My comments of the 942 compared to my 3 yr old UltimateTV

[jpage4500]

Hi,

First off, I have to say I've been playing with the 942 for 3 days now and I am very pleased with it overall. I have had DirecTV for 7 years and UltimateTV (DVR) for the last 3 but really wanted an HD-DVR without spending the $700 it would cost to buy one there.

That said, there are some things the UltimateTV did that just make more sense to me then how the 942 works. So, I thought I'd list out a few of these and hopefully someone could say if they make sense to add to 942. Oh, and I also saw the bug forum about 942 so I'll add any bugs there as well..)

1) BUG: I view the channel lineup in Ascending order.. it just makes more sense to me but I understand it's more of a preference than anything else. But, if I enter Browse mode and press UP/DOWN, it doesn't obey this preference. UP will move the opposite of how UP works in the Guide mode for me. I'd image this wouldn't be too difficult to fix..

2) If I'm watching a DVR recording and switch channels (eg: I'm watching a show and want to check the score of a baseball game), when I hit the Recall button I don't go back to my recording. Instead I go back to the channel the recording was on but in live mode. This is really a pain.. Even worse, when I enter the DVR menu and select the recording I was watching it doesn't let me Resume.. only Start Over!! So, I've got to manually find where I left the recording off... ughh.. I've tried to use the Stop button but instead of stopping the playback it asks me if I want to Stop recording (which I don't) so I'm kind of stuck...

3) Just as bad (for me anyway) is the ease of which it is to go Live on a recording that you're watching on a delay. Right above the jump ahead is the Live button and I'd really like it to ask me if I "really want to go live?". It's not so bad for a TV show where you can reverse back to where you left off but for sports it's terrible.

I love to record a baseball game and start watching it 30-45 minutes after it starts. That way, I can skip commericals which I'd imagine many people do. But, the last thing I want to do is go live and see the score which really takes away from the experience. So now, if I A) press Live TV by accident instead of Skip Ahead or B) change the channel and try to change back, I go LIVE...

I guess to me, in general going Live makes more sense when I paused TV. But, when I play back a recording the whole Live concept doesn't seem necessary (or at least so easy to do)

4) This isn't big, but what's with the prompts that allow me to choose from Yes, No or Cancel? Usually, it's a question like: "Do you wish to stop recording?" Well, from what I can see No and Cancel do the same thing. Why not just offer Yes/No or Ok/Cancel?

5) I'm a little worred about the heat coming from the left side of the 942. It's extremely hot to the touch! I admit I don't have a lot of breating room above this box (1/2") but both sides are open. Would it be better to raise the 942 up and lose some of the top space??

Hopefully this doesn't sound too critical of the 942 since I'm very pleased having this HD-DVR. But, of course, I think there's always room for improvement..

thanks,
joe

[jpage4500]

I thought of another one that happened to me yesterday..

I was watching a recording and got a phone call. So, I paused playback (or I may have hit the Stop button.. I don't remember)

After a little bit the 942 switched to live TV on the channel I was watching.. so much for using pause as my mute button :)

I understand the need to avoid screen burn-in but why not just a simple screen saver instead?

j

[Bichon]

After a little bit the 942 switched to live TV on the channel I was watching.. so much for using pause as my mute button :)


I've not had that problem. I've paused both recordings and live TV for extended periods of time (walk the dog, make a snack, take a phone call, etc) with no issue. The only time I've had it automatically unpause is after pausing live TV, when the one hour buffer filled.

[Jon Spackman]

If you are watching live tv with or without a delay, and hit stop it takes you live. If you had pressed pause that would have paused to let you grab that call. Just make sure you press pause next time should work fine for ya. :grin:

[softwiz]

I too had the UltimateTV for 3 years.

1) There is a preference for this. I changed it about 5 minutes after I fired it up

2) I agree, I reported this and nobody seemed to give a crap

5) Get standoffs to make the 942 sit higher. I did and mine is barely warm.

[rickaren]

Yes that #2 issue still bothers me. Having had UTV and now TiVo for several years, I still have an issue as to how to save a reference point when watching auto racing. I now watch what lap they are on when I stop watching. (TiVo always remember when you change.)Never have looked it up in the Owners Manual. Are you suppose to place it on pause? It may have something to do that the 942 can record three channels, all at the same time. Still a great DVR. This issue could be corrected in the future, or maybe we just don't know how to use it!

[Mark Lamutt]

I've complained about #2 myself since long before any of you could get your hands on a 942...so, I doubt it'll be changed.

[ewingr]

Good list. There are a number of things about Ultimate TV that I'd like to see in this unit. I have suggested some of the basic ones in the features request. One is the capability to select multiple recordings, and delete them at the same time.

But, the highest priority for me, before ANY features, is to get the unit completely stable. Too many bugs.

Interesting how the Utlimate TV, which I purchased it immediately when it came out, had NO bugs that I ever experienced.

That all being said, I am enjoying this box, and look forward to a not too distant future when the major problems are fixed. They do seem to be coming out with relatively regular updates.

[vahighland]

But, the highest priority for me, before ANY features, is to get the unit completely stable. Too many bugs.Here here - I second that motion!

[ARM07470]

I've complained about #2 myself since long before any of you could get your hands on a 942...so, I doubt it'll be changed.
Add me to the list of folks who'd like to see #2 addressed. Maybe, if we had enough people complain about this, we could get Dish to change their mind! The Dishplayer also handled this correctly so it's no surprise that UltimateTV did as well.

- Anthony

[rickaren]

I don't really feel that the 942 is "buggy" and I think most would agree it must be the best DISH DVR ever. Yes it is an HD DVR, so I'm not sure that they have had many before, (new to DISH) just room for improvement. Don't remember DISH with a lot of up-dates in the distant past on their receivers, and again most I had to see what was being changed, since I have not had any serious issue from day one. I was pleasantly surprised with it, and just wanted to keep VOOM programing and kind of fell into the 942 DVR. More pleased with DISH than DirecTV having both at present, but that could change in the future. Large investment in purchased and modified DirecTV Tivo's that may keep me with them, but leasing of all equipment by both is the future. If their price is right, why purchase?

[TVBob]

I was watching a recording and got a phone call. So, I paused playback (or I may have hit the Stop button.. I don't remember)

After a little bit the 942 switched to live TV on the channel I was watching.. so much for using pause as my mute button

The problem here may be a bug that should be moved to a separate thread:



Set up a DVR event on an OTA channel, say 007-01
Tune to any OTA channel, say 005-01, 30 min. before the scheduled recording time of the DVR event, so you're watching live OTA.
Press PAUSE
BUG: at the scheduled DVR event time, the DVR-942 will automatically switch to 005-01 and return to live mode, so everything in the pause buffer gets lost!:(
Other DVRs like the ReplayTV keep the pause buffer around until you change channels, allowing you to un-pause and watch all the way to end of the pause buffer at any time. At that point, it freezes playback (stop icon appears), and you can then rewind or simply change channels via the normal methods.