Hopper - will 3 tuners be enough?

[sparc]

That's what I keep thinking. If the Hopper isn't going to be enough how are you all getting my now? Dish is making an improvement but it still isn't enough. I know that if Dish made a 4 tuner receiver it still wouldn't be enough and people would complain. Never fails.

most of the current complaints are based on fear of what a two hopper system would cost since dish makes each additional receiver cost so much. A two hopper system with six tuners should in theory make most customers happy (in terms of hardware).

It's largely a price issue and the expectation for most is that Dish will try to raise prices even while saying they'll be "aggressive."

A better poll here would be.... Do you believe Dish Network when they say they will price The Hopper aggressively?

that poll would make for a good laugh

 

[Laddyboy]

That's what I keep thinking. If the Hopper isn't going to be enough how are you all getting my now? Dish is making an improvement but it still isn't enough. I know that if Dish made a 4 tuner receiver it still wouldn't be enough and people would complain. Never fails.

I think they are using multiple receivers to get the desired number of tuners for their household. They don't have WHDVR so they have to move around, etc. The Hopper with 3 tuners, while providing WHDVR service, isn't providing the number of tuners they need. I think they are assuming the fees/costs for a second Hopper will be substantial. Furthermore, if Dish isn't going to allow additional ViP receivers on the same account with the Hopper system, they see themselves as not being able to use it. I think some would be happy to use the Hopper along with additional standalone ViPs for the kids, guest room, etc. I see their point. Dish may end up forcing the top end customers that demand lots of service to the other provider. They've already done that to some extent with the receiver fee structure that's in place. If you need several receivers, Direct is usually cheaper. I'll withhold judgment until I see what the fees and costs are.

 

[theoak]

I have 2 HDTVs in my home. One hopper and one Joey would work great.

I do have a third SD TV in the kitchen. A 3rd joey would be nice ... it all depends on how the pricing shakes out.

With PTA ... I'm should be set with 3 tuners. I rarely do the sub channels.

 

[Jhon69]

Since so many people need more than three tuners per the survey, how ware they coping now?

I can see mutiple DVRs but then you have to move around to see the recordings.

I have one 722k/wMT2 so I have now 2SAT+2OTA Tuners for 2 rooms.

 

[Mr Tony]

As my other posts I have made all DISH needs is 4 satellite tuners,when combined with PTAT and the MT2 it would be 6 or 10 with PTAT(4SAT+2OTA).DISH could name this beast Thumper because it will beat the crap out of any thing on the market available today.

complete with $25 receiver fee (not waived if main receiver)

 

[Mr Tony]

Since so many people need more than three tuners per the survey, how ware they coping now?

I can see mutiple DVRs but then you have to move around to see the recordings.

2 DVR's in the living room

 

[Jhon69]

complete with $25 receiver fee (not waived if main receiver)

Hmm...Maybe a HR34 in my future,we wii have to see,or stay as I am.

 

[mike123abc]

I have been thinking this for years. They need to make the receivers upgradable. They probably figure technology changes so much that they would want to make other changes as well to the receiver making it not worth the hassle. In this case, with needing to add more satellite tuners, it would make great sense to do that.

It would be a good idea if they were not going to make millions of them. I would speculate that most Dish customers go many years without changing any equipment. In fact the move to HD is probably the only thing making many of them even thinking about changing equipment. So, by the time most think about doing an upgrade the box would be beyond the ability to do an upgrade. Think of a PC, after about 3-4 years it is pretty difficult to upgrade much on it (except perhaps the HD), even PC memory starts to go UP in price after a few years as the mainstream memory changes to a new format.

 

[remobravo]

I like the poll. The collective opinion of a group that contains a lot of installers is probably pretty accurate. It currently shows a significant majority think over 90% of subscribers either don't need more than 3 tuners, or will be satisfied with 3 even if they could use more. I voted for that second category, though I don't think you need to call 30% of them dum.

Personally, I've got a family of four with 2 pre-teens, and top of my priority list is getting HD to all TVs while still sharing a common source for recordings. The 3 vs 4 or 5 tuners is not nearly as important. I've got a single 722k now, so 3 tuners with PTAT will be a nice step up. So you could call me happy with 3 tuners, just please don't call me dumb [I know I spelt it wrong before]. My guess is that I'm representative of a pretty big chunk of the customer base.

My prediction on pricing is that it will be better than some of you are thinking, and here's why. Dish has reported increasing profits and stagnant to decreasing subscriber base over the last year or so. Hence they have both the ability (healthy profit margins) and the motivation (increase subscribers) to make Hopper a good deal. Of course, maybe they're happy to shirnk the subscriber base if they can do it profitably. Or maybe they'll give it away to the new customers and really stick to the rest of us. Either way, I'm dumb enough to look forward to getting one (or two).

 

[TheKrell]

One 722 and 2 612s: 6 sat and 3 OTA tuners right now.

 

[Stargazer]

Aggressive pricing today = rediculous price tomorrow. Dish already done it to us before (and more than once). Why wouldn't they do it again? You can fool part of the people part of the time but not all of the people all of the time. Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me. The only thing that has kept me on Dish Network was the great DVR hardware/software since I think it is the best in the biz. Someone else is going to catch up eventually. Another thing that has helped keep me with Dish this past year was the bundling with Frontier. That's +2 for Dish. Cable is about to light up here with up to 50 MB and the node is practically in front of my house with a fiber run to it. Too bad their cable tv sucks and they make you take that to get their internet.

 

[GaryPen]

A better poll here would be.... Do you believe Dish Network when they say they will price The Hopper aggressively?

Yes. "Aggressively" as in "beating the hell out of you".

 

[butters]

My prediction on pricing is that it will be better than some of you are thinking, and here's why. Dish has reported increasing profits and stagnant to decreasing subscriber base over the last year or so. Hence they have both the ability (healthy profit margins) and the motivation (increase subscribers) to make Hopper a good deal. Of course, maybe they're happy to shirnk the subscriber base if they can do it profitably. Or maybe they'll give it away to the new customers and really stick to the rest of us. Either way, I'm dumb enough to look forward to getting one (or two).

In Scott's video, Vivek Khemka stated that there would be deals for new and existing customers so I remain optimistic.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I have been thinking this for years. They need to make the receivers upgradable. They probably figure technology changes so much that they would want to make other changes as well to the receiver making it not worth the hassle. In this case, with needing to add more satellite tuners, it would make great sense to do that.

Thanks , we think a like. I only wish DISH would read this and take heed. They would save a lot of money if they could do upgrade modules for their existing receivers.

 

[DishSubLA]

Each member of the household will be expecting a 2 tuner experience. PLENTY of people still watch TV LIVE. The will want to watch something else while the other show records.

 

[Stargazer]

I wonder if there are any statistics out on the percentage of customers have DVR.

 

[navychop]

I wonder if there are any statistics out on the percentage of customers have DVR.

I think someone once posted a figure here, from where I don't know. I just remember it was well below half. Perhaps things have changed since then.

 

[Stargazer]

DVR for everyone = more satisfied customers = better customer retention.

I wonder why they could not make some Joey's with tuners in them. That way you can add tuners to the "network" that way. Perhaps it's simpler to just add another Hopper than to do that.

 

[lparsons21]

They probably could do that, but either way it is fine imo.

The Hopper makes an excellent one-size fits most box. Instead of a slew of varying models as we have now, just start with one Hopper and work up from there. Even for the SD folks. Volume brings the unit cost down, two different receivers instead of a slew makes tech support easier and installation unified.

I see no way for it to be anything but a big plus for Dish.

When it ships, will there be some issues early on? Sure, but they will all get fixed at some point in time.

 

[Jhon69]

I just don't understand why only 3 tuners?,why not 6 tuners?,If DISH would have brought out a 6 tuners HDDVR that is RVU compliant with a MT2 OTA Module box,I don't think we would be having all these discussions.


I'm sure DISH knew what DirecTV was coming out with: with the HR34 and it's 5 tuners?.It just makes the Hopper look like a product that is a day late,and a dollar short.


I don't need a product to be able to access TV in every room,but I do like a product that has plenty of options for access and recording.

If DISH overprices this unit there will be no problems,they will just lose more subscribers to DirecTV.:tsk::doh: