Reason for latest postponement of 921

[Raymond Simonian]

Was it a software or hardware problem or was it a marketing issue? Was it deemed not a good time to release it because it would not sell well now? Was it too expensive to sell now? Were there too many dish 6000s on the shelves? Were there enough HDTV channels available on Dish Network now for it to sell well? Was there a copyright issue? Was there any reason given for it not being released?

[Mark Lamutt]

Because it's not done yet. The 921 has just entered into the first round of internal testing at Dish. They are learning from their past mistakes and testing this box more so than they have in the past with their other new release boxes to make sure that it works correctly. The 921 is meant to be their flagship receiver, and they want to make sure that it works correctly, and is as bug free as possible. That's why it isn't out yet.

BTW, welcome to DBSTalk Ray! :hi:

[Frapp]

Originally posted by Raymond Simonian
Was it a software or hardware problem or was it a marketing issue? Was it deemed not a good time to release it because it would not sell well now? Was it too expensive to sell now? Were there too many dish 6000s on the shelves? Were there enough HDTV channels available on Dish Network now for it to sell well? Was there a copyright issue? Was there any reason given for it not being released?
I`ll give an opine on this one:

#1) Probably .....

#2) Yes ....

#3) Yes ...

#4) Doubt there is any relation ....

#5) Yes .. Especially with more due very soon ....

#6) Doubt it .....

#7) Nope, but understand, an Echostar release date is like a contractor telling you "Two Weeks, Two Weeks" ... which usually means months :shrug:


That is all :D

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ultimately (and I have been doing a LOT of talk with Dish employees about the 921) is that they understand that the 921 is not a throw away receiver. When someone buys a 921 and brings it home they understand that it should be a receiver that lasts a long long time.

A lot of work is being done to make it future proof, including expansion slots for whatever technologies may throw at us in the future.

Because I have been dealing with many of the 921 folks I can only echo what they are echoing to me, "good things come to those who wait" :)

[Bill D]

Look how far behind the 721 was from it's initial release date, I think it was like 9 months or something. Even then the initial software wasn't great..

[Jacob S]

So is the 721 not going to be as explandable in the future as the 921 is going to be? The 721 was not cheap either.

[Mike123abc]

Of course the longer they wait on releasing it the less expensive they will be able to make it. Probably the most expensive part of the 921 is the disk drive. A 300GB disk is running about $500 atm.

[cmaier]

"not a throw away receiver."

I wish when I bought my 6000 and my 721 that dish would have
told me that I was buying "throw-away" receivers. Then I would have been much more understanding each time they crashed, locked-up, missed recordings, ...

It's good to know that there is a price line that, once crossed,
shames Dish into not treating customers like beta-testers.

[Cyclone]

The 6000 isn't a throw away. It has two expansion slots and actually has expansion cards that go into them.

No everything that has Expansion slots ever uses them. Dish has done so twice with the 6000.

[Mike123abc]

I have no plans to throw away my 6000s, yes they cannot record, but they make a good reciever of HDTV.

[jeffwtux]

I sure hope the 6000 is a throw-away receiver, that way I'll get one real cheap from ebay once the 921 comes out:):)!!!

[John Walsh]

I probably shouldn't say this but I never expected the 921 before Christmas 2003. I am on the waiting list with Dish Depot!

[Cyclone]

Maybe they are waiting for Red Hat 9 to be released. ;)

[Jacob S]

By the time it comes out there will be something else more up to date to come out with or someone else may have something more advanced. Receivers need to be made to be upgraded instead of being made to be replaced as they are being made now.

[Bob Haller]

Better delayed than buggy:(

[Dmitriy]

Originally posted by Mike123abc
A 300GB disk is running about $500 atm.

I belive it will be 250GB disk. It will cost them about $300.

[matthinz]

You know, if Dish Network buys thousands of hard drives, they are going to get a much better deal on them than anyone else could.

[DarrellP]

$279 (http://www.pricewatch.com/1/26/5003-1.htm) was the best I could find for a 250. I wonder how much cheaper Dish could get them in bulk?

[Scott Greczkowski]

Don't forget that the Tech Forum is coming up, we can only hope to hear more about the 921 and see a demo of it in action. :)

[Jacob S]

Probably a good bit cheaper, especially the longer they wait to buy them.

[tm22721]

[i]Receivers need to be made to be upgraded instead of being made to be replaced as they are being made now. [/B]

With E* poor design and tech support I doubt they could put out an upgradeable model without sinking the company in lawsuits.

But the pace of new technology makes it necessary to start treating their higher end consumer electronics as more in the computer realm, ie built on open standards and modular in nature to facilitate easy upgrading. After all the 721/921 have hard drives, internet connections, keyboards, USB, etc which is about as close to a Dell computer as you can get..

Both E* and D* are fighting to maintain proprietary control over their hardware as an edge in the subscriptions game. But they can't buck the computer world much longer. Witness the popularity of AVSforum (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=26).

[Eyedox]

DISH Network reminds me a lot of ATI (video card company). They release great hardware way too early that is riddled with software and driver bugs. I would rather have it come out LATER, CHEAPER, and BETTER.

[Jacob S]

I think it could be cheaper to just use a computer and just buy the software than to mess with such a high priced receiver that may go bad, why not use what we already have now? One may have to buy a much larger hard drive than what we have on our computers but at least you could connect it to any receiver to record off of and have a bit more flexibility with it.

[RAD]

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
Don't forget that the Tech Forum is coming up, we can only hope to hear more about the 921 and see a demo of it in action. :)

Scott, why would they do a demo of the 921 on the April chat when the box won't be out for another 5+ months? All that would do is pi** off more folks, showing us a receiver that we can't purchase and have no firm date when we could or how much it would cost.

[jzoomer]

Another thought on delaying the 921 is that it will take away from the 721 business before they recover their development costs. This is a common practise in the consumer electronic industry especially when competition is limited.

[xgrep]

Originally posted by Jacob S
I think it could be cheaper to just use a computer and just buy the software than to mess with such a high priced receiver that may go bad, why not use what we already have now? One may have to buy a much larger hard drive than what we have on our computers but at least you could connect it to any receiver to record off of and have a bit more flexibility with it.How would you do HD recording? Dish's only HD receiver (6000) only has component video out, and I haven't seen any affordable A/D converters with component in.

x

[Jacob S]

That was assuming if they have a cheap HD card out on the market. Some tv's have HD tuners in them or the HD tuner could be purchased just for the tv itself then fed through the computer.

[Bob Haller]

721 was delayed what over 15 months? Why should the 921 be any different. I hope the tech forum is the 522 release!

[kstevens]

When is the tech forum? all I could find on E* website was a charlie chat on April 14th.

Ken

[Jacob S]

The tech chat is in May.