What don't you like about the Hopper
- Thread starter inazsully
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Love the Hopper - some minor annoyances ( some already mentioned)
I do like
The colored buttons - took me a while to work that out - like single key delete
I don't like
Random channels disappear out of favorite channels - couldn't put it back - had to construct a whole new list
No way to show "status bar" unless you fast forward or rewind (time left for example)
Weird scrolling in PTAT folder if you delete a show - missing icons wrong order etc - have to cycle round my records back to PTAT for the order to work itself out
Wished i didn't need to have all the My HD etc as standard lists
Transfer to EHD form recordings vs from menu (unless there's a way i don't know)
I do like
The colored buttons - took me a while to work that out - like single key delete
I don't like
Random channels disappear out of favorite channels - couldn't put it back - had to construct a whole new list
No way to show "status bar" unless you fast forward or rewind (time left for example)
Weird scrolling in PTAT folder if you delete a show - missing icons wrong order etc - have to cycle round my records back to PTAT for the order to work itself out
Wished i didn't need to have all the My HD etc as standard lists
Transfer to EHD form recordings vs from menu (unless there's a way i don't know)
Just press select, shows time left in the banner or press pause if you prefer the timeline.
I've had a 622 forever and want to upgrade but have two concerns. First is the OTA tuner sensitivity. Is the Hopper's at least as good as the 622? I would prefer an even better one because my OTA reception on one channel drops out seasonally. I could upgrade my attic antenna or move to a roof antenna, but a slightly better tuner might seal the deal. Nobody seems to know or publish such things anymore (or I can't find the info). Coming from old school high-fi background, published tuner sensitivity was one of the first things I looked for when buying a stereo tuner. Remember those? I lived in an extreme fringe reception area then.
My second issue is the cost to upgrade. I've waited to see if Dish would allow any incentive for existing users to upgrade. I've waited so long I'm beginning to wonder if there will be a new unit even better than the Hopper soon-maybe with 3TB. Anyway, I'm paying over $100.00 now and am not sure I want to pay more. So, is it worth it to go ahead and upgrade? Will my OTA experience improve? Thanks.
My second issue is the cost to upgrade. I've waited to see if Dish would allow any incentive for existing users to upgrade. I've waited so long I'm beginning to wonder if there will be a new unit even better than the Hopper soon-maybe with 3TB. Anyway, I'm paying over $100.00 now and am not sure I want to pay more. So, is it worth it to go ahead and upgrade? Will my OTA experience improve? Thanks.
It's better. It's also a $30 USB OTA tuner module that you plug into the Hopper. But I am a big believer in outdoor antennas, having gone both routes. Keep in mind, you will get some locals via satellite, even if you were grandfathered before without.
Cost to upgrade varies by customer, promotional period, demand, and how hard that butterfly in Brazil is flapping it's wings. IOW, contact DIRT to find out your situation. Much better than calling a random Dish CSR on the phone. You might well be offered a free upgrade.
Youse pays youse money and youse takes youse chances. But I doubt that there will be another version of the Hopper anytime soon. The Hopper With Sling is still rather new, IMHO. If you want more than 3 satellite tuners, even with PTAT, you'd be ahead to get 2 HWS for the redundancy. But if you only have a single ViP622, you'll be getting a jump up with a single Hopper/HWS. How many TVs do you want to serve with independent tuning, and how many are HDTVs? 3TB? With EHDs, does it matter?
I went from a 301 to a 508/721 combo to 2HWS/1J. MUCH happier with the HWS arrangement. Don't waste time, do it before the Christmas rush. And based on some press articles, I believe there WILL be a Christmas rush for Hoppers.
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Further define "one channel drops off seasonally". While the Hopper dongle is the best to date, it still might not compensate for the particular problem.
Thanks for the replies. By seasonal dropout I mean that the change of seasons, maybe the weather patterns, will cause one channel to drop out sometimes a few seconds, sometimes a whole day or evening. Otherwise, nothing else changes and the reception is fine the rest of the time. I think spring and fall are the problem times. I interpret that to mean that my antenna setup is just a little inadequate. I have an amp and it's in the attic. I'm about 25 miles max from most distant station. If I adjust for the station that drops out it makes a different station drop out. I know I can fix it with a roof antenna or bigger antenna or a more sensitive tuner.
Even just moving your present antenna a few feet from where it is now might help. Been there, done that. It worked.
Attics were very restrictive for rotation with 6-7 foot low-VHF elements. As almost all are channel 7 and up now they should be less so.
My father found it useful 40-50 years ago but we were only 10 miles away. Not recommended for metal nor heavy-duty roofs. But a lot better in Miami's hurricane season.
Today, I have an old all-band antenna under a low deck and I am 40+ miles away. But I have line of sight (with binoculars) between houses 7300' elev. to transmitter on 10000' mountain with lower elevations between. Mostly I've gone to satellite-delivered signal as I don't like the guide messed up with both listings. I like the smaller MPEG-4 file sizes with satellite.
My father found it useful 40-50 years ago but we were only 10 miles away. Not recommended for metal nor heavy-duty roofs. But a lot better in Miami's hurricane season.
Today, I have an old all-band antenna under a low deck and I am 40+ miles away. But I have line of sight (with binoculars) between houses 7300' elev. to transmitter on 10000' mountain with lower elevations between. Mostly I've gone to satellite-delivered signal as I don't like the guide messed up with both listings. I like the smaller MPEG-4 file sizes with satellite.
Come on guy, this is the wrong place for those type of complaints. There are ways to deal with that stuff. If the "average 80 yr old woman" doesn't need dvr, don't explain the features. I hate to say that, but she'll never know the difference.
The random channel disappearing act is really puzzling. Some engineer should be quite embarrassed with this kind of glitch in a most basic DVR function.
Got the new upgrade last night. All of my missing channels are now there on every custom channel I made. Very nice.
I upgraded our 2 722's to a HWS & Hopper just before the fee increases and overall my wife & I really like them. I'd say my biggest dislike of the hoppers is the poor file system management, such as losing EHD show/movie Icons, EHD's not showing up sometimes, being thrown back to the top level after viewing DVR shows (a bit better now with the update) also when you view a program on the other hopper when finished you're thrown back yet it still shows being connected the other hopper, etc. Nothing show stopping but irritating none the less.
Dan
Dan
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