My Quick little HD Tivo HR10-250 vs. Dish 942 Review

[Ncc1701]

In July of 04 I left E* for D*. Why you ask, because I really wanted a stable, reliable HD DVR badly and I felt that in the long run D* would have more HD channels. I read the horrid posts about the 921 and signed up with D* while shelling out $1000 for the HD Tivo.

For the most part I got what I wanted. The Tivo interface took a little getting used to from my prior Dish 508 but I learned to like it. There were several issues with my HDMI port reliability but D* did take care of me by replacing the unit (albeit 3 times!). D* even gave me a $150 customer retention credit just cause I asked and I was only a subscriber for 6 months!

Until......Just the past month when Ergen says he's got the voom channels. At the same time, everyone who just got their 942 is raving about it. Even more so, news of the future HD channels D* plans on adding are most like going to be locals which I get OTA anyway. E* hooks me up with a free install and the $250 DHA with a 942 and 811. I sell my HR10-250 and Samsung 360 on ebay and put some money back in my pocket.

Anyway I've been using the 942 a few days now and here are some observations:

SPEED: Oh god that HD Tivo was slow as heck. The guide, the menus EVERYTHING! Like Night and Day with the super fast 942.
PQ: The PQ is very much identical but the PQ on the Voom channels is not as great as I expected. HDNet rocks on both though.The 942 rocks with its HD PIP, a SD output for my sdtv (with no additional fee), Caller ID, the picture in the guide and a stable HDMI port.

There are two things that I dont like about the 942 comapred to the Tivo though. First, with the tivo all I had to do was press info to see what was playing on the other tuner. With the 942, I first have to activate the PIP and then actually swap to that channel to see the info/program title and channel.
Secondly, For the life of me I cant figure out the difference between the Search function and Dishpass function of the 942. Hope someone could explain this to me.

For$250, E* hooked me up with two awesome HD receivers. Thats a grand less than what I paid D*, and my bill is lower by about $12/month. Way to go Dish!

Thanks for reading. Was just bored at work

 

[vurbano]

Yeah but can you record the final episodes of "American idol" and watch "Lost" tonight on a 942?

 

[Sean Mota]

I have both the Tivo and 942. Both have negative and positives. You can use the swap button on the 942 to change turner rather than going through PIP and then swap. The difference between DISHPASS and SEARCH are significant. DISHPASS is NBR like Tivo SEASONPASS. Search is just search.

The 942 can tell you how many hours you have left on the HD while Tivo does not let you see it. Tivo just do it for you and if you are not careful to maintain your recording, it can erase programs. The same happens on the 942 if you have no more space but at least you know how many hours you have. Both interfaces are different. Both are very stable receivers and I have yet to lose a recording on either one. As far as PQ of channels, it really depends on the provider (IMO). PQ on HDnet, HDnet movies are much better on Dish than DirecTv.

 

[Sean Mota]

Yeah but can you record the final episodes of "American idol" and watch "Lost" tonight on a 942?

If he has OTA, it wouldn't be a problem...

 

[vurbano]

If he has OTA, it wouldn't be a problem...

If his TV has a built in OTA tuner or else you would need an 811 in addition to the 942. Correct?

 

[Sean Mota]

If his TV has a built in OTA tuner or else you would need an 811 in addition to the 942. Correct?

Nope. The 942 as an OTA tuner.

 

[Carl B]

But it only has one (1) OTA tuner and Idol and Lost are both OTA HD on different channels. This is a common occurence and a serious shortcoming of the 942.

 

[ocnier]

Just wait for the media portal IMO from 2wire.

 

[rad]

Just wait for the media portal IMO from 2wire.

When the 811 came out it was wait for the 921. The 921 came out and it was wait for the 942. So now it's wait for the media protal, what's it going to be after that?

 

[riffjim4069]

When the 811 came out it was wait for the 921. The 921 came out and it was wait for the 942. So now it's wait for the media protal, what's it going to be after that?

...old age followed by dealth! Personally, we are quite happy with our 942.

 

[vurbano]

Nope. The 942 as an OTA tuner.

my point was that the two shows are on at the same time on two different OTA channels. Since the 942 only has one tuner you can either watch one program or record one program. With the HDtivo you can record one and watch the other, or record both as I did last night with NCIS and Idol. Big advantage to the HDtivo. I think that far outweighs the HDtivos biggest drawback, the slow guide. Thats really minor compared to the hardware inadequacy of the 942. Cant fix that with a software upgrade. Gotta have another tuner to watch one and record another. Gotta have 2 942's to record both. Nope No contest IMO, one is 75% of the other. And they way these networks run all of the good material at the same times its important.

 

[vurbano]

When the 811 came out it was wait for the 921. The 921 came out and it was wait for the 942. So now it's wait for the media protal, what's it going to be after that?

D* and E* are both guilty of that. What really upsets me is how much money you lose on the hardware a few months after you buy it. That 400 dollar reciever you bought last year is now worth 100? and that 942 you bought for what? 500 bucks? you look at it and say, I spent all of that money and I still need the other box I lost money on too? Is that some kind of sick joke? LOL. These companies must think we bleed money. They make me really miss Voom and renting the box. Somehow I dont think there would have been a 250 dollar deposit on Vooms' DVR. I guess they really spoiled us Voomers.

 

[Sean Mota]

my point was that the two shows are on at the same time on two different OTA channels. Since the 942 only has one tuner you can either watch one program or record one program. With the HDtivo you can record one and watch the other, or record both as I did last night with NCIS and Idol. Big advantage to the HDtivo. I think that far outweighs the HDtivos biggest drawback, the slow guide. Thats really minor compared to the hardware inadequacy of the 942. Cant fix that with a software upgrade. Gotta have another tuner to watch one and record another. Gotta have 2 942's to record both. Nope No contest IMO, one is 75% of the other. And they way these networks run all of the good material at the same times its important.

That's a very good point if you watch a lot of Network TV. I have very little Network TV and don't have that problem. Even with the HDTIVO I never recorded two OTA programs at the same time. As I said before the 942 is a very nice machine and I have played with it without following its development in the forum. So as far as I am concerned it works like no other Dish DVR.

 

[vurbano]

That's a very good point if you watch a lot of Network TV. I have very little Network TV and don't have that problem. Even with the HDTIVO I never recorded two OTA programs at the same time. As I said before the 942 is a very nice machine and I have played with it without following its development in the forum. So as far as I am concerned it works like no other Dish DVR.

It could be that Dish is anticipating the arrival of HDLIL too, which would eliminate that problem if the 942 can do mpeg4.

 

[rad]

D* and E* are both guilty of that. What really upsets me is how much money you lose on the hardware a few months after you buy it. That 400 dollar reciever you bought last year is now worth 100? and that 942 you bought for what? 500 bucks? you look at it and say, I spent all of that money and I still need the other box I lost money on too? Is that some kind of sick joke? LOL. These companies must think we bleed money. They make me really miss Voom and renting the box. Somehow I dont think there would have been a 250 dollar deposit on Vooms' DVR. I guess they really spoiled us Voomers.

Your comments apply to just about anything that's electronic. Look at computers/cellphones/TV's, etc, their value drops quicker then that new car you drove off the lot. If you alway wait for the 'next' box coming out you'll never get one because their's always something else coming soon.

At some point a few years in the future the boxes I have now won't work because of MPEG4, but right now I'm enjoying them. If you don't like buying the boxes then I'd recommend you go to cable, upgrades are their problem then, or believe all the rumors out there that D* will upgrade the MPEG2 boxes to MPEG4 for free.

 

[rad]

It could be that Dish is anticipating the arrival of HDLIL too, which would eliminate that problem if the 942 can do mpeg4.

But it's been said that the 942 won't do MPEG4 so you're looking at another box replacement, just like D* is.

 

[Ncc1701]

I did think about the single OTA tuner issue. However, the fact that E* carries the CBS Hd feed helped mute this shortcoming. I do not watch Lost or Desperate or any other show on ABC. Now that Star trek Enterprise is off the air, I no longer watch UPN. NBC doesnt have much in HD that I like except for the tonight show. Would I want to record American Idol and King of Queens..Heck yeah and I have the ability to do that with a 942.

Oh and one other small point...I put back about $650 in my pocket by making the switch. I think I can live with recording one network show in SD and one in HD if that ever occurs.

 

[vurbano]

I did think about the single OTA tuner issue. However, the fact that E* carries the CBS Hd feed helped mute this shortcoming.

Yeah I think if I qualified for HD DNS feeds the 942 might be in my equipment rack.