DISH HOPPER SPEC SHEETS

But the question is do you record PBS programming available on the sub-channels?

Yes, quite a bit. We have ota access to 2 different PBS stations (Rochester and Syracuse, NY) They do not always carry the same programming. Without the ota I could not record the Syracuse PBS station. Currently on my 722, I try to schedule all recordings off the Dish feed, where possible, leaving the ota tuner free.
 
I wish I had all these sub-channels. Our Fox station has CBS on the main channel Fox in crappy SD on a sub-channel and CBS has Fox on it's sub-channel. ABC has NBC on it's sub-channel and vice versa both in crappy compressed HD. PBS broadcasts its SD feed on one sub-channel and the Create network on another. So the only unique channel I can get is Create. :( No reason for me to get excited about the OTA tuner option at least at this point.
 
I wish I had all these sub-channels. Our Fox station has CBS on the main channel Fox in crappy SD on a sub-channel and CBS has Fox on it's sub-channel. ABC has NBC on it's sub-channel and vice versa both in crappy compressed HD. PBS broadcasts its SD feed on one sub-channel and the Create network on another. So the only unique channel I can get is Create. :( No reason for me to get excited about the OTA tuner option at least at this point.
Hmmm, that sounds like a description of the OTA offerings of the northern half of lower peninsula of Michigan.
 
Good news, they just announced the FCC approved the power increase request for a Fox Station just 30 miles form where I live (I am near the boarder). That means I will get TWO Fox stations with the OTA tuner as the first one is already in my DMA and on Dish. Both will have different Digital Sub channels.

Just an other example of why we need a Dual OTA tuner for EACH HOPPER. I plan to record and watch a lot form OTA. .

I already get TWO PBS, TWO METVs, TWO ABCs, and TWO CBSs from Two DMAs all OTA.

Cant wait
 
YES YES YES - OTA is extremely important to me.

I rarely if ever record sub channels.

The BIG REASON is that OTA is uncompressed, and I love NFL football. You get the absolute best picture from OTA!

2nd - with Dish you get the OTA program guide, and can record the 2 OTA streams as well as the satellite tuners. With my 722K I can record 4 streams.

With a hopper the ability to add OTA will make it just that much more versatile.

Please DIRT team - pass it along that OTA is very important to a core group of your customers. You have promised us OTA - but are you still going to integrate the OTA program guide?
 
YES YES YES - OTA is extremely important to me.



The BIG REASON is that OTA is uncompressed, and I love NFL football. You get the absolute best picture from OTA!


Please DIRT team - pass it along that OTA is very important to a core group of your customers. You have promised us OTA - but are you still going to integrate the OTA program guide?

Could not agree more. The picture quality is much better!! And sports is where it show the most!
 
Good question on the guide data and OTA.

I have talked to management at DirecTV and they are no longer adding any new Digital Sub channels to the guide. The trade off was performance of the speed of there existing HD DVRs.
I am hoping Dish plans to add Sub Channel guide data. There new DVR looks to be very fast in the demos.


YES YES YES - OTA is extremely important to me.

I rarely if ever record sub channels.

The BIG REASON is that OTA is uncompressed, and I love NFL football. You get the absolute best picture from OTA!

2nd - with Dish you get the OTA program guide, and can record the 2 OTA streams as well as the satellite tuners. With my 722K I can record 4 streams.

With a hopper the ability to add OTA will make it just that much more versatile.

Please DIRT team - pass it along that OTA is very important to a core group of your customers. You have promised us OTA - but are you still going to integrate the OTA program guide?
 
I do not agree at all that the PQ is noticeably better OTA then from SAT for locals. Maybe some feeds aren't as good and result in that, I can only say in CT and FL you can't see a difference, there are other threads where many agree with that. As for needing OTA, absolutely, and I also record some shows from sub channels and PBS. It will be important the the Hopper gets an OTA tuner.
 
I think all the OTA skeptcism is an over reaction. While I don't think the percentage of OTA is significant enough to delay releasing the box, it is important enough that the only real issue is how soon (not "SOON") it is released. If nothing else they need the option to be available for contract disputes.

Hopefully they will go ahead and announce or leak it works with acme model 1234 and then sell their own version when they can. That's not too different than when the wireless adapter was released for the VIPs.

I couldn't have said it better. I will add while maybe you can't record it (in some cases you could if you have a DVD recorder especially with a hard drive) if you just put the antenna directly to the TV you have OTA....
 
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I've scanned this entire thread and don't see the answer to a simple question. Will the Hopper read 622/722 EHDs? If not, there is no upgrade path without losing recordings and archived recordings.
 
I've scanned this entire thread and don't see the answer to a simple question. Will the Hopper read 622/722 EHDs? If not, there is no upgrade path without losing recordings and archived recordings.

Per Scott and other reports yes it will be compatible with 612/622/722/922 EHDs. It will not be compatible with 211/k EHDs.
 
Hmm these threads are getting huge. It would be nice to have a sticky with a bullet points of all facts.

I was wondering the same thing and after going through threads for the past 1.5 hours, I still didn't know the answer.

In any case.. I think I have all the facts now and I am pleased if so.

I have 3 VIP622s. One in my bedroom so I can watch and record or use PIP without any interference with the wife. One in the living room, same thing for her, or me if she's in the bedroom and I'm in the living room. Then one in son #1's room, and the SD going to son #2's room which looks horrible on his hd tv.

We are "Live" tv people. I may DVR stuff, but rarely do I really sit down and watch any of it. My wife and I are both channel flippers. We like to flip around and whatever catches our eye, we'll stay on it. It's like, neither one of us will crank up say the movie Titanic on disk or mkv, but it's one of our favorites...and if we see it on and not much else on, we'll flip to it and keep watching from whatever point it's on. I'll flip around and watch reruns of Ancient Aliens, or UFO Hunters on H2, or A Haunting on APL now I believe. Even if I have some DVRed, i'll just flip when messing on my computer and leave it on. Of course, if some sports are on, this gets my attention.

That being said..I rarely keep up with any primetime show. But with this PTA, I would be inclined maybe to check some out. I know if I schedule anything manually from my past experiences, it will get too backed up, and stuff I want to keep I'll forget about will get deleted, and I end up not watching whatever the tv series is anyways. lol

I just wanted to explain our family as in many threads I've read so many people talking about how most families don't watch Live tv and crap like that. I can say that my sons do watch alot on their dvr, but they often fight (ages 16 & 13) as they'll each want to be watching their own show while one of them is recording something in primetime. On some nights, they alone could use 3/4 tuners.

The reason for their own 622 was so they didn't mess with my recordings and dvr timers.

Soooo with ALL that said, it sounds as if 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys would be a dream come true if it truly works seemless together and is not priced out of this world. Plus if I could use my EHD on them, I'm really not seeing any negatives :).

I look forward to finding out more! One Hopper would make this a no way option though. Gotta have 2 or it's a waste in my book....or at least until the sons are grown and out of the house....and who knows when this will be and what new technologies will be out then :).
 
My only concern is if I go from my existing dual-tuner+OTA 722 DVR 2-TV setup to a single hopper and joey pair, if my dvr+receiver fees jump (pun intended) from $6 to $24, or even $17, I might not be willing to make the jump (pun intended). The only benefit I would get is HD on the 2nd TV, which isn't worth an extra $11 or $18 more in fees.
 
I believe it would be $17 for the Hopper, and one Joey, including $10 whole DVR charge and $7 joey charge. So $11 more. But you are not just getting HD in another room (and to be fair would still cost you $7 more now - total $13) You are getting the whole house extras, probably an additional tuner when the USB comes out, ability to watch a show pause, and watch in another room, four networks for one tuner etc etc... If you do not care about HD in a second room, nor about the features of the whole house, then it might not make sense for you to get it. My point is, it's not just HD in another room, and if the other features are not worth it certainly for you the Hopper would not be worth it.