Thinking of going from 722/222 to Hopper, need help!

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Briant73

SatelliteGuys Guru
Original poster
Dec 28, 2004
148
5
Pennsylvania
I am thinking about going from my current solution of a 722 dvr and a 222 receiver to Hopper. The reasoning is my 722 reboots a lot (had it replaced once with no change) and we are starting to run into the issue of the 722 not being able to record all the shows we watch on some nights.
The current setup is:
Dish 722 in main living room, tv2 master bedroom. 722 has a ehd hooked up currently.
Dish 222 family room, tv2 second bedroom.

I am wondering what the best solution for keeping all those tvs running. Would 1 hopper (main living room) and 3 joeys be fine or should I look at a Hopper (main living), super joey (family room) and two regular joeys in the other rooms?

Also do I need network/coax connections in each location? See if my current wiring/layout is hopper ready.

Thanks and if this is not the correct forum could you tell me where would be best for this message?
 
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The Hopper/SJ/2 J would be best. That would give you 5 sat tuners and if you can receive ota, the ota module would give you an additional tuner plus access to all the local subchannels. Plus the Hopper supports 2 ehd's at one time for additional storage and HD on all TV's.
 
If you like to be able to have all four TVs watching programming at once then DO NOT go with a single Hopper and Joeys. Like dwarren2 said, go with at least a Hopper, Super Joey and two regular Joeys. You do not want to lower the amount of tuners you have by any means. Be aware that your monthly bill is going to increase when you go to the Hopper system. Currently you should be paying $7 for the DVR and $14 for the 222 receiver. When you go to the recommended setup we gave your fees would be $12 for DVR, $10 for the Super Joey and $7 for each regular Joey for a total of $36.

You're going to be paying $15 more per month in fees but you will get to more TVs in HD, an extra tuner, larger hard drive and DVR ability on every TV. There are even more features you get but the ones I mentioned are the core benefits. I think it's worth it if it fits your budget.
 
dwarren2 said:
The Hopper/SJ/2 J would be best. That would give you 5 sat tuners and if you can receive ota, the ota module would give you an additional tuner plus access to all the local subchannels. Plus the Hopper supports 2 ehd's at one time for additional storage and HD on all TV's.
Click to expand...

If OP has OTA, they would lose one OTA tuner going from 1 each with 722 and 222 going to only 1 with 1 Hopper. But PTAT may make up for it if OP uses OTA more for the Big Four than other OTA local channels.
 
If you really want concurrent viewing, or record a lot, I suggest you give serious thought to two HWS and 2 Joeys. Six sat tuners. No waiting. Plus redundancy if a Hopper goes down.

Plus, you could plug in a USB OTA tuner into both HWS and have 2 OTA tuners plus 6 sat tuners.
 
Thanks for all the responses - The hopper with a super Joey and 2 regular sounds like the best bet. As for OTA I have not used OTA because years ago I had major problems with an older receiver (522?) where when the outside antenna was plugged in the receiver had screen interference. I bet it was the antenna itself but since then I shied away from it.

I am an OTA novice, I currently get the dish local package. Now is there a guide to what using the OTA does and does not do. Do people dumb their local package and just use ota? Do you get full DVR functionality even when watching live?
 
You will be required to keep the sat provided locals. And the EPG is just as functional for locals as it is for regular sat programming. I have sat provided locals, AND OTA. I get EPG data for both the OTA and sat provided locals, and sometimes record both, just to compare quality.

Dish does not provide EPG data for all subchannels, and may not even provide all subchannels- so many of us get 1 or 2 OTA tuners.
 
Briant73 said:
I am an OTA novice, I currently get the dish local package. Now is there a guide to what using the OTA does and does not do. Do people dumb their local package and just use ota? Do you get full DVR functionality even when watching live?
Click to expand...

Getting the ota module gives you the same big 4 that Dish supplies, plus much more. Most local stations have sub-channels. If you like classic TV. MeTV(Memorable Entertainment) carries many old time shows. Usually at least one station will have a continuous weather channel. PBS has several. If you are close enough to another city, you can get their locals with the epg. I live between Rochester and Syracuse NY. Rochester is my locals on Dish but I also get all the Syracuse stations. If you loose the sat signal due to heavy rain or snow, you can still receive the ota signal. I did not upgrade to a Hopper until they came out with the ota module due to what I described above.
 
Each Hopper can do it's own recordings and tune its own channels. Each Hopper can see the recordings on either Hopper. The Joeys can see the recordings on both Hoppers and are able to access the 3 tuners on each Hopper....
 
Some where in between. You can access each dvr from any Joey or the other Hopper. However, one Hopper cannot control the other except to delete a program that you have watched. Each Joey is paired to a dvr. The paired Joey can set a timer on the paired dvr. You can access an ehd from the attached dvr or Joey. You can't access an ehd attached to the other dvr.
They have talked about integration coming some time in the future, but who knows how long that will be.
 
Probably just go with the HWS(Hopper with Sling),Super Joey,2 regular Joeys(or if you have PlayStation 3 or 4,you can substitute one of the regular Joeys with a Virtual Joey.It'll still cost the same per month as a regular Joey,it'll just be an app on your Playstation,if you have a PlayStation). Later once total integration is implemented between 2 Hoppers/HWS's,if you want to,you can always exchange the Super Joey for a second Hopper/HWS. They'll have to exchange your Solo Node(for one Hopper/HWS) & integrator for the Super Joey for a Duo Node to support 2 Hoppers/HWS's.
 
According to my research 2 hoppers and 2 Joeys is only 2 bucks more a month than a hopper, super joey,and 2 other joeys.
I like the idea a second hopper if one goes haywire but I also like the idea of one hopper in charge of everything and once the kid is done with college the household will be getting smaller. Decisions/Decisions.

Thanks to everyone who has commented in this thread, pretty good knowledge and advice throughout.
 
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