What are you enjoying the most about the new Hopper system?

[Scherrman]

I know it's a little soon but I was just curious how the people who have had the system for a day or two are enjoying it. I know there are quite a few people on here who have had theirs since Thursday and Friday. Even though I've only had mine for 3 days I can say there are a lot of things I love about the new system. Here are a few of my favorites.

HD on every TV. Finally!
DVR at every TV without interrupting another rooms TV.
I have 2 Hoppers so I have tons of options for recording now.
With 2 Hoppers and 2 EHD I have tons of space to save shows.
Having PIP on the Hopper is great especially with the NCAA tournement on this weekend.
The recall feature is a nice addition and can be turned off if not needed.
I love being able to tell my Joeys which Hopper I want it to see. Can't wait for full integration but this still works for me.
I love how the Joeys take up such little space.
PTAT makes recording shows worry free.

These are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head. The more I get to mess around with it the more I find out and the more I love this system. So far I think Dish has a winner!

Does anyone else have any early reviews? Have any of your thoughts changed since the full release Scott?

 

[John Kotches]

I'll let you know later today, as my install is scheduled to start between 8:00am and Noon. It's almost 10:30 and no call yet. Update: A minute or two after posting this, they called and will be here around the top of the hour.

Okay, the big thing for my wife will be sharing DVR content.

 

[GaryPen]

Likes
-Shared DVR
-Modern GUI
-Improved VOD/B@H UI

Dislikes
-Nested channel groups
-Some options missing or not intuitive, compared to VIP's
-Lack of OTA support
-Cannot diplex

Even though there are more dislikes, they are minor compared to the positives. Overall, I am quite pleased, and pleasantly surprised that there are no horrendous bugs and only two missing features (OTA and linked Hoppers) out of the gate as has been Dish's tradition with new product launches.

EDIT: Also apparently missing or not functioning correctly is DLNA. But, I have it on so many other devices that it's not a biggie for me.

 

[PokerMunkee]

Can you be watching a movie and decide half way through to record it, and it will record the ENTIRE movie? Right now on my VIP722, it only starts recording from when I hit the record button.

 

[Scherrman]

I'm not sure, I haven't tried it. I would think it works the same as the 722.

 

[KAB]

Can you be watching a movie and decide half way through to record it, and it will record the ENTIRE movie? Right now on my VIP722, it only starts recording from when I hit the record button.

Don't know about Hopper, but with 722 you can rewind to start of a movie (if you were watching from the start), then hit record and get the whole thing.

 

[JM42]

Can you be watching a movie and decide half way through to record it, and it will record the ENTIRE movie? Right now on my VIP722, it only starts recording from when I hit the record button.

Works the same as VIP - records from the point you press record. To get the whole event you have to reverse back to the start and then hit record.

 

[rglore]

Love all the new features but one, you can't just press position and get side by side like the VIPs. You have to press pip, arrow, select to get side by side and same to go back to normal.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Works the same as VIP - records from the point you press record. To get the whole event you have to reverse back to the start and then hit record.

Not entirely true. On a 722 if you hit the Options button you can select Record Entire Event, if the entire event is in your buffer, without having to rewind back....

 

[Scherrman]

Love all the new features but one, you can't just press position and get side by side like the VIPs. You have to press pip, arrow, select to get side by side and same to go back to normal.

That's your one gripe? That's pretty minimal. Sounds like you like the rest though.

 

[longisland94]

Love having hd on every tv. On my install the tech had to replace one hopper that was showing a bad card, one bad duo node that would not show but two of the receivers on one of the hoppers, and one Joey that would not link.
Upgrade took only a couple of hours. Tech was very good. Great problem solving skills.
What I like the most was the remote manager interface, easiest set up for a remote I have ever seen.
Being able to link the Joey to either hopper is so cool. On demand interface so much better than the VIP. I would recomend the upgrade for anyone.

 

[WheelieMan711]

Here are some things I've noticed:
I am definitely enjoying the fact that my family can get HD on all of our HDTV's.
I've also noticed that I can access recordings from both of my Hoppers, but I do need to play around with it a little bit more.
The new interface is really nice and updated.
I thought it was really easy to set up the remote to control my AV equipment for our home theater.

 

[GaryPen]

I wanted to add more:

Likes:
-Nested channels for Sirius, DishCD, and PPV

Dislikes:
-Nested channels for RSN's and Internationals.

 

[CRFTony]

So far, I'm most happy with the SPEED! My 622 must have been dying because it would take 5-10 seconds to do everything (open the guide, set up a timer, etc). The Hopper is lightning fast so far. I love it!

The only thing I dislike is the noise. Everyone is saying their unit is so quiet but mine has a constant whine even when it's not being used. No big deal - I'll get used to it.

 

[btyko]

I know it's a little soon but I was just curious how the people who have had the system for a day or two are enjoying it. I know there are quite a few people on here who have had theirs since Thursday and Friday. Even though I've only had mine for 3 days I can say there are a lot of things I love about the new system. Here are a few of my favorites.

The recall feature is a nice addition and can be turned off if not needed.

How do you turn the recall feature on and off?

 

[jbernardi]

Go to Settings - Guide Settings - Format Guide. There you can turn multi-channel recall on or off.

 

[Brodieb]

I really like PTAT, the new interface (black is so much better than blue), and the overall speed of the Hopper. I have had a few hiccups with bugs, but that was expected as an early adopter.

 

[panz32]

Interesting to me on the positive comments on the speed of the Hopper. I have definitely noticed more lag with the Hopper than my old 722, that is one of my cons so far.

Other Cons:
The skip back 10 and forward 30 is not as crisp or quick as on the 722. In fact my skip back 10 was going back 30 seconds the 1st day I had it, now it's going back 12-14 seconds.
When rewatching a recorded show, the font on the timer is small and lags in updating when you pause the event.
When using the guide and then typing in a channel to skip to in the guide, it was hard to see the numbers in the tiny little video window in the upper left corner of the TV. Also experienced lag here and many times hitting the button on my remote over and over again.
Nested RSNs (really despise this).

Pros:
HD every room. Finally!
Not having to worry which room I recorded my show in.
Enormous hard drive space.
Joey's are compact.
Being able to see where each tuner is in use in my house.

Overall not as pleased with the speed and some "clunkiness" with the commands. But most are things I will just have to get used to.

 

[ashutto20]

EVERYTHING haha...

PTAT...love how this feature works

Watch Dvr events in any room

Speed...looking through the guide but also when I do a command or use the menu or anything of that nature...very quick

Show Art (is that the right name for it??? haha)...instead of just words theres art to go with it...and the ch logos

Only thing so far (fingers crossed)...that I had a problem was my hopper being connected to the internet (hard reset fixed this)...and my favorites I created on the guide dont show up on the Joey (not to big of a deal)