Thread: Not happy with the Dish Hopper DVR

I agree with mfoster711. Multiple threads with specific subjects. "John"

Originally Posted by mfoster711

Scenario, its Saturday afternoon and I am watching Football on ESPN, my wife is watching a cheesy movie on Lifetime Network and we just happen to be recording something on HBO at that time to view later. If my kids decide to watch TV on one of the two other available TVs in my house then they MUST watch ESPN, Lifetime, the HBO movie or something already recorded. They would not be able to watch any other live TV channel, correct? And don't mention OTA, not a solution for us.

How many Dish subscribers are going to have to watch four live programs at the same time? How often does that actually happen for the typical customer? You hypothetical is a bit off as if you record something on HBO, you can check different times for a movie and record in the middle of the night. Recording can be done strategically.

So this leaves us back at the question, how many Dish customers actually need to watch four live programs at the same time.

Originally Posted by Claude Greiner

Granted this works great for parents seeing what their kids are watching, but this is going to ruin the privacy for alot of customers. If a huspand who has a wife thats offended by that kind of stuff, the second the wife gives her huspand crap over it, is when the huspand cancels DISH Network and switches to Directv.

So the hopper is bad because it makes it more difficult for husband's to deceive their wife's? Uhhh...

I can see a commercial now catered towards women. Women are you tired of your men sneaking around watching other naked women on TV? If so, purchase a hopper from Dish. You will be able to spy on your man without him even knowing.

Originally Posted by Yespage

How many Dish subscribers are going to have to watch four live programs at the same time? How often does that actually happen for the typical customer? You hypothetical is a bit off as if you record something on HBO, you can check different times for a movie and record in the middle of the night. Recording can be done strategically.

So this leaves us back at the question, how many Dish customers actually need to watch four live programs at the same time.

I fully agree this is not a daily occurrence but I defiently would not call it uncommon. Many of the kids shows that we setup to record don't come on at night. Also, while I realize some movies come on multiple times a day or week, that is not true for all movies. There are plenty of times a movie only comes on once during the week.

I personally view this as something that might occur once or twice a month for my family of 4 with our 4 TV setup and we are not heavy TV users or heavy DVR users. Now, a "typical dumb customer" would just accept this issue when it occurs and move on but for must of us on this forum we realize this is screwy. It would frustrate me when it does occur and I would look for a solution. And the solution is a second Hopper or switching to Direct.

In summary, you asked

Originally Posted by Yespage

So this leaves us back at the question, how many Dish customers actually need to watch four live programs at the same time.

I think it is fair to say that many of us on here have vastly different opinions regarding the answer to this question. Dish's solution very well might have been to take the cheap route, only offer 3 tuners, see how many complaints they get then price a second Hopper lower if needed or make future versions of the tuner have 4-5 tuners.

there will be 4 tvs in my house on live tv most of the time here shortly. so i would definitely need 2 hoppers, but i am sure that will still lead to dvr conflicts as i am using all 4 tuners on my 722k several night a week. guess the kids will have to watch recorded shows when that happens with the hopper/joey setup.

I think most would agree that two Hoppers would satisfy their needs just fine. The real issue here is price on that second Hopper and the Joey's in the way of upfront cost and ongoing monthly fees. Having two separate Hoppers needed vs. one HR-34 is making people think that there will be additional fees attached that could make it unattractive. It would be nice if they did not rape us on the second Hopper fee in the case of where we only needed a few Joey's with two Hoppers which would serve four rooms for a total of six tuners all the time and nine shows at once during primetime (not counting OTA usb tuners).

I think some people want to free up that extra 3rd tuner during primetime anytime and use the ota usb tuner to record the network stations.

The observation that it comes down to price is very accurate. Remember, the idea is Dish has determined it will cost less to have a three tuner box than a five, because so many households won't need more than that. I happen to believe that is accurate. If you need more you add a second box. They do need to come out with the USB OTA tuner however.
It does not matter if they or I are right or wrong, if the price is right. If their three tuner solution is less than Direct offers, they are ahead of the game. If the two box solution is in the ball park of Direct, they are fine. I believe those putting down this system based on the amount of tuners may have a different outlook IF dish has a lower cost.

No matter how good the system is, I can't get past losing one box loses all TV, same as any whole house system that only has one actual satellite receiver. Since they won't be allowing a mixed system, I think sticking with the individual receivers is for me.

We have 2 kids, and I can tell you that many times we have 4 tuners in use. I like sports, my wife doesn't so that is two tuners. The kids each have T.V.'s in their rooms, and if they are watching something, there goes 4 tuners. Now if I was trying to record a movie or show, I am now SOL.
I agree that they are going to have to give decent pricing on a second hopper and the joeys, otherwise I would say D*'s HR34 setup is superior. If I am not mistaken, D*'s setup with the H25 receivers aren't reliant on the HR34 to watch T.V.? I believe they are independent receivers with the ability to access the HR34?

Originally Posted by rapidturtle

If I am not mistaken, D*'s setup with the H25 receivers aren't reliant on the HR34 to watch T.V.? I believe they are independent receivers with the ability to access the HR34?

correct. The RVU units (which are not available yet) have no tuner so they have to work off the HR34. The H25 is a full functioning tuner so the only time it works with the HR34 is for watching recorded stuff
So a HR34/3 H25 gives you actually 8 independent tuners