are probably carrying the leased receivers on their books, and would have to write them off. On top of that, they'll just make existing customers mad. I think they will just keep the current stuff in MPEG2 and let natural attrition get everything switched over. Someday when there are only a handful of 921/942 subscribers out there they may force the issue, but I don't see that happening for a long time (probably 5 years or longer).


----------



## ken310 (Feb 25, 2006)

One of their (e* advance techs, [email protected] 9tk) said "when we bought our 942's we did so for the hd content that was available at that time", mpeg 2.
I don't think they'll pull the mpeg 2 plug anytime soon. If the 942 couldn't get hd satellite content (mpeg 2) they couldn't call it a hd satellite receiver any more. In the 942 we did pay for the top of the line HD/DVR's regardless of how they have now become antiquated equipment, in the hd market anyway.
Now this one seems to change like the weather but at one time actually on 2/24/06 e*'s corporate rep Ruth: tlz said that "they were not going to allow any New hd accounts (mpeg2) with the 942 as the primary hd receiver." In other words unless your Grandfathered in you can't get a 942 activated for hd. So in my mind that and the mpeg 2 limits on the 942 make it already obsolete as a hd receiver. If I buy the 622 I certainly wouldn't need the 942 anymore and anyone else that might use it can only use it for sd tv and the ota hd if they want it and their hd tv doesn't have a ota hd tuner.
I have satellite because I live on the outer banks of NC and there really isn't any ota either sd or hd but my new tv has the ota tuner and I expect most of the new hd tv's will also?? 
So bottom line what's the 942 worth? Less and less everyday, probably about what their going to offer us for them April 1st $200 maybe a little more depending on how old they are. $$$ OUCH $$$


----------



## normang (Nov 14, 2002)

The 942 will be an HD receiver as long as it can receive OTA HD.. Whether you personally are situated to use a 942 as a OTA HD receiver, maybe another question.. Dish may not activate it for HD Content, but they can always activate for any non metal package for SD and you will rely on HD OTA as your HD source.


----------



## ken310 (Feb 25, 2006)

Please note I said "they couldn't call it a hd satellite receiver any more." Key word being "satellite".

I'm sure e* is contractually obligated to supply mpeg2 but for how long is the real question. They will pull the mpeg 2 content just as soon as they can legally OR after they can legally and their no longer Profiting from it.


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

E* is only "contractually obligated" to deliver MPEG2 HD until they stop delivering it. There are people who signed a year commitment to subscribing to the old HD pack ... but if the pack is no longer available (due to being converted to or flagged MPEG4) the commitment ends.

It would be an unpopular business decision but they don't have to continue to provide any channel or set of channels. E* can simply end the availability of the $9.99 HD and $5 Voom packages (which are already not available to new subscribers and cannot be added). E* won't do this for a while because it does not benefit E* to drop the services.

But there is no obligation.


----------



## zeekle (Jun 18, 2005)

I would say its got life left as a SD DVR reciever. You can record a ton of non hd content on one of them. 

Aside from that I dont see a lot of a point in keeping it beyond the earliest install date you can get for the 622 aside from letting bugs get squashed from early release code.


----------



## IowaStateFan (Jan 11, 2006)

zeekle said:


> I dont see a lot of a point in keeping it beyond the earliest install date you can get for the 622 aside from letting bugs get squashed from early release code.


I plan on keeping my 921 for awhile because my monthly rate will go up at least $10. That's $120+ per year for for some new HD channels that I don't want. If I could upgrade to a 942 cheaply, I'd do it because it is a lot more stable than my POS 921.


----------



## Mike123abc (Jul 19, 2002)

Dish turned off QPSK on HD, it took them a while but they did it. With 61.5 and 129 Dish has capcacity to keep the old channels MPEG-2 for a while before they run out of space to add more HD. I doubt that there will be more than 10-20national HD channels they could even possibly add before the end of 2007.

The only issue would be if they wanted to free up space on 110 for some reason.


----------



## ken310 (Feb 25, 2006)

It would seem like they would have some legal obligation to provide content for the the receivers they've just sold but I haven't read the fine print so the way things are looking on other fronts probably not!


----------



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

ken310 said:


> It would seem like they would have some legal obligation to provide content for the the receivers they've just sold but I haven't read the fine print so the way things are looking on other fronts probably not!


In theory they should have the same obligation that you have to stay.

In other words, if you have no commitment to stay with them for XX months... then they have no commitment to you either, beyond that month's payment cycle.

But of course, you can pay to break a commitment early.... and there are situations in the contract that allow Dish to break the contract early as well.

Not unique to Dish... just the way life works.


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

In theory ... but in contract E* reserves the right to change programming at any time.

A major change like dropping MPEG2 HD (which E* has not done) should allow people to end their contracts with E* (if there are any months of customer commitment remaining). Can't make people pay for something the can no longer receive.


----------



## Mike123abc (Jul 19, 2002)

I bet that by the time they get around to turning off the MPEG-2 streams they will give you a 622 (or some other DVR that does MPEG-4) for free with programming commitment. This is pretty much what they did with the 6000 8PSK cards. When the 811 came out and you were a good customer you could just buy one for $99 with no programming commitment at all! The manufacturing cost of the 622 will probably be $250 or less in 2 years.

They will probably have a $49 service call charge that you cannot avoid for the "free" upgrade, and it will probably be for a leased receiver and you probably will be able to just keep the 921/942 for standard definition DVR.

Those that hold out the longest get the deal. Those that have to have it now Dish will gladly give them it now for some $$.


----------



## ken310 (Feb 25, 2006)

I'd bet they'll start raising the price, or they'll just start turning the mpeg2 channels off and offer us squat.


----------



## IowaStateFan (Jan 11, 2006)

Mike123abc said:


> I bet that by the time they get around to turning off the MPEG-2 streams they will give you a 622 (or some other DVR that does MPEG-4) for free with programming commitment.
> 
> Those that hold out the longest get the deal. Those that have to have it now Dish will gladly give them it now for some $$.


You are probably correct, but the day that they turn off the MPEG2 stream is probably a long way off. The current MPEG2 HD channels don't use a whole lot of their bandwidth. By the time they have to switch over there will only be a handful of the MPEG2 receivers still functioning. I don't plan on upgrading right away because there isn't any additional programming in MPEG4 that I want. But I think anyone waiting to upgrade because they want a better deal will be waiting a very long time.


----------



## the_bear (Oct 18, 2004)

James Long said:


> In theory ... but in contract E* reserves the right to change programming at any time.
> 
> A major change like dropping MPEG2 HD (which E* has not done) should allow people to end their contracts with E* (if there are any months of customer commitment remaining). Can't make people pay for something the can no longer receive.


Also in theory, a judge could order E to pay customers with mpeg2 receivers the equivalent of the early termination fee. You cannot expect customers to be the risk bearer of wilful acts by E. Although possible, I don't think it would be likely. IMHO, the E programming commitment is a poorly written contract, much of which not binding.


----------



## ken310 (Feb 25, 2006)

the_bear said:


> Also in theory, a judge could order E to pay customers with mpeg2 receivers the equivalent of the early termination fee. You cannot expect customers to be the risk bearer of wilful acts by E. Although possible, I don't think it would be likely. IMHO, the E programming commitment is a poorly written contract, much of which not binding.


In my case I don't believe I've been under a contract (for programing) since my first if there was one back 9 years ago? If I'm not mistaken Dish gave the equipment away with NEW subscribers back then. As a current customer I've had to buy all my upgraded receivers as they never offered Me a lease on the best. Quite simply if I wanted the best I've/we've had to pay for it and I have a stack old receivers. Before you jump, Until now that policy hasn't bothered me at all. I was just glad they were available at all. That's kudos' to Dish for those that missed it.


----------



## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

I would argue that your 942 is already absolete, you won't be able to watch any new channels broadcasted in MPEG4 starting now. I am sure Dish will support the 942 for a while, but they will not enhance the box.


----------



## ken310 (Feb 25, 2006)

socceteer said:


> I would argue that your 942 is already absolete, you won't be able to watch any new channels broadcasted in MPEG4 starting now. I am sure Dish will support the 942 for a while, but they will not enhance the box.


antiquated yes but not obsolete


----------



## normang (Nov 14, 2002)

socceteer said:


> I would argue that your 942 is already absolete, you won't be able to watch any new channels broadcasted in MPEG4 starting now. I am sure Dish will support the 942 for a while, but they will not enhance the box.


Obsolete means to me that it serves no useful purpose. the 942 will do SD and OTA HD for a long time.. it will become obsolete when there is nothing transmitted in MPEG2.


----------

