Top Ten Hopper Wish list for 2013

[oryan_dunn]

And Charlie would put it this way: "I aint gonna pay Amazon and all my other OTT competitors to allow our subscribers to watch LESS Dish channels that we have no choice but to pay for, anyway. Let them pay for it and buy a Roku, but giving money (those who have such apps PAY for the right to have Amazon, Netflix, etc. on their devices) to the very services that are motivating subscribers to cut the Dish "cord" is a great way to got out of business a lot sooner. Let Amazon and Netflix pay to our customers, not us paying them to take our customers."

Dish has an ownership stake in Roku:
http://allthingsd.com/20120927/dish-networks-eyes-web-tv-and-invests-in-rokus-web-tv-box/

So, yes, they do want you to buy a Roku

 

[harshness]

People absolutely need to get over the concept of being able to record composite video sources using their home entertainment DVR.

 

[NZuercher]

Just had my 2H/2J system installed a few days ago, but here's my list so far:

1. Ability to change font size/number of channels for the guide. I cannot read the guide on the 19" HDTV in my BR without getting out of bed to walk closer to the TV.

2. Ability to transfer recordings directly from one Hopper to the other.

3. Or, better yet, have all recordings from both Hoppers show up in a combined list appearing as if it is a single DVR.

4. A pre-defined favorites list that includes all "My Channels" except for PPV and shopping channels.

5. Ability to change from the clunky "Icon" displays to "list" displays.

6. Internet surfing, along with an optional wireless keyboard.

 

[dare2be]

5. Ability to change from the clunky "Icon" displays to "list" displays.

 

[harshness]

1. Ability to change font size/number of channels for the guide. I cannot read the guide on the 19" HDTV in my BR without getting out of bed to walk closer to the TV.

Not going to happen. You should consider a larger TV or glasses.

4. A pre-defined favorites list that includes all "My Channels" except for PPV and shopping channels.

This is a DIY thing. Rest assured that these channels will never be hidden by default as it would further decrease the value of their carriage while not cutting down on the cost of serving them up.

6. Internet surfing, along with an optional wireless keyboard.

Not likely to happen. Consider a media streamer with web browsing capability.

 

[3HaloODST]

Scott had indicated that Dish intended to update the UI to be more "SD-friendly/Eye-friendly" but that was quite a while ago so Dish may have scrapped the idea by now (I think they need to do it.) I don't remember if list view was being "worked on" as well but I am leaning toward yes it was.

Sent from my iPad 2 using Forum Runner

 

[mruk69]

I would like my second hopper to see my external drive connected to the other Hopper. Also transfer from external drive to the 2nd Hopper.

 

[lippysyd]

My wishes:

1. I'd like to see User-created Folders in the DVR list behave the same way it did on the 722 and earlier receivers in that content saved into a user-created folder would only display when you went into that specific folder, yet all other content could still be grouped/sorted into folders per program. As it sits now, if you go to "My Folders", there is no way to have the remaining programs grouped by show title.

At the very least, I'd be satisfied if they revised it such that shows you had set to go to a specific folder, didn't show up in the main "Folders by Title" screen. (i.e. the only time you'd see recordings placed in a specific folder was once you switched to "My Folders" and went inside that specific folder)

2. Add back the ability to rename programs in the DVR list (again, like we could on the 722 and prior receivers)

3. Add a "Protect/Unprotect" Toggle to the menu that pops up when you select a recording, instead of forcing us to go into a separate "Edit" screen just to set the "Protect" option.

4. Like the OP stated, Activate the "Add Locals" button to manually add OTA stations w/o having to re-scan.

Agree 100%. Plus the ability to switch to a list view. The logo view is fine on my big flat screen, but on our small bedroom tv it's really hard to see.

I'd also like to have a playlist option. Sometimes I want to watch several episodes of a show, so I'd love to set it up and let it play.

Oh, one more: why does my hopper reset and update every night at 1:10am? I'd like to change that.

 

[Chris Leer]

because lippysyd the hopper has to reboot at 1am for the guide updates to occur and if there is software updates that the dish employees have then they will also do them also too just to let you know.

 

[KKlare]

As many have found out on the 722 and prior units without a nightly reboot the recorder starts to get flakey. The usual reason in computers is memory leaks with eventual loss of all memory access followed by a "spontaneous" reboot. With a good operating system and proper programming the leaking will take months before a problem. Dish wants to make sure, even if coded properly, that you will not have many such reboots. You can set the time on the 722 series but don't know if you can on the hopper. A fixed time avoids going around it by changing the reboot time back and forth--OK once, maybe. I adjust my 722s to not reboot during recordings but I do a manual reboot shortly before or after the recording. I'm often recording at 1am, seldom at 3am, and have one 722 reboot in the afternoon, but I keep an odd schedule. With a fixed time I would miss some once-a-year recordings.
-Ken

 

[Hall]

Oh, one more: why does my hopper reset and update every night at 1:10am? I'd like to change that.

On the 522, 622, and 722k, the TIME was user-configurable and by default was around 4am, as I recall. I've had it pop up quite a few times and since I see it, I'm obviously watching TV, so I tell it "No". I'm curious what it does in that case.

- Does it basically "snooze" and pop up again after some amount of inactivity and then reboot if it's not overridden ?
- Does it do nothing until the next day at 1:10am ?

 

[n0qcu]

if you stop the Hopper from updating it will keep asking EVERY hour until it can.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Oh, one more: why does my hopper reset and update every night at 1:10am? I'd like to change that.

I remember reading something here early on when the Hopper was released, that the AutoHop updates are applied for the previous night's programming during this time. It was publicized that the AutoHop recordings would be available after 01:00. If this update time were configurable, that promised time would be different.

Can anyone in the know confirm this?? And if so, it would be nice to enable the ability to change the update time if PTAT is not enabled....

 

[Smwoodward]

I second the feature of letting two hoppers act as one across the system. It's good that they can see the recordings between the two, but it would take the complexity out of the system if the two hoppers would act as one system with 6 tuners and combined recordings. Let it be a feature that is configurable so that people that want to have them separate would still be happy.

One big thing I actually miss from U-Verse, when FFW a show, when you pressed the play button, it would actually rewind the show a few seconds. Example, if I was FFW over commercials, not the skip button, when I saw the program on the TV, and pressed the play button, it would skip back a few seconds to compensate for the lag of seeing the show and pressing the button so I didn't have to skip the show backwards or anything. I actually got good at that timing.

 

[Hall]

One big thing I actually miss from U-Verse, when FFW a show, when you pressed the play button, it would actually rewind the show a few seconds. Example, if I was FFW over commercials, not the skip button, when I saw the program on the TV, and pressed the play button, it would skip back a few seconds to compensate for the lag of seeing the show and pressing the button so I didn't have to skip the show backwards or anything. I actually got good at that timing.

Dish receivers used to have this feature .... then TiVo sued them, so presumably this functionality was tied into how TiVo did DVR'ing things. TiVo did also sue ATT but a) was never ordered by a court to remove the "copied" functions and b) settled with TiVo, which may allow them to keep that feature.

 

[DWS44]

Lots of good suggestions in this post, but now that there's a new Hopper in town, do you think there will still be any development on the original Hopper?

 

[lucky86]

Lots of good suggestions in this post, but now that there's a new Hopper in town, do you think there will still be any development on the original Hopper?

I personally think there will still be frequent updates like we have been seeing since it launched last year.

 

[Hall]

Lots of good suggestions in this post, but now that there's a new Hopper in town, do you think there will still be any development on the original Hopper?

It has been stated here that Dish won't actually be marketing/promoting this new Hopper and only offered to people who express an interest in a Hopper AND Sling. Personally, that doesn't make a lot of sense.... Companies generally want to produce (1) product and move LOTS of them vs dividing up their own resources (part procurement, assembly differences, paperwork, support, etc).

That said, the software development can run in parallel - what is done with one can often be easily added to the other since 90% or more is the same.

 

[dare2be]

It has been stated here that Dish won't actually be marketing/promoting this new Hopper and only offered to people who express an interest in a Hopper AND Sling. Personally, that doesn't make a lot of sense....

It certainly would make more sense if Sling was one of the only major differences, but having beefier hardware I can see being the primary benefit for upgrading (and future expansion that could come with it).

 

[Smwoodward]

It has been stated here that Dish won't actually be marketing/promoting this new Hopper and only offered to people who express an interest in a Hopper AND Sling. Personally, that doesn't make a lot of sense.... Companies generally want to produce (1) product and move LOTS of them vs dividing up their own resources (part procurement, assembly differences, paperwork, support, etc).

That said, the software development can run in parallel - what is done with one can often be easily added to the other since 90% or more is the same.

Yesterday when I went to Dish's website and acted like I was ordering new service, it was only giving me the Hopper with Sling, not the original Hopper.