How Noisy Should A Hopper Be ?

az99

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
May 27, 2014
252
49
What is the acceptable amount of noise a Hopper should make? Mine sounds like a drum beating and the thing runs all the time whether it is recording or not. I have thought of putting a timer on to shutoff at midnight.

I ask because when I call tech support to get it replaced, I know they will tell me it is good.
 
Ditto...the only time I hear mine is when the fans spool up briefly if it has to restart when I'm around. Otherwise, never hear it at all.

Maybe try sending a PM to one of the DIRT members rather than calling Tech Support.
 
If I listen very closely, I can hear the disk on mine seeking during the night. Not nearly enough to bother me, though. It's a hopper 2000 rather than a Hopper w/Sling.
 
Mine is random, but not loud. I beleive the longest it goes is maybe 30 minutes when doing a major SW download. Otherwise, typically 5 minutes or less for every hour.
 
I must be in the minority then. My one Hopper w/Sling is a noisy little bugger. A mechanical whirring sound. Been like that for a very long time. Just loud, but wondering if it is the fan (or both fan and HD). Doesn't make a difference if on or standby, download in progress or not. I've often thought of backing the recordings up, but just too lazy. One of the cats like sleeping on it as it's in an open cabinet and she most likely likes the warmth. Maybe the sound sounds like purring to her as well. ;)

The second Hopper w/Sling we have is quiet as a mouse. I've had DVRs go out when quiet so know that sometimes this is not cause and effect. Otherwise, no indication of a failing HD.

<watch, I just jinxed myself...>
 
Your noisy Hopper that becomes a cat bed is probably filled with cat hair, causing the noise..... ;)

Too funny! It was noisy before she started hanging out there though. And it wasn't the one in my avatar photo. She is a long hair cat and would agree that would cause the fan to instantly stop moving. The other one is a shorthair and not really a big shedder.
 
I must be in the minority then. My one Hopper w/Sling is a noisy little bugger. A mechanical whirring sound. Been like that for a very long time. Just loud, but wondering if it is the fan (or both fan and HD). Doesn't make a difference if on or standby, download in progress or not. I've often thought of backing the recordings up, but just too lazy. One of the cats like sleeping on it as it's in an open cabinet and she most likely likes the warmth. Maybe the sound sounds like purring to her as well. ;)

The second Hopper w/Sling we have is quiet as a mouse. I've had DVRs go out when quiet so know that sometimes this is not cause and effect. Otherwise, no indication of a failing HD.

<watch, I just jinxed myself...>
Not only is mine noisy it runs hot. If a cat would lay on mine you would have a gourmet Chinese meal in the morning.
 
My cat sits on my Family Room Hopper once in a while. Cozy. I used to hate cats til we got one. I wouldn't make a gourmet Chinese meal out of him but that comment was funny.

But any hoo, back to the Hopper noise. I went thru a bunch of Hoppers recently because of hard drive failure. The one in our Bedroom was very noisy and annoying at night while trying to go to sleep. The replacement is dead quiet. Kind of a blessing other than the fact my wife lost all her recordings.
 
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Kinda wonder about what Dish thinks about cats sitting on their equipment. Cozy warm boxes.
In training, they told us and showed us pictures of a receiver with a fried cat on top of it, from its tail getting stuck in one of the vents and it getting electrocuted. That was Mpeg2 equipment.
 
Cat's fine!
Marlee Hopper.jpg

Have to turn up the volume, but this is the 'whirring' sound mine makes.
http://lightspeedinternet.com/dish/Hopper Sound.wav
 
If it is making noises, it could be advance hints of an impending hard drive failure. Remember that the DVR is essentially a computer, and most all computers suffer hard drive failures if used long enough. If you hear whirring, clicking/clacking, etc., it could be about to fail.
 
I got 2 Hoppers 3 days after release in March 2012. I definitely will say that they are much noisier during nightly resets now than then probably because of software changes. Used to be that when they reset there was just a gentle "whoosh" at the beginning of the sequence when the fan cycled. Now I hear several seconds of what sounds like HD noise, followed by the fan noise and ending up with a few seconds more of disk? noise. The green ethernet light flashes a few times during the process also.
 

Joey seems to be failing

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