Why don't you 'bet the farm', invest YOUR resources and develop/market this device on your own. You surely WOULD have an overwhelming customer demand.
I'm ok with people who make suggestions to better or advance a product/service.
But, pretending that YOUR grand a year is sufficient to invest in YOUR novel improvement, and to assume that everyone who pays 'over a thousand dollars a year' is as like minded as you,
Is just plain dillusional.
Please, I welcome you to form your own startup, and BET YOUR FARM.
I should add,
If you do develop it,
and I like its ergonomics,
And the price is acceptable to me,
I MIGHT buy one from you.
Then stick with your acceptance of mediocrity. The money comment was more tongue-in-cheek than anything but to prove a point that dish has PAYING customers they simply are not paying attention to. Not just for this wiz-bang device (that they obviously had Echostar develop, already exists, does work, the prototype cost has already been spent so it's not MY novel improvement, but theirs they were showing off) but for all the other problems many customers have been experiencing that still exist.
If I got their service for free then I'd keep my mouth shut and not voice my 'opinion' or comment on why they still can't fix simple problems. And if you read the other posts of mine you'll know I really do love Dish. They just need tough love to get them to realize they should sweat the small stuff to stay a leader and in business. The novel idea of the Hopper will only last so long in this day of on demand entertainment, streaming Internet content, mobile devices and so on.