Any news on future Hoppers/DVR's yet?

[Ronnie-]

On the 4k sets and upconversion, I have found that my samsung does a pretty decent job of this. I have been most pleased with the PQ on the same sources I used on my previous 1080p plasma.

 

[Jhon69]

But does the upconversion look good on your tv? I know that I had an upconverting HDTV back in the early part of the last decade and my sd sat receiver looked unwatchable on that tv. I actually got Best buy to come out and take the tv back ,because the over all proportion of tv watching back then was still Sd. IF the 4k upconversion shows all the flaws in an hd sat picture , I would have the same situation all over again.

Fascinating I have never heard of an HDTV that upconverted the signal before,I thought the new 4K UHDTV's was a new idea never done before.
I think it looks better than before on OTA,Satellite HD&SD.But does it look like 4K? maybe on my Bluray player which always has had the best picture.

 

[Hall]

Fascinating I have never heard of an HDTV that upconverted the signal before

All flat-panel type TVs, LCD, LED, plasma, etc, have to "convert" the signal they receive to match it's native resolution. Computer monitors of the same design do allow you to force a non-native resolution but it usually looks horrible when you do that. TV makers, wisely, don't give people that option.

They will down-convert as well. If you have your Dish receiver set to output 1080i and it's connected to a 720p TV, the TV has to down-convert it. When you connect that same receiver to a 4K TV, the TV up-converts to 2160 resolution. Anytime you up/down-convert, data is either thrown out or it's added, neither of which is perfect. Purists are horrified by the idea but good converters and software can often do this and the human eye can't see any difference.

 

[Jhon69]

All flat-panel type TVs, LCD, LED, plasma, etc, have to "convert" the signal they receive to match it's native resolution. Computer monitors of the same design do allow you to force a non-native resolution but it usually looks horrible when you do that. TV makers, wisely, don't give people that option.

They will down-convert as well. If you have your Dish receiver set to output 1080i and it's connected to a 720p TV, the TV has to down-convert it. When you connect that same receiver to a 4K TV, the TV up-converts to 2160 resolution. Anytime you up/down-convert, data is either thrown out or it's added, neither of which is perfect. Purists are horrified by the idea but good converters and software can often do this and the human eye can't see any difference.

OK like the Emerson 32" I have in my bedroom which says it's 720p,but will do 1080i/p through the HDMI connection,Thanks Hall I just was not thinking of that.

 

[Hall]

OK like the Emerson 32" I have in my bedroom which says it's 720p,but will do 1080i/p through the HDMI connection,Thanks Hall I just was not thinking of that.

What you will see on the screen is 720p. The HDMI input accepts 1080i/p signals but in this case, down-converts it to 720p, that TV's native resolution.

 

[DWS44]

NBC and Comcast are working on 4K.

Many of the shows on NBC now are shot on 4K. Comcast has a 4K app on Samsung TV's where you can watch these shows in 4K.

When all the press releases from NBC were coming out recently for the return of NASCAR coverage to NBC/NBCSN, I thought it interesting that they specifically pointed out that the cameras used at the track were 4K-capable.

 

[patmurphey]

But does the upconversion look good on your tv? ....

A resounding yes, on mine, it even makes the few SD channels I watch (i.e., AHC) look acceptable.

 

[dishfan82]

Im looking forward to the carbon ui and the new voice remote. The remote now has too many buttons.

 

[Blackloz]

I wonder once the new UI is out on the Hopper, if Dish will push the current Hopper UI to the older VIP receivers?

 

[ChadT41]

They did not do that with the 922, so I would assume not. It just doesn't really make sense. Maybe the 211Z or 211 family...

 

[Hall]

I wonder once the new UI is out on the Hopper, if Dish will push the current Hopper UI to the older VIP receivers?

The UI on every receiver "family" looks different, so they really don't seem to be easily ported across. Dish isn't going to invest the $ in their older lines anyway....

 

[jerryez]

OK like the Emerson 32" I have in my bedroom which says it's 720p,but will do 1080i/p through the HDMI connection,Thanks Hall I just was not thinking of that.

I do not think you can see that much detail on a 32" UHDTV. You need 50" or bigger to tell the difference. The bigger the better.

 

[Jhon69]

I do not think you can see that much detail on a 32" UHDTV. You need 50" or bigger to tell the difference. The bigger the better.

Sorry I should have provided more information in that statement the Emerson 32" TV in my bedroom is a 720p display HDTV.The TV I had to replace in my livingroom was a Vizio 1080p 55" HDTV that went out,I replaced that with a Vizio 55" 4K UHDTV.

 

[DishSubLA]

And what Dish has done by going this route is make somewhat of a modular, whole-home system. Note how they're not modifying the "core" Hopper ? They must feel that it has become a pretty solid base and don't want to change it too much on the hardware side, so the improvements (4K support, add'l tuners, etc) are done by add-on pieces.

I have to agree, that the current UI on the Hopper is getting old now. I was looking at mine the other night and I was thinking about it and was saying yeah it looks nice but it looks out of date now. So I am looking forward to the carbon interface.

As far as a new Hopper goes, if I were a betting man I would expect to see a new Hopper at CES. While I have not heard anything I would expect it to be a Super Hopper. With built in 4K Support, MORE Tuners, a larger hard drive (Maybe 3 or 4 TB) a unit that can take DISH through the next 10 years without an issue. Of course I do not expect the Super Hopper to be for everyone at launch. I am sure there will be requirements for people to upgrade to one. But as 4K TV become more common I see more people getting one.

DISH luckily has always been known to be on the bleeding edge and really the only upgrade I can see coming within 10 years is a final speck on MPEG 5. Some consider HEVC to be MPEG 5 but I am told its not, its just an early spec version. So we will see where that going. But again I would expect to see a new Hopper at CES. (And of course SatelliteGuys will be there to show you first. )

And if they do reveal such a new SuperHopper, I will gladly WAIT for them to work out the kinks on the first customers to get them before I even consider an upgrade to that. But I have to say, I have no 4K upgrade plans for my main HDTV's are fairly new, and won't even consider a 4K unless one of my HDTV's dies.

 

[DishSubLA]

And what Dish has done by going this route is make somewhat of a modular, whole-home system. Note how they're not modifying the "core" Hopper ? They must feel that it has become a pretty solid base and don't want to change it too much on the hardware side, so the improvements (4K support, add'l tuners, etc) are done by add-on pieces.

Also, I don't think Dish wants to add to the cost to produce the Hoppers (HWS included) by sticking in new hardware to support MoCA 2.0 even if the chip can handle it. I think they would rather spend the money on the next Gen Hopper systems.

 

[ChadT41]

The only reason I am considering a 4K TV is because my gf's son has a cheap 19" TV in his room, that is hard to see. I can give him the one in my bedroom, I can take the big one from the living room and put that in my bedroom, and then put a big 4K in the living room. That would give me everything I'd want, but really don't feel like upgrading to a 4K Joey or any other equipment currently.

 

[DishSubLA]

I have to agree, that the current UI on the Hopper is getting old now. I was looking at mine the other night and I was thinking about it and was saying yeah it looks nice but it looks out of date now. So I am looking forward to the carbon interface.

As far as a new Hopper goes, if I were a betting man I would expect to see a new Hopper at CES. While I have not heard anything I would expect it to be a Super Hopper. With built in 4K Support, MORE Tuners, a larger hard drive (Maybe 3 or 4 TB) a unit that can take DISH through the next 10 years without an issue. Of course I do not expect the Super Hopper to be for everyone at launch. I am sure there will be requirements for people to upgrade to one. But as 4K TV become more common I see more people getting one.

DISH luckily has always been known to be on the bleeding edge and really the only upgrade I can see coming within 10 years is a final speck on MPEG 5. Some consider HEVC to be MPEG 5 but I am told its not, its just an early spec version. So we will see where that going. But again I would expect to see a new Hopper at CES. (And of course SatelliteGuys will be there to show you first. )

Yes, Scott, it was my understanding that HEVC was MPEG's reaction to a coming need for the 4K content, and that I was aware of MPEG working on something beyond HEVC (the MPEG5 or such as you said), but I think that will take a few more years now that all the effort and manufacturing and chip makers are focused on HEVC and in large quantities to make the scale of economy work. I think the HEVC interruption has pushed back MPEG5 for years. One hopes MPEG5 can handle 8K, and we should have the chips powerful enough to achieve that in the coming years.