I currently have OTA on 8 HDTVs in my house connected through a distribution panel. I have a 722 connected to 2 of the HDTVs with SD on TV2 of course. I would like to be able to have satellite HD on at least half of them with independent viewing along with my OTA. Is upgrading to the Hopper system rather than adding more VIP receivers the most flexible and cost effective?
Upgrade scenario
- Thread starter pamela40
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The Hopper/Joey route will probably cost more than adding more VIP equipment, depending on which receivers you would get, BUT it's worth it if you can afford it. Contact DIRT for pricing options.
To be clear...the OP have 8 HD TV. He need SAT HD feed to atleast 4 of them. Existing Dish setup is 1 722 VIP receiver..feeding HD signal to 1 only. What the OP didnt mention was if he need DVR capability on all the connected HD TVs.
If yes...2 Hopper with atleast 2 Joeys will be good to start with.
If not...then adding 3 VIP 211 recivers is the answer...& cheaper too.
If yes...2 Hopper with atleast 2 Joeys will be good to start with.
If not...then adding 3 VIP 211 recivers is the answer...& cheaper too.
722 plus 3 211s @$7 would be $21 in additional receiver costs per month plus another one time fee of $40 for DVR capability on the 211s plus the costs of external disk drives.
722 plus 3 612s @$10 would be $30 additional per month.
1 Hopper with 3 Joeys would be an additional $26 per month (3 joeys @$7 plus additional monthly DVR fee of $5). This would only provide three independent viewings or four if one includes recorded content.
2 Hoppers with 2 Joeys would be an additional $31 per month (additional Hopper costs $12 plus 2 Joeys @$7 plus $5 additional DVR fee).
The Hopper system is probably the way to go imho.
722 plus 3 612s @$10 would be $30 additional per month.
1 Hopper with 3 Joeys would be an additional $26 per month (3 joeys @$7 plus additional monthly DVR fee of $5). This would only provide three independent viewings or four if one includes recorded content.
2 Hoppers with 2 Joeys would be an additional $31 per month (additional Hopper costs $12 plus 2 Joeys @$7 plus $5 additional DVR fee).
The Hopper system is probably the way to go imho.
Consider also that you can't diplex the OTA and SAT on a hopper/joey system, so you would need a second coax to locations you want both SAT and OTA.
Being an existing customer DISH will set the upgrade costs depending on how they value you as a customer so contacting DIRT would be the most accurate method to determine your costs.
All locations pre-wired with a minimum of 2 coax connections and 1 cat5e connection. Receiver locations have 3 coax and 2 cat5e connections.
My understanding is that the joey is connected to the node by coax but to the tv by HDMI or composite cable. This joey would be connected to a tv in a bedroom with an HDMI cable and will be mirrored to a tv on my covered porch. That tv has a pre-wired coax outlet. I know I can connect the composite output to a modulator then to the coax, but won't the signal be SD? Is there something I don't understand that will allow me to get an HD signal to the coax outlet?
You would have to have a Joey under the porch to get HD OR, use an HDMI splitter to mirror from another Joey. (Or composite or HDMI from one of the Hoppers).
Since all outputs of the Hoppers and HWS are active all the time, it is possible to connect many other TVs to them. You just have to watch the same program or recording on all TVs connected to the same Hopper. I have 4 HD TVs and have a Hopper( tv room), HWS(master bedroom) and 2 Joeys( kitchen and guest bedroom). This allows each HD TV to watch separate programming. I have an SD TV(living room) connected via component cables to the Hopper and got another remote to control that TV and the Hopper. So when we want to be in the living room in front of the fireplace, we watch the large screen SD TV. We have 2 SD TVs ( office and 3rd bedroom)connected to the HWS. Each has their own remote. The TVS are connected via RF cable using an RF attachment( converts component to RF) to the HWS. This allows me to have 7 TVs all able to watch Dish programming.
