Auto Hop Explained

[GaryPen]

...but for some reason, a fair number of people aren't turning on PTAT because they aren't going to watch a lot of that programming and instead are setting timers as they did with their prior receivers.

And for good reason. In a single-Hopper household, there are only three tuners for the entire household. Why waste a tuner to record every show on the big four broadcast nets, if all that is watched is a handful of those shows?

In our case, the only "big four" shows we watch together are Awake, Once Upon a Time, and Modern Family. She also watches American Idol, Celebrity Apprentice, and Bachelor/Bachelorette. That's it. Six Shows. And, Awake was just cancelled. Plus, without Clay Aiken, she won't be watching Apprentice again. That's four. Why would we tie up a tuner for that?

They believe it's going to take up all of the room on the hard drive and don't want that to happen. You can talk until you are blue in the face about a 2TB drive being partitioned to allow these recordings to not take up the space of "your" hard drive, but this shoots right over the heads of most folks.

You are totally wrong. The reason for disabling PTAT is stated above. Nobody thinks PTAT recordings take up any personal space.

I personally like that I can record all of my network shows on one tuner, but again, that zips right past a lot of people. The one thing everyone has in common is that we hate commercials. So flip on PTAT and get rid of them. People will listen to that.

YOU personally like it. That's great...for you. I really don't know why Dish would give a crap whether or not I enable it, though.

I don't need PTAT to skip commercials. I can use the skip button for that. Of course, Auto-Hop is easier, which is why they should just enable it for ALL recordings. If they are using the commercial markers that are embedded in the programming, they could do it for all. They may just be testing the legal waters by limiting it to PTAT, for now.

Perhaps, if we make enough noise, it may open up to all recordings. After all, our extremely vocal protestations about the meager 500GB originally allotted for personal recording space got Dish to rethink their position, and re-allocate a more equitable amount of space. But, this one may also depend on the content providers' protestations. OTOH, Dish seems to enjoy being sued.

 

[wetz73]

You have to remember, the majority of subs aren't as well-versed in this technology as folks in here. Plus, if you aren't watching network programming, you are in a small minority. If you do not watch a lot of network programming, I'd recommend sticking with the 722 as the Hopper will give you nothing not already offered on it (outside of TV2 HD).

 

[GaryPen]

You have to remember, the majority of subs aren't as well-versed in this technology as folks in here. Plus, if you aren't watching network programming, you are in a small minority. If you do not watch a lot of network programming, I'd recommend sticking with the 722 as the Hopper will give you nothing not already offered on it (outside of TV2 HD).

Again, you are wrong. The Hopper has plenty to offer over a 722k.
-Whole-home DVR
-Larger HDD
-3 Tuners
-HD Guides and menus
-Icon-based UI
-Smaller footprint (especially for Joeys)
-Easier-to-navigate VOD
-Internet Apps

And, whether or not those who do not watch much broadcast network prime time programming are in the minority is totally irrelevant to the point you were making about Dish wanting people to use PTAT, and dangling Auto-hop as a carrot for them to use it. Some people just don't need or want PTAT. It's that simple. Auto-hop isn't going to make them use it, if they don't watch the programming to begin with. And, what reason would Dish have for wanting people to use it? How does it affect them, one way or another?

 

[sparc]

Some people just don't need or want PTAT. It's that simple. Auto-hop isn't going to make them use it, if they don't watch the programming to begin with. And, what reason would Dish have for wanting people to use it? How does it affect them, one way or another?

They don't want everyone to use it, but they do want a good portion of their hopper base to use it since it's their key feature that could cut down receiver count. They're marketing the system around PTAT and AutoHop. From Dish's marketing viewpoint even one hopper has six tuners.

 

[sparc]

Not sure what happened, but AutoHop seemed to skip through 40 minutes of Person of Interest. Jumped from the beginning and basically towards the end. Since there's little visible transition, I didn't even notice until it got to the end credits. The show tends to jump back and forth as it is, so it made for an interesting viewing. lol

 

[wetz73]

Dish wants people to use PTAT because there are a lot of folks who stick with cable because they can watch network programming with On Demand 48 hours after airing without having to record those programs. PTAT offers this "passive recording" instantly without having to wait 2 days. If you don't want to use it, don't use it, but E* is going to market the Hopper using PTAT, and they will sweeten that with Auto-Hop. It may not be what you want, but it's the marketing strategy. If it doesn't take off, you'll see it offered on every recording (again, if possible).

 

[chrimiller48]

I don't know about a lawsuit. As you said "Replay ALMOST got sued". How much of a leap is it from a recording device allowing one to manually skip (or not) commercials to allowing one to auto-skip (or not)?

 

[356B]

I don't know about a lawsuit. As you said "Replay ALMOST got sued". How much of a leap is it from a recording device allowing one to manually skip (or not) commercials to allowing one to auto-skip (or not)?

Dish is a multi-billion dollar corporation with millions of customers, I have no way of knowing but one would assume the "Auto Hop" was thoroughly vetted through legal. Whether Dish uses this on the other channels? probably...eventually.
I believe any perceived loss of revenue by networks because of "Auto Hop", real or otherwise will be placed squarely on the backs of the customers...as usual. I'm looking at rates for locals to go up the next time around.

 

[hdaddikt]

Considering the amount of money involved in a Dish subscription we are just getting a little more for our our entertainment dollar.
I usually wait a day or two after PTAT before saving the programs I want to folders. So if the 'hop' is included on the original, I will have it.
Nice feature!

 

[JPhil]

Commercial skipping is nothing new, its been done before and crushed in one way or another.

Replay wasn't "almost sued", the parent SonicBlue WAS sued, but they went bankrupt before the case played out. The question of commercial skipping/copyright infringement has not been decided by the courts.

IMO, if the Big 4 allow (or sanction) this practice, it could weaken any arguments against it and open the door to Auto Hop on all recordings.

 

[Jim5506]

I personally believe this "feature" is a ploy by Dish to get network affiliates to back off their exponential retrans demands.

Dish says OK, you agree to modest increases and we turn off the auto-hop.

 

[GaryPen]

Dish wants people to use PTAT because there are a lot of folks who stick with cable because they can watch network programming with On Demand 48 hours after airing without having to record those programs. PTAT offers this "passive recording" instantly without having to wait 2 days. If you don't want to use it, don't use it, but E* is going to market the Hopper using PTAT, and they will sweeten that with Auto-Hop. It may not be what you want, but it's the marketing strategy. If it doesn't take off, you'll see it offered on every recording (again, if possible).

That logic doesn't fly. They market PTAT. People know about PTAT. It's a great feature for those that watch and record a lot of prime time big 4 shows. But, they have no reason to coerce people to use it, by sweetening the pot or otherwise.

Auto-hop is a cool feature unto itself. They could market it as something available for all recordings. But, for some reason, they are limiting it to PTAT for now. And, I have a feeling it has more to do with legal issues or leverage with retransmission fees.