Does DirecTV have an answer to Hopper3/HopperGo?

[autolycus]

I know a lot of products in development are well-kept secrets, so I likely won't get any response from people that really know, but this is a pretty impressive shot fired by DISH today. Any hints at all at the direction DirecTV is going that might match these features in particular?

• 16 tuners?!
• 2TB HDD (seems like this wouldn't be too hard to move to with the HR54 or its successor)
• USB for external drives instead of eSATA--it would certainly make for more affordable and more readily available expansion
• 4k on the main box rather than needing a client
• Sports Bar Mode--I've been dreaming of something like this for a while--it's the type of thing that could actually get me to switch providers
• HopperGo device looks very slick. Upside to GenieGo is that my wife and I can each have videos on our own devices if we're in different states, whereas the HopperGo has to go with you.

I really hope they're working on getting some of these out soon, but I do worry that the HR54 is being rolled out too slowly and is now already well behind DISH's new offering.

Oh, and free upgrades to Hopper3 for all current customers? Seems like a nice, consistent policy that I know is true of DirecTV in almost all situations, but it'd be good to not have to haggle or beg for a lot of people.

And no, I'm not a troll... I've used DirecTV since the late 90s at my parents' house and on my own since 2004, and have always preferred it to what I saw from friends' DISH boxes and service. I'm just impressed by the features announced today.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They have been testing GenieGo being built into certain DIRECTV DVR's. I am hearing this feature will be available later on this year from DIRECTV.

And while DIRECTV has not announced a new DVR, you can only imagine one is in the pipeline. Since the new Reverse Band LNB's can handle 22 tuners it should not be hard to emulate what DISH has done.

 

[Riverpilot]

I certainly hope Directv, AT&T, whatever.. has something coming out soonish. 5 tuners on a genie is just not enough. Add in needing a client just for 4k. Dish fired a huge shot across the bow.
That sports bar mode sounds really cool too.
Hopefully a genie 64 (or whatever ??) is released soon with 15 tuners & 4k built-in without the need for a client.
I don't have a 4k T.V. yet, but I will in a few months. Going to be an interesting year.

 

[vazhog]

I'm waiting on 8k Tv's not going with 2014 4k junk anytime soon

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Having seen an 8K TV side by side with a 4K TV today, I can tell you that I personally could not see a difference in the picture.

8K is more of a large format picture, anything small and you won't see the difference in picture quality.

 

[Tampa8]

I maintain I see only a little difference to 4K over uncompressed 1080P. (Especially Blu-ray)
Att spent how much to acquire Directv? You can bet they won't be idle in competing for Satellite business. I also have learned (as they say) the devil is in the details. Let's see what the new Hopper is and isn't when it reaches unbiased hands, but so far DISH is making a statement they are invested in Satellite.

 

[CSM]

I maintain I see only a little difference to 4K over uncompressed 1080P. (Especially Blu-ray)
Att spent how much to acquire Directv? You can bet they won't be idle in competing for Satellite business. I also have learned (as they say) the devil is in the details. Let's see what the new Hopper is and isn't when it reaches unbiased hands, but so far DISH is making a statement they are invested in Satellite.

Are you saying their is no difference with 1080i/p being upconverted to 4K?

 

[mdram]

i really want directv to make an announcement

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

I agree, nothing from directv yet, but we usually have private rooms and not a booth.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[mdram]

how do you one up 16 tuners? maybe 22 to max out the new swm?
that is an odd number

 

[Tampa8]

Are you saying their is no difference with 1080i/p being upconverted to 4K?

More than that, and as some others have agreed at the AVS Forum, there isn't much being seen between actual 4K and uncompressed 1080P. (Such as Blu-ray) The potential is there especially when 4K Discs and players are available but as it stands, what is being seen from streaming and a few other sources isn't a WOW difference.
As for 1080I on a 4K set, if you are careful to what TV you buy, the picture can be excellent. Vizio does no justice to 1080I on their 4K TV's. Samsung (And Sony) however have made a concerted effort to have good upscalers and it shows. Maybe broadcasters and Cable/Satellite will skip 1080P and go from 1080I (Or 720P) to 4K if they can find the bandwidth to do it.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

Unless AT&T is moving to phase out Hx2x receivers/DVR's, You can still get 16 tuners with Directv by combining a Genie with 2 tuner HR2x DVR's & 1 tuner H2x receivers. You still have the problem with, if your 16 tuner Hopper 3 goes out, you have no TV. We can still arrange Genies, DVR's, & receivers to get up to 21 tuners. Hopper 3 owners get only 16 tuners & that's it. They can't even have previous versions of Hoppers with the Hopper 3. Directv May not have anything like the Hopper 3 currently, but they are more flexible with what they do have. Directv has NFL Sunday Ticket, which is the only reason WHY you'd want the "Bar Room(did I get the name right?)" Feature. I'm not knocking the Hopper 3, I'd love to get one, but Directv customers should not feel down about not having anything like it.

 

[darrengs]

Even though the HopperGo will allow you to take shows with you and stream to up to 5 devices, you can still transfer shows to your mobile devices and watch them from separate locations, the HopperGo is just another option.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

More than that, and as some others have agreed at the AVS Forum, there isn't much being seen between actual 4K and uncompressed 1080P. (Such as Blu-ray) The potential is there especially when 4K Discs and players are available but as it stands, what is being seen from streaming and a few other sources isn't a WOW difference.
As for 1080I on a 4K set, if you are careful to what TV you buy, the picture can be excellent. Vizio does no justice to 1080I on their 4K TV's. Samsung (And Sony) however have made a concerted effort to have good upscalers and it shows. Maybe broadcasters and Cable/Satellite will skip 1080P and go from 1080I (Or 720P) to 4K if they can find the bandwidth to do it.

I got to be honest, There are times I have watched 4K content and could not tell if it was actually 4K or 1080.

 

[vazhog]

Hey -I'm still waiting for 1080p to be broadcast -LOL!

 

[Riverpilot]

I'll be watching real close on this one. Needing only 1 box instead of multiple boxes to get 16 tuners plus 4k = winner.

Hopefully directv fires back with something comparable soon. HR54 isn't going to cut it unless it has double the tuners & can do 4k without a client.

Guess we shall see in the upcoming months. Hopefully we'll see 4k programming as well soon.

 

[Drucifer]

Does DirecTV have an answer to Hopper3/HopperGo?

No

 

[Claude Greiner]

I find it amazing that from a company that has been telling all of us that the average household only needs 2 Tuners for the past 4 years, that all of a sudden thinks there is a need for 16 tuners.

And we still don't really have an answer if 16 tuners is really 13 because of prime time anytime.

The average consumer could care less about the number of tuners. At the end of the day it's the same crappy dish service.

This is a DVR designed for satellite guys members, and satellite guys members only.

Do I want a 16 tuner hopper? YES

Am I going to switch my service from Directv back to Dish? HELL NO

I'll do just fine with my Genie and 6 HR24's and record 17 things at once.

 

[Ronnie-]

I got to be honest, There are times I have watched 4K content and could not tell if it was actually 4K or 1080.

There are certainly times where it is noticeable, but I agree, there are also times where I could not.

 

[lparsons21]

I find it amazing that from a company that has been telling all of us that the average household only needs 2 Tuners for the past 4 years, that all of a sudden thinks there is a need for 16 tuners.

And we still don't really have an answer if 16 tuners is really 13 because of prime time anytime.

The average consumer could care less about the number of tuners. At the end of the day it's the same crappy dish service.

This is a DVR designed for satellite guys members, and satellite guys members only.

Do I want a 16 tuner hopper? YES

Am I going to switch my service from Directv back to Dish? HELL NO

I'll do just fine with my Genie and 6 HR24's and record 17 things at once.

Oh those grapes are really sour this morning!


Sent from my iPad Pro using Tapatalk