Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Our dual turner DVR went out. Called, couldn't trouble shoot so they were going to Fed Ex me a new one. On a whim and haven't done much research, I asked about a newer model and he said if I wanted to upgrade I should go with the Hopper.

I new/know it is a whole house
DVR, but other than that, I don't know anything about it.

Anyone have? Good?

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

probably a topic better suited to dbstalk.com, since they are dedicated to SAT stuff.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

The big selling point of the Hopper is that it can record 6 shows at one, but it's not 6 shows of your choosing. Basically, you have 2 tuners to record whatever you want, and then the Hopper automatically records the prime time lineups of CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX as well (On a third tuner).

From what I've read over at other forums, it's Dish's best DVR product and the whole house functionality works very well with the Joey units (the units for the other TVs). The problem with the Joey units is that they are completely dependent on the Hopper for content. Joeys have no tuners of their own, so they have to piggyback on the Hopper.

Obviously, if you only have one TV, this won't be an issue. But if you have multiple TVs, a Hopper might not be enough, unless everyone in the house watches the same shows.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Well, that's not what the guy said (either the phone guy or the install guy - that is here now).

I went with 1 hopper and 3 Joey's to cover all 4 TV's. The issue I have been told is that three of the four can watch whatever they want, whenever they want. But the 4th TV is a "mirror". It has to watch what one of the other 3 is or something recorded. I could go with 2 Hoppers, but Hoppers don't talk to each other so you essentially lose whole home DVR function. Plus we have a 4th TV that we rarely use in the bedroom. So that is fine for a mirror (but again, only if all three other TV's are already in use. That would be extremely rare and not sure has ever happened in our house).

I've done a little research and stuff. Seems like a solid system. Lots of storage and option to add more.

Evidently they have partnered with Sling. The installer said "no" I can't watch on my Tablet, iPhone, laptop. But I'll have to do some more looking. Not sure what Sling is plastered everywhere if you can't use it like a Sling box.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

I picked up a sling player for my hopper and I am able to watch. the DVR watching is hit or miss as sometimes the recordings show up and sometimes selecting a recording plays something else.

Had it from day one and love it. Most folks that had Dish before seem to be luke warm on it sometimes but coming from cable I can't think of anything better.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Hows the channel skipping?

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

So how does it do the 4-network deal? Is it the local feeds or do they grab it from NY? How many lines are fed into the Hopper DVR?

Also, does DISH still offer that DVR that has 2 outputs? I know they used to have one that had 2 outputs -- 1 HD, 1 SD. That's very convenient for a multi-TV setup.

I'm considering dumping DTV this summer if they don't cut me a deal on Sunday Ticket. I can live with RZC w/o ST.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Yea, I read where I can get a sling player and make it work.

Course, the dude has been here 6 hours and we still don't have it working. And yes, I had Dish before.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

I haven't figured out why they think doing this would be a good idea. I don't want my DVR to record every network show. I want a lot of tuners available to record anything I want. Fortunately I have DirecTV and their five tuner HR34.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Works great! It doesn't happen until 1:00AM so if you watch primetime during the hours it is recording you still have to fast forward. The next day when you hit play it asks you if you want to use auto hop. If you do then at each part of the commercials you will see an arrow and a kangaroo to tell you it is skipping and the show starts off.

As far as the other poster. They have the 4 main networks on one transponder (I think that is what it is called) so you only need two feeds coming in. So on one coax in it is recording all 4 during primetime hours. It is slick, I like being able to start to watch a show and instead of it ending at a certain time it continiously goes to the next show. No missing last minute or previews.

They just upped the user area to 1TB. Primetime Anytime does not count to your personal space which is great with all the home shows my wife tapes!! : ) Then if you want to keep a show longer than 7 days you can just move it to your personal space.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Ok, dude was here 7 hours total. First he was pissed. When I upgraded to HD a couple years ago, they just put up a 2nd dish and tied them both into my DVR. Well evidently that was not right (how would I know). So he removed both and put one one, new dish.

Then he couldn't get the Hopper to link to my account. He finally tried a 2nd Hopper he had, but that didn't work either. Finally he called in yet again and started all over and seemed whoever punched in a serial number or something, had one wrong digit off. After that was straightened out, everything went pretty smooth. Tho he had a little trouble hooking our bedroom TV up as it is not HD and only has an RF input (oh the horror). I don't think he had ever see that before!

Finally, the WiFi dongle wouldn't work even though my router was within feet of the Hopper (separated by a wall). So he had to hook up the Sling thing. I guess is uses the electrical to run you net signal. Whatever, it works.

And sure enough the first three Joey's can watch anything. The 4th TV has to watch what one of the other 3 is. But it does give you the choice of what to watch.

Haven't figured it all out yet. But working on it. I like that the little Joey's can be hidden. Might have to look for a new TV for the bedroom. Get a LCD and hang it on the wall, and hide the Joey behind it. Would be a nice looking set up.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Does anyone know about the sling adapter?

Can it be attached to a Joey or only the hopper?

If attached to the Hopper does it totally take over, or just one tuner?

I travel a lot for work, so this intersts me. But not if it interfers with what the family is watching. On the original sling system you could attach to a less used tv\turner. But the Hopper is the main one in our house.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

The Hopper, the shitter. Its all the same thing .

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Helpful. Thanks

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

It attaches to the Hopper and can't connect through Joeys. I beleive it takes over if you are attached remotely but your family will still have the other 2 tuners and should be able to hit the red button and choose another tuner. I have the Hopper in our theater that we only use for movie nights so we live on the joeys in the bedroom and den so the Hopper is always "available" remotely which is why I can't say so for sure.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Loving the Hopper set up so far. The whole home DVR works great. And swear I'm getting a better pic on all TV's including projector

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

So how does the 6 shows at once ACTUALLY work? Does it really just record all network shows?

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

"First he was pissed. When I upgraded to HD a couple years ago, they just put up a 2nd dish and tied them both into my DVR. Well evidently that was not right (how would I know). So he removed both and put one one, new dish."

Man I know sooo many people they did that to, I think it was installers last ditch effort to get rid of those old single dishes before they were totally worthless. I told them at the time they half assed the install. See turns out two normal dishes have much weaker signal that one of the real HD dishes. And they would lose signal even in slightest of bad weather. They finally had enough and called and complained. They sent someone out who checked it, signal was so weak the guy who came out was pissed too over it.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Yes, 6 shows are only during primetime. you have 3 tuners and one is recording the 4 major networks so in theory you are recording 6 different shows but 4 are using one tuner during primetime which you can't change if you have Primetime enabled. The other two are recording whatever timers you have set up. I was upset with them advertising it like that but it works for us.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

I'm thinking of upgrading to the Hopper by september. I'm assuming that the shows recorded automatically from the networks are in HD, right? Also, in non-primetime hours, can the tuner that records the network shows be used for other programs, or is it only for recording the primetime shows?

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Prime time is only in HD so your good there. Yes, that tuner is open until PRimetime kicks in.

If you run into any issues as well, I found satelliteguys hopper zone forums to be very helpful when I first looked at going from cable to Dish. I was the first install for the tech and it went pretty well (although took a while with updates and neeeding to wait for Hopper to update beofre installing Joeys). With the info I got from there I was able to follow what the tech was doing.

Really enjoying it and have been streaming G4 live E3 coverage with the sling adapter at work. During planned breaks of course : )

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

I'm good friends with a guy who does Dish contract installs, and I am planning to get my Hopper upgrade started next week. The only thing I need to decide is if one Hopper will effectively replace my two 722 DVRs. I think it will be fine, thanks to the prime time feature, but I am not sure yet.

It sounds like there are also some good things in store for a firmware upgrade coming later this summer for people with two Hoppers, that will allow the Hoppers to directly share recordings with each other, and also make it seamless for a Joey to use any tuner on either Hopper or watch any recording on either DVR (including external drives).

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

That is when it will take off and make up for not being able to have an X22 receiver on the same account.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Even in the current configuration, using two Hoppers will still be better than trying to create a "whole house" setup using two X22s. It is possible to switch a Joey from one Hopper to another via a menu setting (or so I've been told by several 2-Hopper owners). The upgrade will just make it much more convenient.

So I guess I don't see need to worry about keeping either of my 722s.

Re: Dish coming to install Hopper tomorrow, what do I need to know?
 

Da hoppah!