DISH Hopper 3 Wins PC Magazine Award

[Scott Greczkowski]

The DISH Hopper 3 Wins the PC Magazine Award for Best Home Theater Gear at CES.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2497619,00.asp

To me it does not matter if you are a DISH fan or not. You should be proud to see the innovation in the world of Satellite TV continue to move forward. If you lived in England and saw the equipment and user interfaces they have on their subscription satellite tv boxes you would be in shock.

DISH does not need to keep making their stuff better, they could leave well enough alone and while people would wish for me, they would accept things as they are.

For me its not being a DISH fan or a DIRECTV fan, for me this award is exciting as there continues to be inovation in the world of Satellite Television... and that's what we do here at SatelliteGuys... cover the world of Satellite Television.

Congrats DISH!

 

[BBruin66]

Ha Take that DirecTV!

Wait... you weren't there?

Well I guess ill just go watch Live 4k on my Hopper 3.

Wait... you mean only you have announced live 4k plans?

Well, i'll just watch 4 games at once on my Hopper 3 and tell myself that equals 4k.

(I really want to stay with Dish, but LIVE content is what I want. Not a super-fancy 1080p box that does things a Roku 4 does.)

 

[bobvick]

Ha Take that DirecTV!

Wait... you weren't there?

Well I guess ill just go watch Live 4k on my Hopper 3.

Wait... you mean only you have announced live 4k plans?

Well, i'll just watch 4 games at once on my Hopper 3 and tell myself that equals 4k.

(I really want to stay with Dish, but LIVE content is what I want. Not a super-fancy 1080p box that does things a Roku 4 does.)

I don't think you'll find much live content on DirecTV, maybe 2 or 3 channels at the most, when they launch. Then it will be a waiting game. Plus you'll have to have a HR54 and a Genie Mini 4K client to just watch 4K.

 

[BBruin66]

I don't think you'll find much live content on DirecTV, maybe 2 or 3 channels at the most, when they launch. Then it will be a waiting game. Plus you'll have to have a HR54 and a Genie Mini 4K client to just watch 4K.

I know, but Direct has significant bandwidth to display 4k channels, Dish does not. At the start it may be Dish 0, Direct 2. How quickly does that become Dish 0, Direct 10, Direct 20?

We see NO mention of Dish providing Sat based 4k with the Hopper 3. Maybe they'll do it with IPTV, but I have a feeling competitors of all kinds will start offering a similar product quickly. We still don't know if PS4 or XBONE can do UHD http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1086342 but signs point to them easily doing 4k IPTV.

Hopper 3 is a great/the best 1080p box, but UHD is the rage at CES. I want live 4k. Not 16 simultaneous 2k

I have a feeling DirecTV will be out with a solution right around the time Hopper 3 ships that doesn't necessitate the convoluted Genie HR54 combo pack and there will be a clear winner for 2016 live UHD.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

With the recent conversion of the Western Arc from MPEG 2 to 8PSK there is more room that DISH has than you think.

I honestly don't expect a lot of channels going 4K, only stations such as Discovery, ESPN, HBO... but not channels like Lifetime, Game Show Network etc.

 

[KE4EST]

Yeah game show network would be a waste of bandwidth in up-converted 4K.

 

[TheKrell]

With the recent conversion of the Western Arc from QPSK to 8PSK

There, I fixed it for you.

 

[budda]

I see a lot of maybe's and feelings in that post. I am glad that people have choices. I also am glad for the improved boxes. It will take 4 to 5 years for 4K to even get close to main stream. Like with the Hopper 5! 4K. First a Nature channel. Then a Sports channel. By channel 3 we may see a Music channel. Maybe someday Direct will catch up. Most good 4k sets have the ability to up convert 1080P to 4K. And the fact that for most sets based on the size of the LED set and distance you sit from the TV. It makes no difference. Well, just not feeling it. I have a feeling it may happen. We don't know when. But someday in a galaxy far far away.........

I know, but Direct has significant bandwidth to display 4k channels, Dish does not. At the start it may be Dish 0, Direct 2. How quickly does that become Dish 0, Direct 10, Direct 20?

We see NO mention of Dish providing Sat based 4k with the Hopper 3. Maybe they'll do it with IPTV, but I have a feeling competitors of all kinds will start offering a similar product quickly. We still don't know if PS4 or XBONE can do UHD http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1086342 but signs point to them easily doing 4k IPTV.

Hopper 3 is a great/the best 1080p box, but UHD is the rage at CES. I want live 4k. Not 16 simultaneous 2k

I have a feeling DirecTV will be out with a solution right around the time Hopper 3 ships that doesn't necessitate the convoluted Genie HR54 combo pack and there will be a clear winner for 2016 live UHD.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I can remember when HD first came out in 2003 on DISH. We had like 3 hd stations and we had to pay like $7.99 a month for those 3 stations. Now just about all the tv stations are available in hd - Not that DISH carries all the stations in hd yet. It took about 7 - 10 years for that transition and I feel like if it wasn't for the government deadline in 2010 for the digital transition for the ota channels, there would still be major ota channels in sd analog. With 8k tvs already being shown at CES , I just wonder if we will ever see 4k mainstream at all. We might just skip right over to 8k ,which is a noticeable better picture. You can actually see it ,without watching up close or having a 60" tv in your room like with 4k. They compare it to seeing an SD tv vs HD tv or black and white vs color. I'm betting that 8k will be all the rage in less than 4 years and 4k will be a distant memory like 3d, which was supposed to be the big thing like 3 years ago. The tv makers have to keep people upgrading to the next big thing to keep their profits up. Each time you upgrade , you then have to have the blu ray player in 4k then 8k etc. This is what keeps the industry going. Apple has made a fortune out of doing nothing but upgrades each year, with little difference in the I-phones they sell.

 

[DishSubLA]

I agree. To see competition is GREAT! Dish, DirecTV, and TiVo have really done great jobs with their DVR's and whole home systems, and it is because of competition. Cable TV DVR's for the most part are shockingly behind the times. Glad I voted for H3, and thanks to Scott for posting about it and the link.

FWIW, I saw on CNET where Magnavox will have THREE new FREE EPG HD DVR's with for OTA: a two tuner unit with a 1TB HDD that is also a DVD recorder and can transfer content from the HDD to the DVD--of course in SD, not Blu-ray, but still great; another unit with a 2TB HDD and six tuners considered its highest model, but no DVD recording built-in; and another 2 tuner unit. Now that shows some serious attempt to get cord cutters and give both Channel Master, still with only two tuners, and TiVo, with 4 tuners for OTA, some real competition. None of the Magnavox will come with any apps for Netflix, YouTube, etc., but a Roku is better any day, anyway. It is good to see such competition for OTA users, too.

 

[BBruin66]

I see a lot of maybe's and feelings in that post. I am glad that people have choices. I also am glad for the improved boxes. It will take 4 to 5 years for 4K to even get close to main stream. Like with the Hopper 5! 4K. First a Nature channel. Then a Sports channel. By channel 3 we may see a Music channel. Maybe someday Direct will catch up. Most good 4k sets have the ability to up convert 1080P to 4K. And the fact that for most sets based on the size of the LED set and distance you sit from the TV. It makes no difference. Well, just not feeling it. I have a feeling it may happen. We don't know when. But someday in a galaxy far far away.........

It sounds like you are talking about feelings more than I am. ESPN 4k is guaranteed for this year, and DirecTV will have it. There's even a game on right now that a lot of people would love to watch in 4k. and not 720p. So there's your "sports channel" (There's also a ton of other sports and live events that are already being recorded with 4k cameras that aren't on ESPN).
Discovery will also have 4k broadcast content this year... I guess that can be your nature channel.

If you think a music channel will ever come to TV again you are out of touch. Go google YouTube, VEVO, UHD, enjoy the 4k.

Up-converting does little to nothing and is basically pseudoscience. (also any 4k TV can play 1080 content)

So because the majority of people sit too far from a TV we should not get 4k? Clearly dish thinks so. Which is why this box outputs 4k. And they are advertising it's 4k features and content?!?!?

I'm tired of the naysayers who just want to shoot everything down with arguments that were only relevant when HD came out.

 

[Troch77]

I for one am certainly not worried about 4K.
I just like the idea of having 16 tuners.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[BBruin66]

I can remember when HD first came out in 2003 on DISH. We had like 3 hd stations and we had to pay like $7.99 a month for those 3 stations. Now just about all the tv stations are available in hd - Not that DISH carries all the stations in hd yet. It took about 7 - 10 years for that transition and I feel like if it wasn't for the government deadline in 2010 for the digital transition for the ota channels, there would still be major ota channels in sd analog. With 8k tvs already being shown at CES , I just wonder if we will ever see 4k mainstream at all. We might just skip right over to 8k ,which is a noticeable better picture. You can actually see it ,without watching up close or having a 60" tv in your room like with 4k. They compare it to seeing an SD tv vs HD tv or black and white vs color. I'm betting that 8k will be all the rage in less than 4 years and 4k will be a distant memory like 3d, which was supposed to be the big thing like 3 years ago. The tv makers have to keep people upgrading to the next big thing to keep their profits up. Each time you upgrade , you then have to have the blu ray player in 4k then 8k etc. This is what keeps the industry going. Apple has made a fortune out of doing nothing but upgrades each year, with little difference in the I-phones they sell.

"You can actually see it ,without watching up close or having a 60" tv in your room like with 4k." So with 8k you can have smaller TVs and see it?!?!?

With 8k you need to be even closer than 4k?! Like uncomfortably close. Like, so close you cannot see the whole image in your field of view? Look at this graphic by the SMPTE http://www.avsforum.com/forum/imagehosting/1766253c994eb7bfed.jpg


I would say 80% of channels don't need 4k. (There's a lot of variables here).

Only NEW content created in 2013 or later will likely become 4k. Anything filmed on 35mm can be remastered (with original film) for UHD and rebroadcast. But, with the standard of the average movie on Dish being a guide, let's get to 1080p or even blu-ray before we think about a lot of UHD via movie channel. Amazon, Netflix have UHD now streaming. I don't see Dish using the bandwidth to throw up many UHD movie channels ever.

As we are in the age of "Peak TV" there's a lot of current content that can easily be broadcast in 4k if channels want to offer it. They will lose out to Netflix and Amazon more if they wait. But, they can also sell it to them down the line.

Live content is where the 4k market will start, with sports especially.

My biggest probably with this Hopper 3. Is that it doesn't come with ANY plans for Sat based 4k. Not even a hint. With Dish's release cycle, that means we don't get this until next year. Unless maybe Dish releases some 944 box later this year. Head on over to the DirecTV forum and read about their new bands that are available now on existing HR54 boxes.

I've had two of each of the last two hoppers and I love them. But I want 4k. Not to pretend i'm at the bar. The bar is not where I go for a quality television watching experience.

 

[BBruin66]

With the recent conversion of the Western Arc from MPEG 2 to 8PSK there is more room that DISH has than you think.

I honestly don't expect a lot of channels going 4K, only stations such as Discovery, ESPN, HBO... but not channels like Lifetime, Game Show Network etc.

Does this help me on EA though? I guess with H265 dish COULD use existing bandwidth to get some 4k? AND get their 1080 to x1920 WITHless compression. A guy can dream. (Let's pretend everyone's STB can do it )

Won't I have to point a Dish at the South Western horizon to get WA bandwidth? /sarcasm

 

[BBruin66]

I for one am certainly not worried about 4K.
I just like the idea of having 16 tuners.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

I don't hate that

Maybe dish will do some double or triple tuner thing to 4k us. But they still need to put those channels somewhere on a SAT!?!?

 

[Troch77]

I don't hate that

Maybe dish will do some double or triple tuner thing to 4k us. But they still need to put those channels somewhere on a SAT!?!?

I don't think they have that much room up there myself to be honest.
I think they need to work on some satellite movements or start applying for more licenses.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[Tampa8]

If DISH decides 4K is important, they will find a way to provide it.
Over all these years as a DISH subscriber one thing I see is for certain. For better or worse you just never know what Charlie is going to do, and what he pulls out of the hat.

 

[MikeD-C05]

For better or worse you just never know what Charlie is going to do, and what he pulls out of the hat.

And sometimes old Charlie has a tendency to talk out of his Ass.

 

[charlesrshell]

And sometimes old Charlie has a tendency to talk out of his Ass.

I sure miss the Charlie Chat show. What was the other tech program DISH use to have?

 

[dfergie]

The Tech Chat ...