Answers to your Hopper Questions

[ScottChez]

I wouldn't really expect OTA till late in the year considering it's not a priority for them. The summer info seems like a rough estimate. Be pleasantly surprised if it shows up any earlier.

I just do not understand why anyone would switch to the Dish Hopper knowing they will be missing many local channels. Some how I need to make this a Priority for Dish. Maybe once the Hopper is available. I will call in to order one and almost sign up and then get to the part where you give them your VISA Card and say, oh wait do you have ALL the local channels?

you do not have the CW, PBS Nebraska, and PBS Iowa in HD?

you do not have PBS Kids and World? (there sub channels)

you do not have the local Weather channel (a sub channel)

you do not have METV, Live Well, and MyTV (more sub channels).

you do not get the nearby DMA's CBS and ABC and there sub channels.

Cable and DireCTV (with there OTA) both have that all these local channels (you get these with DirecTV not cable)

I will than say, sorry Guess I need to cancel the order. Maybe then they will make it a priority and hire more contractor programers and QA testers to get it added this May?

OTA this summer could mean September. Sounds there priority is Two Hoppers working together and the Facebook, Pandora Music apps, not the Over the Air Tuner (OTA).

What if others called in, emailed, or I.M.ed there concern about lack of locals once the Hopper is release?

 

[butters]

I would be missing a grand total of 1 station. Our PBS station has Create TV on a subchannel which I can definitely live without. If I lived in a big city with lots of OTA and subchannels it might be a big deal but except for a backup tuner for satellite signal loss, OTA is not biggie.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I just got this one from DISH...

Scott, regarding your question on the upgrade fee, the upgrade for equipment starts at $100. If the customer has the protection plan, the install fee is $15, and it is $95 without the protection plan.

 

[KAB]

I just do not understand why anyone would switch to the Dish Hopper knowing they will be missing many local channels. Some how I need to make this a Priority for Dish. Maybe once the Hopper is available. I will call in to order one and almost sign up and then get to the part where you give them your VISA Card and say, oh wait do you have ALL the local channels?

you do not have the CW, PBS Nebraska, and PBS Iowa in HD?

you do not have PBS Kids and World? (there sub channels)

you do not have the local Weather channel (a sub channel)

you do not have METV, Live Well, and MyTV (more sub channels).

you do not get the nearby DMA's CBS and ABC and there sub channels.

Cable and DireCTV (with there OTA) both have that all these local channels (you get these with DirecTV not cable)

I will than say, sorry Guess I need to cancel the order. Maybe then they will make it a priority and hire more contractor programers and QA testers to get it added this May?

OTA this summer could mean September. Sounds there priority is Two Hoppers working together and the Facebook, Pandora Music apps, not the Over the Air Tuner (OTA).

What if others called in, emailed, or I.M.ed there concern about lack of locals once the Hopper is release?

Should we find a crisis counselor for you?

 

[bondfool]

I don't watch my subchannels that often, and until the OTA module is released, I can live with an antenna directly connected to the TV.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I just do not understand why anyone would switch to the Dish Hopper knowing they will be missing many local channels. Some how I need to make this a Priority for Dish. Maybe once the Hopper is available. I will call in to order one and almost sign up and then get to the part where you give them your VISA Card and say, oh wait do you have ALL the local channels?

The honest answer is because a MAJORITY of DISH customers do not use the OTA tuners built into their boxes... This was a MAJOR reason why the OTA was optional in the 722k and 922... why spend money on a feature that most will never use.

We here at SatelliteGuys are a strange bunch as we are heavy duty power users. If more people were like us then OTA would be a higher priority.

 

[isaacmorseMI]

I thought about OTA for a while when Dish refused to add our local CBS station in HD (They have it in HD now), but the amount of work (and cost) required to get a decent OTA setup outweighed the slight difference in PQ.

 

[butters]

Most folks don't even know they can still use an antenna to get TV. Hell, my mom didn't even know she had HD channels and wanted to know what the difference was with HD. She is more concerned with "Today's Special Value" on QVC than OTA, 1080i, diplexers, RG6, etc.

 

[JM42]

I just do not understand why anyone would switch to the Dish Hopper knowing they will be missing many local channels. Some how I need to make this a Priority for Dish. Maybe once the Hopper is available. I will call in to order one and almost sign up and then get to the part where you give them your VISA Card and say, oh wait do you have ALL the local channels?
...
I will than say, sorry Guess I need to cancel the order. Maybe then they will make it a priority and hire more contractor programers and QA testers to get it added this May?
...
What if others called in, emailed, or I.M.ed there concern about lack of locals once the Hopper is release?

It won't make any difference at all. They already know how small or large a percentage of the market OTA is. Dish knows how many OTA modules they have sold and I would assume have some decent data on how much use built-in OTA has in the millions of deployed receivers they have. A short term spike in OTA "cancellations" isn't going sway them.

 

[bdiederich]

Does anyone know if the Joeys support Bluetooth headphones too, or is it just the Hopper? Thanks!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Only the Hopper supports Bluetooth Headphones, the Joey's do not.

 

[navychop]

Another reason to hope they allow 2 Hopper, 0 Joey installations.

 

[budda]

The honest answer is because a MAJORITY of DISH customers do not use the OTA tuners built into their boxes... This was a MAJOR reason why the OTA was optional in the 722k and 922... why spend money on a feature that most will never use.

We here at SatelliteGuys are a strange bunch as we are heavy duty power users. If more people were like us then OTA would be a higher priority.

Scott, I believe it is not a priority nor should it be based on your comments. I would settle for it simply being an option. Really whats the holdup,

 

[goresnet]

Only the Hopper supports Bluetooth Headphones, the Joey's do not.

Scott, can you use the headphones on the PIP? I seriously doubt it, but can't hurt to ask. I'd love to be able to watch (and hear) a second source while the wife is watching her Brazilian shows.

 

[Scherrman]

I just do not understand why anyone would switch to the Dish Hopper knowing they will be missing many local channels. Some how I need to make this a Priority for Dish. Maybe once the Hopper is available. I will call in to order one and almost sign up and then get to the part where you give them your VISA Card and say, oh wait do you have ALL the local channels?

you do not have the CW, PBS Nebraska, and PBS Iowa in HD?

you do not have PBS Kids and World? (there sub channels)

you do not have the local Weather channel (a sub channel)

you do not have METV, Live Well, and MyTV (more sub channels).

you do not get the nearby DMA's CBS and ABC and there sub channels.

Cable and DireCTV (with there OTA) both have that all these local channels (you get these with DirecTV not cable)

I will than say, sorry Guess I need to cancel the order. Maybe then they will make it a priority and hire more contractor programers and QA testers to get it added this May?

OTA this summer could mean September. Sounds there priority is Two Hoppers working together and the Facebook, Pandora Music apps, not the Over the Air Tuner (OTA).

What if others called in, emailed, or I.M.ed there concern about lack of locals once the Hopper is release?

Do you really expect Dish to carry every local channel's sub-channels? You make it sound like it's soooo simple for a provider to just carry every single local channel there is. I can see being upset because they don't have PBS or the CW available buts that's about it.

 

[m9house]

Will the remotes talk directly to the hopper or will they communicate through the joey's. I have a 922 and a 612 that have trouble receving signals from their remotes. the 622 is only 15 ft away (behind a wall and some wiring) The 922 is the second remote about 40 ft away.

 

[isaacmorseMI]

Will the remotes talk directly to the hopper or will they communicate through the joey's. I have a 922 and a 612 that have trouble receving signals from their remotes. the 622 is only 15 ft away (behind a wall and some wiring) The 922 is the second remote about 40 ft away.

The remotes that are assigned to a Hopper will comunicate with the Hopper and the one's that are assigned to a Joey will comunicate with the Joey. The new ZigBee remotes that come with the Hopper/Joey will work a lot better than the current UHF ones.

Sent from my iPad 2 using Forum Runner

 

[Stargazer]

It's nothing new. my 922 was $200 + $15 install with DHPP. If you were to get new gutters for your house would you be suprised if they told you the gutters would be $500 + $200 for labor?

This is different than a gutter job. This is a service that we pay a monthly fee for. Not good that they are charging everybody either $15 (+$25 DHPP cancellation for those that don't have DHPP for a total of $40) or $95 so they need to advertise it as $139 or $194 instead of $99 because there are other fees involved unless they are going to allow self installation.

 

[Jim S.]

If they're charging for both the hardware and the installation for upgrades, then we should get a refund on our previous hardware that we paid for (even though it too was leased.) I don't know why a government that's supposed to protect its constituents with rational and equitable laws even allows such usurious nonsense. Like you said, the very minimum that should be acceptable should be to allow us to do our own installation without having to pay for the equipment beyond the lease fee.

 

[dare2be]

If they're charging for both the hardware and the installation for upgrades, then we should get a refund on our previous hardware that we paid for (even though it too was leased.) I don't know why a government that's supposed to protect its constituents with rational and equitable laws even allows such usurious nonsense. Like you said, the very minimum that should be acceptable should be to allow us to do our own installation without having to pay for the equipment beyond the lease fee.

The $100 is part of the lease fee, in addition to a new 2-year agreement. If you want, you could pay-as-you-go and buy outright...what was it quoted? $449 or $499, plus $99 each for the joeys?