At least powering up and down a DLP is not as harsh as turning a light bulb on and off. The bulb is ramped up and ramped down (voltage slowly increased at turn on and slowly decreased at shutdown. At least on my Samsung DLP, which was just replace by my larger Samsung LED and has moved to the bedroom.
Probably going to upgrade to Hopper/Joey. I have some questions / concerns.
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They actually fixed the problem a couple of upgrades ago. It was working fine 3 months ago, and then they messed it up again.
Well, the install is done.
First off, thank you to everyone in this thread for your insight and advice. You certainly made the upgrade much easier.
BeckiB with DIRT does what she says she's going to do. The timing was perfect and within minutes of the installer leaving my home, I got an unprompted PM from Becki stating my OTA module was ordered and she hoped I was enjoying my Hopper. She really is great to work with. I've only had limited DIRT exposure in the past. This was my first time actually dealing with something on my account. If BeckiB is any indication of the other DIRT members, Satelliteguys really has something special.
As to the install:
As arranged by BeckiB, the installer was due to be here between 1200-1700. My wife received an automated call yesterday confirming this. This morning, I pulled my 622 and 722, and ensured the correct wires were directed through the port holes on my media cabinet. I then received another automated call that the installer would arrive between 1130-1230. He then called at 1245 stating he'd gotten hung up on the last job and was on his way. He arrived at 1300.
He had a look at the 1000.4. He said he'd never seen one like that before. (It's only 3 years old). He inspected the connections at the block and snipped them off and re-did them. They looked fine to me. No corrosion, but I didn't care. He kept stressing that he did that because it's all part of the quality assurance. He was young, that is to say he was a little immature. He was talking on his blue tooth earpiece to his nephew, another installer, and was a bit inappropriate at times. I said very little as I can imagine it is annoying for someone to tell you how to do your job. He left the snipped pieces of wire and connectors on the ground. The screws to mount the node were not long enough to grip the wall, so it's only the tension of the coax (which are secured well) that keeps the node from falling.
Then inside the house, he immediately started tugging on the wires. I asked him not to do that, especially with the HDMI. I'd forewarned him that the wires were pulled through as far as they would go. There was still enough slack for him to turn the receiver with the back panel facing him to make the connections. He then commented on how he's done installs with far tighter conditions. After downloading the software and guide, he connected the cat5 from my wireless bridge. He'd never seen a wireless bridge and didn't really understand it. As far as he was concerned, that was my router.
I asked him if he'd connected my phone line. He said he'd never done that on a Hopper and wasn't sure there was a connection for that. I told him there was. He said a customer has never asked for that before. I told him at the very least, I wanted it for caller ID. He'd already turned the receiver around so he was trying to connect the phone line blind. He then heard it click and said, "There it is, right above the ethernet port." I told him the phone line port was on the other side of the remote antenna and that the port above the ethernet port is another ethernet port. (I've memorized what the back of the receiver looks like from pics I've been reviewing since deciding to do this.) He assured me, "No, it's a phone line. It clicked right in." I showed him a picture. He then turned the receiver around again and determined he had, in fact, plugged the phone line into the other ethernet port. So, he fixed that.
Now, he moved on to setting up the broadband. It failed with the wizard every time. He then became concerned it was a result of this "wireless bridge" he'd never heard of before, so I took the bridge out of the picture and allowed him to use the WiFi. The Hopper could see my unprotected network and had 70+ signal strength, yet the wizard failed each time. After rebooting the Hopper and calling his boss, he was at a loss. He'd determined this must be my modem/router combo. He wanted to just get a router out of his van and try that. Otherwise, he was going to get another Hopper. I finally spoke up and offered to just reboot the modem/router. After that, it connected fine.
He then said he was going to program my remote to control my TV. I told him not to do that. He kept saying, "But it's easy." I told him it was absolutely unnecessary and I didn't want him power cycling my DLP TV just to program a remote I will never use for that purpose. He relented. I told him I use the Harmony and briefly explained what it did. I think he grasped that it's a little better than your average Walmart universal remote. I told him I did want the Hopper's remote to be able to adjust the volume and mute on the AV receiver. He said he'd never done that. I told him never mind and that I'd take care of it. He didn't even know what I meant when I said we'd need to enable IR.
Overall, he was at my home 1 hour and 50 minutes. Given the hiccup, I don't think that was too bad.
I don't mean to sound critical. I'm really just making observations. The installer said he's only been doing this for 2 months, but he seemed well trained. He just had problems when he was faced with something that deviated from the script. He just got impatient because he had another job to go to after mine and he was running behind. As long as he keeps his head, he'll get better at troubleshooting.
My initial impression?
The Hopper is a nice piece of hardware. A lot of thought went into the design of both the box and the software. Everyone keeps talking about how fast the Hopper is. I can't say it seems much faster than my 622, to be honest. But the 622 wasn't slow, either. Maybe I'll notice the speed when I put it through the paces after it's settled for 48 hours.
As eddie willers suggested here, I was really impressed with how easy it was to set up the remote to control the volume/mute on my AVR. My wife really appreciates the remote maintaining a similar layout from that of the the ViPs. It's IR is much more responsive than the prior remotes.
I also really appreciate the return of the ability to resize the screen to account for overscan.
First off, thank you to everyone in this thread for your insight and advice. You certainly made the upgrade much easier.
BeckiB with DIRT does what she says she's going to do. The timing was perfect and within minutes of the installer leaving my home, I got an unprompted PM from Becki stating my OTA module was ordered and she hoped I was enjoying my Hopper. She really is great to work with. I've only had limited DIRT exposure in the past. This was my first time actually dealing with something on my account. If BeckiB is any indication of the other DIRT members, Satelliteguys really has something special.
As to the install:
As arranged by BeckiB, the installer was due to be here between 1200-1700. My wife received an automated call yesterday confirming this. This morning, I pulled my 622 and 722, and ensured the correct wires were directed through the port holes on my media cabinet. I then received another automated call that the installer would arrive between 1130-1230. He then called at 1245 stating he'd gotten hung up on the last job and was on his way. He arrived at 1300.
He had a look at the 1000.4. He said he'd never seen one like that before. (It's only 3 years old). He inspected the connections at the block and snipped them off and re-did them. They looked fine to me. No corrosion, but I didn't care. He kept stressing that he did that because it's all part of the quality assurance. He was young, that is to say he was a little immature. He was talking on his blue tooth earpiece to his nephew, another installer, and was a bit inappropriate at times. I said very little as I can imagine it is annoying for someone to tell you how to do your job. He left the snipped pieces of wire and connectors on the ground. The screws to mount the node were not long enough to grip the wall, so it's only the tension of the coax (which are secured well) that keeps the node from falling.
Then inside the house, he immediately started tugging on the wires. I asked him not to do that, especially with the HDMI. I'd forewarned him that the wires were pulled through as far as they would go. There was still enough slack for him to turn the receiver with the back panel facing him to make the connections. He then commented on how he's done installs with far tighter conditions. After downloading the software and guide, he connected the cat5 from my wireless bridge. He'd never seen a wireless bridge and didn't really understand it. As far as he was concerned, that was my router.
I asked him if he'd connected my phone line. He said he'd never done that on a Hopper and wasn't sure there was a connection for that. I told him there was. He said a customer has never asked for that before. I told him at the very least, I wanted it for caller ID. He'd already turned the receiver around so he was trying to connect the phone line blind. He then heard it click and said, "There it is, right above the ethernet port." I told him the phone line port was on the other side of the remote antenna and that the port above the ethernet port is another ethernet port. (I've memorized what the back of the receiver looks like from pics I've been reviewing since deciding to do this.) He assured me, "No, it's a phone line. It clicked right in." I showed him a picture. He then turned the receiver around again and determined he had, in fact, plugged the phone line into the other ethernet port. So, he fixed that.
Now, he moved on to setting up the broadband. It failed with the wizard every time. He then became concerned it was a result of this "wireless bridge" he'd never heard of before, so I took the bridge out of the picture and allowed him to use the WiFi. The Hopper could see my unprotected network and had 70+ signal strength, yet the wizard failed each time. After rebooting the Hopper and calling his boss, he was at a loss. He'd determined this must be my modem/router combo. He wanted to just get a router out of his van and try that. Otherwise, he was going to get another Hopper. I finally spoke up and offered to just reboot the modem/router. After that, it connected fine.
He then said he was going to program my remote to control my TV. I told him not to do that. He kept saying, "But it's easy." I told him it was absolutely unnecessary and I didn't want him power cycling my DLP TV just to program a remote I will never use for that purpose. He relented. I told him I use the Harmony and briefly explained what it did. I think he grasped that it's a little better than your average Walmart universal remote. I told him I did want the Hopper's remote to be able to adjust the volume and mute on the AV receiver. He said he'd never done that. I told him never mind and that I'd take care of it. He didn't even know what I meant when I said we'd need to enable IR.
Overall, he was at my home 1 hour and 50 minutes. Given the hiccup, I don't think that was too bad.
I don't mean to sound critical. I'm really just making observations. The installer said he's only been doing this for 2 months, but he seemed well trained. He just had problems when he was faced with something that deviated from the script. He just got impatient because he had another job to go to after mine and he was running behind. As long as he keeps his head, he'll get better at troubleshooting.
My initial impression?
The Hopper is a nice piece of hardware. A lot of thought went into the design of both the box and the software. Everyone keeps talking about how fast the Hopper is. I can't say it seems much faster than my 622, to be honest. But the 622 wasn't slow, either. Maybe I'll notice the speed when I put it through the paces after it's settled for 48 hours.
As eddie willers suggested here, I was really impressed with how easy it was to set up the remote to control the volume/mute on my AVR. My wife really appreciates the remote maintaining a similar layout from that of the the ViPs. It's IR is much more responsive than the prior remotes.
I also really appreciate the return of the ability to resize the screen to account for overscan.
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My installer was in his mid 40's, he did an excellent job and very professional. Although I could have installed the system myself, I could not have done it better than he did. He was a dish employee and left me a good impression of the company. Dish has certainly changed for the better over the years.
EDIT, your installer seemed like one of those young ex Best Buy employees who think they know it all but dont, plugging in the phone line to the ethernet port? He needs to be let go. If I saw a jerk like that in my house, he'd be kicked out right away.
EDIT, your installer seemed like one of those young ex Best Buy employees who think they know it all but dont, plugging in the phone line to the ethernet port? He needs to be let go. If I saw a jerk like that in my house, he'd be kicked out right away.
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120inna55:
Forewarned is forearmed. Your time here ahead of the install was well spent, no?
Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
Forewarned is forearmed. Your time here ahead of the install was well spent, no?
Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
He didn't think the 2 ports were interchangeable, mind you. He just did it blindly and since he heard the click, he assumed it must be the correct port. Not defending his actions, though. I still gave him 10's on the survey, though. He was trying and he was green. He needs a few failures under his belt to slow him down and have him troubleshoot better. At least that's my hope for this guy. If he doesn't change, he'll anger enough customers that his job will be in jeopardy.
Without question. What I continue to learn from this board is invaluable. I am truly grateful for this board.
you have to remember that most users on this board fall into the "power user" camp. When I had my hopper installed, it was only the 2nd 2 Hopper system they had done. Southern Star (the Dish contractor) actually sent a supervisor with the tech because it was unusual.
I am not excusing what the tech did or did not know, but I figure most installs are one Hopper 2-3 joeys, and nothing unusual.
I am not excusing what the tech did or did not know, but I figure most installs are one Hopper 2-3 joeys, and nothing unusual.
I wouldn't say there was anything unusual about my install. A single Hopper. 1 TV. No Joey. An established dish with coax already run. Just replacing a receiver.
I'm not complaining about the guy, really. I'm just reporting my experience. He just seemed a bit immature to be doing what he's doing, but maybe that's just me.
Sent from my Samsung GS3
I'm not complaining about the guy, really. I'm just reporting my experience. He just seemed a bit immature to be doing what he's doing, but maybe that's just me.
Sent from my Samsung GS3
"Just replacing a receiver."
And installing a node, I hope.
Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
And installing a node, I hope.
Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
Well yes, of course. My point being that my install did not fall out of the norm.
Sent from my Samsung GS3
I just installed my OTA module last night, and I had no problem deselecting them and deleting them.
Very useful information in this thread. Need to clarify a few of things.
-CURRENT SITUATION: 8HD and 10 SD tvs (GEEK plus have lots of family visit) now serviced by 722,622, (2) 612s obviously with a lot of the TVs mirrored and utilizing both the component and HDMI ports and HDMI splitters as well as a central distribution box to switch signals among TVs.
-NEW SITUATION: What I want is 3 hoppers (1 for my control, 1 for my wife’s control, 1 for my office which is remote to house and serviced by a separate dish after dish decided not to replace hard underground wire) and 1 joey (for outside patio).
1. What kind of grief can I expect from dish for this type of set up and how to get around it?
2. Is the Joey IR or UHF controlled? Will all be on separate addresses?
3. Can I use my existing remotes or will I have to buy all new remotes to have the flexibility of not having to walk around house with a remote?
4. Do I have to specifically tell installer to allow the hoppers to talk to each other or would they normally do this?
5. Why does hopper have two CAT 5 inputs?
6. My external hard drive stopped talking to my 622 some time ago. Got the usual run around from both Seagate and Dish that it was the other guys fault. Any hope for this working again?
7. I will need to utilize both the component and HDMI ports out of the hopper to service two TVs. Are they both active at same time?
8. I will need to come out of the hopper and joey composite ports to service some of the SD tvs with coax and utilize my current switch box to direct signals to different TVs. I am assuming I can use an RF modulator to convert from RWY to coax. Will that work? Is that something DISH can provide?
Thanks for any answers or other questions that I am not asking.
-CURRENT SITUATION: 8HD and 10 SD tvs (GEEK plus have lots of family visit) now serviced by 722,622, (2) 612s obviously with a lot of the TVs mirrored and utilizing both the component and HDMI ports and HDMI splitters as well as a central distribution box to switch signals among TVs.
-NEW SITUATION: What I want is 3 hoppers (1 for my control, 1 for my wife’s control, 1 for my office which is remote to house and serviced by a separate dish after dish decided not to replace hard underground wire) and 1 joey (for outside patio).
1. What kind of grief can I expect from dish for this type of set up and how to get around it?
2. Is the Joey IR or UHF controlled? Will all be on separate addresses?
3. Can I use my existing remotes or will I have to buy all new remotes to have the flexibility of not having to walk around house with a remote?
4. Do I have to specifically tell installer to allow the hoppers to talk to each other or would they normally do this?
5. Why does hopper have two CAT 5 inputs?
6. My external hard drive stopped talking to my 622 some time ago. Got the usual run around from both Seagate and Dish that it was the other guys fault. Any hope for this working again?
7. I will need to utilize both the component and HDMI ports out of the hopper to service two TVs. Are they both active at same time?
8. I will need to come out of the hopper and joey composite ports to service some of the SD tvs with coax and utilize my current switch box to direct signals to different TVs. I am assuming I can use an RF modulator to convert from RWY to coax. Will that work? Is that something DISH can provide?
Thanks for any answers or other questions that I am not asking.
1. You may to have to use a dealer to get 3 Hoppers. Tuner limit from Dish itself?
2. I believe it does both UHF and IR and you can disable at least one.
They are linked with 2(?) links allowed per source. No settable addresses.
3. Existing remotes will not have colored buttons and may not set up link, IDK.
4. User settable bridging.
5. No specific functionality for different Ethernet connection, I believe. Pick one, it does say upper/lower.
6. Seagate have never been recommended by users here. They are often cheaper.
7. ASFAIK the outputs are identical and simultaneous.
8. You can get a modulator almost anywhere like RS or an old VCR, spend $15.
I would like know if 3 or 4TB drives work? I like to work to best price point and don't want spend to find out.
-Ken
2. I believe it does both UHF and IR and you can disable at least one.
They are linked with 2(?) links allowed per source. No settable addresses.
3. Existing remotes will not have colored buttons and may not set up link, IDK.
4. User settable bridging.
5. No specific functionality for different Ethernet connection, I believe. Pick one, it does say upper/lower.
6. Seagate have never been recommended by users here. They are often cheaper.
7. ASFAIK the outputs are identical and simultaneous.
8. You can get a modulator almost anywhere like RS or an old VCR, spend $15.
I would like know if 3 or 4TB drives work? I like to work to best price point and don't want spend to find out.
-Ken
3TB drives have been reported to work with Hopper, however I personally would not want to invest in such a large drive as failure would be more significant.
WD Elements 1-2TB drives are the most commonly used drives based on posts. I have several that work well with Dish receivers.
WD Elements 1-2TB drives are the most commonly used drives based on posts. I have several that work well with Dish receivers.
I use the Channel Plus 5415 RF modulator to distribute one of my Hoppers throughout the house. Produces a better signal than anything you can buy at Radio Shack.
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