Is the Hopper the only option now

[Dishman1978]

Thanks, I did not try it that way, I meant I have no choice if I select 5 tvs and 4 dvrs. I would be nice to have the option to select for TV 1 box X, TV2 box Y, etc and have it give you a price at the end. Maybe they feel the average consumer cannot figure out how to mix and match. I will talk to the CSR or DIRT member but I may just end up adding the free HD DVR receiver DTV is offering and living w/o the NFL redzone....all would be so much easier if DTV would just offer that as a standalone system. That is really all I am switching for as it appears cost (when factoring in having to pay $2 - 300 in upgrade fees for additional DVRs) will be pretty much a wash.

The average consumer doesn't even realize how tv2 works with no box since every other provider needs a box for programming.

 

[sperry85]

Thanks for the advice, just seems a little risky if they do not offer the downgrade a outlined I am stuck for 2 years with a Hopper, 3 Joey's and 3 very unhappy family members.

Its not an if. That is the only option they will offer you. I've had 3 customers this has been done by. It is because all boxes on hopper/Joey are HD. The only thing they can offer is HD at all 4 TV's with dvr.

Ofcourse no one trusts someone who actually works with the system 6 days a week....

 

[kgm32]

Its not an if. That is the only option they will offer you. I've had 3 customers this has been done by. It is because all boxes on hopper/Joey are HD. The only thing they can offer is HD at all 4 TV's with dvr.

Ofcourse no one trusts someone who actually works with the system 6 days a week....

It is not that I don't trust you (I don't trust my luck) but it is good to hear you have seen this done multiple time. Something to give a shot worse case I am forced to upgrade to a second Hopper with while limited and not my first choice, I could make work. Its too bad the Joeys don't have there own tuner for viewing only and rely on the Hopper only for DVR functionality. That would work out perfectly. Thanks for the advice.

 

[lparsons21]

You certainly do NOT want to install H/J and then try to downgrade.

Why?

 

[Scherrman]

2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys is awesome. I have it and love it.

 

[navychop]

Why?

You wanna count on CSRs doing this? And getting it right? And not somehow ending up costing an arm & a leg? If they'd do it at all?

Get H/J and get it installed right and live long and prosper.

 

[sperry85]

You wanna count on CSRs doing this? And getting it right? And not somehow ending up costing an arm & a leg? If they'd do it at all?

Get H/J and get it installed right and live long and prosper.

Just to show how this 'fear' of CSR's doing something wrong when its the only option that they can offer you as long as you don't downgrade your package to dish family which has no HD.

Anyone have a hopper and 3 Joey's, or any setup of hopper/Joey's totaling 4 TV's, wanna do a little experiment?

Call in to dish, tell them you're not satisfied with the hopper/Joey setup, and ask to downgrade to VIP receivers. Then tell them you're gonna discuss it with the spouse and report what they offered you here.

 

[SQUEEZON]

Here's what you do. Get installed with a hopper and 3 Joey's. Then, a day or two later, call back and explain that its not enough tuners and $200 is too much for a second hopper. They will then offer to 'downgrade' you to a 722 and 3 612's for no extra cost. (So you don't have to buy the 4th receiver, or pay the upgrade cost of getting more than 1 HD dvr) The only cost difference would be $5 more a month for the 4 VIP receivers. They may charge $15 to send a tech or they may waive it if you tell them nobody explained the hopper system to you. You have 10 days I believe to 'downgrade' for no extra cost.

But yes 512 cost $49 to purchase vs 612 cost of $300-$400.

And now its out there for everyone to see! Duh

 

[costanzas_wallet]

Just to show how this 'fear' of CSR's doing something wrong when its the only option that they can offer you as long as you don't downgrade your package to dish family which has no HD.

Anyone have a hopper and 3 Joey's, or any setup of hopper/Joey's totaling 4 TV's, wanna do a little experiment?

Call in to dish, tell them you're not satisfied with the hopper/Joey setup, and ask to downgrade to VIP receivers. Then tell them you're gonna discuss it with the spouse and report what they offered you here.

Ironically, this is the exact situation I'm in. We have 4 TVs, three Joey's and the Hopper. My kids both watch TV in their rooms and then if one of them is recording a show, we're SOL on the other two TV's. We have to kick one of the kids off their TV's or stop a recording just so we can watch anything.. be it recorded or live. It's simply NOT WORKING.

I came home from work to a very PO'd wife last night. She was watching a show on Animal Planet with about a half hour buffered and the TV switched WITHOUT WARNING to recording another show. She lost her buffer and the rest of the show and gained a lot of anger, which so ever-so-considerably saved for my rear end when I walked in the door.

At first, Dish seemed very understanding and wanted to help me out since the system isn't everything we thought it would be. I suggested to the CSR that they send us out some independent boxes for my kids rooms so they wouldn't tie up every friggin tuner in the house recording Sponge Bob and iCarly (which are on like a hundred times a day, btw).

Turns out, all they are willing to do is send out a VIP and three solos (increasing our MRC by adding on three more DVR fees) or give us a $200 upgrade to a second hopper. It's important for us to have multiple tuners available on two TV's.. my bedroom and the family room. We like to skip between tuners during commercial breaks in the bedroom more than record, so we're kinda in a spot. I just paid $200 to disconnect from DirecTV in contract and I'm not budgeted to spend another $200 for a second hopper... ask me about buyers regret.

My biggest mistake when we made the decision to switch back to Dish was NOT coming here to research on the hopper system. I work for a telcom that uses the same Mocha technology, but our "joey boxes", we call Satellites, have independent viewing tuners... that means, they watch programming on their own tuner and only use the main box for viewing what has been recorded. It's the same ultimate whole-home system that I bought into based on the Dish commercials, when it's anything but.

I don't understand why it's not possible to run two independent receivers in the same house that the Hopper is running.. it makes no sense.
Bottom line, there's nowhere near enough tuners in this setup to be considered a whole-home solution, and we are very unhappy and now stuck in another contract for services that don't meet our needs.

Any ideas???

 

[patmurphey]

Yeah, you should have 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys!!!!!! PM a DIRT member. With rare exceptions, it has always been $200 for a 2 Hopper setup - new customer first free, second $200, old customer first $100, second $100.

 

[costanzas_wallet]

Yeah, you should have 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys!!!!!! PM a DIRT member. With rare exceptions, it has always been $200 for a 2 Hopper setup - new customer first free, second $200, old customer first $100, second $100.

Thanks Pat ... I PM'd Zach .. We're pretty gutted that it's panned out like this so far. We've been pretty much AEP / Ultimate subscribers for years, so it's not like we don't end up paying out the nose in MRC's anyways. I hope we can turn this around.

 

[sperry85]

Fee's for hopper and 3 Joey's.
Hopper - free
Joey. - $7 x 3 = $21
Dvr fee - $6
Whole home fee - $4
= $31 in fees

For 722 and 3 612
722k - free
612 - $10 x 3 = $30
Dvr fee - $6
= $36 in fees

 

[johnny58259]

Here's a ? For you I doubt this is an option but can you mirror a Joey to 2 tvs

 

[Dishman1978]

Here's a ? For you I doubt this is an option but can you mirror a Joey to 2 tvs

It is possible, but........if coax is your choice you will need a RF modulator or something that modulates such as a VCR with RCA inputs and a coax out as the Joey's have no coax out puts available on them.

 

[Scherrman]

Ironically, this is the exact situation I'm in. We have 4 TVs, three Joey's and the Hopper. My kids both watch TV in their rooms and then if one of them is recording a show, we're SOL on the other two TV's. We have to kick one of the kids off their TV's or stop a recording just so we can watch anything.. be it recorded or live. It's simply NOT WORKING.

I came home from work to a very PO'd wife last night. She was watching a show on Animal Planet with about a half hour buffered and the TV switched WITHOUT WARNING to recording another show. She lost her buffer and the rest of the show and gained a lot of anger, which so ever-so-considerably saved for my rear end when I walked in the door.

At first, Dish seemed very understanding and wanted to help me out since the system isn't everything we thought it would be. I suggested to the CSR that they send us out some independent boxes for my kids rooms so they wouldn't tie up every friggin tuner in the house recording Sponge Bob and iCarly (which are on like a hundred times a day, btw).

Turns out, all they are willing to do is send out a VIP and three solos (increasing our MRC by adding on three more DVR fees) or give us a $200 upgrade to a second hopper. It's important for us to have multiple tuners available on two TV's.. my bedroom and the family room. We like to skip between tuners during commercial breaks in the bedroom more than record, so we're kinda in a spot. I just paid $200 to disconnect from DirecTV in contract and I'm not budgeted to spend another $200 for a second hopper... ask me about buyers regret.

My biggest mistake when we made the decision to switch back to Dish was NOT coming here to research on the hopper system. I work for a telcom that uses the same Mocha technology, but our "joey boxes", we call Satellites, have independent viewing tuners... that means, they watch programming on their own tuner and only use the main box for viewing what has been recorded. It's the same ultimate whole-home system that I bought into based on the Dish commercials, when it's anything but.

I don't understand why it's not possible to run two independent receivers in the same house that the Hopper is running.. it makes no sense.
Bottom line, there's nowhere near enough tuners in this setup to be considered a whole-home solution, and we are very unhappy and now stuck in another contract for services that don't meet our needs.

Any ideas???

Who did you get your Dish through? Did you sign up for the Hopper by calling Dish or go with a retailer? Reason I ask is because they should have done a btter job of qualifying you. I wouldn't think this is your fault since they should have known you could run into these issues if they asked the right questions. You should really go with a second Hopper and I bet you'll be very happy.

 

[costanzas_wallet]

Who did you get your Dish through? Did you sign up for the Hopper by calling Dish or go with a retailer? Reason I ask is because they should have done a btter job of qualifying you. I wouldn't think this is your fault since they should have known you could run into these issues if they asked the right questions. You should really go with a second Hopper and I bet you'll be very happy.

I called Dish Network. I agree, they should have done a better job qualifying me. I wasn't even aware that it was a three-tuner DVR until the technician was setting the system up.

The first member of the executive team I spoke with informed me that I was made aware of all these concerns previously, when the rep read off the terms and conditions, which are read at the end of every sales call, after the order is scheduled. So, basically, the entire situation is my fault because I didn't listen carefully to the terms he rattled off, which made me feel even worse... and I really liked the guy I ordered with.

It really comes down to this.. I paid a bit over $200 to DirecTV to disco early, when the main reason why I went to DirecTV in the first place was for their true-whole-home DVR.. My wife liked Dish more because they have Sirius Radio, and when the hopper commercials starting rolling out, she started pressuring me to switch back... and now that the system simply isn't working, she's even more pissed .. but at least this time she's pissed at Dish for "false advertisement". I mean, even the commercials flaunt the Hopper like a 6 tuner DVR, and there's absolutely no mention that the Joeys are tuner-less...

I really hope this works out, because as it stands, it's been a huge mistake.

 

[Scherrman]

I called Dish Network. I agree, they should have done a better job qualifying me. I wasn't even aware that it was a three-tuner DVR until the technician was setting the system up.

The first member of the executive team I spoke with informed me that I was made aware of all these concerns previously, when the rep read off the terms and conditions, which are read at the end of every sales call, after the order is scheduled. So, basically, the entire situation is my fault because I didn't listen carefully to the terms he rattled off, which made me feel even worse... and I really liked the guy I ordered with.

It really comes down to this.. I paid a bit over $200 to DirecTV to disco early, when the main reason why I went to DirecTV in the first place was for their true-whole-home DVR.. My wife liked Dish more because they have Sirius Radio, and when the hopper commercials starting rolling out, she started pressuring me to switch back... and now that the system simply isn't working, she's even more pissed .. but at least this time she's pissed at Dish for "false advertisement". I mean, even the commercials flaunt the Hopper like a 6 tuner DVR, and there's absolutely no mention that the Joeys are tuner-less...

I really hope this works out, because as it stands, it's been a huge mistake.

I can see how you'd be upset with your current setup. I was originally going to put in a Hopper and 3 Joeys when one day it just hit me, I can use 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys and have twice as many tuners. One Hopper was not going to cut it for me between my recordings, my wife's recordings and our son's recordings plus having PTAT on. With our current setup I never have a timer conflict, every TV is in HD and I never run out of space on the hard drive. This is the best TV setup I've ever had.

I really think you'll love the system once you add another Hopper.

 

[satjay]

I can see how you'd be upset with your current setup. I was originally going to put in a Hopper and 3 Joeys when one day it just hit me, I can use 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys and have twice as many tuners. One Hopper was not going to cut it for me between my recordings, my wife's recordings and our son's recordings plus having PTAT on. With our current setup I never have a timer conflict, every TV is in HD and I never run out of space on the hard drive. This is the best TV setup I've ever had.

I really think you'll love the system once you add another Hopper.

I agree I have a Two Hopper/one joey..no conflicts, dont think it would work for me with a one Hopper/Two Joey set up that they recommended

I have to give credit to the folks on the fourm for the info they had during the roll out of the Hopper/Joey

 

[costanzas_wallet]

Thanks for the good words... you have me looking forward to a positive resolution.

I forgot to mention, I ordered a Sling Adapter that showed up yesterday too... just can't use it when the wife and kids are home.. or if the DVR is running .. or any time between Tuesday and Wednesday.. or if I've eaten lunch the day before.

 

[huskerhead]

After reading all these posts along with posts in other threads has me rethinking switching from D (and my flaky HR-34 plus 3 other HR-24's) to E for a 2H/2J setup. Should I be worried/concerned?