Dish Network's digital video recorder, the DVR 921, works best on HDTV

Dish Network aside from releasing this digital video recorder is offering HDTV bundles with its satellite high-definition service.

HDTV is on the horizon and soon a digital video recorder ( DVR ) will be able to take full advantage of the new possibilities with digital television. Digital video recorder ( DVR ) technology, pioneered by TiVo and Replay TV, will become pervasive as HDTV becomes widespread. Today other companies like Direct TV are jumping into the fray.

The Dish Network's digital video recorder, the DVR 921, acts as a Dish high-definition receiver and also has an off-the-air ATSC tuner built in. It is potentially one of the more exciting home entertainment products available, but potential and execution are always two different things. High-definition offerings from Dish Network span a wide variety of programming, including premium movie offerings such as Showtime HD and HBO HDTV, sports programming (including pay-per-view and ESPN), as well as HDNet and Discovery HD Theater.

This programming comes at a price. If you want high-definition HBO, you need to add HBO service to your subscription. A base level of high-definition service-which includes HDNet, Discovery HD, TNT in HD, and ESPN HD-costs $9.95 per month above and beyond your Dish Network subscription fee.
Dish Network's digital video recorder, the DVR-921, is not cheap by any measure (around $1000 at the time of this writing). The DVR 921 does offer substantial functionality and I'll bet the price will drop dramatically in the coming months.

The DVR 921 is a silver metallic box the size of a desktop PC. The DVR 921's non-backlit remote resembles the remote for the older, non-HD Dish DVRs. The layout is logical and the buttons offer tactile feedback.

The label text and icons are small, but still readable. All menus are navigated using the supplied remote control with the "10 foot" user interface.

The dgital video recorder (DVR 921) weighs just 17 pounds, so it is lighter than the average desktop PC. When you hit the power switch to turn it off it goes into standby mode -- but the fans keep spinning creating a steady hum that's somewhat distracting.

The DVR 921 supports both component analog output and DVI-I RGB output. Although the DVR 921 is capable of supporting HDCP content protection, the feature is not currently turned on.

The PCI slots face a metal panel that's removable. There are inactive options such as FireWire and USB ports (but no ethernet or coax port ?) that bode well for future features.

Watching TV on the Dish Network's digital video recorder, the DVR 921, means you need to become familiar with the electronic program guide (EPG). One of Dish Network's features is the ability to get local programming, (standard definition programming only), through the satellite dish in certain metropolitan areas.

If you want local HDTV broadcasts, you'll need to connect an ATSC-capable antenna to the system.

When you stay within the Dish Network system, the DVR works well. You can record two channels at once and you can watch one channel while recording another. It doesn't matter if one channel is high def and the other standard definition.

Image quality over either output with high def broadcasts was quite good. A 250GB hard drive sounds like a lot, until you start recording high-definition broadcasts. The 25 hour capacity of HD will really go fast.

If you like TV-especially sports and movies-then high-definition services with premium channel support is becoming an essential part of the medium. And if you have high-definition, it's natural to want to record shows, if only for the purpose of time shifting.

HDTV is finally coming of age and you'll want to time-shift your HDTV viewing. Dish Network's DVR 921, a first generation product, gets the job done for the most part.

The DVR 921 currently cost alot. Competing digital video recorders, such as DirecTV's HD TiVo, are in the same range, so the pricing isn't wrong. A bigger problem is that the DVR is really limited to time-shifting. You can't archive your favorite shows or sports events (you'll need a dvd recorder for that), and the 25-hour capacity forces you to erase old shows.

Although Dish Network's digital video recorder is a first-generation product the Dish DVR 921 is a polished digital video recorder. There are two forums that support this digital video recorder.

They are the DBSTalk DVR-921 forum and the Satellite Guys forum. You'll find digital video recorder tips for the DVR 921 and workarounds as well as updated information on the new Dish digital video recorder.