I really hate the Hopper!

[ChairBound]

Yeah one thing Dish needs to do a better job of is how you can pull up "Themes". They should have it where you can just click on "Guide" hit Sports or Movies and it just pull up those type of channels.. Having to go to Search seems like you have to do allot of extra steps to do something that you be allot simpler.

Yes, yes, yes!!! Basic organization for God's sake. Why should I have to go through a labor intensive process to create these basic guides? Music, Sports, Adult, etc. Theybshould already be created and not count towards my program guide customization minuscule allotment.

 

[ChairBound]

I wish everything was perfect.

Since this is a "professional" product from a professional company and costing significant money...yes, it needs to be pretty darn close to perfect when it is released. I do not hate my Hoppers BTW. But, as a former company software tester, I can certainly see room for major improvement in Dish's process. I had the 922, and it was a freakin' mess and only slightly improved two years later. Releasing professional products seems to be becoming a dying art.

 

[navychop]

.... and so far I've not had one problem with my 2H/1J setup......

Did you go thru a local retailer or Dish directly?

 

[sbrown02]

Did you go thru a local retailer or Dish directly?

My order for service went through Dish and the installer was a local third party contractor. Which I believe is pretty typical for Dish.

 

[navychop]

My order for service went through Dish and the installer was a local third party contractor. Which I believe is pretty typical for Dish.

I'm surprised they gave you no trouble about having at least one Joey per Hopper.

 

[3HaloODST]

I'm surprised they gave you no trouble about having at least one Joey per Hopper.

It has been done many times...

 

[DustoMan]

Since this is a "professional" product from a professional company and costing significant money...yes, it needs to be pretty darn close to perfect when it is released. I do not hate my Hoppers BTW. But, as a former company software tester, I can certainly see room for major improvement in Dish's process. I had the 922, and it was a freakin' mess and only slightly improved two years later. Releasing professional products seems to be becoming a dying art.

It's a double edge sword. You either fix it enough so that it mostly works and ship it out the door, or you just keep people waiting until it's 100% but no longer relevant. You'd then be complaining that it's taking too long. I for one am glad they can add new features and fix bugs after you buy it in the first place and I don't have to spend another $100+ a year later to buy the next version of the product that just fixes everything wrong with the old version.

 

[ChairBound]

It's a double edge sword. You either fix it enough so that it mostly works and ship it out the door, or you just keep people waiting until it's 100% but no longer relevant. You'd then be complaining that it's taking too long. I for one am glad they can add new features and fix bugs after you buy it in the first place and I don't have to spend another $100+ a year later to buy the next version of the product that just fixes everything wrong with the old version.

I agree with you about 95% DustoMan. But...in the case of the 922 and the Hopper, I personally feel that it was shipped out not MOSTLY fixed at all. There are too many features that have been missing since the 722 that are not new requests from users. Those should have been included before even considering releasing this piece of equipment. I am also very glad that regular updates are forthcoming. But, perhaps that many updates should not be necessary in the first place. Especially, when the updates screw up my Hopper even worse (like the S221 update seems to have done). I mean...really?! Again, I agree with you in theory about 95%. But, I am still going to stand by what I said about a professional company releasing a professional product. If Dish was more like Apple (and no, I am not an Apple fangirl, so stand down everyone) or even Microsoft, I would be happier. There is just a level of errors still remaining in the Dish software that is just a little above my "put up with it happily" threshold. MS and Apple put out products that still need fixes and updates, but anyone looking at the products produced with a non-biased eye might see that the level of professionalism in their products is far higher than Dish's...so far. What annoys me more is that I believe Dish is fully capable of doing better than they do. They just don't. I mean honestly, how freakin' long does it take to write manual timers back into software? That was a rhetorical question. I can tell you from being in that field that it should not take this long. To break it down...I don't expect Dish to wait until a product is 100% before releasing it, because I know that is not feasible. I expect it to be about 95% though, and I judge the Hopper and even the 922 software as around 80-85%.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I agree with you about 95% DustoMan. But...in the case of the 922 and the Hopper, I personally feel that it was shipped out not MOSTLY fixed at all. There are too many features that have been missing since the 722 that are not new requests from users. Those should have been included before even considering releasing this piece of equipment. I am also very glad that regular updates are forthcoming. But, perhaps that many updates should not be necessary in the first place. Especially, when the updates screw up my Hopper even worse (like the S221 update seems to have done). I mean...really?! Again, I agree with you in theory about 95%. But, I am still going to stand by what I said about a professional company releasing a professional product. If Dish was more like Apple (and no, I am not an Apple fangirl, so stand down everyone) or even Microsoft, I would be happier. There is just a level of errors still remaining in the Dish software that is just a little above my "put up with it happily" threshold. MS and Apple put out products that still need fixes and updates, but anyone looking at the products produced with a non-biased eye might see that the level of professionalism in their products is far higher than Dish's...so far. What annoys me more is that I believe Dish is fully capable of doing better than they do. They just don't. I mean honestly, how freakin' long does it take to write manual timers back into software? That was a rhetorical question. I can tell you from being in that field that it should not take this long. To break it down...I don't expect Dish to wait until a product is 100% before releasing it, because I know that is not feasible. I expect it to be about 95% though, and I judge the Hopper and even the 922 software as around 80-85%.

I have to say that the hopper has been a much better product than the 922 ever was. I have had both and I gave up on the 922 after 10 months and traded it back in for a new 722k ,due to the stability issues the 922 had. The 922 never lived up to any of the hype that DISH put out to sell it. NO tv 2 in hd and no way to get it when they killed the sling extender was the last nail in the coffin for me. The hopper has not been perfect ,but it has been much better than I thought it would. Could it be better? OF course, but it isn't so unstable that I can't use it , like the 922 was. I have had many crappy receivers that DISH put out over the almost 16 years I've been with them .

1) Webtv/dishplayer -great concept that worked well till the Microsoft fall out with DISH.
2) The 811 hd receiver was crappy as hell and I gave up on that one after a month .
3) The 921 pvr -Costed me $1000.00 and it took daily reboots to get it to actually record some of the shows I set for it. BIG DUD!
4) The 922 sling loaded dvr- one of the biggest piece of crap I 've ever owned. Never even did sling well and it was called SLING loaded.

The 942 dvr was a wonderful receiver and it was discontinued due to the Tivo lawsuit. The 622/722/722k all worked well and I enjoyed using them. The hopper has been much better than I thought it would be and I think it will get better, once they add ota and manual timers to it. With DISH you have to understand the way they do software; Two steps forward and then two steps back. They fix something or add some new feature and it breaks something else that was working. I'm used to it by now. I would love it if they would use a cutting edge team of testers for their software changes, before they unload new software on the general public. To me this would cut down on the amount of problems , but till then I accept my roll as a beta tester, or a DISH subscriber.

 

[356B]

The 922 was a prototype, granted it wasn't advertised that way but after a few weeks most who keep up with this stuff knew. The Hopper is the next generation, perfect? no, better then the vip922? in my opinion yes. I really don't get the Joey though, for my purposes I wish Dish would allow a 3rd leased Hopper, Joey is limited for me. There never will be a perfect cutting edge receiver, the much applauded 722 was a good, solid unit.....if you like vanilla.

 

[cubsfan34]

Kind of on a related note, but I've noticed an issue with deleting recordings as well. If I'm watching a recording, when playback is finished it gives the options for "Delete", "DVR", "Live TV". Lately (last couple SW versions) when I select delete, the show does not get deleted. I have to get out of the show by going to live TV or start viewing another recording, then go back to the DVR menu to delete the program.

It didn't use to behave this way, but has been recently.

 

[ChairBound]

356B and MikeD-C05... You guys are right. The 922 was not great, but you know what? I swear my 922 was better than my Hopper. Now, the caveat here being that my Hopper in my exercise room seems great, while the Hopper in my family room (and the one used the most) seems to have a personality of its own. I have only had them both for about two to three weeks, but I sure would like to give my FR Hopper a thump. I cannot seem to make it download thumbnails for anything. They disappeared after the S221 update, but oddly....my other Hopper has them just fine ( it is S221too). I just don't get it.

 

[3HaloODST]

The 922 was a prototype, granted it wasn't advertised that way but after a few weeks most who keep up with this stuff knew. The Hopper is the next generation, perfect? no, better then the vip922? in my opinion yes. I really don't get the Joey though, for my purposes I wish Dish would allow a 3rd leased Hopper, Joey is limited for me. There never will be a perfect cutting edge receiver, the much applauded 722 was a good, solid unit.....if you like vanilla.

I thought you bought a third Hopper?

356B and MikeD-C05... You guys are right. The 922 was not great, but you know what? I swear my 922 was better than my Hopper. Now, the caveat here being that my Hopper in my exercise room seems great, while the Hopper in my family room (and the one used the most) seems to have a personality of its own. I have only had them both for about two to three weeks, but I sure would like to give my FR Hopper a thump. I cannot seem to make it download thumbnails for anything. They disappeared after the S221 update, but oddly....my other Hopper has them just fine ( it is S221too). I just don't get it.

I'm guessing you let the FR Hopper go into standby every night, right? Thumbnails and the likes are downloaded while it's in standby.

EDIT: Oh, and believe it or not, before S213, Hopper was a lot more stable in general. However I'm pretty happy with S221. So far not a single freeze, no issues with thumbnails or the likes, however a few problems with 1 of the Hoppers recording the wrong channel a couple of times, and a couple of Error Code 4s on some recordings (had to delete them.) It's funny you say 1 Hopper is fine and 1 is not. Kinda the same here, 2 are fine, the other one has the errors and recording hiccups. Hasn't happened enough to become a major problem yet, though. Things are a LOT better than S213-S217. Especially with the whole-home.

 

[356B]

I thought you bought a third Hopper?

No I did not. I just couldn't justify the money. I ended up with another Joey which is adequate but limited.

 

[3HaloODST]

No I did not. I just couldn't justify the money. I ended up with another Joey which is adequate but limited.

Ah. Yeah 'round here couldn't deal with just 2, kids record too much crap lol.

 

[356B]

Ah. Yeah 'round here couldn't deal with just 2, kids record too much crap lol.

I will eventually, I get the Joey allure for some and the advantages for Dish but for me it's lack of PIP is an issue, among other things.

 

[ChairBound]

Yes sir 3HaloODST......plenty of stand-by time given for the FR Hoppper. No dang thumb nails. Unplugged, left alone for 40 minutes, plugged back in...no thumb nails. Check switch run several times, then rebooted....no thumb nails. Unit set back to defaults, rebooted....no thumb nails.ummm....WTF, over? I am truly perplexed. The only thing I can think of is something I mentioned in another thread, which is that this update may have arrived on a night when we had lots of storms. The other Hopper probably got it later in the early morning. I won't know unless I figure out how to get Dish to force a re-download of S221.