Let's get the 921 out already!!

[kstevens]

Darn, my vcr screwed up yesterday and I missed recording 6 hours of high quality box office movies, The Rebirth of Mothra 1 thru 3 :-(. I need the 921 now!!! :-)



ken

[SParker]

Agreed, but actually my credit card would like me better if it waited a couple of months. :)

[Bob Haller]

Hey if you hurry things there will be more bugs....

[tm22721]

Why don't they offer the 921 as a 'beta' quality unit to those willing to buy now and deal with the bugs without any support ?

If they are afraid of the support issue, they could have a disclaimer on beta support (escept for the official beta testers, that is) for those who want it early and are willing to deal with a buggy unit.

I don't think consumer electronics (esepecially from E*) are going to get any better with increasing complexity so they might as well start opening the floodgates early to those who are willing to sign a waiver.

[Bob Haller]

Ahh unless the hardware is solid you could create a return for upgrade nightmare.

Imaguine with 5000 units out someone decides we MUST replace this chip:(

[clapple]

>> Imaguine with 5000 units out someone decides we MUST replace this chip <<

I wonder how many HD customers (6000 owners) there actually are? And how many are potential 921 buyers? Numbers are published for digital set sales; but I wonder what percentage of those are Dish customers?

[chris_h]

I, for one, became a dish customer in anticipation of the 921 being released. It is my understanding from Mark at Dish Depot that the 921 will not be released until after the 522, and the 522 is not out yet.

[RAD]

The 522 was announced after the 921 but the 522 will ship before the 921? Ah come on Dish, you've got to stop pretending that you're Mircosoft and stop this practice of announcing vaporware. They need to come up with a policy of not announcing a product no further then 3 months before a ship date (aka announce it when they send the final specs to the manufacture) along with a price. I promise, if DirecTV or even my evil cable company come out with a HDTV PVR Dish can kiss me goodbye as a $120+/month customer.

[Mike D-CO5]

I think that if Dish would get these new receivers on the market and not Charge for the second sat input they would rack up the new subscibers. A while back the rumor was that Directv may not charge for extra receivers on the same subscription. If Dish could do this it might start a trend for both sat providers to do no charge for additional receivers. It also might be a "cable tv killer "policy. Imagine what cable would have to do to compete since they charge for each digital cable box a fee higher than most sat companies.
All consumers in both satellite and Cable tv might benefit from Dish being the leader in this change. Competition is really great!!

[Ken_F]

Scott tells me that its looking pretty bleak for an August/September release. So much for the comments from the retailer chat...

[abospaum]

I've had the arguement with a number of Dish people regarding the extra receiver charges. Most of my friends and family with cable would switch to satellite if it weren't for this stupid charge. Cable companies charge the fee as a receiver rental fee but almost any TV will show at least all of the basic channels without a STB this is not the case for sat. We buy our equipment but then need to pay a $5/month charge per extra receiver. What for? They say it is to maintain the smartcard system. They would probably double the number of sat subscribers in the first year that they kill that policy plus they would sell more equipment.

[Six Sigma Leader]

Originally posted by tm22721
Why don't they offer the 921 as a 'beta' quality unit to those willing to buy now and deal with the bugs without any support ?



How is that any different than C Ergan has been doing for the last 18 years?

Remember the HTS C/Ku receivers with the great power supplies that Charlie never replaced - every Echostar customer is a beta tester

[homergreg]

I always thought the $5 was to help keep people from purchasing a receiver, adding to their account and selling it to someone else, then the next person just putting up a dish and having free programming.

[Mike D-CO5]

What 's to stop people from doing that anyway? I know some friends who have several receivers on their account and they have family and friends using the extra receivers at their homes with different satellite dishes.
But what I think Dish could do is to keep making these receivers like the 522 ( 2 tuners to two different tvs) and the 544 ( four different tvs) that way they could encourage and all in one system for each house without the fee. They could still charge for extra receivers other than the all in one system. This would still give Dish the competitive advantage over cable or even Directv. At least till Directv came out with their own all in one house system receiver also. They would have to" keep up with the Jones" so to speak.

[RAD]

I always thought that multiple receivers were 'supposed' to be connected to a phone line all the time so Dish could have them call home and verify they were all from the same phone number. If Dish enforced that policy then they could prevent the cheating.

Face it, the $4.95 mirroring fee is just about all pure profit to Dish and DirecTV.

[Mike D-CO5]

Dish ,one time in my 7 years, has asked for the other receiver numbers on my account to verify that they were all in my house.
Directv has never asked and that receiver is not plugged in at all to a phone line. I think the future will bring more options like the 522 and 544 this will make it not necessary to buy extra receivers that can be used in someone else's house illegally.
This one receiver whole house solution will be the way to attract a lot of on the fence cable people to move to satellite. My Dad is very Cheap and he waited for a long time before he would even switch to satellite from antenna.(america's top 50 only!!)
He still has only one receiver and I hope to upgrade him to a 322 when it comes out so he can watch something different in the bedroom. My poor mother has no choice in what she watches. He is RETIRED!!

[BobMurdoch]

Originally posted by Bob Haller
Hey if you hurry things there will be more bugs....

There are going to be bugs ANYWAY, just get the thing out so we can help them "beta" test it and get it working for the people that will buy it 6 months after its release.....

[Mike Russell]

I agree, just get it out if it's built. I can put up with the bugs if they will fix them in the future.I would just like to see some HD and I don't want to buy a 6000. I would buy the 211 if it comes out first.

[kmurstig]

I've waited for the 921 for over a year since I bought a HDTV ready RPTV. I finally became fed up with all the delays and bought a 508 until the 921 comes out. I can always sell the 508 or put it in the bedroom. I just really wanted the PVR function, the HDTV will be sweet, but i'm not going to spend $600 on a 6000 for it to be out of date in 6 mo.. I really do want HD though... Still waiting.... and waiting and waiting...
:)

[wildzeke]

I was able to turn my 721 into a 921 with a magic marker.

[SParker]

ROFL!!!!!!!!! :D

Originally posted by wildzeke
I was able to turn my 721 into a 921 with a magic marker.

[cws80us]

I got tired of waiting on the 921 long ago and went ahead and bought a Sony SAT-HD200 receiver so I could start watching my local OTA HD offerings. It's a DirecTv HD receiver but will work with activating a D* account. As it turns out, it may have been a very good investment, since D* is quickly leaving E* in their dust. If Erg doesn't do something soon, I'll be a former Dish customer. The only thing holding me back is the Superstation package.