Regretting Hopper, Maybe Going Back to 722k/211
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Thanks for your reply. If they will switch the Joey with a hopper and not charge 99.00 plus install I would consider it. When I first spoke to customer service , ( I was very specific ). , she assured me several times that the Joey also would rec. 4 prime time AND 2 hd channels at the same time as the hopper. I understand the fact that this is a new system and rollout for dish as well as customer service. I'm very sorry to say that this " upgrade " from two 722's to a hopper and one Joey, to our family is a downgrade. I told them , executive office, that the only main issues for us is the tuners. 3 now instead of 4. Not having the other featured like Facebook, pandora, Bluetooth, and my sling adapter not yet worked out are issues that I'm sure will be worked out in the near future with software updates. These are minor issues with us and assured them that our only concern was the downgrade of tuners. Adding another Joey is more money per month. Over a years time could be costly. The 99.00 fee plus 2 year contract is enough for us. We love the new interface as we switched from 722 's, but if more money or 3 tuners is our option , then we'd rather go back to our 722's, as they fitted our family better. They are working on a resolution for this problem. We called them the day after our install of the hopper/ Joey. The lady was very nice to us on the phone and we are trusting that they will come up with a reasonable solution. Our hope is another hopper to replace the 1 Joey. 3 more dollars a month, but we could probably live with that. 2 hoppers with no joeys didn't sound good to the first cust. Service rep., but the exect. Lady was more understandable and really wanted to help us. She will call us next Tuesday . We're believing they will do the right thing. We love dish.
Chris
I can understand your frustration and concerns. But the way to figure out if the Hopper/Joey is a good replacement for your 2 722s is to look at when you have all 4 tuners in use and look to see what channels they are on at that time. If 2 or more broadcast channels are involved everytime that happens, then the switch should be painless.
Im enjoying the Hopper system as well!
One issue. I use to be able to watch dish pass(blockbuster) movies right away.
It took all night to be able to watch the downloaded movie. Actually it was
available in the morning.
My internet connection speed is fine. I checked it.
So maybe I have to give dish a call. Might be in need of a software download.
Anyone else notice this?
Thanks for replying,
You are correct, if some are on prime time it wouldn't matter. But it has only been 5 day since install and we've had to , on 4 occasions already, change a timer to a later time to accommodate our son in his room with the Joey ( which I guess was ok but inconvenient and frustrating, but 2 other times we had to cancel the fourth HD recording and miss it. It still goes back to basically downgrading from 4 tuners with the two 722's, to three tuners with hopper / Joey. Again , there has been , to us , smaller issues with " software problems", that We know will be resolved at a later time. I'm fully aware that when you keep up with technology , and you " get it when it first comes out " I've always experienced flaws in software issues. I'm very patient and understanding on this subject. hope this hardware issue is resolved.
Chris
You are correct, if some are on prime time it wouldn't matter. But it has only been 5 day since install and we've had to , on 4 occasions already, change a timer to a later time to accommodate our son in his room with the Joey ( which I guess was ok but inconvenient and frustrating, but 2 other times we had to cancel the fourth HD recording and miss it. It still goes back to basically downgrading from 4 tuners with the two 722's, to three tuners with hopper / Joey. Again , there has been , to us , smaller issues with " software problems", that We know will be resolved at a later time. I'm fully aware that when you keep up with technology , and you " get it when it first comes out " I've always experienced flaws in software issues. I'm very patient and understanding on this subject. hope this hardware issue is resolved.
Chris
Maybe I should have been clearer on my reply to Jayiw post # 1 . I commented fast , being new at this forum stuff. I didn't mean I was having all the same problems as him. I guess I was speaking " in general " about having smaller software issues as well as my main concern , tuners. -- you seem to be seasoned in this area , As a supporting founder, with 3100 some posts. Honestly , and I mean this sincerely, what is your take , after reading all my posts. do you see a reasonable solution. I truly respect your " seniority" in this forum and look forward to your thoughts.
Thanks , chris
Chris.praying said:
If you has your two 722s operating in single mode and only need two TVs serviced, the Hopper probably isn't for you at this time. Many people have had a hard enough time getting Dish to ok a two Hopper one Joey setup that it leaves me doubtful that they will allow you to proceed with a two Hopper zero Joey setup. (Especially since an installer will have to come out to swap your solo node for a duo node and you've expressed an unwillingness to pay the $100 cost for the second Hopper.)
For your sake, I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so. If they somehow do allow for that setup, your monthly charges should not go up. The first Hopper is included in the programming costs and each additional Hopper or Joey is $7/month. Not sure why they told you it would cost $3 more each month. The $10 in DVR and WH fees are at the account level and do not increase if you have more Hoppers in your setup.
It's not the unit. I'm on my second Hopper, and it's an ongoing nightmare: random reboots for no reason, PTAT not recording, can't set any timers past 38, etc, etc, etc. I can't believe Dish released this piece of s**t with all of these issues. And I don't believe that all the beta-testing didn't uncover these problems!
Wayne, there's something else wrong in your setup. These are not common problems with the Hopper. The Dish techs need to look deeper into your setup.
Wow man, you need to settle down. If you actually look at other posts in the forums you will see some of these issues are already known and being worked on. The random reboots i have not experienced and I have two hoppers.
I fully understand that you are upset you are on the short end of the stick for sure. The reboot problem however is NOT common, so something else may be going on at your specific location with that. The timer issue HAS been acknowledged and is being worked on. I know you don't really want to hear it, but that is the price for being one of the first with much electronic equipment. Taken a look at the Direct TV forum? Just one problem was a grey screen issue that required a software update. It happens. I really do hope it gets straightened out, and soon!
Chris, I would suggest a couple of things for the timers. Short of having two Hoppers, keep in mind most all the cable channels repeat shows the same night. (Technically sometimes the next morning - like 1AM etc..) So for example Pawn Stars for me records on the second time it airs that night. I set up my timers with what I most want to record at the first airing, keeping in mind any programs that do not repeat. PTAT should help with the Network programs for this, as they do not usually repeat soon after the first airing. After the tuners are all used, I go to the next show I want to record, pick to record all new shows, knowing it can't record at the first airing because all the tuners are being used. But I also know, the receiver will rectify that on it's own, by recording that same show when it airs two or three hours later. I routinely have Pawn Stars recording on the second airing because I am recording other things, some that don't repeat soon after the first airing. I then pick one of the tuners/shows recording if all are being used to watch.
I also will say Dish will have an over the air antenna input at some point, hopefully soon. If you have or get an outside (or inside if you are able to use one) antenna this would provide another tuner. There may be times you can make use of that, if there is only one network show you want to record, use the antenna, then you still have three more tuners to use for the cable channels
One more thing, if the problem is not having a free tuner to watch live and just browse around, again instead of recording something at the regular time, set it to record at the same time every week at the later time it repeats leaving a tuner free earlier while you are awake.
Note - as I write this LUCK on HBO is going to record at 12AM, not the first airing. I purposely do that so my wife has a free tuner to watch live or browse around on Sunday nights......Ditto the Long Island Medium.
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IF you upgraded to the latest receiver , you ARE the BETA TESTER. That is the way DISH beta test all their new receivers. They use new subs and older subs who upgrade to identify all the problems and they work on fixing them via software updates. Hopefully before the newest , new receiver comes out in two years. Same cycle for just about all their new receivers.
That's not true. The 922 was out to BETA testers well before it's release. I was a BETA tester for it. Now, that being said, the 922 still had some issues after it's release but it was a much better product after the BETA test. If it wasn't for the BETA test the 922 would've been released with those crappy touch pad remotes. The 922 was a concept that didn't pan out. Dish doesn't know for sure if the unit will work for everyone until it is released to the public. BETA testing can only tell you so much.
Once it was released to the public and were able to see how it would truly work they realized that it wasn't what they hoped it would. That experience gave birth to the Hoppers system which seems to be working great for a first release. This stuff happens with technology.
You're telling me that DISH actually Beta tested the 922 before and they still released it? MY GOD!
All the problems I had with the 922 over the 10 months I had it and it was actually tested before hand?
I stand by my earlier statement. I've been with DISH over 15 years and I've seen only one or two receivers that have worked well out of the box. The first was the 942 pvr and the 722k dvr. The rest were painful "beta testing LIKE " mode for months. DISH should try using some of the subs here on the Satguys website to test their new receivers ,BEFORE they release them into the wild to the general public. We are much better suited to run the boxes through their all their paces ,than some random people DISH selects. NO offense to you or any other beta tester, but seriously, we could do it better. Maybe Scott could use his connections with DISH to set up "cutting Edge " testing like DIRECTV does , using us here on the satguys website. That would be better than letting the general public indentify all the problems over the next year or two . We could identify all of them in the first month and they could fix all them at least 6 months before they release it .
Chris.praying said:
Ok learned something. On dish pass HD movies
You can watch immediately. SD movies you can't.
They need time to download first.
You're telling me that DISH actually Beta tested the 922 before and they still released it? MY GOD!
DISH should try using some of the subs here on the Satguys website to test their new receivers ,BEFORE they release them into the wild to the general public. We are much better suited to run the boxes through their all their paces ,than some random people DISH selects. NO offense to you or any other beta tester, but seriously, we could do it better. Maybe Scott could use his connections with DISH to set up "cutting Edge " testing like DIRECTV does , using us here on the satguys website. That would be better than letting the general public indentify all the problems over the next year or two . We could identify all of them in the first month and they could fix all them at least 6 months before they release it .
I would definitely volunteer for something like that.
