Added A Leased 942

SaltiDawg · 10-03-05, 08:27 AM

My wife and I have been Echostar Subscribers for about five years. Up until Saturday, we were viewing on two 508 Receivers. We have had no problems with either of them. The twenty-year-old Sony KV-25DXR TV in our MBR died and we replaced it with a 37" Panny Plasma.

We were fortunate in that Dish allowed us, as existing customers, to lease a 942 and it was installed on Saturday. (Dish replaced the LNB's and SW's on my Dish 500 and I did the internal wiring and connections before hand.)

My wife is the principle user of the 942 and I now have two 508's on my twelve-year-old 53" Sony XBR. (I'm just waiting for it to die so that I can replace it.

)

I wanted to share a couple of items that came up.

1) The 942 was installed inside a glass-fronted cabinet-stand in precisely the same location previously occupied by a 508. Everything was fine for an hour after the Tech left and then the 942 went buggy. (Continuous loop of acquiring satellite, downloading Guide, doing a Diagnostic routine.) I called Dish and the Tech concluded it was likely a cabling issue.

I was fortunate to get the installing Tech back - I had asked for the phone # of his boss so that I could call and tell him how pleased with the professionalism and craftsmanship that the installer had exhibited.)

After checking all wire and connections he and I suspected that over-heating hopefully was the problem. Re-locating the 942 clear up the problem and no further problem.

2) We experience one instance of sound being out of synch on one of the HD package stations - don't remember which one.

3) Prior to the 942's arrival, I could stand between my kitchen and my living room and hear the sound from two TV's being fed from different 508's. The audio and video were, as expected, in synch with each other. If I do this now, with one TV being fed by either of two 508's and the other being fed by the 942, the sound on all channels is slightly out of synch. That said, both sets when viewed alone show no sign of video-audio synch problems, so I conclude that there is a very small difference, albeit a real difference in the audio-video time delay.

Of course when we start using anything new there is a learning curve. My wife has decided to use the 942 in Dual Mode - TV in the MBR and TV2 downstairs in the kitchen. We/she hasn't yet figured how to watch a different channel on TV1 while recording on tuner 1, but we'll get there. (Assuming this is doable.)

We're in our sixties and I haven't heard my wife say "Wow!" in the bedroom so often in years.

Thanks for all the informative posts, they were instrumental in our decision to pursue getting a 942!

Eagles · 10-03-05, 08:47 AM

Please tell us how you accomplished the 942 lease. Who did you speak to at Dish who set you up? I called last week to inquire about the 942 lease, and they said the 942 was for purchase only.

LtMunst · 10-03-05, 08:58 AM

3) Prior to the 942's arrival, I could stand between my kitchen and my living room and hear the sound from two TV's being fed from different 508's. The audio and video were, as expected, in synch with each other. If I do this now, with one TV being fed by either of two 508's and the other being fed by the 942, the sound on all channels is slightly out of synch. That said, both sets when viewed alone show no sign of video-audio synch problems, so I conclude that there is a very small difference, albeit a real difference in the audio-video time delay.

There is generally always a delay when using a DVR device compared to a plain receiver. There is a short time between when the DVR writes to the hardrive and then outputs the signal. It is pretty short on the 942. On my old Tivo, I could notice a 2 second delay if I had a second TV tuned to the same channel.

SaltiDawg · 10-03-05, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LtMunst

There is generally always a delay when using a DVR device compared to a plain receiver. There is a short time between when the DVR writes to the hardrive and then outputs the signal. It is pretty short on the 942. On my old Tivo, I could notice a 2 second delay if I had a second TV tuned to the same channel.

I undersytand this. However the 508 and the 942 are both DVRs. I do not notice a sync problem between the video and the audio on either receiver. I was just observing that the delay is different for the two - the audio delay is longer on the 942 than the 508. I can not tell if the video is any more delayed on one versus the other.

SaltiDawg · 10-03-05, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagles

Please tell us how you accomplished the 942 lease. Who did you speak to at Dish who set you up? I called last week to inquire about the 942 lease, and they said the 942 was for purchase only.

I went to the Echostar site and typed in a question asking if there was any program where I could lease the 942. I included the fact that I was a five-year customer that is happy with dish.

I got no answer after eight days had elapsed.

I sent Mr. Ergen an E-mail again asking that question and politely expressing my disappointment that I had not been paid the courtesy of even a reply. I offered the opinion that such treatment might make "the grass look greener" elsewhere.

It was a comment made to suggest need for improvement in CS and while I never intended to leave Dish (at this time) I guess it might have been interpreted that way. A member of Mr. Ergen's staff E-mailed me and apologized and explained that the lease of a 942 is not generally available, because I had been a long time and loyal Dish customer, an exception would be made.

That individual followed up both by E-mail and by telephone and coordinated everything - and he even took my Credit Card # for the $250.