When I called last night (after midnight) to order a 942 the CSR check and said that while the 942 was scheduled for release today 3/15 her screen "..now says release date delayed".
Knowing Dish's wonderful record of NOT adding any hd channels , does it really matter whether we have an mpeg4 compatiable receiver? I mean I don't think we will see that much hd added even this fall. Fall is 6 months away. Charlie said that he hoped to add hd in LATE Fall. That would mean anywhere from November or December. I don't see them adding anything significant in mpeg4 till next year.
I will enjoy the 942 and the namebased recording features and the fact I don't have to switch back and forth between hd and sd to watch in two different rooms. That was stupid to add the feature to the 811 and not to the 921. Dish has said they will do upgrades to the mpeg4 hd receivers at little or no cost when they become available. I don't see these receivers being ready in 6 months either do ya'll? I mean look at how long it has took to get the 921 to market and how long the 942 ,625 etc.
I only hope that the new mpeg4 receivers will be based on the current software in the 522/625/942 receivers. I don't want them to start at square one with regards to the software and start all over with a new list of bugs. Although that is the case with ALL Dishnetwork receivers.
Okay, I have had some answers to this, but not all aggree. If I order a 921 or 942, I have 1 TV it will be on, I want to be able to record OTA, and Watch HD on Dish, 921 is okay for that right ?
But will the 942 allow me to record OTA HD, and watch another OTA station in HD ?
Just talked to a Sr CSR. Said the 942 is not avl to new customers as a lease yet but it is avl for $699 from retailers like its priced on the Dishnetwork web site.
He said he did not know when any will be avl though.
QUESTION: is this going to be just like the 921 release where it was hard to get these and you could only get them from retailers at first.
Any retailers out there got any coming in Monday that you could sell me, a new sub?
The $250 lease "fee" is crazy but I'd probably do that versus paying $700 to own one. You can get an HD Tivo for less than that price and can record more than the 942...
I wonder where the 942 will draw guide info for OTA channels.
Will it be?
1) Screwed up 921 method where if you pull channels outside your DMA, it doesn't give info for them (if you "moved" it's even worse)
2) Somewhat better 811 method, where it can give info for channels outside your DMA, and is "move" compliant
3) Actually read the PSIP info, and also give digital sub-channel info.
The method that allows Charlie to continue making more $$$$$$$$$$. In this case the 921 method which makes you sub to Dish locals pack. That's my bet. He has spent a lot of money to add all those local channels across the country. IF all you have to do is plug into an ota antenna to your sat receiver and you get free guide information from the psip data provide free, where is Dish going to recoup their money on the locals?
I never understood why Dish and Directv for that matter , didn't just add an analog tuner that their dvrs could record from like Tivo did . Then they wouldn't have had to add all those locals on the satellites in space. They could do the same with the digital locals- use a digital ota tuner that can be recorded. They could have worked with congress to allow distant networks in true white areas and areas where ota signal was unusable via a waiver and everyone could have had their locals via the sat receiver and an ota antenna years ago. If they could have done this in all sd dvr receivers say 5 years ago , they could have saved a lot of money and the satellite picture quality could have stayed excellent. It could have remained dvd quality or better. Instead they went the local into local route and we still don't have all the sd locals done in the country yet.
But in the end I say Dish will not provide FREE psip data like the 811 in the newer hd dvr receivers since they need to recoup their investment for local into locals. Dish has gone the cable route with fee after fees. Mind you these are not advertised fees, but hidden fees , you find out when you actually try using their company as a provider. The dvr fee per dvr receiver rather than a whole account fee, like Directv does, the phone outlet fee, the lease fee, the requirement to sub to locals in order to receive guide information for your digital locals, are all newer cable like fees that Dish has implemented in the last few years. Charlie wants to make more money and he is working everyday to create opportunities to make more money for his company , sometimes at the expense of his own customers.
Why do you think that Dish has made a profit all these years and Directv hasn't? Not counting the accounting scandal that Charlie is facing right now.
I predict that the 942 OTA will work just like the 811. Why? Because I believe the 942 is basically a 522 and 811 mounted in the same chassis. Also I don't believe that E* would go through all the trouble of working with the broadcasters on PSIP if it was only going to apply to the 811. IMHO.
Which is really stupid IMO. You need a DirecTVHD Tivo to do this.
