New to Dish -- HD channels question

[pdx503]

Hi,

I am coming to Dish soon from Comcast, and have a questions about how HD channels work on Dish.

Here's the background:

We currently have 2 HDTV's and Tivo DVR's for our Comcast service. While we receive HD channels, we prefer to record in SD only, so as to maximize hard drive capacity. We will, however, often watch, but not record HD channels.

Here's my question. Please correct if I am wrong.

With Comcast, this is easy, because HD channels have their own channel numbers, for example 2 for SD and 702 for HD.

With Dish, I understand that HD and SD channels share the same channel numbers, and that both versions are listed separately in the guide.

If I wanted to display only SD channels, I know I could program a Favorites list of only SD channels.

But (correct me if I am wrong) manually typing in a channel number will take me to the HD version. If this is correct, is there a way to specify that I want to watch the SD version of a channel, preferably without resorting to the guide?

Or do I have a fundamental misunderstanding of how Dish's HD channels work?

If it makes any difference, we will have the Hopper.

Thanks!

 

[lucky86]

It will send you to the hd channel but you can just press channel down once to get to sd. I would say just record in HD because I'm betting the hopper hard drive is much larger than what you currently use. I never run into space issues and I record strictly in HD.

 

[sethwell]

When you sign up you will probably be offered the Hopper/Joey system with it's 2TB HDD. i have yet to fill up the hard drive and i record quite a bit of shows as well as record PTAT daily. also if you see that you are going to fill the disk up then you can always connect a USB external drive for extra storage.

So record in HD and use that HDTV like it wants to be used!! plus SD just doesn't look as good on a HDTV for me at least.

 

[#1_realist]

I record a lot of HD movies and used to run into space issues with my old 722k receiver. I haven't had that problem yet with the Hopper, but I imagine if I do I'll just get an EHD.

 

[Tampa8]

This may be a first here - wanting to record in SD for everything.... LOL - Not only does Dish have more recording space, you can add as many extra hard drives as you want to store programs you recorded. You just move the programs from the Receiver to the external hard drive, then giving you back the space on the receiver...

 

[garys]

I tend to not want to even watch sd channels anymore let alone record them. EHD and recordable dvds are what I would go with.

 

[pdx503]

This may be a first here - wanting to record in SD for everything.... LOL - Not only does Dish have more recording space, you can add as many extra hard drives as you want to store programs you recorded. You just move the programs from the Receiver to the external hard drive, then giving you back the space on the receiver...

Thanks, guys! While the die-hard in me will find it hard to shake old habits, I did not realize how flexible the Hopper is with EHD -- it doesn't do what I read Tivo does -- which is split recordings, or sometimes even parts of recordings, between the internal and external drives, which meant if a drive failed or you decided to upgrade your drive, it meant losing everything recorded since you added your EHD. I didn't realize that you could simply switch to a new EHD if one happened to fill up

I guess most of my trepidation comes from migrating from Tivo, where each of us has our own hard drive, and can manage the space as each sees fit, and sharing a communal hard drive.

I also read that only 1GB is user-accessible, the other gig being reserved for PTAT -- but that comes back to not realizing how well EHD's work with hopper.

A couple more questions, if you folks don't mind:

1. If the Hopper (God-forbid) dies, can the EHD's be simply plugged into the replacement Hopper, or must they be reformatted before they are recognized?

2. Given that there are not separate channel numbers for HD, if you go old-school and actually surf using channel up/down rather than using the guide, does this mean having to press the button twice to actually move one channel?

3. Does the hopper list the time remaining?

4. I understand the Hopper has an hour buffer. If a program is on that you want to record, and you have a full buffer, but you only want the last 15 minutes or so, can you go to your desired starting point and hit record, or are you stuck with the whole buffer being recorded (or none at all?)

Thanks again!

 

[fhsucade07]

Watching SD seems to hurt my eyes now that I'm used to HD.

 

[harshness]

We currently have 2 HDTV's and Tivo DVR's for our Comcast service. While we receive HD channels, we prefer to record in SD only, so as to maximize hard drive capacity. We will, however, often watch, but not record HD channels.

You'll get over this nasty habit quickly. Unlike the Comcast DVRs the Hopper supports dozens of hours of HD recording capacity over and above recording all Prime Time weekday programming.

If I wanted to display only SD channels, I know I could program a Favorites list of only SD channels.

You can use exactly the same technique with DISH should you wish to continue your brutal program of self-flagellation.

 

[garys]

Thanks, guys! While the die-hard in me will find it hard to shake old habits, I did not realize how flexible the Hopper is with EHD -- it doesn't do what I read Tivo does -- which is split recordings, or sometimes even parts of recordings, between the internal and external drives, which meant if a drive failed or you decided to upgrade your drive, it meant losing everything recorded since you added your EHD. I didn't realize that you could simply switch to a new EHD if one happened to fill up

I guess most of my trepidation comes from migrating from Tivo, where each of us has our own hard drive, and can manage the space as each sees fit, and sharing a communal hard drive.

I also read that only 1GB is user-accessible, the other gig being reserved for PTAT -- but that comes back to not realizing how well EHD's work with hopper.

A couple more questions, if you folks don't mind:

1. If the Hopper (God-forbid) dies, can the EHD's be simply plugged into the replacement Hopper, or must they be reformatted before they are recognized?

2. Given that there are not separate channel numbers for HD, if you go old-school and actually surf using channel up/down rather than using the guide, does this mean having to press the button twice to actually move one channel?

3. Does the hopper list the time remaining?

4. I understand the Hopper has an hour buffer. If a program is on that you want to record, and you have a full buffer, but you only want the last 15 minutes or so, can you go to your desired starting point and hit record, or are you stuck with the whole buffer being recorded (or none at all?)

Thanks again!

The Hopper hard drive is 2T not 2G, the PTAT and recordings are on the same partition, the other side is set for VOD. The hard drives are set to the account, so if your replace or add another Hopper, the EHD will work. You can also scan the guide by all the channels shown at the time by one click of the page button.

 

[TheKrell]

IIRC the split between us and Dish these days is 1.2TB/800G.

 

[shemya]

2. Given that there are not separate channel numbers for HD, if you go old-school and actually surf using channel up/down rather than using the guide, does this mean having to press the button twice to actually move one channel?
Thanks again!

On the Dish remote you can hit the guide button and pick form "All Channels you get", Only "All HD Channels you get" or a custom list you create. I like that feature! Good luck with your new system and welcome to "The darkside:

 

[Tampa8]

Thanks, guys! While the die-hard in me will find it hard to shake old habits, I did not realize how flexible the Hopper is with EHD -- it doesn't do what I read Tivo does -- which is split recordings, or sometimes even parts of recordings, between the internal and external drives, which meant if a drive failed or you decided to upgrade your drive, it meant losing everything recorded since you added your EHD. I didn't realize that you could simply switch to a new EHD if one happened to fill up

I guess most of my trepidation comes from migrating from Tivo, where each of us has our own hard drive, and can manage the space as each sees fit, and sharing a communal hard drive.

I also read that only 1GB is user-accessible, the other gig being reserved for PTAT -- but that comes back to not realizing how well EHD's work with hopper.

A couple more questions, if you folks don't mind:

1. If the Hopper (God-forbid) dies, can the EHD's be simply plugged into the replacement Hopper, or must they be reformatted before they are recognized?

2. Given that there are not separate channel numbers for HD, if you go old-school and actually surf using channel up/down rather than using the guide, does this mean having to press the button twice to actually move one channel?

3. Does the hopper list the time remaining?

4. I understand the Hopper has an hour buffer. If a program is on that you want to record, and you have a full buffer, but you only want the last 15 minutes or so, can you go to your desired starting point and hit record, or are you stuck with the whole buffer being recorded (or none at all?)

Thanks again!

You can record from the spot you are at in the buffer. (At least you can with other Dish receivers)There should be a few choices when you pick record.
Time remaining should show for recorded events
All of your EHD's will work with any Hopper on your system current or future.
As noted the hardrive is much bigger than you thought!

 

[Scherrman]

It makes absolutely zero sense to record anything in SD on the Hopper. There is so much space on the hard drive that you should not have any problems, especially if you have two Hoppers or an external hard drive. I've had an external hard drive for a couple years and when I switched to the Hopper I've never had to use it anymore. I think I have over 300 recordings on one of my Hoppers and I don't think I'm at 50% capacity yet.

 

[TheKrell]

I think I have over 300 recordings on one of my Hoppers and I don't think I'm at 50% capacity yet.

Could you double-check that one please? At release, the Hopper had a 199 event limit just like the VIP receivers did. IMHO this limit was way low for the 922 internal, and of course all EHDs. Many people have loaded their EHDs with more than 199 programs, and the surplus just disappears until you delete stuff you can see.

 

[lucky86]

Could you double-check that one please? At release, the Hopper had a 199 event limit just like the VIP receivers did. IMHO this limit was way low for the 922 internal, and of course all EHDs. Many people have loaded their EHDs with more than 199 programs, and the surplus just disappears until you delete stuff you can see.

I'm at 65 percent with 221 recordings and I believe my other hopper has even more recordings. I have never heard of such a limit on the Hopper.

 

[Cold Irons]

On the VIP series at least, the "event limit" applies to timers; nothing to do with the number of individual recordings stored on the internal hard drive.