DISH Press Conference Notes

[Neutron]

I'm sure the staff will consolidate these threads and put them in the Hopper Zone, just give them time. Remember several of the staff are at CES right now.

This same scenario happened with the original Hopper was released last year.

 

[Hall]

D*'s Genie has 5 tuners? You would think they would have at least tried to match.

So much for my italicizing and bolding parts of my comment :rant:

 

[Hall]

get ready to flame me, but how many threads have to be started for the "new" hopper, and why are they not in in the hopper zone????

Well, the thread title and OP actually aren't focused on the Hopper...

 

[Hall]

I'm sure the staff will consolidate these threads and put them in the Hopper Zone, just give them time.

Since you're here, why don't you do it ?

 

[Neutron]

Since you're here, why don't you do it ?

I'm not a part of the staff. I sure do miss being with the staff though.

 

[Ziptied]

This suggests that the old Hopper would only take twice as long to transcode as does Hopper 2, should Dish decide to backport their Transfer App.

Hardware specs from Scherrmans post. Not sure which affects speed of transcode process the most.

FEATURE	HOPPER WITH SLING	HOPPER	JOEY
# of Satellite Tuners	3 (8PSK-Turbo/QPSK)	3 (8PSK-Turbo/QPSK)	0
Wi-Fi built in	Yes	No (Requires USB Wi-Fi Adapter)	No
Video Resolution	480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p60	480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p24	480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p24
Home Media Formats	Video- MKV, MP4; Music- MP3; Images- JPG	Video- MKV, MP4; Music- MP3; Images- JPG	Video- MKV, MP4; Music- MP3; Images- JPG
3D-Compatible	Frame-Compatible, 1920 x 1080p24	Frame-Compatible, 1920 x 1080p24	Frame-Compatible, 1920 x 1080p24
Hard Drive	2 TB	2 TB	N/A
Front Panel Buttons	Power, System Info, Directional, Select, Info, Menu, Jump, Reset, Remote Control Locator	Power, System Info, Directional, Select, Info, Menu, Jump, Reset, Remote Control Locator	Power, System Info, Select, Remote Control Locator, Up, Down
Processor	Broadcom 7425, 1305 MHz	Broadcom 7420, 750 MHz	Broadcom 7340, 405 MHz
CPU	3000 DMIPs	1700 DMIPs	1100 DMIPs
RAM Memory	2 GB	768 MB	512 MB
Flash Memory	64 MB	64 MB	64 MB

 

[lucky86]

I would guess that it would be the processor, CPU and RAM considering those got a huge bump in the new model.

 

[Scherrman]

Because contrary to the opinion you may get from around these parts, a) Dish KNOWS that for the majority of their customers <<= key part, (3) tuners is sufficient, or b) provide (2) Hoppers for those rare cases where (3) isn't enough.

The more I talk to customers about going to the Hopper the more I find that having 2 Hoppers is the only way to go. The only way 1 Hopper ends up a good solution if there are only 1-2 people watching TV in the house and they watch the same shows.

 

[DishSubLA]

D*'s Genie has 5 tuners? You would think they would have at least tried to match.

Ironically, it is DirecTV who will be matching Dish's 3 tuners for forth coming new DirecTV Genie.

 

[DishSubLA]

The Broadcom 7425 is, indeed, faster, but the real trick spec for the chip is that it is capable of Dual HD Transcoding. There are some other differnces, but that seems to be the major difference.

 

[Neutron]

DISH probably won't allow the original Hopper to do it in hopes that you pay to upgrade to Hopper 2.

 

[DishSubLA]

It seems clear from the chip specs that the original Hopper 2000 is NOT capable of transcoding, so we'll never see that feature there.

One would hope in the future, one could transfer to NON-Apple devices and tablets like Samsung's and Kindle Fire just to name 2. If not, then that feature has nothing for me.

Yes, just ONE more sat tuner would have been great, I'm not going to delude my self with fantasy, so I accept 4 tuners as the max we would ever seem from Dish, but the lack of a 4th tuner for the Hopper w/Sling means 3 tuners always and forever. Good Grief! Even TiVo has found the 4 tuner sweet spot.

 

[whitewolf8214]

Ironically, it is DirecTV who will be matching Dish's 3 tuners for forth coming new DirecTV Genie.

Directv Genie has 5 tuners in the one receiver and I have been able to record 7 things at once and not 3 like the hopper and need joeys for extra tuners

 

[Ziptied]

DISH probably won't allow the original Hopper to do it in hopes that you pay to upgrade to Hopper 2.

After paying a Tech or a Retailer to do the upgrade. not much, if any, of the $200 upgrade fee is left for DISH. Also, as time goes on, that $200 upgrade fee will no doubt be much less, making upgrades a $ losing prop for DISH.. With there being no increase in monthly fees paid by the customer doing such an upgrade, the only possible motivation for DISH would be a new 2 year commitment from the customer.

 

[powerhouse1960]

Ironically, it is DirecTV who will be matching Dish's 3 tuners for forth coming new DirecTV Genie.

I think you will be in for a Surprise when the 44 is released

 

[TheKrell]

It seems clear from the chip specs that the original Hopper 2000 is NOT capable of transcoding, so we'll never see that feature there.

Completely disagree with you there. The Broadcom SOC has a MIPS-based (general purpose) MPU. This was true for the SOC in the H1 as well. So, at the cost of low transcoding performance, Dish could (if they wished) almost certainly backport this code to the H1.

I think something else is going on here, such as use of the built-in Sling transcoding hardware to do this 2nd job. No internal Sling hardware in the H1 (in this case) means no Transfer App on the H1. Perhaps the Sling Adapter is incapable of operating in this mode. If it is, Dish should (in my wishful thinking) backport the capability to the H1 and my 722 as well.

One would hope in the future, one could transfer to NON-Apple devices and tablets like Samsung's and Kindle Fire just to name 2. If not, then that feature has nothing for me.

We are in complete agreement on those 2nd points.

 

[Mochuf]

DISH probably won't allow the original Hopper to do it in hopes that you pay to upgrade to Hopper 2.

And then next year, Dish will release a 6-tuner Hopper. So only a couple of years until Dish equipment can do what a HTPC has been able to do for several years now!

 

[Scherrman]

After paying a Tech or a Retailer to do the upgrade. not much, if any, of the $200 upgrade fee is left for DISH. Also, as time goes on, that $200 upgrade fee will no doubt be much less, making upgrades a $ losing prop for DISH.. With there being no increase in monthly fees paid by the customer doing such an upgrade, the only possible motivation for DISH would be a new 2 year commitment from the customer.

Hopper upgrades are the worse too. The amount of time it can take on some Hopper upgrades wipe out any of the money you get paid for the job. Most upgrades are done as more of a service to our customers than a profitable venture.

 

[dare2be]

Why wouldn't they release a new Hopper with more tuners? Am I the only one who wouldn't get by with just 2 Hoppers?

Simple: Economies of Scale.

 

[dont24]

Didn't they state in their dog and pony show yesterday Hopper 2 is based on consumer requests? ( don't recall the exact phrase ) I'm sure built-in wifi was a big request.
Dish didn't hear us asking for more than 3 tuners!? Maybe they think us consumers with multiple TVs can afford to purchase a 3rd hopper at full price? No way I'm paying full price for any receiver, with a monthly fee on top of that.