Hopper and Tailgater News

[Scott Greczkowski]

Tailgater® Now Available for Customer Accounts with HopperTM!

One Purchased ViP® 211/k Receiver Allowed Per Hopper Customer Account – Effective June 7, 2012

With the summer season just arriving, customers want to camp, fish, and go on road trips – and they want to bring their DISH TV with them! Many of these customers may already have or want to purchase a Tailgater light-weight mobile antenna from DISH, while also enjoying the benefits of our recently launched Hopper Whole-Home HD DVR while at home.

With this in mind, effective June 7, 2012, all DISH customer accounts with a Hopper may also activate one (1) purchased ViP 211/k receiver on their account (limit one per account). In this way, they can have both a Hopper solution and a Tailgater (which requires a ViP 211/k receiver). Please keep in mind that this is the only exception to the rule that customer accounts with a Hopper configuration cannot also have other model receivers on the same account.

However, since only a purchased ViP 211/k receiver may be used with a Tailgater on a customer account that also has a Hopper, there will be no applicable Equipment Discount for the purchased ViP 211/k receiver.

 

[CK SatGuy]

Dish seems to have figured it out finally.

 

[Voyager6]

Will you have to prove that you own a Tailgater?

 

[BTL140]

So no separate programming package required? Just pay the extra $7 receiver fee per month when activated.

 

[Tampa8]

So no separate programming package required? Just pay the extra $7 receiver fee per month when activated.

"may also activate one (1) purchased ViP 211/k receiver on their account (limit one per account)." To me that's the point of the information, otherwise it would be the same as it is now. Good news for some.

I do see a grey area, do you have to prove you have an RV? Doesn't seem like they could stop someone from using this in the house - or stack. Sounds like the deterrent to that is the cost of having to buy one. Apparently if you have a leased one now, and upgrade to a Hopper they won't let you use it, you will need to buy it.

 

[Pepper]

That's a bit restrictive but better than nothing. I wonder why they wouldn't push the tailgater software into the other ViP models, i.e. the DVRs.

 

[Tampa8]

Someone else posted why in another thread about the tailgater, but others said Dish never said it, I couldn't find anything to back it up so I did not post at that time. What the poster said, and I too seem to remember also was the lack of a hard drive would make it more reliable in an RV. And since you can add your own EHD with any problems being your own, seems like a logical choice for Dish to make I guess.

 

[patmurphey]

They did not say, but is the 211 usable only on the tailgater portable dish, and not to be connected to your home Dish/Hopper system?

 

[Scherrman]

They did not say, but is the 211 usable only on the tailgater portable dish, and not to be connected to your home Dish/Hopper system?

It is only to be used for the Tailgater. I don't see any way for them to stop you from connecting it to your Hopper system if you know how though.

 

[Scherrman]

That's a bit restrictive but better than nothing. I wonder why they wouldn't push the tailgater software into the other ViP models, i.e. the DVRs.

The reason is because the 211k is a simple small receiver and is less likely to be damaged during transport. Dish could allow any receiver to do it but they choose not to because a DVR recevier is more likely to be damaged during transport because of the hard drive. Also, I'm not sure the Tailgater could support a dual tuner receiver.

If all you want is to have DVR capabilities then bring an EHD for the 211k and you're good to go.

 

[navychop]

Will you have to prove that you own a Tailgater?

.... is the 211 usable only on the tailgater portable dish, and not to be connected to your home Dish/Hopper system?

Also, if I upgrade to H/J and then buy a ViP211K and an EHD, and get it working on my home account, can I then take it to my RV and have it work, EHD & all, WITHOUT connecting it to a Tailgater? Does the ViP211K and EHD work today without any connection to a dish?

ViP211K: about $120
Tailgater: about $370

$500 is a "think about it three times" kinda thing. Better if it can be bought in pieces, with limited capability at first. Esp since there is no LoS where my RV is.


And can I buy the ViP211K now, with my ViP722s, and use it after converting it H/J, assuming I do? Can't imagine why they would want you to only buy AFTER a H/J conversion, but I thought I'd ask.


(Clearly, I took so long to make this post I missed the two previous posts.)

 

[Pepper]

If you don't have a tailgater, you probably will need a Dish 1000 on a tripod at least.

 

[Jhon69]

If you don't have a tailgater, you probably will need a Dish 1000 on a tripod at least.

It's on sale here:

Dishdepot.Com | DirecTV Satellite TV | Satellite Florida Receiver | Satellite Radio System | DirecTV Dishpro Plus | RV Motion Satellite Dish | TV Antenna Installations

 

[GaryPen]

I wonder if they will have special Tailgater SW for 211k's on H/J accounts that may only work with TG dishes?

They do have special Commercial versions of the SW for commercial accounts. So, it's certainly doable.

 

[TheKrell]

Don't give them any ideas, especially one as despicable as that one.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

I really like the 211s; a relative has two of them. No Hopper, though. She got these before the Hopper.

 

[thxtech]

Tailgaters only work with 211ks because of their single tuner. The tailgater actually only looks at one satellite at a time, so if you hooked it up to a dual tuner receiver with tuner one watching 119, and tuner two on anything else, there is a problem. So, tailgators will always only work with single tuner receivers.

 

[Ziptied]

Tailgaters only work with 211ks because of their single tuner. The tailgater actually only looks at one satellite at a time, so if you hooked it up to a dual tuner receiver with tuner one watching 119, and tuner two on anything else, there is a problem. So, tailgators will always only work with single tuner receivers.

The main issue with dual tuner compatibility is that the Tailgater only has 1 coax output and the LNBF is not DPP, it is legacy. If it had 2 outputs like a Winegard, it could have limited dual tuner functionality.

 

[thxtech]

To do that it would have to able to look at more than one satellite at a time, like a dish 1000. In order to do that it would have to be 3 times its current size and cost, like other units that do. To keep it cheap and small they opted for a single lnb unit that dynamically changes satellite at channel change like a mini c-band dish.

 

[Ziptied]

The Winegard does it with a single legacy lnbf as well but with 2 coax outputs. Tuner 1 controls the movement of the dish. If both channels being watched are on the same bird, it works nicely, hence my earlier "Limited Dual Tuner Functionality" comment earlier. The fact that the Tailgater only sees one bird at a time is not the reason it only works with single tuner receivers.