921 Preorder List

[Big D]

It may seem early to some, however I for one want to be one of the first in line to receive a 921 once they are made available for shipping. To that end, I emailed Mark over at DishDepot.com if he has started a preorder list for the 921 as yet and if not, now would be a good time to start one (with my name first on the list of course!). He promptly replied that it is indeed a good time to start one and to look to the homepage of his web site for an announcement soon. I bought my 721 along with DishPro LNBFs and DP34 switch from Mark last year and received great service and pricing (as has many others here at DBSTalk.com), so I naturally will be looking to DishDepot for my 921 and I recommend others give them a close look if you are interested in buying one.

It will be interesting to see how many of us are willing to be early adapters of the 921 as the release time comes near. I firmly believe that the port of the 721 software to the 921 will make the early going of the 921 much less painful then we experienced with the 721. Not to say the 721 was all that bad, even though it took 2 or 3 updates to get it out of beta level.

[Greg Haynes]

What's the expected pricing going to be over at DishDepot? Approximately how much?

[Mark Lamutt]

Big D - you'll have to be second on that list. :) My name's been on it for several months now. :D

[Mark Lamutt]

Greg - our best guess is somewhere between $900 and $1000 for the 921, but it is just a guess. Hopefully we'll know more soon.

[Big D]

Second will be okay with me Mark, as long as I am in the first batch to ship! I would have hoped you would have managed to get yourself (and Scott G as well) on a beta tester list with E* so you could report on the box for us. Work on that will ya.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Nothing to report on that Big D, although I would love to be a tester. :D (I think all of the staff would love it) :D

[DarrellP]

Don't worry, you early adopters will all be official Dish 921 Beta testers soon enough. Bless you all for being so brave (and saving me a ton of headaches).

I'm still Beta testing my 501 for Dish.

[BobMurdoch]

Yeah, well this time will be different as I WILL be one of the first as I have an HDTV with no HD content (other than a Dragon's Lair 3D game on my XBox).

I have a Sony KP57WV600 just purchased this past December that does NOT have a HD tuner built in, so I'm waiting for E* to release the 921. A PVR is a must as I am not getting rid of mine unless they make the thing illegal. With the 6000 destined to join the Dishplayer on the "has been" pile, I decided to wait for the 921.

I'm jonesing for some HD content now though and the HD PVR removes the last of my objections. $1000 is a lot to spend, but being able to record OTA from Philadelphia (A market the feds have prohibited me from watching as they refuse to let E* give me the channels - I'm 45 miles south of NYC and 40 miles east of Philadelphia BTW) will be a big plus.

[Martyva]

Hears my guess 1199 to 1999 for the 921. 899 for the tu9000

[Cyclone]

I still can't believe that the tu9000 does not have a OTA tuner. The OTA for the 6000 is great. I wished all the SD recevers had an OTA tuner built into them.

[Martyva]

Remember built in HD tuners will become more common in TVs, maybe as early as this fall.

[Jason]

BobMurdoch

I am in the same boat as you. The only HD I've been able to see thus far has been Dragon's Lair 3D for the X-box. That game does look awesome!, doesn't it?

I absolutely need to be able to record HD and I cannot go back to watching live TV ever again! That is the reason why I haven't picked up a 6000 yet.

So you can add my name to the list of preorders for the 921...I think I would be #3, right? LOL

[Kagato]

I'd be an early adopter but I'm going to hold out and see what they do for 5000+mod users when they turn the switch on 8VSB.

[Eyedox]

My predictions:
JVC TU-PVR9000 around $799
DISH PVR921 around $999

[Jacob S]

Pre-ordering a satellite receiver does not always mean being the first one to get it. Sometimes you end up having to wait in line for it with a particular retailer when some get very few orders for the product and can get it very quickly after they start becoming available for them.

I remember the 721 pre-order scenario.

[BobMurdoch]

Originally posted by Jason
BobMurdoch

I am in the same boat as you. The only HD I've been able to see thus far has been Dragon's Lair 3D for the X-box. That game does look awesome!, doesn't it?

I absolutely need to be able to record HD and I cannot go back to watching live TV ever again! That is the reason why I haven't picked up a 6000 yet.

So you can add my name to the list of preorders for the 921...I think I would be #3, right? LOL

Yes the game looks great. I'm just miffed that the XBox is capable of sending out a Progressive Scan picture, but they limit the DVD output to 480i. Yawn. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to buy that Pioneer DVD/DVD-Audio/SACD combi player with the Progressive Scan output this year.

How far have you gotten in the game? I think I'm at the end. I can beat the wizard, but when he turns into a dragon I can't do anything to hurt him. I think I've died about 10,000 times trying to get to this point. Unfortunately, when fighting some of the bigger bosses it doesn't let you save the game mid-battle, so you have to keep restarting from scratch at the beginning of the scene.

[BobMurdoch]

Originally posted by Eyedox
My predictions:
JVC TU-PVR9000 around $799
DISH PVR921 around $999

I agree. I don't think they will let it cross the $999 barrier. Too much spousal resistance for most people when you hit the 4 digit purchases.........

[Big D]

I am banking on the price to be $999 as well and that number does not scare me. Jacob's point on the preorder list is well taken, some small dealers took more than a month to get their first 721 shipped to them after I already had my DishDepot provided 721 up and running, thanks to their having received a large shipment very early on from the manufacturer. That is why I am going with DishDepot for my 921, as I know they will probably have one of the largest and earliest batch of 921 available.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Jacob S]

How come did DishDepot get the receivers so much earlier than the others?

[BobMurdoch]

I'm sure they came out in small quantities at first, and Mark has a great reputation with E* (I haven't heard ANY other E* internet resellers mentioned as often as they are here and at DBSForums.com). Also, at the time there were no major retailers on board last spring before the release (with the exception of Sears), yet now there is Radio Shack as well as WalMart, Costco, and Target. However, most of them focus on the cheap 301 receivers, so many of them are only featuring those units.

Best Buy and Circuit City (here in the East) don't carry E* products so the supply was fairly hard to come by then at its release.

[Big D]

Maybe because a large number of us preordered the units from them, giving them visibility into the number they needed to order early on from the manufacturer, or maybe because they are such a large volume dealer, I really do not know. What I do know is when I went looking for a 721 early on, only DishDepot had them in stock and they shipped me a unit that day.

Perhaps a disclaimer here would be appropriate, I am not affiliated with DishDepot in any way, just one of their satisfied customers.

[rajkalex]

I'm getting on that list ASAP as well. I would like to order from Dish Depot given all the great things I've heard about them but I'm concerned about the install. I currenlty only have a 500 Dish and will have to get the second dish which means professional installation. Will it make things more difficult if I order from Dish Depot rather than my local installer?

[motjes2]

I am in the pre-order list as well. I can only say that Dishdepot has been excellent. I have ordrered two receivers from them and they have provided excellent service--no complaint here.

[Jacob S]

I think those retailers are mentioned so much on the boards because they help contribute to the forums in order to help keep them going.

I think when the 721 receivers first came out that they only allowed each retailer to order so many to give the others opportunities to order them as well but not sure on that. I know that they were very limited when they first came out, they knew that there would not be as many sold due to the higher price.

Does anybody know how to find out the production numbers of the different receivers Dish has?

[Scott Greczkowski]

Just for the record, While DishDepot does donate equipment to DBSTalk for use in Contest giveaways they do not financially support the site in any way.

Our site is still strictly funded by the kindness of our members. :) Thank you to everyone who donated to DBSTalk.COM to keep us free!

With that being said I have purchased all of my Dish Equipment from Mark at Dish Depot, and have had excellent service with each order.

[BobMurdoch]

Ditto, on Mark's reputaion....

I've bought two Dishplayers and a 721 from them. (Paid $494.50 for the 721. He had a weekend sale going and I haven't seen it go that low since. Only time in my life I bought something at the right time.....) One of the Dishplayers was DOA. He sent me a replacement that I received quickly. He also did the tedious initial download for me so I didn't have to bypass my SW-64 like you have to do with those things when you first use it. They are highly recommended.

[angiodan]

Dish Depot has been great with all of my transactions as well. I need to decide if I'm going to bite the financial bullet on the 921 as well and get in on the preorder as well.

[Dmitriy]

I emailed Dishdepot about the preorder list. they told me that they'll create a list tomorrow. And I also asked about the price, don't want to disappointed anyone but it will be around $1200. A bit more than you guys expected.

[motjes2]

Yes, it is expensive...But it is an HDPVR. I am in it...

[Jacob S]

I thought it was only supposed to be $899. They might be marking it up just in case it is higher than expected but I think its supposed to be cheaper than $1200, could be trying to make more money off of first orders. Since there is very little or no profit margin I do not blame them, as everyone has to make money. I could be wrong though, that it could actually be more than people had expected it to be but I thought I heard a quote on the Charlie Chat that it was expected to be $899 or some news or something somewhere about that price, not sure.

[angiodan]

I hope your 899 price is right Jacob. :) $1200 would probably put it out of reach for myself and others I'm sure. The even 1K is about my max.

[Ken_F]

I expect it to run $1099 for existing subscribers, unless the price of 250Gb drives plunge in the very near future. I expect to JVC-branded TU9000 box will be more expensive here than many think, mainly because it will be a for-profit box, rather than one sold at or near cost.

Those predicting $899 are unrealistic. The 721 is selling for $549, and it uses a $125 120Gb drive, whereas 250Gb drives (as used in 921) run $350 to $400. The DISH 921 appears to use the same $50 Broadcom chipset (http://www.broadcom.com/products/7021.html) as the 721 for graphics and PVR functionality (HDTV PVR simply requires more memory with this chipset), but it appears to add:

1) two BCM4500 and BCM3440 tuner stages, also found in the 6000 8PSK module, for satellite tuning of both 8PSK and QPSK signals (cost $20 * 2 = $40)

2) BCM7501 DVI transmitter ($6 to $8 ?)

3) probably 4x to 8x as much RAM / memory ($ ?)

4) other unknown chips to support USB, Firewire, and PCI expansion chasis;

5) BCM3510 ($20) 8-VSB tuner.

I am somewhat disappointed that DISH chose to use the BCM3510; this second-generation chipset is two years old and offers comparable performance to 6000's 8-VSB stage for reception. It's reception will not be as good as the latest "2.5 generation" chipsets used on several of today's latest and upcoming HDTV receivers (ex: from Samsung), and inferior reception to true third-generation chips expected next year. That said, the chipset integration offered by Broadcom should help to cut development costs.

The prices referenced above are generally only for the chips themselves; obviously the cost will be higher to fully integrate them on boards / PCBs.

[Gruss]

Does anyone have a feel for the resale value of a 6000 w/ 8VSB + 8PSK when the 921 finally comes out. I can probably justify the 921 for the PVR features alone, but selling my (< 1yr old) 6000 will make it a little less painful.

TIA

[Big D]

Recent sales on eBay are in the range of ~$500 with the 8PSK and no 8VSB, to ~$600 with both. I expect the price to go down some 15% to 20% once the 921 is out, but who knows. DishDepot is offering $250 on a trade-in when purchasing a 921 from them.

[Nick]

Any price with a comma in it is too much for me.

[Chris Blount]

Originally posted by Nick
Any price with a comma in it is too much for me. :lol: Good one Nick and so true for many of us!

[STXJim]

Originally posted by Chris Blount
:lol: Good one Nick and so true for many of us!

So Chris....

Originally posted by Chris Blount:
I have also ordered my 921. I should be one of the first to get one so you can be sure that a review will be posted here on DBSTalk within a day of when I get my hands on it.

Where can I be guaranteed that my 921 will cost $999.99 or less? :shrug: :D :lol:

[Chris Blount]

Originally posted by STXJim


So Chris....



Where can I be guaranteed that my 921 will cost $999.99 or less? :shrug: :D :lol: No guarantee but I know mine will cost less than 1K after I sell my 6000 and 501. :D