Thread: Not happy with the Dish Hopper DVR

I went to CES last week and saw the Dish Hopper first hand, and im not really impressed as compaired to what Directv has to offer with the HR34 home media server.

Here is what I like about it...

#1 The Prime Time anytime is a great feature. Considering it can record 4 shows from a single Tuner is great. I like the fact it records everything in prime time, which takes all the hassle out of setting up a timer to begin with.

#2 I like the guide format and the way the menu's are displayed

#3 I like the larger hard drive.

Here is what I don't like about it..

#1 The receiver only has 3 Tuners. For a 1 or 2 Television household I don't see this as being much of an issue. The problem when you add 3, 4 or 5 Televsions to this setup, you become very limited in the amount of things you can watch live, and the more shows you have recording in the background the even more limited this DVR becomes.

Granted you can add another Hopper, but with DISH Networks track record on additional receiver outlet fees, I bet we are looking at an additional $20 per month, not to mention another few hundred dollars upfront.

#2 From a sales point, this is where they are going to get all their complaints. This is very difficult to explain to people, to get them to understand the entire 3 tuner concept with multiple TV's. I can see the sales people selling this now telling customers just to add another Joey box, but when the customer has got 2 shows recording on the DVR they are not going to understand why they can't watch something different on their 3 other TV's in their home.

#3 The thing where you can "Hop On" an existing TV program in another room is going to piss alot of people off. If im in my bedroom at 1AM watching Bikini Girls gone wild on Cinemax, I do not want anyone else in my house knowing what im watching on TV, or hopping on my program and watching it with me.

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.

oh good, another hopper thread...

Originally Posted by Slamminc11

oh good, another hopper thread...

Yeh, thanks a lot, Claude.

I know we are not going to push the Hopper just like we never pushed the 922. Since the 922 came out I have only sold and installed 1. Dish technology sucks.

I never watch anything live including football. That is why we have DVRs, to skip commercals. So, if you have enough stuff recorded, then the Joeys can watch prerecorded programs, which is what the system was designed for.

How can you be unhappy with something that has not even come out yet? Try it, you might like it.

Originally Posted by Claude Greiner

#3 The thing where you can "Hop On" an existing TV program in another room is going to piss alot of people off. If im in my bedroom at 1AM watching Bikini Girls gone wild on Cinemax, I do not want anyone else in my house knowing what im watching on TV, or hopping on my program and watching it with me.

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.

Good point, this is something I have not considered. So when I am up late watching TV in my office my wife can now spy on what I am watching without ever leaving our bedroom. I must agree, I really don't like this.

Originally Posted by Slamminc11

oh good, another hopper thread...

I think we need more Hopper threads. Once a thread gets to 10 or 15 pages it becomes worthless since nobody is going to scroll through all those pages looking for an answer. I would much prefer we start dozens of Hopper threads and address very specific questions in each thread and make sure each of those threads have a good title that makes it clear what that exact thread is discussing. A thread with a title of "Hopper Joey questions" that is 85 pages and discusses dozens of different points regarding Hopper is complicated and becomes worthless over time.

You are right.

SOLUTION-
with only 3 Tuners and One Tuners doing Prime time this is really ONLY a Two Tuner solution. They need to advertise it as a TWO TV Solution so customers dont get mad later after there locked into a contract and cant watch live TV on there THREE TV Household (household with Two parent and One or more kids)

They need to sell the Second Hopper at $99 and tell people up front if they have a family with more than 2 or 3 they need TWO Hoppers. Then they will have 6 Tuners and the sulution will work great.

As for Privacy they need to add a feature for the Parental Locks that TV-MA does not show what your watching so people cant spy on you, it should simply says Parental Lock on it.

Now all they need is the Over the Air Turner so people dont get it home, locked in a Contract and then realize they cant watch the 10 other local channels they used to have on Cable as Cable has many of the Digital Sub channels that dish does not carry. They need this Tuner at Release date so when the customer calls in to complain they will have a solution to offer, they could sell it for say $49.99 and it would be an other tuner.

Claude brought out some good points here. It is a little different way of looking at it.
I am beginning to see the Hopper/Joey as the infant stage of this type of receiver. Someone at Dish is thinking a little differently as witnessed by the "folder" concept in the guide, and what I will call the "Folder" concept of the networks.

In my scenario, you would see advancements such as;
Having at least one Joey in your system that is capable of receiving on it's own so that 1. No one else can watch what you are watching, and 2. Should the Hopper fail, you still can watch TV.

More "Folders" on the Satellite. The arrangement of channels such as TNT, USA, A&E and History as an example. Or the News channels. It may not have four channels that everyone wants to record, but even if two out of the four are what you want it saves a tuner being used. Remember even the four networks may not be what everyone wants to record, but the theory is at least a couple probably are. Then allow the user to tell the hopper what transponder to pick. I can also see the advancement of allowing user control of what time(s) to pick rather then just the whole primetime period.