Watching Hopper 3 recordings while account is paused

[grc]

There's a possibility that we are going to be in a place where we won't have a satellite signal for a couple of months. I'm thinking about pausing my account. No need to spend the money if I can't use the service.

However, I have lots of things recorded that I'd like to be able to watch. If I pause the account (and the Hopper won't have any kind of signal when I pause it - will that create a problem?), will I be able to watch shows I've already recorded?

Thanks.

 

[DISH Support]

There's a possibility that we are going to be in a place where we won't have a satellite signal for a couple of months. I'm thinking about pausing my account. No need to spend the money if I can't use the service.

However, I have lots of things recorded that I'd like to be able to watch. If I pause the account (and the Hopper won't have any kind of signal when I pause it - will that create a problem?), will I be able to watch shows I've already recorded?

Thanks.

Great question, GRC! When an account is Paused, content cannot be viewed, but once the account is unPaused you'll be able to get back to viewing your content again.

 

[grc]

Great question, GRC! When an account is Paused, content cannot be viewed, but once the account is unPaused you'll be able to get back to viewing your content again.

Thanks for the info. Another question - with my Dish service paused, would I still be able to watch internet related programming using the Hopper 3, like Netflix and Youtube TV?

 

[grc]

Yet another question - as I describe, I will be without a satellite signal for a couple of months. It sounds like that even if I don't pause my account that at some point the receiver will sense a lack of authorization from the satellite and shut down. Is that correct? -OR- will it authorize via the internet, satellite signal or not?

 

[thomasjk]

When you pause your service you have no service at all.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[Bobby]

When you come out of pause you will need to have a hit sent to your receiver at the same time. That will reauthorize it.

 

[pattykay]

Thanks for the info. Another question - with my Dish service paused, would I still be able to watch internet related programming using the Hopper 3, like Netflix and Youtube TV?

As far as the internet content, that should still work. I can't verify the YouTube app, but I use a deactivated Hopper Duo to watch Netflix almost every day. This is not quite the same situation (deactivated receiver tied to active Dish account, with satellite signal still connected) but the principle should still be the same. As far as the DVR recordings, that can be hit or miss. It is the kind of thing that you can't find out for sure whether or not it will work until you actually try it. I have had success using a deactivated leased Hopper 1 (with no satellite signal or internet connection) to watch existing recordings while waiting to receive the box and prepaid shipping label to send it back to Dish. This was back in the pre-Carbon UI days, though. (One nice bonus was that with no satellite signal, the PTAT recordings did not disappear after the usual eight-day window, so I continued to have access to that week's recordings for several additional weeks.)

 

[grc]

One thing that confuses me is that after I got my Hopper 3 I had an old VIP722K stored for several months. A few weeks ago I got it out and watched several recorded shows on it. It was never connected to a dish (wouldn't have worked anyway, since it was deactivated). However, it worked just fine.

 

[pattykay]

One thing that confuses me is that after I got my Hopper 3 I had an old VIP722K stored for several months. A few weeks ago I got it out and watched several recorded shows on it. It was never connected to a dish (wouldn't have worked anyway, since it was deactivated). However, it worked just fine.

I have also had success with deactivated ViP722k's. However, the ability to continue to have access to old recordings can vary widely depending on the receiver model. (Whether the receiver is purchased or leased may also make a difference.) As a couple of examples: I have immediately lost access to existing recordings on a ViP612 as soon as I deactivated it. After reactivating it, those recordings worked just fine. The other example is an old standard-def 512 receiver that I left unhooked from the satellite signal too long. In that case, it was completely deauthorized. Recordings continued to be accessible to watch, but it required a work-around. The first time I would try to play a recording, I would only get a black screen with no sound. I could fast-forward through the recording at 300x speed, and see the video return near the end of the recording. Then, I could select Start Over, and the recording would play properly the second time.

 

[Jim5506]

Be aware that pausing your service voids all discounts that you have on your account.

When it is resumed, you will be paying full freight for whatever tier of service you have.

 

[pattykay]

Be aware that pausing your service voids all discounts that you have on your account.

When it is resumed, you will be paying full freight for whatever tier of service you have.

The flip-side of that is that if you only have a very small discount, then it may not be worth it to pay for two months of service at that discounted rate (without actually receiving service) just to keep that discount going forward. The savings from doing the pause would more than offset the loss of that discount for quite some time.