To Hopper or not to Hopper - That is the question

[Mr Ranger]

Considering going back to Dish from Comcast. When I had Dish, my last receiver was a vip622 which I loved. It is miles better than the Comcast X1 even though it is 10 year old technology. I am intrigued by the thought of a receiver that I could buy and turn into a dvr by adding a external drive to save on monthly fees. Which receiver should I get? How much is actually saved per month?

Where on dish.com do they show any receiver optitions other than The Hopper? I have no interest whatsoever in 72,000 tuners. 3 or 4 tuner is more than enough for my needs.

The one monkey wrench for me right now; my 108 year old grandfather is living with me and I have to have something in his room so he can watch the Tigers on Fox Sports Detroit.

 

[Joe891]

Could always get the 3 year price lock under 2 year contract if you aren't worried about having a contract that is. If you don't request the hopper 3 they may just give you a hopper with sling which has 3 tuners and just get a joey for your dad. The 3 year price lock isn't a bad deal considering the lowest tier for it is AT120+ so you would have the rsns for him to watch tigers games. For that you'd be looking at about 59.99 plus taxes. The side side to is you'd be locked in regardless of price increases for 3 years. I'm on the 2 year price lock I got it about 5 months ago so mine is $3 less and I've really enjoyed the hopper over directv.

 

[Tampa8]

First thanks for validating what I say often in posts, the DISH Vip receivers are generally better than what Cable uses even as being older technology.

It's the 211 receiver that is not considered a DVR, so does not incur a DVR fee. Add to that DISH does not charge for the first receiver. When you add an external hard drive it makes it work like a DVR. But it is one tuner so you can't record one thing and watch another but you can record shows while you are gone to watch later. If you had two of those receivers you would save the DVR account fee of $10 and you would save at least $3 off the additional outlet fee that would be $10 to $15 for other second receivers. So a minimum of $13 a month less fees. (Your only fee would be $7 for the second outlet)

If you wanted to splurge... lol ... you could get a Vip 612 receiver with two tuners and a built in third tuner if you have an antenna. That would be still be considered your first receiver so your second outlet fee would remain at $7 if you use a Vip 211 there. But there would be a $10 DVR fee and you would have two tuners on the 612. Just keep in mind these fees are just about unattainable with Cable or Directv.

Either contact your local dealer or contact DIRT here to get set-up. BTW if you didn't see the Tigers will be in HD for likely all games now including pre game post game etc....

 

[TheKrell]

I am intrigued by the thought of a receiver that I could buy and turn into a dvr by adding a external drive to save on monthly fees.

The 411/211/211k/211z and possibly the Wally have the DVR conversion option for a one-time account-level fee of $40. If you only need two receivers, then two of those receivers would cost $7/mo (unless the Wally is more) per extra receiver, and $40 one time. There is no fee for the 1st receiver.

 

[Mr Ranger]

Thanks for the replies. The fact that a non dvr unit has only one tuner, shoots that idea down. Therefore, is there any reason to choose another dvr over a Hopper 3?

 

[TheKrell]

Thanks for the replies. The fact that a non dvr unit has only one tuner, shoots that idea down. Therefore, is there any reason to choose another dvr over a Hopper 3?

Actually, the 411/211/211k all have a built-in OTA tuner, so that would make two tuners. The 211z and Wally can take the USB dongle tuner. That may or may not work for you.

As for the Hopper 3 vs another DVR receiver, there are a number of reasons some of us refuse to upgrade. These include

1. cost
2. tablet-like GUI
3. inability to see the EHD from DishAnywhere
4. unstable firmware for H3/Carbon interface

Did I leave anything out?

 

[MitchDeerfield]

Hopper 3 is a real mess, wait a couple of months.

 

[lparsons21]

The H3 is having growing pains, but for the most part is fine. Krell has a nice list there but here's my take:
1. Cost - pay a little more, get a lot more
2. GUI is fine, unless you just like old-school GUIs.
3. I didn't even realize that DA couldn't see the EHD, now that I have I don't care
4. Unstable - a bit overstated by Krell. Most are seeing very minor issues that will disappear over a fairly short bit of time if Dish's history with new hardware is an indication.


Sent from my iPad Pro using Tapatalk

 

[bmetelsky]

Actually, the 411/211/211k all have a built-in OTA tuner, so that would make two tuners. The 211z and Wally can take the USB dongle tuner. That may or may not work for you.

As for the Hopper 3 vs another DVR receiver, there are a number of reasons some of us refuse to upgrade. These include

1. cost
2. tablet-like GUI
3. inability to see the EHD from DishAnywhere
4. unstable firmware for H3/Carbon interface

Did I leave anything out?

The Hopper 3 may not cost you anything, depending on how you qualify with DISH. The GUI is far from "tablet-like" in my humble opinion. It is attractive and useful. I believe the GUI is an improvement from the Hopper w/Sling and DirecTv's Genie. Inability to see the EHD from DishAnywhere is not a big deal for me because I don't care about that, and there are a lot of folks that won't. I've had a very stable experience with my Hopper 3 and Joey 2.0's. Sure, there are problems reported here, but I don't think most of them are widespread or impede on the basic functionality of the Hopper 3. Again, only my experience and opinion.

 

[lparsons21]

Hopper 3 is a real mess, wait a couple of months.

I wouldn't call it a real mess, just some new equipment odds and ends that will be worked out.

And if the OP wants to wait a couple of months to move to Dish, then your suggestion is fine. But if he doesn't want to wait that long, getting something else now and trying to get an H3 later could prove costly.

IMO, if I was signing up as a new/returning customer right now, I wouldn't hesitate to get the H3. The few bugs aren't all that big a deal though they do exist, but they will get it right and probably not take too long doing it.


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[TheKrell]

4. Unstable - a bit overstated by Krell. Most are seeing very minor issues that will disappear over a fairly short bit of time if Dish's history with new hardware is an indication.

Huh. OK. Since I don't have a Hopper of any kind, I was just going by comments in the Hopper forum which seemed quite scathing.

 

[lparsons21]

Huh. OK. Since I don't have a Hopper of any kind, I was just going by comments in the Hopper forum which seemed quite scathing.

Easy enough to do, done it myself on occasion!!

It is easy to forget that we are in a forum of crazies that get humped up about all this stuff, me included. But forums like this would naturally attract those with issues, issues that often get a bit overstated.

My H3 hasn't been perfect, but I don't regret upgrading to it at all. I enjoyed the 1 day of full 4K support we got which tells me we are shortly going to get it back. And the other little bugs will all or at least most, get fixed. If you are affected by one of the little glitches, then it seems a bigger deal than it really is more often than not, IMO.


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[MitchDeerfield]

I wouldn't call it a real mess, just some new equipment odds and ends that will be worked out.

And if the OP wants to wait a couple of months to move to Dish, then your suggestion is fine. But if he doesn't want to wait that long, getting something else now and trying to get an H3 later could prove costly.

IMO, if I was signing up as a new/returning customer right now, I wouldn't hesitate to get the H3. The few bugs aren't all that big a deal though they do exist, but they will get it right and probably not take too long doing it.


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I can't tell if the problem is in the firmware or if my H3 is defective. I will be calling Dish later today to get a replacement receiver.

 

[navychop]

I have two HWS and a Joey. I'm sticking with them. But if I was coming in new, I'd go with an H3.

I understand you need two independently viewing locations. I assume both are HD. This tells me you have two choices, close in cost:

1. A HWS and a Joey.
2. A H3 and a Joey.

The "or 4" tuner count leads me to believe you would be happier with the H3 setup.

Now- if CHEAP is a major concern, you could get two Wallys (or ViP211 series) and put an EHD on each. I haven't priced it out, but there should be some savings. Don't skip the EHDs. Even if not currently interested in DVR functions, the ability to skip back for something missed is well worth it.

 

[budda]

Huh. OK. Since I don't have a Hopper of any kind, I was just going by comments in the Hopper forum which seemed quite scathing.

I am a person complained about the new H3 and 4K joey. But the plus's far out weigh the negatives. Also if you all you've had is a cable DVR the Hopper 3 will blow you away. As features are added/fixed you we be even more happy. For the most part you won't know what your missing because you never had it. If that makes sense. All complaints except people wanting to go back to a UI that is VIPesk. Should and will get fixed. JMO Good luck.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

If you don't want to go the Hopper route, I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the ViP 722k yet. You can get a Sling adapter for it if you want to stream programming from it to watch online. You can connect it to 2 TV's, one HD & the second one SD(however, in order for the SD TV to see the picture non-distorted, you have to basically divide the 2 tuners to 1 each for both TV's. This will mess with you wanting to record a program while watching live TV at the same time).

 

[.Andy]

Make sure to negotiate your bill and equipment. The hopper 3 is having some growing pains especially the required midnight updates which I don't get since I'm up working durning that time. I have been without netflix for weeks.

 

[bmetelsky]

Make sure to negotiate your bill and equipment. The hopper 3 is having some growing pains especially the required midnight updates which I don't get since I'm up working durning that time. I have been without netflix for weeks.

I don't believe there is a "midnight update", but the Hopper 3 and Joey's do need to go into standby mode at some point in order for updates to occur.

 

[DishTech0607]

Thanks for the replies. The fact that a non dvr unit has only one tuner, shoots that idea down. Therefore, is there any reason to choose another dvr over a Hopper 3?

I would get a regular Hopper with sling and Joey. Assuming you have Wifi / Internet abilities. I'm an installer for Dish and I see issues or confused customers with Hopper 3. I may roll up on a hard drive or MoCa failure , even after swapping lines and a receiver the problem remains occasionally.
I would just get a Hopper/Sling with that said. A good sturdy 3 tuner system and maybe if you want a Super Joey for option of an additional few tuners. Depends on your Recording needs.
Just my 2 cents.