In laymans terms, why no VIP integration with Hopper

[navychop]

So we're looking at a "large" percentage of new installs, WA & EA, being Hoppers. Dish can ship returned ViPs to replace non 8PSK & non MPEG-4 receivers in WA, as well as install Hoppers for upgraders. And would Bell be interested in buying a large consignment of ViPs? Considering, IMHO, that a large number of Dish WA customers with legacy equipment don't even know the model number of their receiver, and are content with what they have, there isn't going to be massive, overwhelming upgrade demand from those customers. After the first push from advertising subsides, Dish will have to start a program of contacting customers with old equipment and offering them upgrades. Then later make it mandatory on some schedule. If they went all out, a major effort, my guess is that it would be a minimum of 5 years just to get all of WA updated. And I wouldn't be surprised if it stretched out to 10. How many million pre-ViP receivers are still out there?

And then, the winnowing out of ViP receivers could begin in earnest. How many new Hopper and successor models will come out in the next 5-10 years? Anybody think I'm way off in my timelines?

 

[mike123abc]

Dish will have to start a program of contacting customers with old equipment and offering them upgrades. Then later make it mandatory on some schedule. If they went all out, a major effort, my guess is that it would be a minimum of 5 years just to get all of WA updated. And I wouldn't be surprised if it stretched out to 10. How many million pre-ViP receivers are still out there?

And then, the winnowing out of ViP receivers could begin in earnest. How many new Hopper and successor models will come out in the next 5-10 years? Anybody think I'm way off in my timelines?

I suspect that when they start they will finish it within 2 years. First they will do the AT250 channels and work their way down to the minimal packs. Once they start they will be able to work pretty fast. It will be like they did with the international customers. Move one package at a time over.

 

[3HaloODST]

My thought about the reason--and I could be wrong...The Hopper has a unique feature with Prime Time. During Prime Time, all locals that are being recorded come from the same transponder. This is a very unique way to record so many programs at one time while still leaving tuners available. I would have to guess that the mechanics behind doing this would be interfered with if you had a mix of other recievers attached to the satellite dish and switches.

I highly doubt that. The receivers are tuned into the "whole" transponder whether they are recording/decoding the whole stream or not.