Hopper 3 and OTA

[NickedAgain]

OK so after my last very fruitful thread I reorganized my plans and have a question about the Hopper 3 receiver, as it relates to using an OTA antenna. There seems to be only one USB port on the H3 from what I can see, so this would be taken up with the OTA adaptor, (unless a hub is added for additional accessories?) now when I connect my OTA antenna and scan the local OTA stations, will the Hopper be able to distribute those saved channel signals to the two wireless Joeys connected to the system much the same as the sat signals, so everything available to the H3 is also available to the WJs including the local OTA channels... Or no.
Thanks!!

 

[charlesrshell]

OK so after my last very fruitful thread I reorganized my plans and have a question about the Hopper 3 receiver, as it relates to using an OTA antenna. There seems to be only one USB port on the H3 from what I can see, so this would be taken up with the OTA adaptor, (unless a hub is added for additional accessories?) now when I connect my OTA antenna and scan the local OTA stations, will the Hopper be able to distribute those saved channel signals to the two wireless Joeys connected to the system much the same as the sat signals, so everything available to the H3 is also available to the WJs including the local OTA channels... Or no.
Thanks!!

Yes

 

[NickedAgain]

Yes

Short and sweet, thank you charlesrshell!!

 

[charlesrshell]

OK so after my last very fruitful thread I reorganized my plans and have a question about the Hopper 3 receiver, as it relates to using an OTA antenna. There seems to be only one USB port on the H3 from what I can see, so this would be taken up with the OTA adaptor, (unless a hub is added for additional accessories?) now when I connect my OTA antenna and scan the local OTA stations, will the Hopper be able to distribute those saved channel signals to the two wireless Joeys connected to the system much the same as the sat signals, so everything available to the H3 is also available to the WJs including the local OTA channels... Or no.
Thanks!!

You have three USB ports in the Hoppers.

 

[NickedAgain]

You have three USB ports in the Hoppers.

Really, that's good, I looked at what pictures I could find of the unit and only saw the one, maybe an old model or something. I'm glad though, thanks.

Here's an off the wall question, will the USB out on a Wally, be recognized by the USB in, on a wireless Joey. In other words, will the Wally recognize the Joey as an EHD of sorts, and will the Joey recognize the Wally and allow it to use its DVR record function?

That may seem strange but here's an example, again, this is taking place in a motorcoach. There is an in-motion system available on one TV, that TV has both a Wally for in motion, and a wireless Joey from an H3 for stationary viewing. While in motion could you record a show from the Wally through the USB connected Joey, and on to the Hopper 3 DVR.

I know, it's ridiculous, but I'm exploring every possibility, that's just how my brain works.. lol

 

[ethanlerma]

There seems to be only one USB port on the H3 from what I can see, so this would be taken up with the OTA adaptor, (unless a hub is added for additional accessories?)

As Charles mentioned, there is 3 USB ports. Two on the back (one 3.0 and one 2.0), then the 2.0 on the front panel. This should suffice for most, unless you plan to use 3+ external hard drives (a little overkill, I would just get one massive one and be done with it). Adding a powered USB hub is also an option if you need more however.

now when I connect my OTA antenna and scan the local OTA stations, will the Hopper be able to distribute those saved channel signals to the two wireless Joeys connected to the system much the same as the sat signals, so everything available to the H3 is also available to the WJs including the local OTA channels... Or no.

Yes, any connected Joeys will be able to make use of the OTA tuner. The limitation there however is that the dongle only contains 2 tuners in contrast to the 16 inside the H3, which means that you can only watch/record 2 unique channels from it at any given time. If the Hopper and Joeys are watching or recording from the same OTA channel then all three will be able to watch/record while only occupying one tuner, but you are still limited to two unique stations at a time. Also, this is completely independent from the internal tuners, so you could theoretically watch/record up to 21 channels/programs at one time (15 regular tuners, 1 PTAT tuner, then the 2 OTA tuners in the dongle).

 

[NickedAgain]

As Charles mentioned, there is 3 USB ports. Two on the back (one 3.0 and one 2.0), then the 2.0 on the front panel. This should suffice for most, unless you plan to use 3+ external hard drives (a little overkill, I would just get one massive one and be done with it). Adding a powered USB hub is also an option if you need more however.

Yes, any connected Joeys will be able to make use of the OTA tuner. The limitation there however is that the dongle only contains 2 tuners in contrast to the 16 inside the H3, which means that you can only watch/record 2 unique channels from it at any given time. If the Hopper and Joeys are watching or recording from the same OTA channel then all three will be able to watch/record while only occupying one tuner, but you are still limited to two unique stations at a time. Also, this is completely independent from the internal tuners, so you could theoretically watch/record up to 21 channels/programs at one time (15 regular tuners, 1 PTAT tuner, then the 2 OTA tuners in the dongle).

Very Nice, thanks so much for that info ethanlerma, you guys are really helping me out here.

 

[ethanlerma]

Here's an off the wall question, will the USB out on a Wally, be recognized by the USB in, on a wireless Joey. In other words, will the Wally recognize the Joey as an EHD of sorts, and will the Joey recognize the Wally and allow it to use its DVR record function?

That may seem strange but here's an example, again, this is taking place in a motorcoach. There is an in-motion system available on one TV, that TV has both a Wally for in motion, and a wireless Joey from an H3 for stationary viewing. While in motion could you record a show from the Wally through the USB connected Joey, and on to the Hopper 3 DVR.

Yeah, not a thing. Cant even think of a way this could be implemented without some sort of USB capture device?. You can have a Wally and Joey on the same TV, then just switch inputs when you want to change between stationary and in-motion, but their is no linking the two. In fact, even the EHD (Required to activate/use the DVR functionality in the Wally) cant be read by the Hopper, if you want to move from one to the other it will prompt you to format for some strange reason (If I were to guess its because the Wally makes more partitions on its EHD, since it is also used to store guide data)

 

[NickedAgain]

Yeah, not a thing. Cant even think of a way this could be implemented without some sort of USB capture device?. You can have a Wally and Joey on the same TV, then just switch inputs when you want to change between stationary and in-motion, but their is no linking the two. In fact, even the EHD (Required to activate/use the DVR functionality in the Wally) cant be read by the Hopper, if you want to move from one to the other it will prompt you to format for some strange reason (If I were to guess its because the Wally makes more partitions on its EHD, since it is also used to store guide data)

Thanks, yeah that makes sense. The idea was really a shot in the dark that I didn't expect to be possible. Now that you confirm it, I think I read somewhere that the 2 receivers use different formatting or file types or something that does not make them compatible, which seems a little odd but, ya can't have everything I suppose.

 

[komondor]

I know this is a little old but as far as adding more drives the Hopper 3 as far as I know only supports 2 TB drives officially I have been using a 4 TB without any issues though for quite a few years I don't think I would go over 4TB myself although if I do get a new external drive I might be tempted to test a 8Gb drive. I have a lot of shows and my DVR is usually at the 90% full stage right now it is at 70 so it could be a good time to upgrade one of my external drives.

 

[Bobby]

I know this is a little old but as far as adding more drives the Hopper 3 as far as I know only supports 2 TB drives officially I have been using a 4 TB without any issues though for quite a few years I don't think I would go over 4TB myself although if I do get a new external drive I might be tempted to test a 8Gb drive. I have a lot of shows and my DVR is usually at the 90% full stage right now it is at 70 so it could be a good time to upgrade one of my external drives.

The Hopper 3 will accommodate a combination of up to 7 TB. It will not work with an 8 TB.

 

[TheKrell]

You guys did a marvelous job of explaining. 3 USB ports, 7TB max total (unless you're bookworm), no USB-bridging... What else?

The only thing I can think of to add is my Seagate 6TB + integrated hub. I had no trouble plugging other EHDs or my AirTV OTA adapter in the front, and the Hopper recognized and used them all.