Answers to your Hopper Questions

Scott Greczkowski

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Sep 7, 2003
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You guys asked so we submitted DISH a list of the 15 best questions that you our members asked! (Many of the questions submitted were of the same nature or would be answered if other previously asked questions would be answered.

Our thanks to DISH for fielding the questions and taking the time to reply!

So here we go..

DISH answer your Hopper questions!

1) How many timers/events are allowed with a hopper? Same as the VIP, with 96 timers and 576 events. Though PTAT reduces the number of timers needed since those shows are recorded with that system.

2) Are ALL outputs live on the hopper? Yes

3) What are the operating and standby power draws (watts) for the hopper and joey? Not published yet.

4) Can multiple remotes be tied to one Hopper or a Joey? Yes

5) Is the upgrade offer available for Puerto Rico? Yes

6) When can we call and order? Do we have to wait to the 15th or can we call and order now for an install on the 15th? Call and order on the 15th.

7) What is the retail price of a Duo Node box? MSRP is $60.00

8) When will OTA be supported? This summer.
Is DISH looking at a single or dual tuner solution for OTA? TBD.

9) Will the USB wi-fi connector work with the hopper? Yes

10) If I upgrade am I subject to a new 2 year commitment? Yes, standard upgrade

11) Question about PTAT. If I currently have a timer for Fringe on Fox, will I still need a timer on the Hopper to have Fringe automatically move to my part of the hard drive, or is the only way to save that recording to manually move it myself?
If you have a timer on Fringe it will save to the DVR. Will still use only PTAT tuner.

12) Aside from the $99 upgrade fee for current customers, is there any installation fee? What if you have/add the protection plan? I am checking on this for you.


13) What will be the retail price for extra 40.0 remotes? MSRP is $20.00


14) In a two-Hopper, four-Joey installation (at March 15 launch), will having a home phone line connected to only one of the two Hoppers enable Caller ID alerts on all six HDTVs? Not sure. Checking on this.

15) Which Apps will be available at launch? Will Pandora and Facebook be available at launch? Pandora and Facebook are under certification. Once certified they will be available, but we may miss 3/15.
 
Bummer that we can ORDER on the 15th, but hopefully it won't be too long after that that I can get an install. Glad to hear a more solid timeframe on OTA for those of you who want/need it. Can anyone explain the answer to question 11 to me? I don't quite follow.
 
Bummer that we can ORDER on the 15th, but hopefully it won't be too long after that that I can get an install. Glad to hear a more solid timeframe on OTA for those of you who want/need it. Can anyone explain the answer to question 11 to me? I don't quite follow.

Yes the Hopper will not be in CSR's screens until the 15th, so you can't order before then.

On the other question lets say you like House and want to keep all episodes.. You setup a timer for it like you would for any show... when it records because you have it set as a timer it will save the show to the user partition instead of the Prime Time Anytime Partition, yet when it records it will still use the PTAT tuner instead of tying up another tuner for that show. :)
 
According to the polls another important question was when will 2 hoppers intregrate??? Can we get an answer to that???
 
bondfool said:
Bummer that we can ORDER on the 15th, but hopefully it won't be too long after that that I can get an install. Glad to hear a more solid timeframe on OTA for those of you who want/need it. Can anyone explain the answer to question 11 to me? I don't quite follow.

If you go to a retailer you may be able to line up an install for the 15th.
 
Come on guys. Software ALWAYS takes time. I'm not surprised some of this stuff slipped. I'm STILL VERY interested in a 2H/1J system. Working in a software department, nothing in these answers are out of line.

Good Job Dish on answering the questions.
 
Still need to hear Dish say a 2 Hopper with no Joeys system will be allowed.
 
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11) Question about PTAT. If I currently have a timer for Fringe on Fox, will I still need a timer on the Hopper to have Fringe automatically move to my part of the hard drive, or is the only way to save that recording to manually move it myself?
If you have a timer on Fringe it will save to the DVR. Will still use only PTAT tuner.
THAT is awesome!:)
 
11) Question about PTAT. If I currently have a timer for Fringe on Fox, will I still need a timer on the Hopper to have Fringe automatically move to my part of the hard drive, or is the only way to save that recording to manually move it myself?
If you have a timer on Fringe it will save to the DVR. Will still use only PTAT tuner.

THAT is awesome!:)
Yes...that answers the question of whether you have to manually move the event from the PTAT partition to the DVR space every week. It also implies that you will need to set up your timers for potential programming overruns yourself, just as you do now.
 
Come on guys. Software ALWAYS takes time. I'm not surprised some of this stuff slipped.
Nothing really slipped at all. Everything related to OTA and the seamless hopper integration is pretty much what Scott mentioned way back at CES.

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.
 
dare2be said:
Yes...that answers the question of whether you have to manually move the event from the PTAT partition to the DVR space every week. It also implies that you will need to set up your timers for potential programming overruns yourself, just as you do now.

Doesn't that kind of nullify the point of PTAT?
 
No, the point of PTAT is that all 4 networks are being demuxed (for lack of a better word) to the HDD using one tuner. The timers are just the mechanism to "save" what you want from the 8-day window.
 
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