Official - I have a Hopper 3 Thread!

[Scott D]

Have been lurking the site for awhile as the wife was fed up with DirecTv Genie not working and needing a 15 minute long reboot. Saw the release on Saturday and called pretty late that night. They had an opening for install noon Sunday. Installer arrived and this was his first Hopper 3 install. CSR at Dish didn't want to let me have 4K Joey's but I lied and said I had 3 4K Tvs. Install was smooth everything activated and software downloaded - took about 40 minutes to get up and running.

I have Hopper 3, 2 4K Joey, 1 Joey 2.0, and 1 wireless Joey. All work fine. Wife isn't thrilled about the different remotes and I might need to move them around (I think the simply remote that comes with the Joey 2.0 can be paired with a 4k Joey?). 16 tuners is crazy I didn't have any issues running all 6 TV at the same time etc.

Initial reaction to Dish vs Direct... Picture quality is a bit less. Not noticeable to my wife. I don't see the PIP and sportsbar mode stuff yet and no Netflix until the 11th. Website DVR scheduling is glitchy. Love the sling features but wish I could watch offline shows on my Surface Pro 3.

 

[Bobby]

I don't see the PIP and sportsbar mode stuff yet and no Netflix until the 11th. Website DVR scheduling is glitchy. Love the sling features but wish I could watch offline shows on my Surface Pro 3.

For PIP, on the remote, press Options and then PIP.... It should be there. Sports Bar will come at a later date.

 

[Scherrman]

I finally got my equipment today. I'm a little disappointed because I like to be one of the first and report about it but oh well. I'm going to try and get it installed today, start on my lunch break and finish after work. Would like to have it done before the snow storm hits tonight. I'm not looking forward to going on my roof to replace the LNB.

 

[Scott D]

For PIP, on the remote, press Options and then PIP.... It should be there. Sports Bar will come at a later date.

I will give it a try. I just hit the PIP button on the remote and it said it wasn't available.

 

[Bobby]

I will give it a try. I just hit the PIP button on the remote and it said it wasn't available.

If you are using a 40 remote, press the red button to get to Options... 52 remote, as I said...

 

[kwindrem]

... The adjusting screen manually was strange, normally digital does not have that issue.

I think the new U/I uses more screen real estate than the old one so if there is any overscan on the TV, you will loose the info on the edges. Set the TV to dot-for-dot or whatever it calls it and you should be OK. I was already set that way and see the entire guide and menus. No need to adjust the U/I position/size.

On plasmas (remember those), you need to also disable the "orbiter" that repositions the image a bit to reduce burn-in. LCDs typically don't have this "feature" but thought I'd mention it.

 

[DWS44]

Wife isn't thrilled about the different remotes and I might need to move them around (I think the simply remote that comes with the Joey 2.0 can be paired with a 4k Joey?)

You may have figure this out already, but pretty much any of your remotes (40 and 52) can be paired with any of the Hoppers or different flavors of Joeys. They are compatible with all of them!

 

[electronica]

Install went great for me yesterday afternoon from Digital Dish in Ohio. First install for them as well. A tech, a supervisor, and a regional manager on hand to watch. All nice guys, and professional.

My only complaints so far, the search feature is a little strange (unless I am missing something). Hit the search button, and start typing something. First of all, you have to use the on-screen keyboard, you can't hit 2 twice for B. Second, as you type, the hopper starts to show channel names that match what you are typing. I want to search for programs, not channels. You can actually hit 0 after you type in what you want to search for, and it does the program search. Would like it to start showing programs as I type, not channels.

There is also an option to copy shows from your old hopper to the new hopper, I forget off-hand how to get to this menu and I am at work now. Basically you run the network cable between the two hoppers and start the copy. It shows a progress bar and also gives you the option to go on about your business watching TV as normal and it will notify you on completion. I let it go for hours, and it didn't seem to do anything. Anyone else have an success with this function?

 

[ralfyguy]

Got everything installed. Tech was very pleasant. My old coax works just fine. No audio problems, screen was easy to adjust. Even everything works with my Harmony, including putting the Hopper in standby with pressing the ALL OFF feature. Only one glitch when I turned it back on, only black screen with the TV saying no device connected. Had to pull the HDMI plug out and put it back in. Hasn't happened again yet.

Now the bad news:

Tech had no OTA adapter as stated by the CSR. Tech called Dish and they are unable to send me an OTA adapter as the system won't let them for the H3. The CSR even said that OTA is built in, and the Tech said that it ain't true.
Tech even called his supervisor and warehouse, they could not help.

I solved the problem and bought one on eBay for 38 bux.

 

[Scott D]

You may have figure this out already, but pretty much any of your remotes (40 and 52) can be paired with any of the Hoppers or different flavors of Joeys. They are compatible with all of them!

Thank you. That's the confirmation I needed.

 

[Foxbat]

How many installers made this same mistake? Posting here (thanks again folks) saved us from trying a second Hopper during instalation. Interesting how little training techs get for an all new product.

SatelliteGuys to the rescue! That appears to have been the problem with my install, too! At first the tech thought it was the length of old RG6U going through the crawl space under the family room, but replacing it didn't work.

He called in his manager and the two of them replaced the 1996-era coax. So that was good. But when they were going to replace the Solo Hub I thought I'd check this thread. The Manager was like "oh, yeah, did you use the first output from the Hybrid LNB?" They swapped the coaxes from the dish and now we're waiting for the Software Downloads to complete.

To be fair, this was their first H3.

 

[ralfyguy]

Can you add more than one AUX device to the 52.0 remote?

 

[jerryez]

If the installer takes your remote, you can buy one on eBay for $10.

 

[kwindrem]

I like the changes they've made to the menus.

I like that they have organized the options to align with the numeric keypad and can use those buttons to access an option. Even if options aren't aligned in the keypad grid, there are often numbers next to the item for 1-button access.

Switching between internal and external drives is right on the main DVR menu where you choose programs. No longer do you need to drop down the source selection. It's probably not that much less effort but looks better and is more obvious. Also space used is shown once the source is selected.

Transfer between Hopper and EHD is now integrated in the DVR menus. It's under Options/Manage Recordings.

But ... I wish there was an option to show both/all sources at the same time. The EHD should be better integrated in the process of selecting a program to watch. This could potentially get confusing if you have a huge number of recordings. Maybe some way to filter the list: All sources/Internal/External 1/...

A also wish they would allow you to name EHDs. If you have more than one, it gets confusing especially since the numbering depends on what order they are recognized when the receiver boots.

 

[gpflepsen]

If the installer takes your remote, you can buy one on eBay for $10.

With the possibility you'll buy your old remote back!

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

 

[ralfyguy]

If the installer takes your remote, you can buy one on eBay for $10.

I meant that I thought I saw a post somewhere, where you could pair more auxiliary devices to the 52.0 remote, like a TV or another audio receiver. Right now it only seems I can add only one additional device to the remote.

 

[ralfyguy]

Oh, and another question:
How do you control the volume on a bluetooth headset? Right now the volume on the headset is turned all the way down, but still too loud. Is there an option on the H3 somewhere?

 

[fuzzy]

Install went will on sunday. tryed to setup 2 folders in dvr, only will only work with at a time. once you install 1 folder when adding a new one, the folder back to no folder. also can't add ota chs. to favorite guide, but shows in all sub guide.
biggest problem is missing Directv picture qualitly!!

 

[kwindrem]

I meant that I thought I saw a post somewhere, where you could pair more auxiliary devices to the 52.0 remote, like a TV or another audio receiver. Right now it only seems I can add only one additional device to the remote.

The 40.0 remote allows you to control Sat, TV, DVD and Aux (typically an A/V receiver or other audio output).

The 52 remote does not control a DVD so, it's one less device that can be controlled. For those that don't have a universal remote, that means one more remote on the coffee table.

I've been using a programmable universal remote that is "activity" based so delegation of the remote also turns devices on and switches inputs (like the Harmony does). I can't imagine not using one. It's well worth the investment especially if you have nontechnical folks using the system.

 

[Foxbat]

Phew! It's all in and appears to be working. No logos in the Guide yet, but since I'm coming from ViP receivers, that's okay.

Dish really had a long day at my house, but the Tech thanked me for being patient since even when everything is going perfectly, all the downloads take a long time.

Now I have to go to work since I was supposed to be there four hours ago!