Question... Now that you have had your Hopper

[Grandude]

My only real gripe is that when I connect the Hopper(s) to the internet via ethernet or wifi, both of my PCs constantly wake up from sleep or hibernate mode. So far the only way I have been able to stop this is by connecting my PCs with wifi only instead of the standard ethernet connection I always have used. This didn't happen with my 622 and 722 receivers.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Just a new post, now that I have had the HWS for awhile. Other than some small quirks, my only issue right now is the internal Wifi seems weak. Its the same place where the Oppo, TV and Roku are with full bars. It only has 50%. I wonder if the external USB adapter would help, not that it matters because I dont use it for anything.

I love the speed and Gui, been a great DVR so far.

 

[ZachS@DISH]

Just a new post, now that I have had the HWS for awhile. Other than some small quirks, my only issue right now is the internal Wifi seems weak. Its the same place where the Oppo, TV and Roku are with full bars. It only has 50%. I wonder if the external USB adapter would help, not that it matters because I dont use it for anything.

I love the speed and Gui, been a great DVR so far.

The WiFi is not compatible with the Hopper with Sling. How far away is the Hopper from your router?

 

[gadgtfreek]

It's roughly 25ft. Hasnt seemed to have affected the sling player speeds any.

 

[dvrexpander]

It's roughly 25ft. Hasnt seemed to have affected the sling player speeds any.

Get them to have a tech set you up a HIC or bring you two sling links to get connection. The internal wifi on them things is horrible.

On topic:

Biggest issue I've seen with Hopper installs is cable restrictions - you DIRT guys should pass it along to the higher ups to stop restricting cable that is 3GHz and WILL work just because of a name on it or that it came from DirecTV or has DirecTV/Perfect Vision on it for example. Really getting tired of ruining perfectly good cable runs just to pull new when installing these things and as a customer I wouldn't allow it anyway if I had a tech come to my home to do it, bad thing is that it doesn't matter what you write down to back yourself up the tech will get burned and its not right.

Only other thing I can think of is simple - stop pushing these things onto elderly people. They are fine with a simple 311/322 or 625 with no HD vs all these other technical boxes/remotes that they won't ever learn or get used to which only causes you more problems with call backs and wasteful SVC's for nothing.

 

[jcanavera]

Hopper had lots of issues the first 5 weeks of ownership. Ended up being a bad installation job. Contract installer sent by Dish did not upgrade the wiring from the dish to the Hopper and Solo node. The minimum spec is 3 GHz rated cable. From a Solo node to a Joey, the cable does not have to be 3 GHz rated. Once that cable was replaced, all the screwy problems went away. Still sometimes have two tuners accessing the same station rather than one tuner sharing. It doesn't occur often but it can cause a conflict which leaves you short of a tuner at times.

Best feature is the single DVR that feeds the Hopper and Joeys.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Now that Im using the bluetooth with headphones, I have one suggestion. When Im using the Roku 3 and plug the headphones in to the remote, it mutes sound coming out of the Roku to your system. With the bluetooth headphones on the Hopper you still have to manually cut your sound down. Not a big deal, but a cool feature.

 

[jgastonl]

one thing I'd like to add - CREATE A PLAYLIST or play the next item in that folder. I hate walking back into the room to see my daughter just smashing away at buttons trying to get things to play.

 

[lucky86]

There is a playlist option on the Hopper.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

one thing I'd like to add - CREATE A PLAYLIST or play the next item in that folder. I hate walking back into the room to see my daughter just smashing away at buttons trying to get things to play.

There is a playlist option on the Hopper.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/312817-Hopper-S246-Joey-S294-Is-Out?p=3199822#post3199822

 

[remobravo]

1. What are your favorite features on the Hopper/Joey? 1 DVR for all tvs; HD in every room; Sling integration

2. What has been your biggest issues with the Hopper/Joey? No significant issues. Software problem caused dish anywhere to crash early on, but I was pleased with Dish's responsiveness in getting it patched.

3. Besides upgrading to a new Hopper with Sling, have you had your Hopper/Joey replaced or had a service call placed? No problems so far, upgraded four months ago.

4. If you could change or add just ONE feature on the Hopper what would it be and why? Not directly "on the Hopper", but I'd like to see improvements in the UI functionality in the browser and Android app for DVR viewing via Sling; eg. option to start from beginning or join live for programs currently being recorded; resume viewing from last location after viewing is interrupted (applies mostly to Android app); progress bar overlay when ff/rw. Sorry, I guess that's 3 things - but under 1 category.

 

[mitchflorida]

Let the Hopper sit on a channel on pause for at least 2-3 hours buffered. So you can go back and watch or save the last two or three hours of the show, not one hour like it is now.

 

[dare2be]

How large is the Hopper buffer, before it will start playing automatically? On ViPs, it's only an hour.

 

[3HaloODST]

It's an hour. I remember when I went from 625 to 722k I sure missed the two hour buffer.

 

[dare2be]

So then I guess mitch's suggestion is a feature request? I must have misunderstood his intention.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Now that I learned something new about Autohop today, Im even more impressed by this box. Im a big fan of OTA recording, have a module on both Hoppers, so Ive avoided PTAT, and in turn Autohop. Well, in deciding to try out AutoHop today I enabled PTAT, and in doing so came to realize it made AutoHop functional on my OTA recordings. This is something I did not know was possible, so I guess I correlated it with PTAT and HD lil recording only.

While I have no intention of messing with PTAT, it will of course stay enabled so I can reap the benefits of my OTA recordings and check out the commercial skipping feature. These boxes really are impressive.

 

[FilmMixer]

1. What are your favorite features on the Hopper/Joey?

Just switched form DTV.. 2 HWS, 1 Joey. Liking the speed and PTAT. I was concerned about picture quality, and I must say it is the tiniest bit softer on HD, but nothing I can't live with.. SD is better. But the quickness of the HWS's is fantastic.


2. What has been your biggest issues with the Hopper/Joey? (If you had install issues you can note them here as well.)

No issues... not used to the reboot overnight... and if the receiver was on and tuned before the update, it should come back to live TV when finished.. for those of us who sometimes fall asleep in front of the TV.

3. Besides upgrading to a new Hopper with Sling, have you had your Hopper/Joey replaced or had a service call placed? If you have what was the issue and how was it fixed?

Recent install, no issues.


4. If you could change or add just ONE feature on the Hopper what would it be and why?

I know it's supposed to be one, Scott, but I have to spout out my list..

1. A unified DVR list...why I can't see all the recordings at once... The drop down should be "HWS 1, HWS 2, and BOTH." (I do like that i can delete from either Hopper.) But having to train the family that if they want to watch PTAT downstairs they have to manually change DVR's from the list... DTV has a unified list (I had three DVR's, so it was nice to have each list be the same..)

And why isn't it persistent.... why do I need to switch Hoppers every time I go into the DVR menu?

2. I would like to have a preference to record "New Only" or "New and Old" in the Timer Defaults..

3. The Search is hard to use... when searching for NEWSROOM, the Icon Tiles were useless.. I couldn't figure out which one was the premiere showing on Sunday nights, which ones were on demand, etc... Same in VOD... the tiles limit you to 9 shows.. a list option would be helpful.

4. Why do we have to lose the live buffer during DVR playback? And if you pause the live buffer and watch a DVR/On Demand show, the buffer should resume (to the limit of 60 minutes) where you left off... and why only 60 minute buffer (Dish boasts about hard drive space, but all the DTV DVR's are 90 minute buffers, and there are 2 of them!!!!).

5. I think all of the above feature request are fairly straight forward... this one is a bigger one.. I know I can't pause my tv in one room on a HWS and then pick it up on the other, but I can from a Joey... still not sure why that kind of "dumb" Joey tuner/buffer share can't be extended to another Hopper...

6. We have a brand new 60" Panasonic plasma... I NEED A SCREEN SAVER.. while I don't worry too much about burn in, 60 minutes of my daughters pausing a show always makes me nervous... after 3 minutes on DTV, you get a black screen with a floating/moving DTV logo...

7, If PTAT is off, why do I have to see a logo for it every time I go into the DVR screen on my second HWS where it is disabled... I can turn it back on in the Settings menu...

8. If I am looking in the guide, and see that a show has started, and want to record it later from the beginning, there should be an option on the INFO screen to see upcoming iterations of the same show... to have to go into search and do it manually is really inefficient.

9. In the guide, you should be able to left cursor over to the channel banner/name, hit INFO and get a list for the next 9 days of shows on that channel... really missed from directv.

 

[ERSanders]

Two things for me:

1. When a new timer is created have the choice to add it as #1 on the priority list or #n (last).

2. When a timer conflict arises the display currently shows it with a red line thru the at risk show. Sometimes that same show is available later in the day, or the next day. When there is another session (and it is selected for recording at a later time) show the line thru the timer in an alternate (not red) color and adjust the timer warning to "delayed event" (or something like that).

Other than than those two items I very happy with my Hoppers and Joey.

 

[Hall]

I guess this thread is as good as any for reporting an issue with the Hopper (and Joey possibly). I haven't seen it mentioned before but it may have been and nonetheless, it's not fixed yet, so it's worth bringing up again:

If you delete all of the programs in a folder, the DVR's sorting method changes from "DVR date" to "Episode #".

To get back to the "DVR date" sort, I think the quickest method is to simply hit "Cancel" and then "DVR" button again - two clicks. You can hit the yellow button, arrow up/down, then "Select" if you want to stay in the DVR menu but it's quite a few more button clicks.

 

[dwarren2]

I haven't had that problem. Mine always stays at DVR Date for the sort.