Switching to Hopper & Joey from 722...questions

[NABRIL]

As a user of 722 for many years, it's time to upgrade to the Hopper and Joey. Before doing that, I need to make some plans for cabling since the cabling needs for the new devices is different (as far as I can tell).

My existing 2-story house layout:
The Dish is on the roof fascia board on the left side of the house.
The 722 is on the first floor, far right side of the house feeding the main TV as TV1. Two TV's with a splitter (one in the dining room and 1 in main bedroom upstairs) are fed from TV2.
An exterior gazebo adjacent to the right side of the house was recently built, and it is fed by an underground conduit from the wall right behind the 722. The gazebo will get a TV in the very near future.

My plan:
Replace the 722 with a Hopper
Feed the other 2 tv's (dining and master room) with a splitter and 1 Joey.
Install another Joey in the gazebo to feed that TV, or split the signal to the main tv (I haven't decided yet).

The questions:
1) As far as I can see in manuals and pictures, the Joey's don't have a coax input, and require an ethernet connection (wireless or wired). Is that correct? CORRECTION - I was looking at pics of a wireless Joey. THe normal Joey has coax and ethernet.
2) If 1 is correct, where does that ethernet cable need to connect to? My router? The Hopper? The Hopper access point?
3) I don't have an ethernet cable run from the right side of the house to the left side, and I don't have a clean way to do it. Would I use a wireless Joey for that? I would like the option of watching separate channels on the dining room and bedroom tv's. Can I do that with a wireless Joey?
4) To avoid the monthly cost of another Joey, I would like to split the signal between the main tv and the gazebo tv. With the Hopper, can I watch 2 different channels on those TV's? Of course, only the main TV would get the HDMI output, and the gazebo one wouldn't.

I appreciate the help and suggestions. This is probably not that complicated, but I want to know my options prior to scheduling the installation. I want to run a coax cable and 2 ethernet cables in that conduit to the gazebo, so that I can accomodate any future needs; however, if I don't need the coax, then I'll save the room - it's only a 1/2 inch tube.

 

[Troch77]

There is no way to split joey signal to 2 tvs other then HDMI extenders, with HDMI splitters that require cat5e /cat6.
Or really long HDMI cables with HDMI splitter.
Depending on distance.

There is no coax output on a joey, or Hopper for that matter.

But Joeys do have Coax Input.
It all comes off the outside Node and Moca is used.
The Hopper has WiFi built in, eithernet connection is optional.

 

[Troch77]

This is what the wiring basically looks like.
Keep in mind the Hopper with Sling has Built in Wifi.
So a Direct eithernet connection isn't required.

I prefer Ethernet.

 

[NABRIL]

I'm sorry to revisit, but I remain torn as to what to do. I know that switching to the Hopper is the way to go, but I also want to keep my monthly bill as low as possible.
I have 4 TV's in the house ( 3 in house, 1 gazebo). My options are:
1) 1 hopper with 3 joeys
2) 1 hopper and 1 joey for 2 tv's, and keep my 722 for the other 2. Can I technically do this? Meaning, can the dish handle the 2 different receivers, 722 and hopper? I assume so, since the coax cabling is the same, but I wonder if Dish will allow it. This way, My monthly bill will no go up, and I can feed the 4 tv's as I want to.

 

[WiCkeDuDe]

No you can't combine a 722 and a hopper on the same dish line. They wouldnt allow them on the same account even to my knowledge.

I'm in the same boat here. I really want a hopper 3 but my 722 mirrored to three tvs works for us about 95 percent of the time. I really don't want to pay for three joeys per month and it's pretty hard to mirror a Joey. Hence I'm stuck as well.

 

[NABRIL]

Wicke--you meant to say "they wouldn't allow them on the same account"? Or they will allow them on the same account?
I assume that the installer can run separate coax lines - leave my existing 722 feed, and then add a new run for the hopper and joey.

 

[JSheridan]

Wicke--you meant to say "they wouldn't allow them on the same account"? Or they will allow them on the same account?
I assume that the installer can run separate coax lines - leave my existing 722 feed, and then add a new run for the hopper and joey.

The only VIP receivers that are allowed on Hopper accounts are up to 2 211's. 722's are not allowed.

 

[WiCkeDuDe]

Wicke--you meant to say "they wouldn't allow them on the same account"? Or they will allow them on the same account?
I assume that the installer can run separate coax lines - leave my existing 722 feed, and then add a new run for the hopper and joey.

I meant wouldn't. My phone auto corrected. To my knowledge you can only have a 211 series receiver in a hopper account if it's a tailgater setup. Someone else can confirm better than me but I know a 722 and a hopper can't be on the same account. I would be doing it myself if so....

 

[NABRIL]

a contact at Dish tells me that I CAN do what I stated in point 2, but then the price would go up by $10, the equivalent of adding a Joey.

 

[JSheridan]

a contact at Dish tells me that I CAN do what I stated in point 2, but then the price would go up by $10, the equivalent of adding a Joey.

Somebody at Dish told you that you can have a Hopper and a 722 on the same account?

 

[WiCkeDuDe]

Man you guys are posting faster than I can respond. I wish a 722 could really be on a hopper account. I don't believe they knew what they were talking about...

 

[NABRIL]

yes. he is a friend, and he is not a regular CSR. He works in customer service at the higher level, and perhaps, he might not now the technical details.

 

[rglore]

You can easily mirror a Hopper or Joey with an RF modulator for good quality SD or a HDMI splitter for HD.

 

[NABRIL]

thank you rglore.
Unfortunately, I have a few challenges that make splitting uneasy.
1) TV1 is in the living room where the 722 is, and where the hopper would go. TV4, is in an outdoor gazebo 55 feet away from TV1. THere is a 1/2 inch conduit available to me to run coax and cat6 from the house to that gazebo. I can use an HDMI splitter in that corner to feed both TV's, but I would need an HDMI-to-ethernet conversion to get HD at the gazebo; I don't think that HDMI will fit in a 1/2 inch tube, and I haven't seen HDMI cables that long.

2) TV2 is in the dining room and TV3 is located in the second story but not directly above the dining room. I would again have to use ethernet-to-hdmi converters to get up there. It is doable, but requires some work that I am willing to do. I have to decide if doing all this is worth saving the $14 a month fee for 2 Joeys; it sounds like it's not worth the hassle.

I just learned that each HDMI extender requires 2 ethernet cables, and that complicates things.

 

[WiCkeDuDe]

My issue is the Joey remote for the mirror is pushing the range and doesn't work that well

 

[rglore]

I just mirror with a high quality RF modulator on channel 55 to a half dozen TVs. Everyone thinks it's HD but it's not. SD on small TVs can look pretty good when HD is the source. All the remotes work OK but one that I have to hold near a doorway and the source Joey is vertical for a stronger signal.

 

[NABRIL]

rglore---I might be able to get away with an RF modulator to the TV in the bedroom; I have it now feed by coax, and it looks fine, and we rarely have watching conflicts on those 2 tv's.
The 55 or 60 inch tv that the gazebo will get will need to be fed by HDMI.

Can you kindly share a link to a high quality RF modulator?

 

[rglore]

This is what I use...
Amazon product ASIN B000246TJK

 

[JM42]

yes. he is a friend, and he is not a regular CSR. He works in customer service at the higher level, and perhaps, he might not now the technical details.

Technically, no reason a 722 can't share a dish with an H2K or HWS, but no one here has ever been able to get a 722 and Hopper on the same account. I doubt the info you were given is correct, but would be glad to be proven wrong.

I don't think it would be physically possible with an H3.

 

[KenSoren]

You can easily mirror a Hopper or Joey with an RF modulator for good quality SD or a HDMI splitter for HD.

I have a hopper with sling and that is how I get the picture up to our computer room - take the line output from the hopper into the RF modulator then regular coax to the upstairs TV's. Only difference is the modulator isn't built into the hoppers so you need to buy one. In fact, I combined our OTA signal with the modulated line out from the hopper and it works well on a old 21 inch TV but the larger you go the worse the picture will get.