Dual Hopper Intergration (From Team Summit)

[Scott Greczkowski]

One of the things a lot of our members wanted to see was Dual Hopper integration. As I cruised the floor yesterday and this morning I was told there was no demo to show. Sometimes I guess you just need to ask the correct people.

I asked this morning and was taken to an actual working demonstration of the Dual Hopper system and I got to admit, it was a lot simpler then I imagined it but it works!

Quite simply the way it works is you go into your DVR menu then you can select which Hopper you want to watch shows from.

That's it... and it works!

In the photos below you will notice they have a two Hopper setup, one Hopper named Family Room and the other named Man Cave. Select the Hopper you want to access and your content is there. (Sorry for the first Blurry pic, When I took it I did not realize he was giving me the demo!)

Your Joeys will record to the Hopper they are paired to.

Quite SIMPLE and elegant!

 

[jlavetan]

Awesome!

 

[gregleg]

Exactly what I was hoping for, but that does raise one question.

The setup: Joey A is paired to Hopper B, and all of Hopper B's tuners are busy. There is also a Hopper C which has a free tuner. Now someone turns on Joey A (or, for that matter, Hopper B) and wishes to watch live TV. Will the Joey automatically check the other Hopper for a tuner, or do they still need to switch the pairing? Not actually terribly likely in our household, but worth asking.

 

[satjay]

Thanks for the info! looking foward to it, when it happens!

 

[John Kotches]

Does the RED button show 6 tuners or do you have to pair with a hopper for that?

 

[LER]

My question: I assume adding a new timer would go to the hopper you're looking at ?

I.E. I have Hopper A in the Bedroom, Hopper B in the Living Room, I'm in the bedroom, but looking at the content on Hopper B, and schedule a new timer from the guide.

Which hopper does the timer go to, and if there is a conflict, can it move to the 2nd hopper?

 

[king3pj]

I'm glad to be able to see recordings from both hoppers but this is not what I was hoping for at all. I wanted true integration. I was hoping for one unified list of recordings and one unified set of timers that could grab a tuner from the 2nd hopper if all were being used on the 1st one. I also wanted any hopper or Joey to have access to all 6 tuners for watching live tv to truly end most or all conflicts.

It will be nice to only need to run PTAT and schedule each recording on one hopper since I am recording almost everything on both right now. This is a nice little upgrade but I really hope they don't plan on stopping here. Full integration would be so much simpler to use and it would give us access to all 6 tuners from any TV.

 

[John Kotches]

I am right on the page with king3pj. To me integrated means both hoppers appear as one cohesive unit.

This just seems to make it easier to flip between them.

 

[king3pj]

My question: I assume adding a new timer would go to the hopper you're looking at ?

I.E. I have Hopper A in the Bedroom, Hopper B in the Living Room, I'm in the bedroom, but looking at the content on Hopper B, and schedule a new timer from the guide.

Which hopper does the timer go to, and if there is a conflict, can it move to the 2nd hopper?

It says in Scott's post that the Joey will record to the hopper it is paired to. This means they are still paired to a hopper and everything will probably work the exact same way as it currently does with one exception. You can now click the drop down on the DVR page to see the other hopper's recordings. This looks like you will still only see 3 tuners when you push the red button from any one tv if I am understanding this correctly.

 

[LER]

It says in Scott's post that the Joey will record to the hopper it is paired to. This means they are still paired to a hopper and everything will probably work the exact same way as it currently does with one exception. You can now click the drop down on the DVR page to see the other hopper's recordings. This looks like you will still only see 3 tuners when you push the red button from any one tv if I am understanding this correctly.

this isn't a Joey, it's at the hopper.......

 

[king3pj]

this isn't a Joey, it's at the hopper.......

In that case the recording would go to the hopper you scheduled it on. Why would it go to the other hopper?

 

[LER]

if there was a timer conflict and the other hopper had a free tuner or 3.

 

[king3pj]

if there was a timer conflict and the other hopper had a free tuner or 3.

Ok. He said the joeys would record to the hopper they were paired to and this makes it sound like there isn't one unified set of timers. I wish there were but it sounds like there isn't. It seems like both hoppers will have their own set of timers and recordings. The only difference is now you have the option to watch the other hopper's recordings. It is just a drop down menu that decides when hopper's recordings are shown. You can view either of them but not both at the same time.

 

[LER]

I hope a unified timer list is on the agenda for a V.2 of it. This makes the integration MUCH less useful to me.

 

[jrapps]

So if I understand this correctly, this isn't really "integration"... its turning your 2nd hopper into a Joey by allowing Hopper 2 to see and play the recordings on Hopper 1 the way a Joey would. I realize it is more than this..you DO have 6 tuners and can record more, and can switch Joeys from H1 to H2...but this isn't seamless integration.

 

[Rinker97]

Did they give any info on when it would be released?

 

[jrapps]

Did they give any info on when it would be released?

From the other post in the general Dish forum, Scott mentioned that they told him a possible date, but asked him not to repeat it just yet...perhaps in the Pub?

 

[stimpson]

Did they give any info on when it would be released?

Post 140 this thread.

 

[manteca]

hoppers will see each other as an EHD, at least is an step

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Exactly what I was hoping for, but that does raise one question.

The setup: Joey A is paired to Hopper B, and all of Hopper B's tuners are busy. There is also a Hopper C which has a free tuner. Now someone turns on Joey A (or, for that matter, Hopper B) and wishes to watch live TV. Will the Joey automatically check the other Hopper for a tuner, or do they still need to switch the pairing? Not actually terribly likely in our household, but worth asking.

Its up to the customer to load balance their Hoppers and Joeys. You will not see all 6 tuners listed on the screen.