921 / SuperDISH

[tm22721]

Rumor has it that the new SuperDISH will only require one cable to a 921 instead of two. No switches required between the SuperDISH and up to four receivers.

This is good news.

But how would one cable connect to both tuner inputs without some form of DC blocking ?

[Scott Greczkowski]

This is true.

The 721 will also be able to use this method in the future via a software update.

It's a new technology called Super Dish Pro (or something like that) a bunch of retailers who went to team summit were telling me about it. Sounds like cool technology!

[SParker]

Man I want the 921 so bad I can taste it! Now that I have a HD ready set my mouth is watering!

[Scott Greczkowski]

I did some digging, and here is some more information on the new "DishPro Plus" technology....

http://www.dishretailer.com/ts2003/3/MVC-023S.JPG

[Cyclone]

http://www.dishretailer.com/ts2003/3/MVC-024S.JPG

Look at the duel tuner app. It uses the diplexors just like you would use a splitter on a cable system. Pretty sweet. :D

[John Corn]

I'm looking forward to it, I want superDISH and a 921 as well. :righton:

I just got this HD ready set and it's all I can do to keep from getting a 6000u.

Is it worth it for me to even bother with having the 61.5 dish installed now that I have an HD ready set.....It would be free because I'm still missing a local channel. My wife doesn't want the 2nd Dish , she says wait on superDISH.

[Jacob S]

I dont think you will get 4 receiver outputs from one cable, only two receiver outputs in each cable, in which is a good thing, but how much more would this cost? Probably more than the cable.

[SParker]

Me too! My 30 inch Samsung only does 800 lines of res max but even then the picture is incredible!

[tnsprin]

One cable and a diplexer is required to the 921. At least in order to get the ability to use both satellite tuners to work at the same time.

[toddjb]

Whew...all this 921 talk makes me really impatient for its release. I just hope they have more HD locals in my area once it comes out....or should I say, I hope they have ANY! (I'm near DC, Baltrmore has HD CBS but we won't get it unless the laws change.)

[Mike D-CO5]

Hopefully Charlie will work with Rupert and share the cost of locals and then the HDTV local will go up. If Charlie will buy the Cablevision Sat to be launched soon it might be just what we need to start Hdtv locals . I think Rupert is on the right track with his idea to share the cost and to have just one network feed in hdtv for each network and splicing in the sd local commercials.

[angiodan]

Just curious, if you are currently diplexing to use OTA signals, my guess is with the new Dishpro plus, this would not be possible. If that is the case, then either way, I'll need a line run for either the extra tuner or OTA signal. Unless there will be some fancy dipexer or triplexer that will allow you to do it all.

[davhol]

Originally posted by toddjb
Whew...all this 921 talk makes me really impatient for its release. I just hope they have more HD locals in my area once it comes out....or should I say, I hope they have ANY! (I'm near DC, Baltrmore has HD CBS but we won't get it unless the laws change.)

HD "locals" are a LONG way off, if ever, on satellite. If you're in DC, then you should be able to put up a regular antenna and get the local HD (and analog) broadcasts off air. You can search through these forums for discussions on HD-locals. It's technically possible, but not feasible.

[toddjb]

Originally posted by davhol


HD "locals" are a LONG way off, if ever, on satellite. If you're in DC, then you should be able to put up a regular antenna and get the local HD (and analog) broadcasts off air. You can search through these forums for discussions on HD-locals. It's technically possible, but not feasible.

Well, if the 921 comes with the OTA capability (and I can PVR from it!) its still well worth the purchase.

If I can't record locals then its still questionable for me...since I really don't watch Showtime/HBO much anyway.

I hope the HD input is still component for me. I know that info is here somewhere....and those are the inputs I have to work with on my Hitachi.

[SParker]

Its been stated here before by Scott and others that the 921 will be able to record OTA HD signals AND I believe OTA analog locals.


Originally posted by toddjb


Well, if the 921 comes with the OTA capability (and I can PVR from it!) its still well worth the purchase.

If I can't record locals then its still questionable for me...since I really don't watch Showtime/HBO much anyway.

I hope the HD input is still component for me. I know that info is here somewhere....and those are the inputs I have to work with on my Hitachi.

[davhol]

The 921 is scheduled/designed to have a total of 3 tuners: 2 satellite and one OTA tuner. You WILL be able to record off all THREE tuners including OTA.

[SParker]

davhol, WOW all 3 simultaneously? That will work! So you can only record one OTA at a time then huh?

[Scott Greczkowski]

Just a note, that origionally the 921 was supposed to record off air, I am told by a few people who went to the Team Summit that it could only record Off Air Digital.

If I find out more I will let you know

[SParker]

Scott, So you can only record one OTA digital at a time?

[Scott Greczkowski]

Sparker I don't have an answer for you on that one at the moment, I will try to find out asap.

[SParker]

k thanks! :)

[Lee L]

As long as it can record OTA digital, I'm happy as can be. Most stations around here duplicate their SD programming upconverted on the HD subhannel if it isn't in HD anyway.

Scott, if you have a chance to ask, how will they handle subchannels? Will it record the entire stream and you pick which subchannel to watch later or will you pick which sub when it records. Picking the subchannel in advance would certainly qive you more hours out of the disk space. (man this stuff is really going to confuse J6P, maybe that alone will cause stations not to multicast)

[Cyclone]

I guess I'm reading into what was said here. That the 921 will record digital over the air broadcasts (SD & HD), but it may not be able to record analog over the air broadcasts.

[Jacob S]

I would guess that it would only record one OTA digital signal at once being it only having one digital tuner.

I would also guess that the diplexer being mentioned for making two tuners work on one wire is a different type of diplexer than the diplexer for combining and splitting cable/OTA and satellite signal in which still may work that way but not sure. If you input one antenna with a diplexer before the switch then I wonder if it would output to both wires going to each tuner, or if you would have to put it after it goes through the switch in which may result in it going out both wires, not sure.

[Ron Barry]

I would have a hard to believing more than one channel at a time due to the bandwidth of HD. I dont have the particulars on the Harddrives but that will be the bottle neck of the 921 as I see it. I would be happy with recording one channel and watching a tape program.

I would also be concerned with noise and heat.

Should be intersting. Is there any speaks on this baby yet?

[Mike D-CO5]

They better hurry and get these on the market. Old Rupert seems to be pushing Directv's Hdtv plan in a hurry. It's time to put up or shut up! on Dish being the Hdtv leader . Directv with Tivo in Hdtv will probably hit the market before Dish's 921. That delay may cost Dish market share in Hdtv subscribers.

[Ken_F]

I now hear that its looking pretty bleak for an August/September release. Ohh well...

[SParker]

Ken: really? WOW maybe they are going to use a second generation OTA tuner after all!

[Ron Barry]

Ken,

Really.... Hmmmm.. I am rather suprised given the fact that my 2 year old drive 7200rpm drive is borderline for my DV editing..

What is the bandwidth of the HDTV channels?

[Big Bob]

Originally posted by WeeJavaDude
Ken,

Really.... Hmmmm.. I am rather suprised given the fact that my 2 year old drive 7200rpm drive is borderline for my DV editing..

What is the bandwidth of the HDTV channels?

Me thinks you have other problems than a 7200 rpm drive. I successfully edited DV 5 years ago on a stock compaq. 10 gig drive. I think it was 5400 rmp drive. win 98. Had to make sure there was NO fragmentation on the drive, but it did work. Could also only do about 9 minutes of video at a time. A 7200rpm drive should be fine.

Remeber that DV bandwidth is actually quite large compared to standard sat data streams. I don't know about HD.

[ADent]

HD is up to 20Mb/s = 2MB/s

SA TiVo is about .3 to 1MB/s.

DTV is .2 to .4 MB/s.

[TEG]

Originally posted by WeeJavaDude
Ken,

Really.... Hmmmm.. I am rather suprised given the fact that my 2 year old drive 7200rpm drive is borderline for my DV editing..

What is the bandwidth of the HDTV channels?

DV compression is something like 5:1

HDTV used MPEG2 at ratios around 80:1

The end result is that ATSC HDTV uses less datarate than a SD DV feed...

[rudolpht]

Ken,

Since you da'man on the last ETA, what's the deal on the new rumor. Any revised ETA.

Just shooting the messenger ;)
Tim

[Steve*Moore]

I'm new to this forum, my main interest is the 921. What is the latest availability date?

Thanks

[Danbo]

There is none, that I know of.

[Mike D-CO5]

HOPEFULLY!! the next tech chat will reveal more on all the new receivers and Hdtv the superdish etc. Dish really needs to come through with the details and I don't mean " this summer we will be getting the 921,superdish, etc.


Right now Directv looks like they are all ready for their Hdtv future. The new Hnet channels , discovery hdtv and the Hdtv tivo. Funny how a company that has been running without any real direction during the last year and a half of the "merger" with either Dish or Newscorp, seems to be on track and ahead of Dish " the leader in Hdtv".

Charlie better get a move on WE NEED ACTION!!! not just vague statements about some future vaporware. I 've been waitin on a software update for my 721 promised in March and still not here at the end of June. As far as internet capable they are promising at the END of 2004 , I doubt we will ever see this . If we do it will probably make the unit as flakey as a dare I say it the "dishplayer nightmare."

[Big Bob]

Originally posted by Mike D-CO5
I 've been waitin on a software update for my 721 promised in March and still not here at the end of June. 

E* never promised an update in March.

[csschrot]

Well we will be having a retailer chat on Tuesday (24th). I'm hoping with the new promo's coming on Aug 1st that they will give us a heads up on the promos. I would think that they would annnouce any new programming packages and equipment if they announce the promotions. If not this chat I would really hope so by mid July.

I agree. With Direct giving dates DISH really needs to step up. If they say anything on dates I will post them.

I got my fingers crossed.

[Mike D-CO5]

Well Dish didn't promise to the public that there would be a software update for the 721, but Scott did on this web board. He was told by his sources at Dish that there would be one . He also had a preview of the upcoming software and what it would do on this web board. I am still waiting for this update as it will give us a weather app and a 3 timer conflict resolution screen and supposedly a fix for the 65 maxium timers problem. How long does it take to "test" this software?

[Scott Greczkowski]

Testing continues, a few new features have been added the past few weeks (which are direct result of some of the comments posted here to the board)

They are listening folks. Thanks for your feedback everyone. :)

[kstevens]

Ha!! You see, it's not dishes fault, it's your fault for requesting modifications :-)

Ken

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
Testing continues, a few new features have been added the past few weeks (which are direct result of some of the comments posted here to the board)

They are listening folks. Thanks for your feedback everyone. :)