HopView MultiChannel-a great waist of Technology

[ScottChez]

There is not much Sat New right now so about this topic. . . .
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WHAT-
Hopper View, also known as MultiChannel View (the 6 channels on one screen channel) On Channel 100 on the Hopper Guide.
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PURPOSE OF THIS POST-
The purpose of my commentary is to gain the attention to Dish Upper Management (not just D.I.R.T. team member) about a worthless channel that could easily be change at the push of some buttons into a very high value customer retaining channel used by all Dish Customers and not offered by DirecTV.
The Secondary Purpose of my post is to gather other forum members Ideas on this topic so Dish Executives will also consider them. I just prosed a couple of solutions to get us started. The higher the post count the better the chance Dish Executives will take note (they do read some of these).
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WHAT IS WRONG-
Currently the MultiChannel View shows one channel from each category. A of this post I see:
ESPN- Sports, FoxNews-News, Discovery-Info, USA and TNT- General, and NICK-Kids.
In other words you are showing ONE channel from each category. This serves no human purpose as you cant go to channel 100 to see what is on and then click on a channel to watch it. The reason is most are interested in One Category of programming at the time of the vist to the channel. Let say I want to watch NEWS. All that is there is Fox News, I could of just gone to that channel. Lets say I looking for Kids Programming for the Children, all that is there is Nick. I could of just gone to that channel. You get the idea. Right now the only thing useful for this channel is in the Store Show Room to show off that you offer these channels, such a waist of technology.
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PROPOSED SOLUTION-
Since you do not have bandwidth to have One Category channel each (News, Kids, General, Movies, Sports) I propose that to you rotate Categories based on time of day and week and label it in the Guide.
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(times and days are just a guess to show how this might be set up).
News Mix- Every Day 6am to 11AM CT
Sports Mix- Weekends 11AM to 6PM CT
KIDs MIX- Every Day 11AM t 6PM CT Mon-Fri
General Mix- Every Day 6PM to 10PM
Movies Mix (non Premium) 10PM to 6AM
Premium Chan Mix- during free views of HBO, Starz, Show, ect
Fox Sports Mix- during free view of Sports package
Storm Mix (like DirecTV)- as needed during tornado outbreaks and hurricanes
Breaking News- (same is News Mix but add some locals news coverage) any time there is a big news or crisis. News like when the big 4 start to break in for news coverage all day.
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Storm Mix Details- will include local channels from around the county but only while they are covering the storm, just like DirecTV does during Hurricane coverage.
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DirecTV Weather Mix Details-
http://investor.directv.com/press-r...ated-During-Major-Weather-Events/default.aspx
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Scott

 

[Hall]

PROPOSED SOLUTION-
Since you do not have bandwidth to have One Category channel each (News, Kids, General, Movies, Sports) I propose that to you rotate Categories based on time of day and week and label it in the Guide.
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News Mix- Every Day 6am to 11AM CT
Sports Mix- Weekends 11AM to 6PM CT
KIDs MIX- Every Day 11AM t 6PM CT Mon-Fri
General Mix- Every Day 6PM to 10PM
Movies Mix (non Premium) 10PM to 6AM
Premium Chan Mix- during free views of HBO, Starz, Show, ect
Fox Sports Mix- during free view of Sports package
Storm Mix (like DirecTV)- as needed during tornado outbreaks and hurricanes

I don't like the times that those categories are on. The next person will want them in a different order than me. The next person.... Well, you get the point ?

 

[Jim S.]

What they ought to do is group like channels on a transponder, then have the receivers put up thumbnails of every channel on the transponder, the way lots of FTA receivers used to do. (They were only still images, yes, but they refreshed periodically if I remember rightly.)

 

[KAB]

I don't like the times that those categories are on. The next person will want them in a different order than me. The next person.... Well, you get the point ?

Yeh, the Proposed Solutions are way too segmented, for way too long of periods of time. AFIC, the channel is just a fluff piece, of minimal value, no matter how you try to tweak it. Next topic!

 

[Scherrman]

I know it seems like a cool idea but who would actually want to watch TV this way. I know I don't want to watch a bunch of little screens. PIP is about the extent that I'm willing to split up my big screen TV.

 

[ohioankev]

I know it seems like a cool idea but who would actually want to watch TV this way. I know I don't want to watch a bunch of little screens. PIP is about the extent that I'm willing to split up my big screen TV.

Marty McFly Jr. A year from now it's going to be all the rage.

 

[Scherrman]

Hello McFly!!!

 

[Tron2012]

Yeh, the Proposed Solutions are way too segmented, for way too long of periods of time. AFIC, the channel is just a fluff piece, of minimal value, no matter how you try to tweak it. Next topic!

Agree. I think this is just a bit of legacy functionality from receivers prior to the Hopper that was cool years ago. Totally useless for the Hopper UNLESS it is used for breaking news and weather or user customizable. Then I can see it having *some* value. But most people know to turn on the Weather channel (or use the app) for weather updates or tune to the 20x block of channels for 24 hour news. The Hopper now has the "you might also like..." suggestions in the info view, What's Hot and search by a category/whatever as ways users can find things they may have missed or were not aware of.

 

[ScottChez]

So readying the replys it sounds like everyone agrees the channel is a waist and serves no purpose.
Dish, please remove this channel or figure out a way to make it usefull.

 

[Tampa8]

What would that gain? Unless or until they do have something better leave it alone. I think it can be better too, but I still go to it once in awhile.

 

[Lt Disher]

There a loads of channels that I don't like and never watch. If you don't like mulitview, don't watch it. Simple.

 

[ScottChez]

Looks like Dish reads Sat Guys
Today they have made the HopView channel into something useable.
Today it is a sports view channels so you can quickly finds the games or watch several at once.
The weekend has lots of sports.
Thank you SatGuys for letting Dish know about this great site.
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Now lets take the next step and rotate. Maybe make it a NEWS mix channel on weekdays when there is not much sports on?

 

[lucky86]

I'm sure it'll keep expanding as time goes on.

Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[ScottChez]

Dish is trying. They are getting close.
They did a sports Mix in the daytime on Saturday and then a Comedy/Kids mix at night.
Now they just need to lable what type of mix it is in the program guide. For example right now it is a Sports Mix, if I am not interested in sports right now I would skip it.
I also would suggested a News Mix Sat and Sundays from 6am to 11am CT when no sports is on.
A news Mix would also be good durring Hurricains and tornado outbreaks.

 

[Hall]

If this is muxed together at Dish's end and sent as a single channel, how do they block channels that you don't subscribe to ? Right now (1:15pm EST), they have a sports mix and "FOXS2" shows "NOT SUBSCRIBED" in the video box, although the audio is available.

 

[KAB]

Much ado about nothing.

 

[ScottChez]

This is much about everything . . . as in every channel could end up on the mix. Sure I know some wont use it, but myself and many others sure do, else Dish would not wait the time programming it.
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-----How it blocks you-----
If you dont sub to a channel it is blocked by the software by Dish placing a square box over it.
If you look quickly when the channel first loads you see ALL 6 boxes, then the software starts up and places boxes over any you are not authorized for. The software also turns off the sound.
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---Suggested Next Steps-----
At a minimum we really need a NEWS Mix all the time except it should change to a Sports mix just on weekend afternoons.

 

[rusty813]

I hate the multiview channel, who the hell watches it. I can see it being a great feature if you can choose what channels you want showing.

 

[ScottChez]

Many use this channel, Dish would not of spent a ton of money on paying developers to write the code if they did not.
The channels works by showing the 6 channels to everyone, then the software loads and checks what channels you are authorized to use.
Then it puts a box over the ones you can not use. It uses the multi language option in the stream to pick which audio to give you as you move boxes.
Since dish is going to have this channel, I am trying to provide input on how they can make it better.
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WHATS NEW- dish is working with us to make it better. We have a Sports Mix on weekends and a General cable mix on Weekdays
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WHATS MISSING- we still need a news mix from 6am to 11am CT when few games are on and less are watching general cable. Then we would have all types covered. We also need a News mix on during breaking news events like the recent tornado out breaks and the CA wild fires.

 

[KAB]

I'm not one of the many. One half of today's screens are greyed out....not subscribed. Lot of good there.