Parents considering hopper

[MattintheCrown]

My folks have had DirecTV for over a decade, but they've gotten sick of paying ~$135 a month, and have investigated Dish. So, my mom was looking at the hopper option, and wanted me to do some investigation, as my folks are getting older and aren't really up on tech stuff.

So after doing some searching online, here I am.


So, first, their situation. They currently have 3 HDTVs with 3 DirecTV DVR boxes. They basically only watch the two tvs, and they have the third tv in the bar area, that is generally only used when company is over, or by myself when I record sports games and watch them at my parent's house (I refuse to pay for tv at all, and have no tv service at all at my place).

I guess my first concern for them would be the limitation of 3 signals. They both record a good deal of crap, particularly my mother, and I'm not sure that 3 signals would always be enough. But I don't know; I'm only slightly up on this stuff myself, and it's my understanding that they currently have 6 signals effectively. With the hopper, would they be able to, say, record 3 programs, whilst simultaneously watching two other recordings?

Second, my dad has an I-pad and he sometimes uses it in lieu of the remote when using his tv. As I understand it, there is at least some functionality over IP with the hopper, but not necessarily full functionality? Can anyone aware me on what the situation is there?

From the other thread, I gather that they would be able to skip running the coax from the hopper to the joeys, and could simply use the ethernet cable? I ask this because I know they have coax running from the satellite to the receivers, but it might be a pain to route coax from the basement receiver to the other receivers, whereas, as I understand it, they currently already have ethernet running from right next to the basement receiver to the other two receivers, so this would be very convenient. If this is the case, is there any sort of setup process I need to be aware of?

Finally, what's the story with the wi-fi adapter? Do these joeys have built in antennae or not?

Edit: oh, and what's up with the apps mentioned on the dish website? It doesn't really explain what those are about.

 

[mdram]

cant answer it all but heres what ican input
1. get 2 hoppers. anything less and they may have issues
2. price? it really wont change alot once the promos are over - if its a comparable package

 

[KE4EST]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys!! You have definitely came to the right place for help.

 

[sparc]

I ask this because I know they have coax running from the satellite to the receivers, but it might be a pain to route coax from the basement receiver to the other receivers

if there's already coax going to all the current receiver locations, then the tech should be able to manage. They may or may not want to upgrade wiring that feeds the hopper locations as they usually want 3Ghz rated RG6 for those lines.

The wiring can be seen here: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=279755

I guess my first concern for them would be the limitation of 3 signals. They both record a good deal of crap, particularly my mother, and I'm not sure that 3 signals would always be enough.

2 Hoppers and 1 Joey would get you six tuners to all three rooms. You would be able to watch or record up to six channels at the same time over those three tvs. PTAT might help further beyond that (if they watch multiple broadcast networks during primetime hours).

Finally, what's the story with the wi-fi adapter? Do these joeys have built in antennae or not?

they do not have a built in adapter. The joeys get their content from the hopper. As long as you connect one hopper to your network, the internet features can be shared over the whole system.

 

[MattintheCrown]

cant answer it all but heres what ican input
1. get 2 hoppers. anything less and they may have issues

If that's true, ISTM that the hopper is pretty much worthless for their situation. After all, the whole point of the hopper is to have a centralized DVR system, but by having two of them, they'd effectively just be using an individual box on the two main tv's, and only very occasionally making any use of the joey at all.

 

[mdram]

If that's true, ISTM that the hopper is pretty much worthless for their situation. After all, the whole point of the hopper is to have a centralized DVR system, but by having two of them, they'd effectively just be using an individual box on the two main tv's, and only very occasionally making any use of the joey at all.

for now, until dish integrates them like they keep saying
3 tuners for recording and 3 tvs just does not add up

 

[MattintheCrown]

There is no primary location. In general, they have two tvs they they concurrently use in two locations. And the third tv is used on occasion by company (the only recording ever done on that tv is by me, when I record sports).

So if they did a 2 hopper 1 joey system, they would I guess save on not having 3 full-function dvr boxes, but they'd have to pay an up-front extra fee for the second hopper, and also a monthly fee, right?

 

[mdram]

with 1 hopper you would have 2 joeys
but a joey would use the tuner from the hopper
so that if both were watching live tv, you would have 1 stream to record
this is why i said 2 hoppers
a joey in the unused area will have dvr functions, it does not have its own tuner and will use one from the hopper


you other option would be 3 722's, but the fees might be a bit high on those

 

[jawxx]

Hoppers have been integrated for a few months now. If you were to get two, and 1 joey, all 3 can access either hard drive content from the main DVR menu. Setting recordings is a little different. Each hopper still has 3 tuner limitation, with Prime Time Anytime allowing up to 6 shows at once between 7 & 10pm. It records the 4 main HD networks using 1 tuner. You can view previously recorded content whislt all 3 tuners are busy recording.

Due to initial price difference, i would try 1 hopper and 2 Joeys. If its not enough you can add a second one later. Their current setup gives them 6 tuner but the limitations of 2 per room. This system gives less tuners and equal access from all TVs

 

[patmurphey]

Coax does not run from Hoppers to Joeys - all run from the node location.

2 Hoppers and one Joey gives them access to all recordings form either Hopper. If they are not PIP users, putting the Joey in their main TV watching site would allow them access to setting recordings from either Hopper and viewing external hard drives connected to either Hopper.

As a new customer, the upfront cost of 2 Hoppers is worth it and they would get the dual node at the initial setup.