UI upgrade has RUINED Hopper 1 usability

[redman042]

We've installed a couple of Hopper 1's for new customers recently coming from cable or DirecTV and all have remarked how much nicer the Hopper 1 is than their previous DVR. Its all relative.

Then there must be something different about how the new software is performing on a clean H1 versus one that has been in use for a number of years. It's lagging badly on mine, but perhaps it's not just CPU/RAM that's causing the lag, but instead something wrong with the particular install on my machine, or perhaps it's the 1.75 TB of content stored on it that the new software is less efficient about indexing.

If I had lots of time to kill, I'd transfer all the shows off of it, do a factory reset, and see what happens. But I don't. If I'm going to go through all that, I'll just bite the bullet and get an H3 (which I am).

 

[ekilgus]

It's pretty astounding that Dish had this CUI mostly in Beta for over a year and a half and that doesn't count some untold amount of time developing it, yet they still released it, ostensibly knowing the problems they were going to cause with all their existing customers that didn't have the H3. Yet, they chose to force it on them anyway. Does Dish have some plan that we the Dish subscribers aren't aware of, or is it they simply don't care?

 

[MitchDeerfield]

Saves them money, not having to develop separate software for a Hopper model that is being discontinued.

 

[JSheridan]

Then there must be something different about how the new software is performing on a clean H1 versus one that has been in use for a number of years. It's lagging badly on mine, but perhaps it's not just CPU/RAM that's causing the lag, but instead something wrong with the particular install on my machine, or perhaps it's the 1.75 TB of content stored on it that the new software is less efficient about indexing.

If I had lots of time to kill, I'd transfer all the shows off of it, do a factory reset, and see what happens. But I don't. If I'm going to go through all that, I'll just bite the bullet and get an H3 (which I am).

1.75TB?!? That's a lot! IIRC the internal HD of a Hopper is a total 2TB with 1.3TB available to the user.

 

[Hall]

Hey, I'm gonna love the Hopper 3. I probably should have upgraded sooner.

It might be hard.... It doesn't have a red light on the front telling you it's recording

 

[redman042]

1.75TB?!? That's a lot! IIRC the internal HD of a Hopper is a total 2TB with 1.3TB available to the user.

I stand corrected. The DVR is reporting 70% full, so whatever that equates to in TB is what the new operating system is needing to deal with.

 

[JSheridan]

I stand corrected. The DVR is reporting 70% full, so whatever that equates to in TB is what the new operating system is needing to deal with.

That's still quite a bit.

 

[pattykay]

Contact a DIRT member.

In all honesty, I'd walk if I was trying to replace my Hopper 1, which was upgraded to the new CUI, and Dish said I either need to pay or sign a new contract. CSRs are not anyway near as resourceful as DIRT.

The Office of the President is even more resourceful than DIRT. The phone number has been posted in other threads recently.

 

[redman042]

That's still quite a bit.

Tell my wife that. Some cleanup is definitely in order.

 

[joekawasaki]

Forced the update on my hopper 1 since it was going to happen Thursday whether I wanted it or not. So far I would say it is a little slower than before but certainly not unusable. The only problem I've noticed so far is that EHD recordings won't play. It just sits on a black screen and the only way to get back to live tv is to start playing a recording from the internal hard drive then hit the live tv button on the remote. If I transfer a recording from the EHD to the hopper it plays without issue. Hopefully this will clear up after the update has a few days to settle.

 

[FogNoggin]

OP here. My new Hopper3 was installed yesterday. I played with it all day. Do you wanna know how fast it is? It's exactly just as fast as my Hopper1 was when I first got it 5 years ago. Seriously, to the best of my recollection the Hopper1 was just as peppy back in 2012... then it was updated into extinction.

Good luck to all you Hopper1 owners out there. Save your sanity and get the Hopper3 ASAP.

 

[pattykay]

Seriously, to the best of my recollection the Hopper1 was just as peppy back in 2012... then it was updated into extinction.

Good luck to all you Hopper1 owners out there. Save your sanity and get the Hopper3 ASAP.

I don't know how peppy the Hopper 1 was in 2012, since I didn't upgrade to the Hopper until 2015, so I missed the boat on that one. Anyway, I downgraded to a ViP DVR back in January, so that will tide me over until the "Hopper Lite" comes out.

 

[joewhite57]

Forced the update on my hopper 1 since it was going to happen Thursday whether I wanted it or not. So far I would say it is a little slower than before but certainly not unusable. The only problem I've noticed so far is that EHD recordings won't play. It just sits on a black screen and the only way to get back to live tv is to start playing a recording from the internal hard drive then hit the live tv button on the remote. If I transfer a recording from the EHD to the hopper it plays without issue. Hopefully this will clear up after the update has a few days to settle.

You're not the only one with that issue. If you go back to watching a live channel and then to EHD it should play the second time. Maybe someday they'll fix it

 

[Hall]

This is likely not a hardware issue, just a bug in the software. While all Hoppers with the new interface share the same "look", the underlying code base is not 100% identical. That said, some parts definitely seem to be shared as the same issues occur on all platforms - H1, H2, and H3. We've seen an issue get fixed on the H3, then a few weeks later, the H2 gets an update and that issue is now fixed on it too.

I'm not aware that this issue happens on the H3, nor have I read anyone seeing it on the H2. If Dish knows about this issue, odds are they'll "copy" the good code from the H2/H3 receivers to the H1 eventually...

 

[joekawasaki]

You're not the only one with that issue. If you go back to watching a live channel and then to EHD it should play the second time. Maybe someday they'll fix it

That worked. Thanks for the tip! Still debating about upgrading to H3s anyway just because of the lag. I thought it was ok at first but the longer I use it the more it bothers me. I don't mind the look of the CUI.

 

[kwindrem]

This is likely not a hardware issue, just a bug in the software. While all Hoppers with the new interface share the same "look", the underlying code base is not 100% identical. That said, some parts definitely seem to be shared as the same issues occur on all platforms - H1, H2, and H3. We've seen an issue get fixed on the H3, then a few weeks later, the H2 gets an update and that issue is now fixed on it too.

I'm not aware that this issue happens on the H3, nor have I read anyone seeing it on the H2. If Dish knows about this issue, odds are they'll "copy" the good code from the H2/H3 receivers to the H1 eventually...

No "good code" to copy over. It's been an issue on H3 for a really long time. But recently, I've had to go into the external drive menu THREE times before a program would play. So it's not getting better, it's getting worse.

 

[Hall]

Well, the point is, when they do fix it, it may get done on the H3 first, then trickle down to the other models.

 

[redman042]

My upgrade to the H3 was installed today. Boy did that fix the lag problem. It's like getting a brand new top end PC. Every command is immediately executed. Browsing through the guide or a long list of recorded shows is no longer a pain.

This is the hardware that the new UI was meant to run on, not the H1. Too bad Dish decided us H1 owners needed to figure that out for ourselves. I'm still unhappy about that part, but I am happy with the new equipment.

I'm also noticing that Dish Anywhere on my iPhone works better and has cleaner image and sound. I'm assuming the built-in Sling hardware in the H3 is more advanced for encoding the video than was the external Sling module that was connected to my H1 through a USB 2 cable. Makes sense. I might use that feature more now, even in the house if I'm not near the TV.

Now I'm debating whether to get the Alexa to allow for voice commands.