any chance for a new dual tuner ota dongle?

[bnewt]

with all of the complaints & issues with the current dual tuner, does anyone think Dish or anyone else will come up with a newer, improved version

I tried to use the dual tuner version again last week end. I immediately tried watching 2 ota channels at one time - worked ok. Then I tried recording 1 ota channel & watching another......garbage. The channel I was watching live was horrible, breaking up, almost unwatchable, but the recorded channel seemed ok

About an hour later tried tuning to an ota channel.....nothing but the lost signal screen. Reinstalled the older single tuner & things were ok. The dual tuner was almost too hot to hold, even though it was not in any type of containment.

 

[pattykay]

with all of the complaints & issues with the current dual tuner, does anyone think Dish or anyone else will come up with a newer, improved version

 

[lucky86]

I guess time will tell. I think that "all of the complaints & issues with the current dual tuner" is very subjective. In the big picture, I would say only 5% of Hopper users even know what a OTA USB dongle is and even less % of Hopper customers own and use one. Most customers receive their locals from Dish and are satisfied at that. I don't speak for DISH obviously, but if I had to guess as to why it keeps happening and hasn't been fixed in so long, is because it impacts such a small demographic which is mainly power users anyways, that the level of effort to resolve the issue vs the impact makes it a "non issue". Again, just my opinion.

 

[charlesrshell]

I guess time will tell. I think that "all of the complaints & issues with the current dual tuner" is very subjective. In the big picture, I would say only 5% of Hopper users even know what a OTA USB dongle is and even less % of Hopper customers own and use one. Most customers receive their locals from Dish and are satisfied at that. I don't speak for DISH obviously, but if I had to guess as to why it keeps happening and hasn't been fixed in so long, is because it impacts such a small demographic which is mainly power users anyways, that the level of effort to resolve the issue vs the impact makes it a "non issue". Again, just my opinion.

Maybe we will find out at CES 2019 in January.

 

[lucky86]

Fingers crossed! Personally, I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[TheKrell]

Yes what? You want a new model?

For the record, crodrules sold me his "spare" dual-tuner dongle, and it seems to be working fine on my H3. But as a recent user, the CUI and I are not on speaking terms. How does one go about seeing whether there are really two tuners in there?

 

[JSheridan]

Yes what? You want a new model?

For the record, crodrules sold me his "spare" dual-tuner dongle, and it seems to be working fine on my H3. But as a recent user, the CUI and I are not on speaking terms. How does one go about seeing whether there are really two tuners in there?

Options / TV Activity should tell you what's going on with your tuners, or you can put 2 OTA channels in MultiView at the same time.

 

[TheKrell]

you can put 2 OTA channels in MultiView at the same time.

Dare I ask how to do that?

 

[Bobby]

Dare I ask how to do that?

While in MultiView, highlight a station and then change the channel to an OTA channel, say 002.01. Then move to another station and repeat...

 

[Niv]

I just recently went from the single tuner dongle to the dual tuner and so far so good. I will be going through more extensive testing in the future with hopes of doing away with DISH locals. If you have a 4K TV, up converted OTA looks MUCH better than highly compressed DISH locals. And DISH needs to have a reliable OTA tuner dongle because that is what they send out to their subscribers when they are waring with local stations over fees that have pulled their programing from DISH.

 

[pattykay]

Dare I ask how to do that?

You could also try using PIP. Tune to an OTA channel, press the Input button on the left side of the remote to swap tuners, then tune to a different OTA channel. After that, go to TV Activity as instructed above, and you should see both OTA tuners in use.

 

[Bobby]

You could also try using PIP. Tune to an OTA channel, press the Input button on the left side of the remote to swap tuners, then tune to a different OTA channel. After that, go to TV Activity as instructed above, and you should see both OTA tuners in use.

Why do you insist on complicating things? He said he was interested in how to get 2 OTA locals in Multiview. He got an answer. When he asks how to do it in PIP, then your answer is appropriate...

 

[pattykay]

Why do you insist on complicating things? He said he was interested in how to get 2 OTA locals in Multiview. He got an answer. When he asks how to do it in PIP, then your answer is appropriate...

I started typing my response before he got an answer, so I finished typing my response and posted. I do not have a Hopper 3, so I am not familiar with Multiview. I was trying to be helpful and offer another way to check. Sheesh! I usually don't use the Ignore feature, but I am sorely tempted now.

 

[dare2be]

Why do you insist on complicating things? He said he was interested in how to get 2 OTA locals in Multiview. He got an answer. When he asks how to do it in PIP, then your answer is appropriate...

Krell's original question was about how to check for 2 OTA channels, and crod was just offering another option.

 

[charlesrshell]

Dare I ask how to do that?

While recording an OTA channel and watching live TV or recording another OTA channel, go to TV Activity screen and you will see two OTA tuners. Yellow OTA 1 and OTA 2.

 

[TheKrell]

I don't think you guys understand how clueless I am with the CUI. I always enjoyed the nice interface with understandable menus on my 722 and 612's. Now, with the CUI, I hardly use my Dish service at all, because it's such a PITA to get anything done.

I have never engaged multiview, or even triggered it by accident! I think the easiest thing to do is tune to station 1, record it, and then tune to station 2 and see if it goes there. IIRC, when I tried that before, it refused to go to the second channel.

 

[Bobby]

Options / TV Activity should tell you what's going on with your tuners, or you can put 2 OTA channels in MultiView at the same time.

Dare I ask how to do that?

Krell's original question was about how to check for 2 OTA channels, and crod was just offering another option.

As you can see, Krell was responding to JSheridan's answer about OTA channels in Multiview. I answered that. His question had nothing to do with options. Krell is learning new things about the cUI on his Hopper 3. Baby steps is a good way to learn about new things so you don't get confused by different steps trying to accomplish a task...

 

[comfortably_numb]

I would say only 5% of Hopper users even know what a OTA USB dongle is

And unfortunately, that's about the same percentage of Dish CSR's who understand what the OTA dongle is. I got into an argument with one last week when trying to set up my parent's move. He kept insisting the receiver needed an HD antenna. I said it needs "AN antenna, PLUS the dongle." Guess what his answer was. "Huh?"

 

[Voyager6]

I don't think you guys understand how clueless I am with the CUI. I always enjoyed the nice interface with understandable menus on my 722 and 612's. Now, with the CUI, I hardly use my Dish service at all, because it's such a PITA to get anything done.

I have never engaged multiview, or even triggered it by accident! I think the easiest thing to do is tune to station 1, record it, and then tune to station 2 and see if it goes there. IIRC, when I tried that before, it refused to go to the second channel.

If you are using the old 40.0 remote, push the red button and choose TV Activity.

 

[comfortably_numb]

If Dish moves to sell a new OTA dongle, here are my two suggestions: 1. select a vendor other than Hauppauge. Their units run hot and aren't as sensitive as others. 2. Go back to using Pace International. The previous single tuner worked almost flawlessly and doesn't run hot. Thanks.