considering upgrade finally to Hopper with OTA antenna

[BostonMA]

Longtime Dish subscriber, currently with Vip612 and 2 other receivers would like feedback on the following and any other suggestions:

How well does the OTA antenna work and is it restricted to the Dish system or can I still use it if I ever leave?
Any tips on transferring all settings and timers?
Have old house with solid plaster walls, with receivers going on different floors and different sides of the house would I need more than one Hopper? (Current wiring goes separately from the dish to each floor.)

 

[TheKrell]

I don't know about your plaster walls, but I will take the OTA antenna question.

DIsh has occasionally sprung for a fairly decent OTA antenna, with which I have zero experience. But the OTA dongle works great with your own antenna. I use a deep fringe antenna in northern VA and I can receive all my DC stations with near 100% signal quality, and also a PBS station in Annapolis, and all the Baltimore stations, and even a few Frederick stations but the signal breaks up a lot on those. I believe any OTA antenna can be used for other OTA tuners and is not locked into Dish equipment.

 

[BostonMA]

I don't know about your plaster walls, but I will take the OTA antenna question.

DIsh has occasionally sprung for a fairly decent OTA antenna, with which I have zero experience. But the OTA dongle works great with your own antenna. I use a deep fringe antenna in northern VA and I can receive all my DC stations with near 100% signal quality, and also a PBS station in Annapolis, and all the Baltimore stations, and even a few Harrisonburg stations but the signal breaks up a lot on those. I believe any OTA antenna can be used for other OTA tuners and is not locked into Dish equipment.

Thanks for the feedback. Regarding the walls, unlike Sheetrock, mine are the old 4-6" thick plaster mixed with horsehair on a metal mesh.

 

[KaptainRandom]

Longtime Dish subscriber, currently with Vip612 and 2 other receivers would like feedback on the following and any other suggestions:

How well does the OTA antenna work and is it restricted to the Dish system or can I still use it if I ever leave?
Any tips on transferring all settings and timers?
Have old house with solid plaster walls, with receivers going on different floors and different sides of the house would I need more than one Hopper? (Current wiring goes separately from the dish to each floor.)

The Hopper system is a server/client system...

The Hopper (server) handles ALL the work
Tuning recording etc.

The Joeys (clients) are sorta dumb terminals working between the Hopper and tv.

The Hopper3 is the best of the bunch
And the only one most people with multiple tvs should have.
It has 16 tuners so there is never conflicts between recording timers and/or live tv.

Sent from my SM-G986U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[BostonMA]

The Hopper system is a server/client system...

The Hopper (server) handles ALL the work
Tuning recording etc.

The Joeys (clients) are sorta dumb terminals working between the Hopper and tv.

The Hopper3 is the best of the bunch
And the only one most people with multiple tvs should have.
It has 16 tuners so there is never conflicts between recording timers and/or live tv.

Sent from my SM-G986U using the SatelliteGuys app!

My question/issue is that I was told that the hopper and Joeys need to be hard wired. Current wiring goes from the dish on the roof separately to each floor. If I have one Hopper in the main viewing location on the lower floor how to connect them. Can't run wiring through my walls as easily as through sheet rock. Setup is much easier, though more expensive, with two hoppers.

 

[KaptainRandom]

My question/issue is that I was told that the hopper and Joeys need to be hard wired. Current wiring goes from the dish on the roof separately to each floor. If I have one Hopper in the main viewing location on the lower floor how to connect them. Can't run wiring through my walls as easily as through sheet rock. Setup is much easier, though more expensive, with two hoppers.

Only the Hopper 3 has to be wired to the satelite dish.
The Joeys can be Wireless Joeys, without cable connection.

Sent from my SM-G986U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[pattykay]

My question/issue is that I was told that the hopper and Joeys need to be hard wired. Current wiring goes from the dish on the roof separately to each floor. If I have one Hopper in the main viewing location on the lower floor how to connect them. Can't run wiring through my walls as easily as through sheet rock. Setup is much easier, though more expensive, with two hoppers.

If the Wireless Joeys will not work for you, and you have to have two Hoppers, then a slightly cheaper alternative would be to use two Hopper Duos. For a two-Hopper 3 system (assuming one Joey for the third TV) it would be $15 DVR fee + $15 second Hopper fee + $7 Joey fee = $37 per month. For a two-Hopper Duo system, it would only be $10 DVR fee + $15 second Hopper fee + $7 Joey fee = $32 per month. Either way, the second Hopper would need to be purchased, not leased. It should be much cheaper to purchase a Hopper Duo than it would be to purchase a Hopper 3, especially if you look in the Classifieds section on this site.

 

[TomT127]

Just remember if your using the OTA for local shows, you won't be able to record more than 2 at once.

 

[pattykay]

Just remember if your using the OTA for local shows, you won't be able to record more than 2 at once.

That is another advantage of a two-Hopper system, since you can use two dual-tuner OTA adapters. Even better, if you replace the Joey that I listed in the example above with a Wally, not only would the monthly cost remain the same, but that would also add two more satellite tuners, plus the ability to add two more OTA tuners. So, even with the two-Hopper Duo system, that would probably be just as many tuners as (or even more tuners than) BostonMA currently has with the ViP612 and the two other receivers.

 

[Cheddar_Head]

Only the Hopper 3 has to be wired to the satelite dish.
The Joeys can be Wireless Joeys, without cable connection.

Sent from my SM-G986U using the SatelliteGuys app!

Wireless in an older house with Lathe and mesh plaster is very difficult to get working properly, that mesh makes for a pretty effective barrier when it comes to Wi-Fi. Not Faraday Cage effective but.....

 

[BostonMA]

Wireless in an older house with Lathe and mesh plaster is very difficult to get working properly, that mesh makes for a pretty effective barrier when it comes to Wi-Fi. Not Faraday Cage effective but.....

This is a difficult decision for me weighing the cost of satellite/cable TV, current limited new programming and antiquated current equipment. Compounded by three OTA channels removed in our area (2 well over a year, the 3rd recent due to ownership change despite price agreement 1 yr old). This is the reason for the OTA antenna which limits functionality.

I'd like to keep programming in a single program guide as opposed to bouncing from app to app. Makes Hopper 3 appealing with integrated apps. Would like to have more clarity on how well that works and the ability to connect other apps.

 

[Jim5506]

There are apps built into the OS of the Hopper 3 but you cannot add your own apps to the included list.

Generally if a streaming service wants to be carried on the Hopper 3 it must create an app that is compatible with the H3 OS and dish will test it and possible include it in a future OS upgrade.

 

[BostonMA]

Can anyone offer suggestions on how to copy/duplicate settings, searches, and scheduled recordings?

 

[pattykay]

Can anyone offer suggestions on how to copy/duplicate settings, searches, and scheduled recordings?

There is no easy way to do that, since the ViP OS and Hopper OS are incompatible with each other. You could take screen shots of your old timers and settings (or write them down) and then set them all manually on the Hopper.

 

[BostonMA]

There is no easy way to do that, since the ViP OS and Hopper OS are incompatible with each other. You could take screen shots of your old timers and settings (or write them down) and then set them all manually on the Hopper.

Your suggestion of screen shot led me to try Dishanywhere which I have not been able to use for some time since I had been on Windows 7 until the beginning of this year. (yes I do stick with those things I like)

Now that I'm on Windows 10 it is working on a limited basis:
- I cannot connect to my receiver (any ideas?)
- It will not play On Demand movie saying I need to install Chrome or Safari browser (will installing one of those make it work?)

 

[BostonMA]

I mentioned my issues with 3 OTA channels removed. What I did not mention was that I filed a complaint with the FCC against them abusing the Must Carry rule. I have heard back from the FCC and they are processing my complaint. I have heard from Dish, they have contacted them. Is it worth it to start another post encouraging others to do the same?

 

[pattykay]

Your suggestion of screen shot led me to try Dishanywhere which I have not been able to use for some time since I had been on Windows 7 until the beginning of this year. (yes I do stick with those things I like)

Now that I'm on Windows 10 it is working on a limited basis:
- I cannot connect to my receiver (any ideas?)
- It will not play On Demand movie saying I need to install Chrome or Safari browser (will installing one of those make it work?)

Unfortunately, Dish Anywhere would not connect to my ViP612 either, when I still had one on my account. That is just the way it is.

Chrome or Safari is definitely needed in order to play the On Demand content from Dish Anywhere. Even then, there may be quite a bit of stuttering and buffering. (I have only tried Chrome, though, so I cannot say whether it is any better or worse on Safari.)

 

[BostonMA]

Thanks for your input, it is appreciated. I'm about to pull the trigger on the upgrade ( still trying to figure out the number & mix of receivers). I do have a few more questions.

Will my current external drive work on the Hopper 3 and retain its recordings?

For wired Joeys will internal wiring need to be replaced or will existing wiring work?

With current setup my recordings are safe. Can someone explain the restrictions that can be setup to protect deletions by others and any allocation of space.

 

[satjay]

Of topic, but kudos to the longevity of the 612!

 

[pattykay]

Thanks for your input, it is appreciated. I'm about to pull the trigger on the upgrade ( still trying to figure out the number & mix of receivers). I do have a few more questions.

Will my current external drive work on the Hopper 3 and retain its recordings?

For wired Joeys will internal wiring need to be replaced or will existing wiring work?

With current setup my recordings are safe. Can someone explain the restrictions that can be setup to protect deletions by others and any allocation of space.

Your current external hard drive from the ViP612 will work with the Hopper 3. Some members here recommend waiting a few days after the Hopper 3 is installed before connecting the external drive to it for the first time. This gives the Hopper time to "settle in" (make sure it has all of the latest software updates) to help avoid any potential problems.

Existing wiring will work for the Joeys.

On the Hopper, go to the DVR screen, then press the Options button on the remote. Select "Manage Recordings" (option number 2). From there, you can select which recordings you want to Protect (option number 2 on that screen) or Unprotect (option number 3). When setting new timers, you can also set each timer to automatically Protect any new recordings by default, if you wish. The Hopper 3 has a 2TB internal hard drive, so you should not have to worry about running out of available space as quickly as you might on the ViP612.