380 million dollars and 2.5 years in the making, the world’s first DVR containing Slingbox functionality has arrived. Of course, this is exactly the sort of hybrid product we expected when Echostar acquired Sling Media in 2007. Although it wasn’t actually until CES 2009 that our suspicions were confirmed. And DISH Network’s 2009 launch plans have obviously slipped. Yet, the wait is now over!
In addition to placeshifting capabilities and other remote access functionality, the dual tuner VIP 922 SlingLoaded DVR pairs a brand new and possibly app-alicious UI (see below) with a roomy 1 terabyte drive and powerline networking. Fortunately, Echo/Sling/DISH drew the line there and chose not bundle the horrible prototype touchpad remote control. Not only was it difficult to navigate one handed, like Sezmi, it did away with the number keys.
It’s not clear (to me) from DISH’s site what the VIP 922 and service run, but Engadget came across a memo which indicates a MSRP of $695 for the hardware, with leases starting as low as $200 (whatever that means). I don’t have many options as a potential reviewer with an obstructed satellite view. So, like most, I’ll resign myself to waiting for the pro journalists to chime in and and early customer testimonials. But on paper (or LCD), the VIP 922 sure looks hot.
Now, if only EchoStar would buy TiVo and include a TiVo UI I’d be sold.
Bill
It’ll be interesting to see if DISH can effectively communicate the Sling capabilities to a mass market. It’ll also be interesting to see how/if the content industry responds.
I have been waiting since its announcement at CES 2009 for this to be released, only to have Dish destroy my dreams as they want to charge me $400.00 with a $95.00 install fee for this. I questioned both prices and was sent to a retention specialist who wouldn’t budge on either. The $95.00 is because a technician must deliver the unit (they won’t ship it) and install it. So its basically a delivery fee. Regarding the upgrade price I told him their press release states $200.00 and he confirmed that but said certain customers qualify for that and I don’t. I asked what it takes and he said he can’t tell me. I have been a dish customer for 7 years and avg. $80.00 per month. That seems ridiculous to me I wouldn’t qualify. I tried the “threaten to leave” as recommended by others and he said I can process your termination now if you would like. They are willing to lose a valuable customer for $200.00 dollars. If anyone has any insight I would appreciate it. I am happy with Dish, but don’t think its fair to pay $400.00 when clearly they are letting other current customers pay $200.00. Thanks
Better buy it before April 30th because after that Dish’s DVRs are going to be toast.
I just purchased the Slingbox Solo (seperate unit) to use with my VIP722 five days ago and have it working perfectly ($160.00) When I saw this on their site I called them to see what it would cost for the VIP922 and they told me $200.00 + the $95.00 installation fee. If figured if it was cheap enough I would take back my separate Sling box unit and get this instead. They told me they would not ship the VIP922 to me either, but you can get out of the $95.00 installation fee if you have their monthly service plan which I don’t have. I think it is $6.00 a month fee and I just paid $95.00 to upgrade a second bedroom to HD so if you plan on a lots of upgrades it might work out for you to get this plan. Although I would prefer to have a VIP922 with integrated Sling technology there seems to be a couple of advantages to using my VIP 722 with a separate Slingbox. First my VIP722 will run a second TV with standard def with just a coax cable to that room and the VIP922 will NOT do this. I didn’t know that at first. They consider the “Sling” connection to be your second TV connection so you have to go to a computer or Iphone. By doing it the way I did with the VIP722, I don’t have to have a box sitting on top of a TV in a bedroom which I hate. I am wondering if they are charging for 2 TVs ($14.00 per month) with the VIP922 like they do for my VIP722. With my configuration I have two TV connections + Sling and I own my Slingbox. One other thing is that if you do pay the $95.00 installation fee, see if you can get the tech to make it work with your Iphone. I struggled with this for a while and could not figure out what was wrong until I figured out how to configure my routers firewall to make it all work. I never even realized that it was a firewall problem and basically stumbled across what was wrong by messing with it. Might be worth the $95.00 if you don’t want to mess with all this.
Wow, now that is what I call a grid. From those screen shots it is worlds beyond TiVo, very nice work. Of course I’m assuming the elements don’t load one by one like the TiVo Premier UI.
Bottom line is it is great to see a good looking DVR UI make it to market.
I am impressed by the UI design coming from a service provider. The high resolution icons and text look really nice, while maintaining that 10 foot from the screen navigation experience.
I don’t have any options here either, Dave. There’s not adequate view of the southern sky where I live.
If only other service providers would follow suit and upgrade their Steampunk DVR’s.
I just got mine hooked up and downloaded the iphone slingplayer app and it doesn’t work!! the app is not ready to play live tv from an integrated slingbox 922 – Dish didn’t tell us that – the app currently only works with a slingbox pro or av – anybody else know this?
If it won’t work with the Iphone app then I am glad I have a separate Sling Box unit with my current VIP722 as well as I get a coax output to run standard def on a bedroom TV and you don’t get that with the VIP922. The cool thing about slingbox it using it with your iphone on 3G so if it won’t do that I don’t want it. By the way if you didn’t know this when you use the iphone slingbox app with a standalone slingbox you can set the slingbox app to open with the Dish Network remote that has a nice grid and all the options that you get with the Dish Network remote app available as a free app. You have to set it to do this otherwise just the Slingbox app boots up on your iphone.
I just went on the Dish Network chat and asked them and they say the VIP922 will work with an iphone on a network and on 3G.
The 922 will work with an iphone.
Also this DVR is not in the Tivo vs Dish Network suit. This one can not be deactivated under the courts ruling.
Justin,
You shouldn’t be so sure of that. The 922 most certainly falls under the current injunction under the doctrine of equivalents unless Dish shows that it is new non-infringing technology. So far there is no evidence that Dish has invented anything that gets them out of contempt.
I got mine yesterday and it wasn’t working so I called them up about it. They said they will work on it and probably push and update when they fix the issue. I got home from work today and it now works! It also worked through the dish website using the dish remote access link.
PQ is amazing on home network, when I selected HD it was streaming at about 4.7Mbps.
I got my ViP922 today. The tech was real new to it, and didn’t know everything about it yet. It won’t work with Safari, but it does on FireFox. It won’t work with the Sling Player software on my Mac, iPhone, or iPad. It won’t work with my Safari browser on iPhone, or iPad, either. I can only get it to work on my Mac with FireFox.
The tech it shouldn’t work in multiple rooms, but it does. I didn’t get a remote for the other room???? I am not liking this at all.
To work with iPhone I had to buy the 29.99 sling player app from the app store. On the dish website it says they will refund it after purchase.
Mack, how did you get it to work on a second TV?
Kelvin-just connect your home coax cable to the home distribution out on the 922. Go to the 922 settings and enable shared view. Go to the modulator settings and choose the air or cable channels you want TV 1 and TV 2 to broadcast at. That’s it. TV1 and TV2 are mirrored until the sling is enabled for remove viewing. Then TV2 shows the sling channel.
A word of warning to other customers considering the 922. I have been told that the Dish techs are about to disable the shared view for TV2. If this is the case, you will will only be able to watch the sling from a computer/iPhone or iTouch. Also, the 922 is not considered a multi-room receiver. If you are thinking about replacing your 625/722 with a 922, you will loose multi-room capabilities. Also, current customers that are leasing a 722 and choose to get a 922 as a replacement receiver, you cannot change your mind after the install. I called Dish 1 day after my install to complain about the loss of multi-room capabilities and was told that there was nothing they could do. My old 722 had already been sent back and as I had just used my Dish it up promo, I would have to buy a 722 at full price if I wanted the 722 back. If I had known that the 922 was not multi-room, I would have just added the 922 as an additional receiver. I hope this info helps others interested in the 922.
All these fancy features yet still no ESATA port. Something some 4 year old cable boxes have. I understand it has a 1TB drive built in but if you ever want to add more storage space without opening up the receiver, you’ll have to use old slow USB 2.0. For the retail price dish is asking for this , I’d expect it to have an ESATA port.
I got my vip922 installed yesterday (4/20). The sling option did not work nor did the help and weather functions. I could not connect to the sling box eventhough it was recognized by the sling web server. Internet connections were tested and were fine. Today, it just worked. Every thing worked just fine including the iphone sling app.
I chatted with a CSR yesterday and he told me they were aware of some problems and that they will be fixed soon. I think it will take few more weeks to completely get rid of the bugs including the connection to external drives(still not functional).
I am a dns tech and the reason why they charge some people 400 and others 200 is because if you have upgraded within the last 12 months upgrades always cost more no matter what it is. basically you get a free upgrade every year. also any dish receiver takes about 24 hours before internet connectivity will work on the sling website whether it is remote access or sling. and no one is disabling the tv2 output and even if a tech did it is nothing you can’t fix yourself in the menu. These are not flying off the shelf by any means I have installed 1 and that was for my own house. I think it is because of the $200 price and the fact that they are hardly advertising the thing I have only seen one flier with it listed and the call centers don’t mention it unless you ask.
you can purchase one for 629.99 at
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=02&p=VIP922&d=DISH-Network-Vip-922-HighDefinition-MPEG4-Dual-Output-HDTV-DVR-Satellite-Receiver-(Vip922)&c=DISH%20Network%20Receivers&sku=
Hi, im a TSR for dish, to some of your questions the previous guy mentioned is yeah the $400 price tag is due to the customer may have had a upgrade in the last 12 mnths the other is this thing is still in a open beta phase, the customers that call are sent to a special tsr unit designed to handle some of the bugs. Were not takening the multi room function out you can adjust this with your settings yourself. As for the advertising it’s because basically we dont want some 99 yr old woman wanting this and not being able to use it. Face it, this is a new technology that only a small percentage of people can understand and use. We dont want TOM the farmer ordering this and getting stuck on a system info screen and calling 90 times a day. NOt trying to sound mean it’s just that this is a 700 dollar reciever and it cost the company money anytime someone calls. As for the $95 install fee, quit being cheap and carry the service plan for $6 bucks tech visits are just $15 compared to $95. We’ll even come and change your batteries for the $15, we go to great lengths to provide exceptional customer service. Directv has invested in sports, Dish has invested in technology we have our own engineering dept for it. Most of the kinks will be worked out my late summer. I would’nt suggest getting the 922 till then, at least im not
had a 922 installed yesterday and my biggest complaint so far is you cannot manually create DVR timers or dish pass. the only way to record anything is through the guide.
also the 922 does NOT come with an OTA tuner module even though they said it does. luckily the installer had an extra one and gave it to me.
Everyone, I know it is confusing why Dish dropped the TV2 output. I think it is because it is only Standard Def as a modulated RF signal. Like others have said no easy way to make it HD unless they stuck a ATSC modulator in there but Copy protection is an issue there as people would be able to record with a simple computer DTV tuner card. I think dish wants users of the 922 to use thier PC’s and other sling based options. What few people know about are the other devices they are selling through http://www.slingmedia.com. Example: They have a Sling Monitor 150 which is a 15.6″ LCD 720p wireless screen you can use in a kitchen on the patio or anywhere in the house. See: http://www.slingmedia.com/go/sling-monitor-150 The other item they have is the Sling Receiver 300 which is a flat device designed to mount behind your second flat panel TV in the bedroom. It can even stream over the power lines. It allows HD to be streamed to the second TV. See: http://www.slingmedia.com/go/sling-receiver-300 They also have this sweet touch screen remote that is supported by all the VIP receivers that is learning so you can control all your devices. I have been planning to build a crestron system to keep all my gear in the right modes for what your watching. See: http://www.slingmedia.com/go/sling-touch-control-100 Not sure what all these are going for but worth looking into. For now I would like if they kept the TV2 SD output as I have an older SD monitor in my bedroom. But I know with 1 TB of storage and HD being recorded I will not want to watch in SD in the bedroom… Anyone know how many concurrent streams the 922 can handle? I wonder if I could be streaming on my laptop while my wife is in the bedroom watching on that sling receiver 300, and the kids are at the main screen. Curious how many shows you can watch at the same time… Thanks,
Just checking if I understand correctly. I have an old Dish receiver (2200) and have Dish only in 1 room. I have Asian programming from Dish, and American + local programming from cable. Watch cable + Dish in 1 room; only cable in another; cannot run a wire between two rooms. Cable company also gives me Hi-speed internet; and i have a wireless router.
My need is to be able to see Dish Asian programming on laptop when i am in a hotel etc. Dish offered me a free upgrade to a 512 receiver- the cheapest which can connect to a slingbox. A tech will come to instal: $6/mo. But Slingmedia support might be a problem, so I changed my Dish order to a 922 for $400 including installation. 922 advantages over slingbox ProHD (which cost $299) is it includes a good DVR, and its advantage over [722 + Slingbox] is that with 722 you at home and your family in a hotel HAVE to watch same channel but in 922 you can have different channels. I don’t need Dish on a phone. I cannot get Dish in another room (like with 722) anyway. BTW, upgrade to 722 will cost me $200.
FYI the Sling Receiver 300 and the other products that are in slingmedia.com are not a retailer products so you have to contact the cable provider to ask if they offer that service :(
lol… this never ends
USPTO rules against TiVo’s “Time Warp” patent, but the fight vs. DISH rages on, again
Does the sling Receiver 300 actually let you watch a different program in hd than what is playing on tv1? I can’t seem to find a definitive answer on this. It seems that all it may do is “extend” tv1 into multiple rooms but everyone has to watch the same thing.
Can someone let me know?
We are a Dish customer with the Duo622 DVR allowing us two independent sd tvs on the same box. We want to upgrade both tvs to hd but I was really disappointed that dish didn’t have a dvr that could broadcast to other rooms in hd. DirectTV, UVerse, Verizon FIOS and TiVo all do this.
Thanks
The 922 is cool and all but if its sling box technology you’re interested in, the vip722 with a sling box is cheaper than the 922. In addition, the 722 can support the logitec revue google tv system while the 922 does not. The only thing you get with the 922 that you don’t with the 722 is the new graphical user interface (GUI). Not to mention, if you want 2 vip922’s, the first one is $200 lease while the second must be purchased coming to a total of about $800! vip722’s rule!