While I, too, want Dish to get those bugs fixed, have the Hopper compatible with some type of home automation is a necessary competitive point for Dish. However, the really low cost solutions that are easily installed by the consumer that use your smart phone or tablet for control of interface are far more likely to be adopted because they are so affordable and people can use their existing phones to control it even while at home. I think the automation capabilities for Dish is like Starband was or like trying to make the 721 and 922 access the Web while watching TV. Something Dish felt necessary not to be left behind if that stuff took off, but Dish ended up abandoning those ventures when it became clear that people didn't really want that, yet. In the case of Starband. Dish lost over a quarter million dollars it had invested in the company. Of course, with the technology what it is today, Echostar and Dish satellite internet be it DishNet or Hugesnet is really the only very bright spot for the companies and where all the growth is occurring. Sometimes they add such capacities like home automation because they are afraid of being left behind and not competitive it they did not have it developed and in their systems, and right now Home Automation is enjoying a lot of attention with more devices coming on the market ready to be part of home automation as something that could have tremendous growth in the future.
