OTHER TECH

Dish has offered built-in HDRs for its standard-definition receivers for several years, and in fact more people use them than use TiVo machines. As a high-def chauvinist, I was so ready to pause, replay, fast forward, and quick skip through all the HDTV programming that I could wrap the 921's internal 250-gigabyte (GB) hard-disk drive around.

I immediately scrolled Dish Network's HDTV program guide. The lineup consists of eight channels: Discovery HD Theater, HDNet, HDNet Movies, ESPN HD, HBO HD, Showtime HD, HD Pay per View (PPV), and HD Event. (For $6, I recorded a stunningly realistic 45-minute documentary about dolphins from the HD PPV channel. Special PPV events such as high-def NBA games or the Masters Golf tournament are slotted on the HD Event channel.) People in 17 cities can also get the CBS HDTV feed from either the network's New York or Los Angeles station ($6 extra with a local-channels package), but you'll need a second dish to receive it.

After our DVR 921's misbehaving tuner was fixed by a software download and I jockeyed the room antenna (Dish doesn't supply a terrestrial antenna), I managed to lock in the digital CBS signal from the Empire State Building four blocks away just in time for the Super Bowl. Although the program guide integrates local TV (analog and digital) channels with satellite channels, the grid merely lists "local DTV" without titles or time blocks. So I used the manual-recording option to set the channel and the start and end times. Hey, at least I was able to time-shift CSI: Miami in high-def even if I had to guess the program name among my list of saved recordings. The fact that I can now press Skip on the remote six times to get past 3 minutes of time-wasting ads finally gives me the same sense of freedom watching HDTV that I have watching conventional TV with a standard-def HDR.

The Dish Network's eight-day-out program guide puts three half-hour segments across the screen, but you can't go back even half an hour to check on a program you missed. The default is to present channel numbers in descending order - the opposite of virtually all other electronic program guides - but you can change it to ascending order if you prefer.

Since the DVR 921 has two satellite tuners, my first test was to simultaneously record two HDTV programs. I was able to save True Music from HDNet and The Jeff Corwin Experience from Discovery HD Theater at the same time. The beer bubbles in the Budweiser commercials on True Music were so detailed that they seemed to foam off the screen, and the ornate colored patterns on Corwin's snakes were beautiful to behold. (I was just glad I wasn't the one holding them.)

The playback controls for a high-def recording or a live program being buffered work the same way as for a standard-def program. The difference is the much better picture quality. Pressing the FWD button advances the show at 4x speed. Repeated pressings increase the speed to 15x, 60x, and 300x. The first two speeds are exceptionally smooth. The RWD button presents the same speed controls in reverse.

Even if you haven't chosen to record a show, you can pause playback of a broadcast for up to 2 hours (vs. 30 minutes for TiVo or a time limited only by disc space for Replay­TV's buffer) while you attend to other matters, then come back and watch from where you left off. You can even decide to record a program after it's started (assuming the 921 has been tuned to that channel all along) if you first reverse the buffer to the show's start time. But there's no warning that the buffer of a delayed program will be erased when you change the channel. (Dish says a pop-up warning will be provided in a future software update.)

There are a few disadvantages to watching HDTV channels vs. standard-definition (SD) channels. First, you can't use the picture-in-picture (PIP) feature if either is high-def. With SD channels, you can place a fixed-size picture window in one of seven screen positions. Also, if you're using PIP, you can switch between two pause buffers, one for each of the shows. But if you close the PIP, you lose the pause buffer on that channel. (Of course, if the show is that important, you should be recording it.)

Slow-motion sequences look especially good with an HDTV program source. Unlike the blocky resolution that sometimes results from slowing down a scene with fast-moving action, such as a basketball toss in standard-def, the DVR 921 lets you savor every detail - the twist of the player's body as his feet leave the court, the ball leaving his hands and sailing through the air, the swish through the basket, and the amazed expressions of fans in the stands. Sports enthusiasts in particular will crave the ability to replay the action at 1/4 and 1/15 speed with an unprecedented level of picture detail. My most-replayed Super Bowl moment focused on Janet Jackson - the part CBS didn't replay.

By pausing and then pressing Skip Fwd or Skip Back, you can also advance or reverse the action almost frame by frame. Be warned, though: this feature takes some of the magic out of moviemaking. In a crystal-clear recording of Spider-Man from HBO HD, it became obvious when frame advancing Peter Parker as he tried out his web-shooting abilities on the rooftops of Queens that mechanical devices were mounted under his shirtsleeves. I really didn't need to see that.

While the DVR 921 will tune in both analog and digital TV signals off the air, it will only record the DTV signals. That's because digital TV is already in the MPEG-2 format. The 921 has no encoder of its own to convert analog broadcasts. And forget about using it to receive off-air broadcasts without a satellite subscription. All of the company's receivers are designed to work only when Dish Network service is connected.

There were a few glitches. On four occasions while I was changing channels, the 921 rebooted itself. I was unable to power up for 5 to 20 minutes each time while the device restarted. Dish says that there have been reports of a few 921s rebooting themselves, and the company is in the process of fixing this problem with the next version of the software (a download was expected in late February). Another time I discovered that an unattended recording of Russian Ark had stopped about a third into the movie. Dish said that it was aware of such problems and had fixed this particular bug in a software download. And I haven't seen another instance of a partial recording since then.

In trying to find another airing of Russian Ark, I used the onscreen keyboard (which I prefer to the remote's number/letter keypad) to search for program titles with the word "ark." Dozens came up - including South Park, Kenny the Shark, Darkman, Barefoot in the Park, and so on - but none was what I wanted. Clearly, Dish needs to refine its search engine.

The DVR 921 is relatively noisy because of its hard drive. For that reason, Dish supplies an RF remote that enables you to sequester the receiver away from your immediate viewing/listening area. Carrying the remote into other rooms and beyond several walls, I was still able to control the 921. Dish claims the remote can be used as far as 100 feet away.

Given all the benefits of using an HDTV recorder/receiver, I'm pretty impressed with the DVR 921. First, it saves me from the dilemma of having to choose between letting me control the TV or letting the commercial networks control me for the sake of seeing their shows in high-def. Second, given all the movies being carried by channels like HDNet Movies, HBO HD, and Showtime HD, it also lets me store the highest-quality flicks for viewing whenever I want. The digital surround sound delivered by the 921 was phenomenal, too. Finally, I can have my HDTV, hard-disk empowerment, and home theater, too. What a deal!