I have 2 hoppers with sling and 2 joeys. The past couple of months I have lost a couple of over the air channels briefly due to contract issues between dish and the providers. I love prime time anytime. So my question is. Can I hook 1 hopper up to the usb over the air antenna and leave the other set up on prime time anytime? So, essentially I would lose over the air channels on one hopper but not the other, whenever there is a blackout. I am concerned that if install 1 usb ota that both hoppers will try to use it, in which case I would no longer be able to use prime time anytime. Both hoppers are linked to each other and both joeys are linked to the same hopper. This allows me to watch dvr recordings that are stored on either hopper from any room in the house, which is a very nice feature. Thank you for your help.
prime time anytime and usb ota
- Thread starter AndyNicholas
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I got the same setup as you. Only have one OTA Module. My Bedroom Hopper does not pick up OTA. So your second Hopper won't either. You will be ok.
The Hoppers are only sorta linked. The only time they work together is that you can watch DVR Recordings from either one. Also, say if you are using all the tuners on one Hopper and want to record more on it, it will record on the other Hopper.
The Hoppers are only sorta linked. The only time they work together is that you can watch DVR Recordings from either one. Also, say if you are using all the tuners on one Hopper and want to record more on it, it will record on the other Hopper.
Awesome, that is exactly what I needed to know. One other question. I have noticed people without dish and only digital antenna will pick up some over the air channels that dish does not provide. For example dish provides a local channel 11 thv (cbs). But people with antenna only will pick up channel 11 thv and channel 11-2 thv2. Will the hopper with the ota start picking up those extra channels as well?
And yes, my hopper is only kind of linked like yours is. You can watch recordings from either hopper and it will record on the other hopper if all tunners are busy. Can you record the ota channels to the dvr hard drive as well?
And yes, my hopper is only kind of linked like yours is. You can watch recordings from either hopper and it will record on the other hopper if all tunners are busy. Can you record the ota channels to the dvr hard drive as well?
Yes. Cool thing about the PTAT is if you record a show via OTA that is a on Dish, you still get Autohop. If it is a down channel like Tegna then it won't have Autohop but you can still record manual timers.
I just got off the phone with dish from ordering my ota adapter. I have been reading some about the ota. I saw some that look like the offer 2 ota tuners. I am unsure if that is the one I ordered (price was $30). Does that mean I would hypothetically be able to record 2 channels plus 2 ota channels, for a total of 4 at the same time?
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Yes you can record OTA Channels.
Yes you will pick up more OTA Channels. Example, I live near Pittsburgh Pa and we are not far from Ohio and West Virginia. I get their channels also. It's nice on Football Sunday's that I can watch games broadcast to their cities that are not on Dish or Pittsburgh Channels.
Also you will pick up sub channels from you locals that Dish don't carry.
Yes you will pick up more OTA Channels. Example, I live near Pittsburgh Pa and we are not far from Ohio and West Virginia. I get their channels also. It's nice on Football Sunday's that I can watch games broadcast to their cities that are not on Dish or Pittsburgh Channels.
Also you will pick up sub channels from you locals that Dish don't carry.
You will be able to record 3 Dish channels and one OTA Channel at the same time on the Hopper with the module.
The USB OTA module only has one tuner. You can get one OTA and 3 hopper satellite tuners per box per module.
Thank both of your for your help. I would have gotten one a long time ago if I had known this information. From what you have told me, I think I will be very happy using the prime time anytime on 1 hopper and the ota on the other. I like prime time anytime because I found a few shows that it recorded that I would have otherwise missed amd didn't want to give that up fpr the ota. Thanks again guys.
One more thing. You will also be able to watch OTA on the Joeys linked to that Hopper.
Maybe you can get by with rabbit ears depending on your location. Check to find out by using this site. http://www.antennaweb.org/Address.aspx
Thank you. I used the website you gave me. It looks like in order to get all the locals I will need a big directional pre amp roof antenna. The channel my son watch the most said I need it (pbs). There are a lot of trees around us as well.
I have a question for the OTA folks here. I am 17 miles east of the towers for all Phoenix locals. You think there is an antenna of any sort I could put up to pick up the Tucson locals here in AZ? That would be cool to run through my Dish box as well.
Wow Chad, can't believe you don't have a antenna already. I am about 20 air miles from Pittsburgh and have no problems. And there are a lot of hills around here. I later added a preamp to bring in more channels.
I suggest you go to tvfool. Very good information there. http://forum.tvfool.com/index.php Hope I gave you a good link.
Oh, already done that. Got my antenna set for Phoenix. That is how I knew I was 17 miles from the tower(I use antennaweb.org although both work just as good as the other). I am a good distance from Tucson so that is why I was asking that.
ChadT41... According to Google maps, Phoenix and Tucson are 118 miles apart. That's a long distance for TV signals unless you're high up on a hill and have an antenna with lots of gain. I doubt you'll have any luck receiving the Tucson stations. About 75 miles is about the maximum distance for reliable coverage under average conditions.
Occasionally you might find conditions to be better than average and you can pull in stations from a long way off, but they won't be there for most of the time. I have a very good antenna for VHF and UHF on a rotor, and the most distant station I get here on a regular basis is 65 miles away. (See http://www.larrykenney.com/tvantennas.html for a look at my antennas.) I have seen stations up to 175 miles away, but it's rare.
While the Dish OTA receiver module is very good and pulls in all of the weak stations, there is a big flaw in the software. You probably know about it already. You can't add channels to your station list. Whenever you scan it deletes the existing list and makes a new one. For someone like me who has stations coming in from several different directions, there's no way to get all of the stations into your list. It sure would be great for Dish to update this feature!
Larry
Occasionally you might find conditions to be better than average and you can pull in stations from a long way off, but they won't be there for most of the time. I have a very good antenna for VHF and UHF on a rotor, and the most distant station I get here on a regular basis is 65 miles away. (See http://www.larrykenney.com/tvantennas.html for a look at my antennas.) I have seen stations up to 175 miles away, but it's rare.
While the Dish OTA receiver module is very good and pulls in all of the weak stations, there is a big flaw in the software. You probably know about it already. You can't add channels to your station list. Whenever you scan it deletes the existing list and makes a new one. For someone like me who has stations coming in from several different directions, there's no way to get all of the stations into your list. It sure would be great for Dish to update this feature!
Larry
So it has been a while since I posted here and finally got my ota tuner set up today. I was under the impression I could not use ota and pta at the same time. Correct me if I am wrong, this photo shows that I can use both at the same time? One other question. I have Winegard HD8200U Heavy Duty Platinum VHF/UHF/FM HDTV Antenna (HD8200U). It is a big outdoor antenna. Do you guys think it is possible to order another ota module from dish to hook up to my 2nd hopper and be able to watch 2 different ota channels on each hopper?
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Yes you can use PTAT and OTA at the same time. You can also add another OTA module to your second Hopper.
You could always watch OTA along with PTAT. I'm not sure where you heard different. You can add second OTA adapter on the second Hopper but you will need to add a second coax from the antenna, or splitter, to feed it. I'm not sure if you can watch 2 OTA channels on each Hopper, but you definitely can watch 1 on each. You would be able to record from those OTA channels and watch those recordings on both Hoppers.
