Not happy with the Dish Hopper DVR
- Thread starter Claude Greiner
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How many Dish subscribers are going to have to watch four live programs at the same time? How often does that actually happen for the typical customer? You hypothetical is a bit off as if you record something on HBO, you can check different times for a movie and record in the middle of the night. Recording can be done strategically.
So this leaves us back at the question, how many Dish customers actually need to watch four live programs at the same time.
So the hopper is bad because it makes it more difficult for husband's to deceive their wife's? Uhhh...
I can see a commercial now catered towards women. Women are you tired of your men sneaking around watching other naked women on TV? If so, purchase a hopper from Dish. You will be able to spy on your man without him even knowing.
I fully agree this is not a daily occurrence but I defiently would not call it uncommon. Many of the kids shows that we setup to record don't come on at night. Also, while I realize some movies come on multiple times a day or week, that is not true for all movies. There are plenty of times a movie only comes on once during the week.
I personally view this as something that might occur once or twice a month for my family of 4 with our 4 TV setup and we are not heavy TV users or heavy DVR users. Now, a "typical dumb customer" would just accept this issue when it occurs and move on but for must of us on this forum we realize this is screwy. It would frustrate me when it does occur and I would look for a solution. And the solution is a second Hopper or switching to Direct.
In summary, you asked
I think it is fair to say that many of us on here have vastly different opinions regarding the answer to this question. Dish's solution very well might have been to take the cheap route, only offer 3 tuners, see how many complaints they get then price a second Hopper lower if needed or make future versions of the tuner have 4-5 tuners.
there will be 4 tvs in my house on live tv most of the time here shortly. so i would definitely need 2 hoppers, but i am sure that will still lead to dvr conflicts as i am using all 4 tuners on my 722k several night a week. guess the kids will have to watch recorded shows when that happens with the hopper/joey setup.
I think most would agree that two Hoppers would satisfy their needs just fine. The real issue here is price on that second Hopper and the Joey's in the way of upfront cost and ongoing monthly fees. Having two separate Hoppers needed vs. one HR-34 is making people think that there will be additional fees attached that could make it unattractive. It would be nice if they did not rape us on the second Hopper fee in the case of where we only needed a few Joey's with two Hoppers which would serve four rooms for a total of six tuners all the time and nine shows at once during primetime (not counting OTA usb tuners).
I think some people want to free up that extra 3rd tuner during primetime anytime and use the ota usb tuner to record the network stations.
I think some people want to free up that extra 3rd tuner during primetime anytime and use the ota usb tuner to record the network stations.
The observation that it comes down to price is very accurate. Remember, the idea is Dish has determined it will cost less to have a three tuner box than a five, because so many households won't need more than that. I happen to believe that is accurate. If you need more you add a second box. They do need to come out with the USB OTA tuner however.
It does not matter if they or I are right or wrong, if the price is right. If their three tuner solution is less than Direct offers, they are ahead of the game. If the two box solution is in the ball park of Direct, they are fine. I believe those putting down this system based on the amount of tuners may have a different outlook IF dish has a lower cost.
No matter how good the system is, I can't get past losing one box loses all TV, same as any whole house system that only has one actual satellite receiver. Since they won't be allowing a mixed system, I think sticking with the individual receivers is for me.
It does not matter if they or I are right or wrong, if the price is right. If their three tuner solution is less than Direct offers, they are ahead of the game. If the two box solution is in the ball park of Direct, they are fine. I believe those putting down this system based on the amount of tuners may have a different outlook IF dish has a lower cost.
No matter how good the system is, I can't get past losing one box loses all TV, same as any whole house system that only has one actual satellite receiver. Since they won't be allowing a mixed system, I think sticking with the individual receivers is for me.
We have 2 kids, and I can tell you that many times we have 4 tuners in use. I like sports, my wife doesn't so that is two tuners. The kids each have T.V.'s in their rooms, and if they are watching something, there goes 4 tuners. Now if I was trying to record a movie or show, I am now SOL.
I agree that they are going to have to give decent pricing on a second hopper and the joeys, otherwise I would say D*'s HR34 setup is superior. If I am not mistaken, D*'s setup with the H25 receivers aren't reliant on the HR34 to watch T.V.? I believe they are independent receivers with the ability to access the HR34?
I agree that they are going to have to give decent pricing on a second hopper and the joeys, otherwise I would say D*'s HR34 setup is superior. If I am not mistaken, D*'s setup with the H25 receivers aren't reliant on the HR34 to watch T.V.? I believe they are independent receivers with the ability to access the HR34?
correct. The RVU units (which are not available yet) have no tuner so they have to work off the HR34. The H25 is a full functioning tuner so the only time it works with the HR34 is for watching recorded stuff
So a HR34/3 H25 gives you actually 8 independent tuners
If they won't allow a mixed system, then I will be out too. I need the 211 to take with us to the lake house on weekends during the summer and fall.
I disagree that the technology itself sucks. What is in question is the vision of the people who come up with the specifications and feature set that the technology is designed to meet.
Regrettably, the features seem to be coming from Engineering instead of Marketing.
Such is not to say that this problem is DISH's alone as it is painfully obvious that some of the competition's stuff was designed by committee in much the same way that an elephant is a mouse designed by committee.
It seems that there’s a lot of people complaining about the hopper’s capabilities/limitations, specifically that it has only 3 tuners. The hopper is perfect for my desired configuration because I have 4 HD TV’s. One hopper and three Joey’s would suffice for me because there are never than more than 2 TV’s on at any time.
With the hopper and Joey’s I can now have HD on all TV’s, something that previously required 4 VIP type receivers. It looks like the main complaints are from people that want individual programming on more than three TV’s simultaneously while recording other programming. The solution is, of course, a second hopper (or even a third), but then there is the cost factor.
I’d wager that my desired configuration would accommodate the vast majority of subscribers.
With the hopper and Joey’s I can now have HD on all TV’s, something that previously required 4 VIP type receivers. It looks like the main complaints are from people that want individual programming on more than three TV’s simultaneously while recording other programming. The solution is, of course, a second hopper (or even a third), but then there is the cost factor.
I’d wager that my desired configuration would accommodate the vast majority of subscribers.
For sure is not from Engineering - they came with DP544 device long time ago, it's those VP or bean-counters who are watching each $.
Yes It was posted that the tuners come three to a board so if they could have spent a little more and added a second board then they could have advertised 10 shows at once and most households could have only one .
charge a little upchage at the start like 99.oo and people would love them with only three I think and if you read most of the post most will need two .
I don't think that is true. I thought the Hoppers had to but placed one on top of the other and would sort of act like one unit? I thought you would still need three Joeys.
