2 Hopper/1 Joey Setup Questions

[TARad]

Okay, so after doing research, reading these forums, posting many questions and talking with some of the great members... I finally made the plunge and ordered Dish.

Based on what I learned from some great people on this site, I found that it would be best to order 2 Hoppers and 1 Joey (rather than 1H/2J). The CSR I spoke with luckily knew how to do this as apparently it is increasingly more common for people to do this setup, and everything is coming out on Wednesday to be installed.

My questions are, however, about the placement and setup of these. While I'm sure I can discuss the questions I have with the installer, I want the input of the people here before hand, just in case. I've dealt with some horrible cable company installers and can only assume every company has some bad ones.

Anyway!

My house is getting three TV's connected to Dish. One in the living room, one in the master bedroom and the other in the loft. The first two are used all the time (living room much more so than bedroom), and the one in the loft is used maybe once a month. What would be the best placement for the boxes? My thought was a hopper for each of the mainly used TV's, and the Joey in the loft that is never used. I was thinking about doing PTAT in the living room and the other recordings in the bedroom (maybe the other way around?).

Also, one room (the loft) is currently using a U-verse wireless receiver because U-verse offered the Wireless STB as a free promo solution rater than installing the in wall STB (which I would have had to pay for). I informed the CSR I spoke with over the phone about this and he said the tech would take care of it and that it wouldn't cost extra. Is this right?

Thanks again for the help everyone!

 

[satjay]

Sounds like a good plan. I have the same set up, one hopper in our living room and basement and a Joey in the bedroom

 

[Yankeeman]

Sounds good. You'll love having the hopper and joey its awesome.

 

[Tampa8]

You did your homework!!

 

[nomad83]

It really doesn't matter where the hopper and joeys go. The only thing the hopper does that those joeys don't is P.I.P, if the installer is going to have to run cable to the wifi uverse location it would be best to put a hopper there if hr has to replace cable. The hopper requires 3ghz cable to it so if the other two rooms with cable in them don't have 3ghz cable going to them then he is wiring all three rooms due to having to have the 3ghz. Also the best option if possible is to have the hopper plugged directly into the Internet via Ethernet cable so if a hopper can go in the same room close to that source would be beneficial as well. You are going to love your hopper though.

 

[jpmarto]

How did you manage to get two hoppers and one Joey? I'm upgrading this coming Saturday, and I talked to three different CSRs and one supervisor: all said if I wanted two hoppers I had to get two joeys, not the (quantity) one I wanted. I was going to feed a rarely, if ever, used TV in an adjacent room with composite from the one Joey I wanted.

 

[ross9]

How did you manage to get two hoppers and one Joey? I'm upgrading this coming Saturday, and I talked to three different CSRs and one supervisor: all said if I wanted two hoppers I had to get two joeys, not the (quantity) one I wanted. I was going to feed a rarely, if ever, used TV in an adjacent room with composite from the one Joey I wanted.

No need to argue with a CSR just do as I did along with many on this forum. Order 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys and tell the installer you changed your mind and only want 1 Joey. I have not seen a post yet that said they had a problem doing this.
We have a hopper in the living room and bedroom with joey in my wifes sewing room. Set PTA on one Hopper and do the rest of your recordings on the other and you can watch any recording on any TV.
I also mirrror an old tv on our patio from 1 Hopper. System works great. You will love it.

 

[TARad]

No need to argue with a CSR just do as I did along with many on this forum. Order 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys and tell the installer you changed your mind and only want 1 Joey. I have not seen a post yet that said they had a problem doing this.
We have a hopper in the living room and bedroom with joey in my wifes sewing room. Set PTA on one Hopper and do the rest of your recordings on the other and you can watch any recording on any TV.
I also mirrror an old tv on our patio from 1 Hopper. System works great. You will love it.

That's what I was prepared to do, but when I told the CSR what I wanted he sent me in a different direction. What he ended up doing was signing it up as a 1 Hopper/2 Joey system, but made notes for the installer and on the account that the install was actually supposed to be 2 Hopper/1 Joey and the $99 for the 2nd Hopper is going to be charged either at the time of the install or on my next bill. The CSR (who did run it by his supervisor just in case) said that this is how he was told to do it and that it works easier than telling the installer that you don't want one of the Joeys when they show up.

I find out tomorrow if this way works or not, I'm hoping that there won't be any issues and that it will be a quick/easy install!

 

[dare2be]

Depending on the definition of "rarely used" of the loft TV, you may be better off buying the Joey outright and only activating it when needed, which would save you the $7 monthly charge during the months you don't use it. A leased Joey would need to be returned if you deactivate it.

 

[KAB]

Just curious, TARad...how many in your household?

 

[TARad]

Just curious, TARad...how many in your household?

Four, why do you ask?

 

[Plasmanite]

Is it cheaper to order 2 Hoppers/1 Joey instead of 2 Hoppers/2 Joeys? We have two TVs and want each to have it's own Hopper. We could probably get by without any Joeys, but having one would be nice. No need for 2. What's the current upgrade cost per Hopper? Is the $50 per offer that I believe I saw a while back over?

Assuming a Hopper is connected to each of the two TVs, would a Joey be able to be connected to one so that recordings from that TV could be watched on the other?

Would we have to have the wiring updated/replaced? We had wiring installed when we ordered cable back in 1999. I believe its RG59 cable. I would really like to get rid of the old wire as well as all the excessive wiring that is no longer used. It's a mess. In my room the Dish installer had to use an extender cable to reach my DVR.

 

[lucky86]

You do not need a Joey in order to view DVR contents from either Hopper on either TV. The Hoppers are able to share their DVR content because of the dual node that would be installed. All you would have to do is press the DVR button and choose the drop down for the other Hopper and then you can access and view anything stored on the other Hopper. I think having a Joey in a 2 Hopper install for 2 TVs is pointless, there is no need for it.

 

[Plasmanite]

You do not need a Joey in order to view DVR contents from either Hopper on either TV. The Hoppers are able to share their DVR content because of the dual node that would be installed. All you would have to do is press the DVR button and choose the drop down for the other Hopper and then you can access and view anything stored on the other Hopper. I think having a Joey in a 2 Hopper install for 2 TVs is pointless, there is no need for it.

That's a cool feature. Would I be able to order 2 Hoppers without any Joeys then? Would I be charged less?

How would I go about getting the installer to replace all the existing cabling? Do you just ask nicely? Is a tip expected/recommended? How much?

 

[lucky86]

Those are questions I would direct at a DIRT member who should be back in the morning. There are a few forums regarding these questions you are asking but I'm not a good person to ask because I've never had to deal with it and the pricing may be dependent on your account.