Considering the hopper

[AlphaWolf]

Right now I am on Cox with an HDHomeRun Prime and two Tivo HD's.

Cox is annoying in that they flag all channels as copy protected, so all of my DVR's are heavily limited in features. Plus dish is a lot cheaper, so I am looking at switching.

That said, is there an up to date list of bugs, considerations, and annoyances that I should know when switching from tivo to hopper? Also, does autohop work on all shows, or just certain ones?

Also, how much am I looking at for a contract free option? I have wired my entire house with RG6 to all rooms, and 1gb ethernet to all rooms as well. I also have a dish already on my roof that I am not using. I'm well familiar with how to install and point 18" and 24" (oval) ku band dishes, but I haven't kept up with the latest dish technology in over 10 years, and from what I understand we use a lot more orbital slots in addition to ka band these days.

With that said, what all am I looking at buying? This is for five TV's, so I am thinking I will need 2 hopper 3 joey. I'm guessing I can still use the mast from this older 18" dish? If so, what dish am I looking at getting? (I'm in Arizona, and I've heard you need different dishes for different regions these days.) Also, how do multiswitches work these days? Do you still need to run one coax per tuner? Or have they finally developed a combiner that will move different transponders to different frequencies on the line? If so, how much will the multiswitch cost?

 

[garys]

I'm sure some may have a copy of current bugs, I do not and will not touch on that (sorry). Auto Hop will only work with Prime Time Any Time enabled and only works with the Big Four Networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox) prime time programs, but does not include news or sports programs. To go contract free usually requires you buy the equipment and you may have to add the activation fee of $79 to your upfront costs. A 2Hopper/3Joey setup should require three coax lines from the Dish (you would need either a 1000.2 or 1000.4 dish with a WA lnb assembly, WA being 110, 119 and 129) and a dual node. Wiring diagrams can be found by searching this site or the mydish.com one. You should not need a multi switch of any type. Your best be as far as getting equipment and setup costs without getting a contract by a PM to a DIRT (Dish Internet Response Team) member on this site. Their user names are in red.

 

[dvrexpander]

The Hopper needs 3Ghz to work properly..so you say RG6 but make sure its 3Ghz or else the tech will need to rerun wire. All others should be fine even 59 cable.
Keep in mind that a Hopper and 3 joeys is only 3 rooms not 4, many people get confused as to how that works and end up going back to double dual tuner boxes.

Really make sure you want these before going to them, to be honest as an installer point of view - I suggest you stick to basic boxes like 722's

 

[AlphaWolf]

Is there a limit to the number of joeys to a hopper? On their website they offer four rooms for free, so I figured that meant 3 joeys and the hopper.

 

[wallyhts]

Also, how much am I looking at for a contract free option? I will need 2 hopper 3 joey.

A lot Hopper's are about $325 Joeys are about $115 plus a duo node =$1,060

The hopper rocks I would just sign a two year contract if you have to break it it's still cheaper plus its the same price per month.

 

[DISH Software]

Is there a limit to the number of joeys to a hopper? On their website they offer four rooms for free, so I figured that meant 3 joeys and the hopper.

That does mean 3 joeys and a hopper. The max number of joeys you can link to a hopper is 3 but you can get a second hopper and more joeys and you can link the joeys between the different hoppers if you want. Multiple hopper installations also allows you to share the DVR recordings between the hoppers and joeys.

 

[AlphaWolf]

That does mean 3 joeys and a hopper. The max number of joeys you can link to a hopper is 3 but you can get a second hopper and more joeys and you can link the joeys between the different hoppers if you want. Multiple hopper installations also allows you to share the DVR recordings between the hoppers and joeys.

So why does he say that a 3 joeys and a hopper allow only three rooms? If a second hopper is required for four rooms, why wouldn't they quote the second hopper as part of the initial cost? I thought it was like $200.

Also is there any way to cause the hoppers to automatically share scheduling to avoid tuner conflicts, and allow the joeys to automatically switch between hoppers as tuners are available for live tv? If not, is that a planned feature?

 

[jbernardi]

So why does he say that a 3 joeys and a hopper allow only three rooms? If a second hopper is required for four rooms, why wouldn't they quote the second hopper as part of the initial cost? I thought it was like $200.

Also is there any way to cause the hoppers to automatically share scheduling to avoid tuner conflicts, and allow the joeys to automatically switch between hoppers as tuners are available for live tv? If not, is that a planned feature?

A Hopper and three Joeys gives you four rooms, but the Hopper has only three tuners (the Joeys have none). So if all four TVs are watched at the same time, one of them would have to share a tuner and watch the same thing as another TV or watch a recording. If you got two Hoppers and two Joeys, you'd have six tuners available.

As to your second set of questions: No, no, and I don't know.

 

[lucky86]

The Hopper has 3 tuners in it but can link to 3 Joeys. This means you have a total of 4 rooms with viewing capability from that one Hopper BUT only 3 rooms can view live TV at any given time. The 4th room would be required to either share the live video feed from one of the other Joeys or the Hopper or you can view DVR and On Demand content from that 4th TV. If you needed live TV viewing in 4 rooms at the same time then you would need to get 2 Hoppers so that you have enough tuners to do so.

 

[sca]

let me just say...the hopper is a great system! it is truly unique and far better than whatever cox has to offer.

 

[AlphaWolf]

A Hopper and three Joeys gives you four rooms, but the Hopper has only three tuners (the Joeys have none). So if all four TVs are watched at the same time, one of them would have to share a tuner and watch the same thing as another TV or watch a recording.

Yeah I get that much, not much different from what I have now with my hdhomerun. Don't think it will be a problem as live TV isn't watched that frequently. However it would be nice to have a 5th tv without having to pay $200. The 5th TV is rarely used, but it would still be nice to have anyways.

 

[sca]

the hopper is a far jump from the 722. same dish service, just a lot more bells and whistles. easier to use and more reliable (now, anyway that all the bugs seem to be worked out). i highly recommend it for a couple bucks more.

 

[dare2be]

I wouldn't call the Hopper more reliable than the 722. The 722 is the most rock-solid receiver Dish has to date. "All the bugs seem to be worked out"? You mean like EHD transfer problems, PTAT recovering from signal loss, random deletion of PTAT shows?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

About the only issue of those 3 that I have had is Prime Time Anytime not recovering after a signal loss. I have not had the other issues.

I think the Hopper system is worlds better then the 722.

Its not perfect but what it does no other receiver even comes close.

 

[dare2be]

Yes, but others have reported these issues, as recently as last week. IMO any glitch involving recordings being lost or corrupted trumps the "reliable" classification. I agree that the Hopper is light-years ahead in features and technology, but as far as reliability goes it still has a way to go.

 

[sca]

I wouldn't call the Hopper more reliable than the 722. The 722 is the most rock-solid receiver Dish has to date. "All the bugs seem to be worked out"? You mean like EHD transfer problems, PTAT recovering from signal loss, random deletion of PTAT shows?

ok not all the bugs. i do still have issues getting these units to connect to the internet. bad decision not to include homeplug. wifi only seems to work 50% of the time. anyone know how to fix the one green/ 2 red problem with wifi connections?

 

[3HaloODST]

Yes, but others have reported these issues, as recently as last week. IMO any glitch involving recordings being lost or corrupted trumps the "reliable" classification. I agree that the Hopper is light-years ahead in features and technology, but as far as reliability goes it still has a way to go.

Well my 3 Hoppers are almost just as reliable as the 722k. Back when I had 2 722ks they were not the most reliable either, but tolerable. Seriously, don't hate 'till you try it. Of course on the forum you're going to see people needing help. There are plenty of troubleshooting posts about the 722 as well. I bet for every 1 troubleshooting post you see here there are probably 50 people just watching TV enjoying whatever Dish receiver they have.

Sent from my iPhone 4S using SatelliteGuys

 

[sca]

Well my 3 Hoppers are almost just as reliable as the 722k. Back when I had 2 722ks they were not the most reliable either, but tolerable. Seriously, don't hate 'till you try it. Of course on the forum you're going to see people needing help. There are plenty of troubleshooting posts about the 722 as well. I bet for every 1 troubleshooting post you see here there are probably 50 people just watching TV enjoying whatever Dish receiver they have.

Sent from my iPhone 4S using SatelliteGuys

yep...i review notes on every job i do up to a week after. for as advanced and complicated the hopper system is, only about 1 in 20 calls in for further education.

 

[dare2be]

Well my 3 Hoppers are almost just as reliable as the 722k. Back when I had 2 722ks they were not the most reliable either, but tolerable. Seriously, don't hate 'till you try it. Of course on the forum you're going to see people needing help. There are plenty of troubleshooting posts about the 722 as well. I bet for every 1 troubleshooting post you see here there are probably 50 people just watching TV enjoying whatever Dish receiver they have.

It's not hate. Just personally, I wouldn't put my eggs in any basket if there is a likely chance any of those eggs (recordings) would get broken.

 

[3HaloODST]

It's not hate. Just personally, I wouldn't put my eggs in any basket if there is a likely chance any of those eggs (recordings) would get broken.

Out of a few thousand, I have only had maybe four die on me. The massive HDD space, more tuners, Joeys, interface etc. by far make up for those four lost recordings.

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