Official - I have a Hopper 3 Thread!

Just out of curiosity, what date and time are showing on your H3 initial software download. My install was on 2/1 but it shows the U301 software being downloaded on 1/26 @ 1:30AM.
 
We want to hear how about your ordering experience!
We want to hear about your install how did it go?
We want to hear what the Techs did and upgraded at your house!
We want to hear your thoughts on the Hopper 3!
We want to hear what you would change about the Hopper 3?

Ordered through DIRT, was painless and done in only 2 private messages. Was the first Hopper 3 install for the installer, he arrived saying he'd been warned by coworkers that these take a long time to get fully installed and we'd be waiting around for the receivers for a few hours. (which turned out to be the case). Tech took out 2 HWS and put in Hopper3 and 2x4K Joeys. Install went smooth except 1) The initial Check switch took a LONG time, The Software download was smooth, then later during Diagnostics it kept getting stuck at step 180 until the 3rd try.

After 4 days with Hopper 3, still having issues getting TV Show icons in DVR list. There is nothing in VOD on content. Search does not work on any of 3 TVs. VOD works on Joeys, but not hopper3. The Guide is the full 8-day guide. 1st night I tried a reset in the menu, 2nd evening a power cord reboot. Been now letting it do it's own thing since. I'm making sure all 3 boxes are powered off most the time. I hope soon some of the missing stuff starts working.

Today for the first time in years my hopper missed a recording this morning. Looking in the "history" it shows it was recorded, the start/stop time and the tuner used, and completed status. But the show is not on the DVR list, or in the trash.

What would I change? The guide to 3-hours again, without banner on bottom. I miss the Stop and color buttons on the remote. I'd like to disable the Home screen on startup.
 
Surge protect away! Should be no reason not to use one anymore other than I have heard of some rare occurrences where a surge protector caused some receiver issues.

I had the power line adapters for getting the internet connected to the H2. Haven't tried to configure to H3 yet. I thought that the power line adapters wouldn't work when Hopper was plugged into a surge suppressor. The power line adapters worked great on H2 since i have for wifi where receiver was located at. My H3 is connected via wifi but prefer a hardwired connection for internet access.
 
I had the power line adapters for getting the internet connected to the H2. Haven't tried to configure to H3 yet. I thought that the power line adapters wouldn't work when Hopper was plugged into a surge suppressor. The power line adapters worked great on H2 since i have for wifi where receiver was located at. My H3 is connected via wifi but prefer a hardwired connection for internet access.

If it's possible I recommend the HIC.
 
I had the power line adapters for getting the internet connected to the H2. Haven't tried to configure to H3 yet. I thought that the power line adapters wouldn't work when Hopper was plugged into a surge suppressor. The power line adapters worked great on H2 since i have for wifi where receiver was located at. My H3 is connected via wifi but prefer a hardwired connection for internet access.
I had high end powerline connectors ($200 thingies) when I had a ViP 622. When I got the HWS, the powerlines did no better than 4 mbps while the built in wifi of the HWS smoked it. I mean smoked it.

I think wifi equipment has advanced so much since the introduction of the powerline solution.

I highly suggest you try the Hopper's wifi.
 
Last observation for this morning: I plugged the Ethernet cable into the back of the 4K Joey but it disabled the connection and is using the MOCA via the coax instead. Who am I to argue? I may disconnect the 4K Joey and rearrange things as the Tech put the power brick in the cabinet instead of behind. I figure that's less heat that needs to be in my cabinet, right? I may disconnect the coax and run on the Gigabit to see if it works...
Okay, kids, don't try this at home! I disconnected the power to my 4K Joey so I could relocate the power brick on the outside of my TV stand. So I thought I'd plug in the Gigabit Ethernet, the HDMI, and the power, but not the coax to the Solo Hub.

After the power up self-texts, up pops the message that the Joey can't talk to the Hopper. Makes sense, but I'm a curious type, so I hit the Menu button and head for settings. I check the network settings and see both the Ethernet and the MOCA are disabled. Just for grins, I reset the Network settings. I get the message that the network is reseting and after 30 seconds, I've got audio, even though the "Resetting" box is still on the screen. I cancel out and here I am, watching Jeopardy from one of the PTAT channels. Even though the 4K Joey doesn't know about the Internet, it can see the Hopper over my home LAN.

Now, I'm putting it all back to the way it was installed, except with the power brick on the outside, as my experiment is over. I'm also leaving the LAN cable disconnected as the MOCA provides the same connection to the Hopper, but it's got the MOCA LAN all to itself and doesn't need to share with my other LAN devices in the bedroom.

Oh, and after this I have my second project: Hooking up the OTA dongle I got from Amazon (link is up there, folks. Click it and make Scott happy!) I'm looking for a longer USB-A to USB-B cable (the one that comes with the dongle is only 9" or so long.)
 
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Well, I finally get to post in this thread!! :whoo

We want to hear how about your ordering experience!
-I was number 2 on the waitlist, and my excitement could barely be contained ever since I heard about the new H3 coming out. Then Scott released the waitlist and I was like a kid in a candy store. I initially began the order process last Friday through DIRT (mike was great) but because of the amount of people requesting upgrades and the schedules of DIRT members, combined with my lack of patience I ended up ordering a H3 and two 4K joeys via chat. Everything went smooth, beginning with DIRT and ending with dish chat. I was set up for an install on 2/5 (today), and only paid for the 4K joeys.

We want to hear about your install how did it go?
-Tech window was 1045-12pm. He showed up at 1030am, and I met him outside while he took a gander at my dish which is on the right side of my two story house (about 30 feet high). He then came in and looked around to see where the H3 and 4K's were going, checked out the wiring and said everything looked fine. He said my current setup would work (RG6 coax) and he didn't need to change any of the wiring. Then he went outside and began unpacking his equipment. I went out after about 20 mins and he said he was waiting for another installer to come and help him (I presume because he didn't have a ladder that was high enough to reach my roof). The second installer eventually arrived, and they began to brainstorm. I went back inside, and after about 10 mins they knocked on the door and said that they wouldn't be able to install the second dish on the roof next to the original, and said it would have to be lower down on the front of my house, near the corner on the right side. I immediately said no and asked them if they could call their supervisor to see if they have a bigger ladder. I also mentioned that I did not want the dish lower and right in front of the house because it would be an eyesore and stick out. The supervisor eventually called, and the guy was explaining that they need a bigger ladder, etc., and then he requested to speak with me. He said that they don't have a ladder that high and would not be able to install the new dish on the roof because of that limitation, and also said he was not allowed to install it higher than the original dish, along with mentioning safety concerns, etc. Now, I completely understand the safety concerns due to my roof, but the original dish was installed by another installer, so they obviously had a bigger ladder and took the necessary precautions to install my system in a safe manner. I listened to the supervisor and asked if there was any other option, and he said no, so I said well I don't want it on the lower front of the house so I would have to cancel my install and try to work something out with another installer. He then requested to speak with his team. They got off the phone and said reiterated there was nothing they could because they don't have a ladder etc, and suggested the front of the house again. I suggested instead of putting the new dish on the part of the roof that is higher, why not try fitting it next to the original on the lower side of the roof (which was basically the limit of his ladder, which was prob 25 feet high. He said the dish won't fit, but I asked if he could go up and at least put the mount in and let's see if it fits. He eventually got up on the ladder, installed the mount, and then had his partner hand him the dish to see if it would fit and thankfully it was a perfect fit! It looked very clean after all was said and done too. They continued with the install, and it took longer than expected because of rewiring everything near the original dish and removing old cables and the old switch. I was glad we were able to come to a conclusion, and happy that the installers were willing to see if the new dish would fit next to my old one. Otherwise, I would have had to cancel and figure something else out.

We want to hear what the Techs did and upgraded at your house!
-Left my original dish, and added another dish for internationals. They were able to install right next to the original, thankfully. They also removed my dp44 switch and put in a new hybrid switch, and cleaned up some of the wiring outside. Inside, they used the original wiring and added a wallplate to one of the locations because it was broken. They took the old receivers and left my original remotes. After finalizing everything outside, they set up the H3 and programmed the remote, downloaded the software, etc. Then they set up the 4K's and man those things were fast! Paired the remotes, double checked that the channels (and internationals) were working, and left.

We want to hear your thoughts on the Hopper 3!
-I absolutely love it! It is such a HUGE upgrade over my 622 and 211. It is blazing fast, the GUI is much better than the one I used to have, and it just runs smoother overall. The 4K joeys are great too. The footprint is amazing, and again love the speed of them. I have a lot to dig through still, but so far so good. I have some issues, but will post in the other thread that is up regarding that issue.

Overall, I am happy and satisfied with the install and equipment. I like the new 52 remote, and will probably get another one for one of the 4K's while letting my dad use the other 40 since it is similar to the previous remote and he is used to it already. The installer did say that the 4K joeys come with the 52, and then was very surprised when he opened the box.
 
We want to hear how about your ordering experience!
]]]]]LailaS did a tremendous job! Made the experience pain-free.

We want to hear about your install how did it go?
]]]]]Darwin (Installer) was very professional and well-versed in the system. Eric (his supervisor) came to help with install because of the number of things that needed to be done.

We want to hear what the Techs did and upgraded at your house!
}}}}Original equipment: 2 HWSs; 3 Joey 1.0s; 1 Wireless Joey
}}}}New equipment: 1 Hopper 3; 2 4K Joeys; 2 Joey 2.0s; 1 Wireless Joey
}}}}Replaced all things at dish, ran two new homeruns (cable was bad); replaced a few connectors
}}}}Transferred my timers from old remote to new Hopper 3 (seamless)

We want to hear your thoughts on the Hopper 3!
]]]]]So far, i like it! Haven't had much time to play with it yet.

We want to hear what you would change about the Hopper 3?
]]]]]]I'll get back to you on this one.

Referred both techs to this these Forums. When we ran into the "stuck at 180" in system check, I mentioned what I had read in this forum about how to fix (3rd or 4th try wins the day), they were amazed that it worked! I think that we may have gained a few more members/installers/techs!

I truly appreciate this community's collective knowledge!

Consider this thread the SatelliteGuys Hopper 3 Users Club.
 
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I'm on my 4th day with the new Hopper 3 and still don't have any channel or program art. I remember that taking a couple days in the past, but never this long.
 
We want to hear how about your ordering experience!

My ordering experience was really unpleasant. Since I have terribly low expectations of reps for big companies anyway, I wasn’t surprised. I had to place my order five times until they got it right and it went through. At least twice it was inexplicably cancelled without any notification at all. It was only because I called back to check that I found out the order was no longer in the system. One time, the rep insisted that the 4K Joey is not compatible with the Hopper 3, and I just had to cancel. It finally got through, but, boy, was it a pain.

We want to hear about your install how did it go?

Mine was an order for new service, coming from DirecTV. I assumed that the cabling we had run for that service several years ago would work, and it did. Brian, from West Palm Beach was terrific. This was his first Hopper 3 install, and he was patient and confident with it. All in all, it went really well. There is a long wait for software to download and each Joey to start up and set up.

We want to hear what the Techs did and upgraded at your house!

Brian mounted the new dish on the DirecTV mast, and it’s so sturdy, you could swing on it—really sturdy. The only other thing we had to decipher is that DirecTV needed a power inserter that was in a remote room, and so he had to run one new cable from the dish to the Hopper.

We want to hear your thoughts on the Hopper 3!

I think this is vastly superior to DirecTV’s HR44 that it is replacing. Autohop is AWESOME!. I’ve gotten so accustomed to certain buttons working a certain way on my Harmony remote, and I was able to map things to work reasonably the same. I would prefer a linear list for recordings, more like the guide, but I will get used to this.

I have had some of the issued about which people are complaining. I have no expectation that new, cutting edge technology will be perfect. I will await updates that will fix the small issues.

We want to hear what you would change about the Hopper 3?

I would rather have recording in more of a list.
I really liked that on DirecTV, pressing “Play” while watching a recording showed the timeline.
I would love for an entire three hours to show in the guide and for an easy way to jump to the three “prime-time” hours.
 
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The OTA module install went smoothly, except for two things:
1) I did it during the PTAT so I lose a chunk of the PT programs (I'm curious to see how these show up in playback)
2) My first attempt at scanning my locals turned up 9 channels. There should be a lot more than 9! Plus, my signal strength was in the 60s for the one channel that's maybe two miles away. Hmmm... Oh, yeah, I forgot that the OTA cable was disconnected during our Hopper 3 install since they had to fish the new 3GHz coax from the crawlspace. Since the OTA module hadn't arrived in time for the installation there was no reason to hook it back up to the wall plate.

I now have all 20 of my available local channels saved and they look great! It seems strange that they all are reporting 100 on the signal quality meter, but maybe it's that good. Like before, the Guide Data for the ones that Dish doesn't carry is missing, no surprise there. Right now, it's also missing guide data more than an hour or two out. I expect that will change when the EPG borrows a tuner for an update.

So I started to watch the local CBS channel and they're running the "Best Super Bowl Halftime Shows" and Prince is playing in the rain during Super Bowl XLI. Hey, that's the one I have on the EHD, so I fire that up. I remember the problems our local affiliate had with the audio, but fortunately only during the commercials. Right now, it's Bears-Bears-Bears! It's pretty awesome that I recorded this nine years ago and it looks as good as it did the day it was recorded. Better, actually, since when I watched it the first time it was on a Mitsubishi 55" RPTV.
 
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So I broke down and ordered a H3. Install was completed this morning and I've been playing ever since. I replaced 1 HWS, 1SJ, & 1 Joey 1.0 with 1 H3 & 2 Joey 2.0 receivers. My initial thoughts are outlined below.

- Install was quick and painless. Longest part was the initial download, as others have stated.
- Very easy to swap devices out with existing equipment as H3 connections in back are laid out the same as HWS.
- Fastest receiver I've ever owned by a mile!
- IMO, Picture quality is definitely better than HWS and very close to DTV
- Speed of Joey 2 is on par with HWS, maybe slightly slower
- Netflix supposedly "works" on the Joeys but I've had nothing but issues with it. It has been extremely slow and the video playback got stuck in the top, right corner of the screen. Locked up the receiver once requiring a reset.
- The UI is nearly identical to Carbon version for HWS, even with the same bugs like timer priority scheduling and grouped channels in Favorites.
- The 52.0 remote is awesome! Much smaller and more compact with only minimal trade offs in functionality. Reminds me a lot of my Harmony Smart Control remote.
- Ability to set different recording defaults on each receiver is very nice. Perhaps this functionality has existing in Joey2 devices for a while but was not on my former equipment.
- Parental controls lets you disable for 3, 6, or 12 hours at a time which is a HUGE improvement over requiring a passcode for every show.

Overall I'm VERY pleased with the new Hopper!I hope the Netflix app for the actual H3 works better than the one on the Joey2. I'm also very much looking forward to Sports Bar mode. Dish has really outdone themselves with this box. Way to go Dish!



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