Undisclosed Dish Anywhere Limitation

[shortimer]

Prior to entering our contract with Dish, we had Spectrum TV. Our 5 TV's are all Wifi capable and although there are only two members in our house, we like to watch TV in the Kitchen, each of our two offices, in our family room, and in my shop. We have had Dish for one week now and part of the reason we got Dish was the ability to watch shows using the Dish Anywhere App. All of the TV's have a Roku Remote. We didn't like the limited functionality so in addition to Dish Anywhere, we decided to get 4 of the Amazon 4K Fire Sticks. Boy, we are now ready to watch anything we want through the Hopper 3 DVR. What a surprise it was to learn that having 4 fire sticks was a total waste of time and money. As many have probably already learned, the Dish Anywhere limits watching TV on only one device at one time. Try to watch two and you have to select who gets to watch. I spent a great deal of time deciding that Dish was our best option but it was at least partially based on the use of the Dish Anywhere App. Finding out that only one program can be watched was a major disappointment. I called Dish to complain about the fact the Dish Anywhere App had this limitation. After going through 3 levels of support, I got to their Senior Resolution Spec. and with my threat to cancel the contract, they agreed to provide one Joey free for 2 years so that we could at least watch 2 programs simultaneously on the
TV's not connected directly to the Hopper 3. With that concession, we may keep Dish service but are still very disappointed about the Dish Anywhere App not being as function as claimed by the sales specialist. If others have encountered this problem, I would contact their Resolution dept. to see if you can get some relief from the Dish Anywhere problem.

 

[navychop]

Read the agreement, descriptions and limitations.

One DA feed per Hopper. No surprise there.

 

[pattykay]

Yes, rather than adding a Joey, you may have been better off adding a second Hopper 3 instead. That would still give you independent viewing on the TV connected to the second receiver (obviously) and also provide another DA stream for use on another TV. Since you are already getting the Joey for free, just add a second Hopper 3, and all of your TV's will be covered. Of course, the second Hopper 3 would cost an additional $15 per month, plus the upfront cost of purchasing it, since Dish will not allow two leased Hopper 3's on the same account. So, you would have to decide for yourself whether or not the additional cost is worth it.

 

[DishSubLA]

I believe the built-in Sling technology means that Dish does not have to pay any rights to channel owners for place-shifting TV for ONE device at a time. This is what made Slingbox "bullet proof" or allowed a legal single stream of ANY content of which the consumer has legal access (like paying for cable or satellite into their home) to then place-shift--as legally as one can Time-shift with a DVR or VCR, for example--to any device for your own private viewing without any violation of copyright laws.

If Dish were to offer more than ONE steam per DVR (yes, a second Hopper 3 will have its own separate ONE stream for place-shifting limit providing 2 streams at the same time, but only ONE from each H3 at the same time), then Dish would likely have to pay the channels fees for any additional place-shifting streams, and that can be expensive, especially for a shrinking pay-TV company.

However, I wonder if investing in the HopperGo (if still available) could help in your situation because it allows for up to 5 multiple user streams to up to 5 devices at the same time within the range of the HopperGo (WiFi, I believe), such as in a single residence. The only catch is that the Hopper Go can only play back RECORDINGS copied to it from your H3. This means no LIVE TV from the Hopper go, but the transfer process of recordings on you DVR can be fast enough and if people are more interested in the shows they recorded instead of LIVE TV. Many DVR users rarely watch LIVE TV anymore.

Further, I think viewing with the Hopper Go is limited to mobile devices (tablets, phones, etc.), but that might be fine with younger people, but perhaps not older members of the household. However, a Hopper GO is completely portable and anyone can take it with them to view their recorded and transferred content at anytime.

Another possiblity is Slingbox (completely supported on Amazon Fire's including the Stick with the free Slingbox App--but NOT supported on Roku) is a great solution not only for Dish's limitations of number of streams at one time, but also a solution to TiVo's abysmal multiple streaming solution, which can be worse than Dish's single stream limitation. However, Slingboxes are expensive (from 100+ to 300+ depending upon model) and because they are no longer manufactured, some sellers of Slingboxes have increased the price because they are a bit harder to find these days. The Sling service is still alive and kicking, but it is hard to justify making new boxes when so many have other ways to stream their DVR or LIVE TV content. I use my Slingboxes often, and I'm glad I got them years ago.

Lastly, while there is s monthly fee, there are also Wireless Joeys. These are just like the wired joeys except they require no wire/cables to view your DVR content including LIVE TV, just like a wired Joey. This can be a solution for places like kitchens, TV's mounted over fireplaces or anywhere else wires present a problem.

Well you do have a 30 day period if you do feel you want a different provider with their native apps providing more than one stream at a time per DVR. Let us know what you end up doing.

 

[N6BY]

...As many have probably already learned, the Dish Anywhere limits watching TV on only one device at one time....

I wish I had that problem.

I got the Hopper Duo and did not know when I signed up that I could not use Dish Anywhere. I assumed that since it has an internet connection it would be able to stream to any device. As you all know, I was wrong.

I am disappointed. It's my fault for not reading all the specs.

 

[pattykay]

I thought about mentioning this earlier, but I was trying to keep my reply brief...

There are a growing number of channels available as Live Streaming channels directly from Dish Anywhere. As far as I know, there is no limit on the number of Live streams that you can do at the same time from these channels. Or at least, it is not tied to the one stream per Hopper limit, since these channels are not coming from the Hopper. VOD events should also work through Dish Anywhere, without needing to stream from the Hopper. So, this may be one alternative to watching recordings, if your shows also happen to be available On Demand.

To address N6BY's complaint, the limited functionality that I mentioned above should also work, even with a Hopper Duo. You may even be able to see a list of your recorded events, and actually stream them (directly from Dish Anywhere, not from the Hopper Duo) if there is an On Demand version of that episode available. I remember trying this with my list of Marvel's Spider-Man recordings from my Wally (which is also not supported by Dish Anywhere for Sling functionality) and it worked, playing the On Demand version. You may need to use a Chrome browser to be able to access this content, though.

 

[Nebugeater]

This is not undisclosed information.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

It even says it on the commercial.

 

[pattykay]

This is not undisclosed information.

Considering the way that some Dish resellers advertise, I can understand how some new customers may not be aware of it. GoDish is still running their weekly junk mail ads, picturing a Hopper Duo next to a blurb stating that the YouTube app is available on your Hopper! Surely by now, anyone who reads my posts here is well aware that YouTube is not available on the Hopper Duo!

 

[DishSubLA]

It even says it on the commercial.

Correct (as usual). Although I can understand people misunderstanding the statements in the commercial because people don't listen well. This is the case with a lot of commercials: the statement is CLEAR, but we tend to not listen well, focus on the visuals, and come to a reasonable, but incorrect, presumption. One has to listen like a LAWYER when viewing any commercials these days. Sometimes I have to play a commercial over 3 times before I hear the clear statement (of limitations) that my brain just glossed over.

 

[N6BY]

...
To address N6BY's complaint, the limited functionality that I mentioned above should also work, even with a Hopper Duo. You may even be able to see a list of your recorded events, and actually stream them (directly from Dish Anywhere, not from the Hopper Duo) if there is an On Demand version of that episode available. I remember trying this with my list of Marvel's Spider-Man recordings from my Wally (which is also not supported by Dish Anywhere for Sling functionality) and it worked, playing the On Demand version. You may need to use a Chrome browser to be able to access this content, though.

Thanks! I didn't know that. Thought I was completely locked out of Dish Anywhere. While I cannot access my recordings, at least I can watch On Demand movies and shows.

And you're right -- works on the Chrome browser but not on the current version of Firefox.