Newbie alert! We have been Dish customers since 1997 and currently are still using the 612. In fact, two 612's that are working flawlessly and still providing great video. We have two homes, one that is set up with the Hopper w/sling (3 tuner) and this one, with the 612's. We used to pack up and transport the 612's to the other home for many years. Got tired of doing that and settled on upgrading to the Hopper a few years ago after Dish made us an offer to good to pass up. What's tough now is going between homes and having to adjust to the different remotes! I see that you said that you are paying $7 for the DVR service. Humm? We're paying $15 for the service and $10 for the second 612 DVR receiver. The first receiver is not charged. Might have to call Dish and question why not the $7? Anyway, this Wednesday Dish is coming to install a Hopper (no sling). Reason for no sling was the price of the receiver. I have always purchased my equipment and pay for the protection service. In the long run, it has paid for itself, in my opinion. But, now what to do with the 612's? I'd like to be able to transfer the DVR recordings from the 612's to the Hopper. I see in the previous post that it is necessary to transfer to a PHD and then transfer to the new Hopper. Is this possible with the 612? I've gone through the menu on the 612 and can't find any setting that allows for transferring. Any help will be appreciated? Thanks...Joe
Dishnetwork Hopper or VIP612
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Newbie alert! We have been Dish customers since 1997 and currently are still using the 612. In fact, two 612's that are working flawlessly and still providing great video. We have two homes, one that is set up with the Hopper w/sling (3 tuner) and this one, with the 612's. We used to pack up and transport the 612's to the other home for many years. Got tired of doing that and settled on upgrading to the Hopper a few years ago after Dish made us an offer to good to pass up. What's tough now is going between homes and having to adjust to the different remotes! I see that you said that you are paying $7 for the DVR service. Humm? We're paying $15 for the service and $10 for the second 612 DVR receiver. The first receiver is not charged. Might have to call Dish and question why not the $7? Anyway, this Wednesday Dish is coming to install a Hopper (no sling). Reason for no sling was the price of the receiver. I have always purchased my equipment and pay for the protection service. In the long run, it has paid for itself, in my opinion. But, now what to do with the 612's? I'd like to be able to transfer the DVR recordings from the 612's to the Hopper. I see in the previous post that it is necessary to transfer to a PHD and then transfer to the new Hopper. Is this possible with the 612? I've gone through the menu on the 612 and can't find any setting that allows for transferring. Any help will be appreciated? Thanks...Joe
When you stopped moving your receivers back and forth between the two homes, and had Dish upgrade you to the Hopper w/Sling, did they put the Hopper w/Sling on your existing account and move the 612's to a new account? If so, then your 612 account's DVR fees are correct. The $7 DVR fee is for those customers who are grandfathered at the old rate, and continuously kept using ViP DVR's on the same account without making any changes.
Since your new Hopper does not have Sling, and you are replacing the 612's, then I assume you are getting Hopper Duos. The monthly fees for two Hopper Duos would be the same total as the fees for the two 612's, only the fees are reversed. Hopper Duo has a $10 DVR fee, plus $15 for the second Hopper Duo. You may be required to purchase at least one of the Hopper Duos to be allowed to get this setup, though.
(Hint: if you are looking to purchase a Hopper Duo, check out the Classifieds section on this site.)
Transferring recordings between 612's and Hopper Duos is definitely possible. I have done it many times. As soon as you connect the external hard drive to the 612, you should automatically get a pop-up on screen that will take you through the steps for transferring recordings to the hard drive.
If you are getting a Hopper it really should be a Hopper 3 unless you are getting the DUO. If I went the DUO route I would want two and it may be DISH will only allow one on your account unless you buy the second one. That is something I might do should I decide at some point to go from the VIP. Not likely anytime soon the VIP's are perfect for us.....
I'll just point out there is no savings to owning your equipment, there is no reduction on your bill. Owning your own equipment when it comes to upgrading to a new receiver does allow you not to have to sign a contract if that is objectionable. But it also means you generally can't get the discounts Dish gives with no contract. (Called existing customer discounts)
There is one other time owning is different but no longer with the VIP receivers. If you only use a receiver in a room part of a year you can call dish and have it turned off for those months or times without returning the receiver. But even that no longer applies because even if DISH owns the VIP you will not have to return it if you have it turned off for awhile. They no longer take them back even if you drop DISH as your provider.
Also be advised as far as I know you can only have a VIP if you already have it on your account. DISH will replace it (or you can buy one) to replace one that dies but no new accounts supposedly can get VIPS now.
The way to transfer shows/movies is with a self powered external hard drive. You transfer the shows from the VIP to the external hard drive then connect the hard drive to a Hopper on your same account. I believe you would need to do the first part before putting the Hopper on your account because you can't have the VIP 612 on the same account as a Hopper.
As for the $7 DVR fee that was grandfathered quite sometime ago as long as you don't upgrade from the VIP. DISH did not increase the fee when they went to $10 then up from there. Between the current customer discounts and the $7 dvr fee, and no first receiver fee I get much more of the programming we want for less than anywhere else with traditional providers other than maybe a short time introduction cost for a year with Spectrum. Even then by the time they are done with fees the difference is not as great as first thought.
Hello Everyone,
I finally got the Hopper 3 installed a couple of days ago.
It is a big difference from my Vip612. Now the only thing I don't like about this H3 is I cannot set it to auto-tune to a program I really didn't want to miss.
But I've only had it for a couple of few days, it is nice.
Now I got a question for you all: how do I lock out the channels I really do not watch like all these music channels and sports channels?
On the 612 all I would need to do was go down the list and click the one's I do not watch and they are hidden.
I finally got the Hopper 3 installed a couple of days ago.
It is a big difference from my Vip612. Now the only thing I don't like about this H3 is I cannot set it to auto-tune to a program I really didn't want to miss.
But I've only had it for a couple of few days, it is nice.
Now I got a question for you all: how do I lock out the channels I really do not watch like all these music channels and sports channels?
On the 612 all I would need to do was go down the list and click the one's I do not watch and they are hidden.
Hit guide, then hit guide again and edit favorites to make a Custom Guide list.
For locking out channels, go to parental controls, choose channels to lockout then select hide locked channels and you won't even see them in the guide.
For autotune, create a timer then go to DVR > Timers. Click on your timer, then on Edit. 2nd box down, change from DVR to Autotune
NP, it's a pain. The other thing, when you set a timer, hit select twice and it'll take you to the same Edit Menu
You can also create an AutoTune manually.
From DVR > Timers, press the Options button on the remote, and then select option number 3 (Create a Timer).
From there, you can set the Channel, Frequency (once, daily, weekly, weekdays), Date, Time, etc.
From DVR > Timers, press the Options button on the remote, and then select option number 3 (Create a Timer).
From there, you can set the Channel, Frequency (once, daily, weekly, weekdays), Date, Time, etc.
I did have the 2 VIP's and the Hopper with 3 Joey's on one account. My 2 501's and a 301 are still on our equipment list too. Now we have 2 Hopper's w/Sling and 3 Joey's on our account. The VIP's and the Hopper were not in used at the same time. When we traveled to our winter home, I simply called Dish and they deactivated the VIP 612's and activated the Hopper and the 2 Joey's. Yesterday, they arrived to install the Hopper and 1 Joey. They upgraded us to a Hopper w/Sling (3 tuner) at no extra charge. Gotta be happy about that! I'm not going to share what we paid, but it was awesome deal. I have an extra Dish and 3 satellite LNBF on a portable stand. So, we'll be keeping one of the VIP 612's for backup. The other is available for purchace is anyone is interested? The problem with leasing, for us anyway, is that we would have to pack our receivers back and forth. Otherwise we would have to create another account. We are currently on a contract that was required for a reduction in fees. We have several other discounts as well. You have to call Dish every 6 months to ask about specials, but it's worth it. They tend to take care of people who have been around as long as we have. It's nice that they appreciate loyalty. Thanks for the transfer tips too! The installer told me that the easiest thing to do is to just use the VIP as an external drive, hooking it up with an ethernet cable. If I'm not happy with that, guess I'll have to go out and buy and Ex HD to do the transfers? Thanks again!
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I have equipment listed going way way back to the 301. That isn't being on your account however at the same time..., or I guess another way to say it you can not have VIP's activated at the same time as the Hopper. I also don't know that you could if you ever wanted to go back and take the Hopper off and add the VIP's anymore. Supposedly once you upgrade and take the VIP's off they can not go back on. Just like you can't put the 301 or 501 on an account even though it is still listed - they are now all considered obsolete. The VIP's can remain on your account however or you can replace a defective one, at least for now.
Here's a friendly tip. If you become a paying member of this site by buying a Pub Membership, then you gain access to the Classifieds section, where you can list items that you want to sell. If anyone actually buys NorCal Joe's ViP612, then I may list my old ViP612 for sale there.
Thanks for the tip crodrules! I'll let you know if I go that direction.Here's a friendly tip. If you become a paying member of this site by buying a Pub Membership, then you gain access to the Classifieds section, where you can list items that you want to sell. If anyone actually buys NorCal Joe's ViP612, then I may list my old ViP612 for sale there.
Good afternoon Tampa8, if I go the route of turning the VIP's into EX HD's, it's my understaning that I have to pay a 1 time fee for that ability. Do you know if that's the case and do you have to pay for each unit? I'd rather just transfer the video's from the VIP's to the Hopper and have them in one location. I think it would be a hassle to locate the the equipment near enough to the Hopper to do so. But, as I understand what you said in your previous post, I'd have to have the VIP's active on the account to do the transfer? And you said that wouldn't be possible. Rather than bothering you further, I should call Dish and talk to them. Your thoughts? BTW, I do appreciate your input into this matter. Thanks again!
Never a bother.
With the VIps active on your account before talking them off, you transfer what you want to a compatible external hard drive. When you add a Hopper or whatever new unit the VIPS will be take off the account but you will have the programs on the external hard drive . Then you plug the external hard drive into the new receiver and transfer it to that new receiver. You could keep it on the external hard drive if you want and watch your programs from that hard drive instead of the receiver's built in one.
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There is no one-time fee to use an external hard drive with your ViP DVR's or with any model of Hopper, since you are already paying a monthly fee for DVR service. The only time there would be a one-time fee for external hard drive access would be for converting a ViP211 series receiver or Wally into a DVR, to avoid the monthly fee.
As long as your ViP's and Hopper are still tied to the same account (whether the old receiver is still active or not) the transfer should still work. Earlier this year, I successfully transferred recordings from a deactivated Hopper Duo to an external hard drive. I had to activate the other Hopper Duo before it would let me transfer the recordings from the external hard drive to it. Once I activated the new receiver, the transfer worked just fine. I have also transferred recordings from deactivated ViP DVR's to external hard drives in the past, and then successfully transferred the recordings to another ViP DVR. It is best to go ahead and do the transfers while the old receiver is still active, just to reduce the chances of something going wrong with the authorization or with the transfer itself. However, based on my experience, it is not absolutely necessary for the old receiver to still be active at the time you do the transfer to the external hard drive.
Rather than going to all of that trouble, I'm going to run a hdmi cable to my TV's from the VIP's as a secondary video source. I have made a list of the video's on each VIP, so I know what's there and can simply plug them in if I want to see those video's. Since I have the the extra hdmi ports on the tv's and the room for the VIP at each TV, that seems the easiest solution. It'll save me from having to go out and purchase the ext HD's. So, it looks like rather than selling my VIP's, I'll be keeping them...for now. As things look right now, it won't be to long before the video I have on the old VIP's DVR, will be mirrored the new Hopper. They'll be some exceptions, but I can still view those up from the old equipment. Thanks again for all of the advice.
That is my experience with the ViP612, unfortunately. Ironically, I have Hopper Duos that have been deactivated for months, and those recordings still work just fine. I have mine hooked up exactly like NorCal Joe said, with an HDMI cable to a secondary input on each TV. So, NorCal Joe's proposed solution may work just fine with the new receivers, but not with the old ViP612's. Transferring any important recordings would still be advised.
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