I signed up on the Hopper 3 waiting list and was contacted by Dave early Sunday afternoon. I found out that he could not process my request as I didn't have a credit card on file with Dish. I have autopay, but the payments are deducted from my bank account. So I went on line to mydish.com and used the chat feature. I received an immediate response and got my Hopper 3 order put in. No charge except for the additional monthly $3 DVR fee. The first available installation time was today, Tuesday, 2/2, between noon and 5. I had to wait two whole days!
This afternoon at 1:30 the Dish installer arrived and brought my new Hopper 3 into the house. This was his second Hopper 3 installation, and he had another one to do after he left here.
He asked me to show him my Dish antenna. He said he had to make some changes and would do that then come and install the new Hopper. About 20 minutes later the work was done and he came in and installed a new hub and then the Hopper 3 itself. In no time the DVR was turning on. As others have said, there was a long wait while the software downloaded and installed. During this time the installer went out and put his ladder back on the truck and took my old Hopper away. When he returned we had a nice chat. I told him I wanted to transfer my timers to the new Hopper from my old remote. He said "You can do that?" I said "I'm supposed to be able to. When you're done we'll try it."
The entire installation went very smoothly without a single hiccup. He showed me how to use the remote, showed me channel 103 where I can learn about the new Hopper, and tried several tests to make sure everything was okay. Then we tried to transfer my timers. Following the directions given here earlier in this thread, it worked perfectly! Not only did I get all of my timers, but I got my favorites lists too! The installer was quite amazed that I could do that. He took notes on how I did it, and he let me keep my old remote. Both the old and the new remotes now work on the new Hopper. I gave him a $20 tip... which he first said "that's not necessary", but I said he deserved it and he took it.
I really like the new Hopper 3! I've spent quite a bit of time this evening going over all of the various settings, functions, features, etc. I like the new remote. It's easy to use, but I have to get used to it before I'm comfortable with it. I'm sure I'll get used to it quickly. I like the new Guide layout and the entire look of the menus, apps, options, and other features.
I had one problem. When I scanned for OTA channels, it found 89 channels, which is pretty much the same as with my previous Hopper. However, when I hit the "Save" button the screen when black. I waited a while and nothing happened, so I pushed the red reset button. When the receiver recovered everything seemed to be back to normal. I checked the guide and all of my OTA channels were listed! Maybe a reset is required after an OTA scan?? I noticed that the "Add Digital Channels" option is gone. I was sorry to see that. I think that means that "soon" will never come.
I still have more to check out, but so far I'm very happy with my new Hopper 3!!
I got a call from Dish asking me to take a survey on today's installation. 1 was bad, 9 was the best... I gave them all 9's. The entire operation from start to finish went extremely well.