Local Dish retailer says new Hopper OTA adapter to be released January 24

[StanDarsh]

I wonder why the 24th...
Ironically, the IRS starts accepting tax returns on 1/23,
Maybe people will file their taxes, realize they are getting a few thousand bucks and decide to buy one of these the very next day..

 

[comfortably_numb]

I really hope Hauppage didn't make this thing. I had one of their tuners that looked just like the picture and it was inferior to the one made by Pace International (the original OTA adapter for Hopper). Also it had a tendency to overheat. The tuner in the 211k is much better than the Hauppage USB dongle I had, IMO

 

[JSheridan]

I wonder why the 24th...
Ironically, the IRS starts accepting tax returns on 1/23,
Maybe people will file their taxes, realize they are getting a few thousand bucks and decide to buy one of these the very next day..

Yea, I'm sure that was foremost in their minds when they decided on that date. Probably nothing to do with when the product will be in the distribution chain or anything like that.

 

[Tampa8]

I wonder why the 24th...
Ironically, the IRS starts accepting tax returns on 1/23,
Maybe people will file their taxes, realize they are getting a few thousand bucks and decide to buy one of these the very next day..

That has to be it. I would have never thought of it. At least I give credit for thinking outside the box..

 

[charlesrshell]

I wonder why the 24th...
Ironically, the IRS starts accepting tax returns on 1/23,
Maybe people will file their taxes, realize they are getting a few thousand bucks and decide to buy one of these the very next day..

Good info!

 

[Hall]

I really hope Hauppage didn't make this thing. I had one of their tuners that looked just like the picture...

Someone posted a picture of the Hauppage model and they are at least made from the same housing. I pointed out multiple features of the housings that were identical. Are the internals the same ? No one can say (yet).

 

[Hall]

Interestingly, the one shown by Dish Depot looks different. It's a horrible picture - looks like it was taken with a flip phone at a show of some sort, then text-messaged to someone for posting on their website.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I really hope Hauppage didn't make this thing. I had one of their tuners that looked just like the picture and it was inferior to the one made by Pace International (the original OTA adapter for Hopper). Also it had a tendency to overheat. The tuner in the 211k is much better than the Hauppage USB tuner IMO

Interestingly, the one shown by Dish Depot looks different. It's a horrible picture - looks like it was taken with a flip phone at a show of some sort, then text-messaged to someone for posting on their website.

I noticed that too. It looks a photo of the old dongle.

 

[JosephB]

Likely a placeholder if they don't have a picture of the new one

 

[DishSubLA]

I thought I remembered someone from Dish saying by spring/summer in some video, so I would think this tuner would still be in Beta. I'm goona go out on a limb and say I do NOT think Jan 24th is the date. Those are my tea leaves, anyway.

 

[DWS44]

I thought I remembered someone from Dish saying by spring/summer in some video, but I would think this tuner would still be in Beta .

The spring/summer timeframe is for the second tuner of the "dual-tuner" adapter to be activated via a future software update. Once release on the 24th (reportedly), it will work initially as a single-tuner only, essentially the same way the original OTA adapter works now.

 

[DishSubLA]

The spring/summer timeframe is for the second tuner of the "dual-tuner" adapter to be activated via a future software update. Once release on the 24th (reportedly), it will work initially as a single-tuner only, essentially the same way the original OTA adapter works now.

AH!! Thank you for the clarification. Now that makes sense. Well I will order mine as soon as available becaue I think these things are gonna fly of off the shelves.

 

[Hall]

It looks a photo of the old dongle.

Definitely does. The picture that's supposed to be the new one has a white/clear, separate USB cable while the old one (like the one shown by Dish Depot) shows the black, thin cable.

 

[DishSubLA]

Generally MSRP already includes a markup--meaning MSRP is not what a retailer pays for a product. That of course may not be how dish handles things, or the price might have changed. And, to be fair, in the end $5 is not a huge markup even above MSRP, although if it's going to be available without the markup elsewhere I bet they don't leave it marked up long

As stated earlier by another poster, I also think the mark-up is probably for "free" shipping costs that the consumer pays for in the retail price.

 

[odbrv]

I hope Dish allows us to drop the $10 locals. Then the 2 tuner OTA becomes more interesting to me. It would also be nice if Prime Time could be set to access locals from the OTA.

 

[Hall]

I hope Dish allows us to drop the $10 locals.

Since you refer to a $10 price, you must have FLEX. In that case, nothing is stopping you from dropping locals.

if Prime Time could be set to access locals from the OTA.

Won't happen. The entire premise behind PTAT is that Dish uses the same transponder, and in turn a single tuner, to receive your local channels. It's not technically possible to do this with OTA.

FWIW, Autohop still works with OTA.

 

[dare2be]

I hope Dish allows us to drop the $10 locals. Then the 2 tuner OTA becomes more interesting to me. It would also be nice if Prime Time could be set to access locals from the OTA.

Physically impossible. You would need 4 OTA tuners to achieve that, unless you only limit yourself to 2 channels at a time. Regular PTAT takes a signal from a single transponder that has all 4 satellite locals muxed together (for lack of a better term) and splits it into the 4 channels using one tuner.

 

[odbrv]

Physically impossible. You would need 4 OTA tuners to achieve that, unless you only limit yourself to 2 channels at a time. Regular PTAT takes a signal from a single transponder that has all 4 satellite locals muxed together (for lack of a better term) and splits it into the 4 channels using one tuner.

I agree with the current SW. However, Dish spends so many resources and expense negotiating with locals. They could simply let the locals get whatever they want . Put the added cost into the locals bundle. Then give us the option to pay the bandits or drop them. They could then spend the resources and expense to allow us to select what 4 channels on a satellite transponder we wish to use the PTAT SW to record on one tuner. Up until the H3 we could only see the multi channels Dish selected . We now have the ability to choose 4 channels in the PIP Multi Channel option. So SW upgrades are possible.

 

[Tampa8]

Since you refer to a $10 price, you must have FLEX. In that case, nothing is stopping you from dropping locals.

Not necessarily anymore. Locals are broken out for the packages now with a $10 cost associated with them. They can not be dropped from those packages. (The packages dropped in price by $5 for a net increase of $5)

 

[KAB]

Not necessarily anymore. Locals are broken out for the packages now with a $10 cost associated with them. They can not be dropped from those packages. (The packages dropped in price by $5 for a net increase of $5)

Makes me wonder why they broke them out, since they can not be dropped, hence making some think they could save without them.