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 One of the things about CEDIA is that after attending one of these shows I always know its going to cost me some money. After visiting the Dish Network booth and seeing their first “name based” (ala “Tivo”) DVR I knew I had to have one. The “Season Pass” feature alone was worth it to me.
This unit is a two event, High Definition DVR with a capability of recording over 160 hours of SD content or approximately 20 hours of HD content. Since I had just purchased an HD Plasma TV (Panasonic TH-37PX50U) for the bedroom this would make a perfect source for that display. It has worked out perfectly and I have been enjoying HD content for some time via the HDMI output and sending optical audio through my sound system (separate from the display to allow for 5.1 sound.)
As of February 2006 the 942 has been discontinued (but still works) to make way for the upgraded Dish ViP622 which is capable of receiving MPEG4 as well as MPEG2 broadcasts. Most of the new HD channels that started broadcasting in February 2006 are MPEG4 compatible so the 942 will eventually be replaced with a second ViP 622. (My first ViP 622 was installed in my HT which is described elsewhere.) The 942 will remain useful to me in another room since it still gets about 80% of my HD content and all the SD channels as well. A short life span in the limelight, but a very enjoyable one. And coupled with all my other DVRs I have the current capability of recording 7 events simultaneously!
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