SatelliteGuys FIRST LOOK - DISH's Hopper and Joey

[Centex]

Scott, I have a 2H/3J install scheduled for this weekend. are you saying that my install will be without a duo node? What does that mean in terms of what the system will or will not do? Also, will I have to have them back out at some point to add that? TIA for your help!

BTW, that was a great first look report! Keep up the good work!

 

[Voyager6]

Scott, I have a 2H/3J install scheduled for this weekend. are you saying that my install will be without a duo node? What does that mean in terms of what the system will or will not do? Also, will I have to have them back out at some point to add that? TIA for your help!

BTW, that was a great first look report! Keep up the good work!

A Duo Node is required for a 2 Hopper install. The Hoppers will not be able to interact until E* gets the software working. The Joeys will be able to view the content on each Hopper but it will not be seamless. You will have to manually link the Joeys to the other Hopper to view content.

 

[Centex]

So will I need to have them back out to finish the job?

 

[Voyager6]

So will I need to have them back out to finish the job?

The installer will have a Duo Node with him for the install. It is required for 2 Hopper installs. The Hopper interconnectivity will come with a future software download.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

No the update will be done via software which will allow the Hoppers to talk to each other.

 

[BobaBird]

Thanks Scott. Is this documented somewhere? Pressing the red button doesn't seem to be very obvious to most. Does the room in which we are moving to need to be in the standby mode when the red button is pushed?

Also, I assume Box A you started viewing from needs to left on or the buffer will be lost. Then when you finish on Box B and shut it off, Box A is still tying up a tuner. If Box C later finds 2 tuners on timers and Box A in use, it could just take over Box A's tuner knowing (or maybe not) it doesn't then have a viewer.

Are there other cool color shortcuts that we consumers should be aware of?

See EKB: Hopper User Tips. It's based on the 922 and a spot-check of a few at CES showed they matched but there are likely some differences I didn't catch.

 

[tennisnut]

Thank you Scott for the excellent, detailed review and the other knowledgeable people posting answers to this thread. It's starting to make sense to me. This is going to be a great improvement for DISH. Today a DISH technical rep told me that the Hopper does not have a CODEC for MPEG2 SD - only MPEG4 HD and SD. Can anyone verify or refute that for me? It seems a little strange, since it's just software/firmware. That would mean that someone using the 110, 119, 129 satellites with a Hopper could not receive ANY of the SD-only channels (except in the few places that get local MPEG4 SD from a spotbeam). Surely she was wrong!?

She also said that the Hopper/Joeys would not work with non-HD sets, which seems to be false based on other postings here. Confirm or refute?

 

[Bobby]

I have a Joey working just fine on an SD TV..... and I am receiving SD channels just fine on Western Arc...

 

[tennisnut]

I have a Joey working just fine on an SD TV..... and I am receiving SD channels just fine on Western Arc...

If by western arc you mean the 61.5, 72.7, and 77.0 satellites, most of those SD-only signals (HD not available) are MPEG4 SD, not MPEG2 SD. Please check channels 143 (ESPN Classic) and 275 (NEW). Neither of those is broadcast in HD. If the rep is correct, you SHOULD be able to receive 142 (MPEG4 SD) but NOT 275 (MPEG2 SD). Please check and post your finding. Thanks. If you're on a different set of satellites, don't bother.

 

[dare2be]

Western Arc is 110, 119, 129. SD feeds on WA is MPEG2

 

[Bobby]

As Dare said, Western Arc is MPEG2 SD. Your Dish technical rep was dead wrong on both counts.....

 

[tennisnut]

As Dare said, Western Arc is MPEG2 SD. Your Dish technical rep was dead wrong on both counts.....

Sorry about my confusion. I had been told by a DISH installer that the eastern arc satellites are 110, 119, 129; and the western arc are 61.5, 72.7, and 77.0. Duh... If I'd only thought about those azimuths... Thanks for straightening me out.

 

[sca]

I live in a 60 year old 3-bedroom house. There is no cable wiring of any kind built in. My present set up is a 622 connected to one TV (in the family room). My wife and I have a TV in our bedroom but it is strictly OTA. If I upgrade I will definitely want the bedroom TV on a Joey. I am also thinking about getting coax in the other bedrooms. Presently there are no TVs in those rooms, but I might want to add them in the next year or so. So installing a Hopper/Joey system will involve running new coax. At a minimum we will need new coax for the master bedroom. Maybe I would want new coax for the other two bedrooms.


Am I better off getting the coax installed first, before calling Dish? Or is the $99 fee one-size-fits-all, in which case it would be easiest to have the Dish installer run the new coax? In that case I would probably just not get TV's for the other rooms in the foreseeable future. Or would a Dish installer run the extra coax for me, possibly with some extra charge?

you wont get coax run to rooms where dish equipment is not being installed (even if you plan to install it there later) unless you get a very NICE installer with very little work to do that day. dish has very good safeguards in place to insure techs do not do any extra work. that said...you CAN pay dish $49 per outlet (coax run to new room), and this will be added to the work order as an 'additional outlet fee'. then the tech will be alloted the extra time to do this work. something to consider...as this may still be cheaper than hiring an electrician.

 

[auribe14]

Some additional thoughts on Prime Time Any Time: I like it because it records everything. And, even though I know you can click on a program and select "Save" to keep it longer than 8 days, there needs to be a "subscribe to save" feature that allows me to select certain shows to keep longer than 8 days WITHOUT having to set up specific timers. For instance, 2 Broke Girls came on last night and it would be great to select it and make sure that it gets "saved" automatically. If we go on a 2 week vacation, I don't want to have to monitor it remotely in order to save our specific shows. The show will automatically get deleted after 8 days (while we are gone on vacation). But, I also don't want to have to set up specific timers for one show that PTAT is already recording. I see a huge opportunity for shows we want to watch getting deleted.

Does that make sense?

Anybody else have any thoughts on this with PTAT?

I believe it has been stated that timers for PTAT shows do NOT tie up another tuner- they just retieve the shows from the Dish partition to your saved recordings. Can someone please verify?

 

[ChetK]

I believe it has been stated that timers for PTAT shows do NOT tie up another tuner- they just retieve the shows from the Dish partition to your saved recordings. Can someone please verify?

That is correct. Although, it doesn't address the issue in my quote.

 

[TexasDishChick]

Yes, I need to know this too. And how much would this be? $99 x 2?

(I'm currently owner of 3 622's)

You might already know this (still reading through the thread) so I apologize if it's repeat info. It would be 6 tuners total. As for pricing, if you are out of contact or close to out, talk to an account specialist. I easily got one to give me one hopper for free and $10/month credit for a year. I did have to renew for 2yrs though. So I paid $99 up front for 2 hoppers. Also there is no monthly fee for the first hopper, but each additional hopper/joey is $7/month. There is still the same DVR fee of $6/mo. plus an extra $4 DVR fee for the whole house. A little confusing. But my overall bill was about the same as before (3 receivers).

 

[auribe14]

That is correct. Although, it doesn't address the issue in my quote.

Then I guess I don't understand the issue from your quote.

Are you not trying to keep shows you want to watch from disappearing from PTAT after 8 days?

 

[drwatson618]

Then I guess I don't understand the issue from your quote.

Are you not trying to keep shows you want to watch from disappearing from PTAT after 8 days?

That is what he wants. But right now the only way to do this is by saving each episode or create a new timer. Creating a new timer is the only way to "set it and forget it."

 

[auribe14]

That is what he wants. But right now the only way to do this is by saving each episode or create a new timer. Creating a new timer is the only way to "set it and forget it."

And we're wanting another way to do it because...

 

[TexasDishChick]

That is correct. Although, it doesn't address the issue in my quote.

And we're wanting another way to do it because...

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong (my hoppers/joeys won't be here untill Friday), but I think issue is that setting a recurring timer would take up a whole tuner by itself, meaning you could only watch or record one other channel per Joey. But by using PTAT, you can record all 4 of the network primetime shows using only one tuner. I think someone also previously said that you can watch any of those 4 live as well, while still watching/recording one other show per joey. I guess it's really only an issue if you want more than one show per day from PTAT, which is sort of the point of it. It would be nice if PTAT were smart enough to handle this, meaning you could set recurring timers for the specific shows you always want, and it would really be moving those over automatically, still only using one tuner for the two primetime shows.