Moving back to Dish, but have a few questions first

Larry

Supporting Founder
Original poster
Sep 13, 2003
229
13
Southern California
I'm not here to bash Direct, but I think it's time to make the change. As I see it, I'll need an H3 and 3 4K Joeys with AT250 package. However, before I switch, I hope someone can please answer a few questions for me:

1. Since changing to a Genie 2, the lag is terrible when changing channels, skipping ahead and doing other "button press" functions. It takes 3-4 seconds for each press to register...not exactly an enjoyable user experience to say the least. Will switching to Dish H3 & Joeys solve this problem?

2. What is the approximate azimuth and elevation for pointing the dish? I know, the installer will handle all of the fine points...but, I'd like to know if I have a good line of sight before I even get started with Dish. Edit: I'm in Southern California near Riverside.

3. How is the integration between H3 and Netflix & other streaming services (MLB, NHL, HBO)? All of my TVs are smart TVs, but it would be nice to have a "smooth" interface.
 
For #1, you'll find little to no lag @ the H3 location, and you will probably be OK with the 4K Joeys as well. There is also a Joey3 available, if you don't need the 4K content at any of those locations. I've never experienced a 4K Joey, but the Joey 3 is pretty reasonable speed-wise, and some that have compared the two find the Joey 3 as fast or faster than the 4K Joey. There is a Wireless Joey and wired Joey 2 that are similar in speed to each other, but considerably slower than the Joey 3. Joey 1 is decrepit and should be avoided like the plague.

For #3, as far as integrated streaming services, there is Netflix and YouTube...and that's it. At present, for anything else, you'll need other solutions like your SmartTV. Also of note since you mentioned it...if you aren't aware, Dish is in a dispute with HBO/Cinemax, so no way to access those AT ALL via Dish equipment.
 
Thank you very much for the info. I think I can safely say that I'll be ordering Dish in the very near future.

If anyone can help me with the azimuth and elevation settings, I'd really appreciate it. I checked dishpointer.com, but am unsure of the satellite locations I need. (110,119,129??) If that's the case, I'm looking good! :)
 
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Thank you very much for the info. I think I can safely say that I'll be ordering Dish in the very near future.

If anyone can help me with the azimuth and elevation settings, I'd really appreciate it. I checked dishpointer.com, but am unsure of the satellite locations I need. (110,119,129??) If that's the case, I'm looking good! :)
If you are actually in Southern California, 110,119,129 are your satellites.
 
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As mentioned the 4K Joeys are $50 each and the amount of actual 4K content may not be worth the money. There is some On Demand 4K, plus Netflix, and I know you want a smoother interface, but Netflix on the Dish equipment is still not the best way to go. It's glitchy in some cases
 
Netflix on the Dish equipment is still not the best way to go. It's glitchy in some cases

I have an H3 and 2 J3's and I can attest to the fact that the Joeys are almost as fast as the H3, that being very fast. But I have never seen Netflix work on my Joeys. Does it take forever to load or something?
 
I have an H3 and 2 J3's and I can attest to the fact that the Joeys are almost as fast as the H3, that being very fast. But I have never seen Netflix work on my Joeys. Does it take forever to load or something?
Well, one thing that screws up Netflix and On Demand on the Joeys is certain Router/Gateways by certain providers, but I think I posted the list of known Gateways that have problems and yours wasn't on there. I know some people have used wifi adapters to connect their Joeys to their network to run Netflix, but I think you have to disable Bridging at the Hopper, to avoid a networking mismatch. That's one thing you can try. I'm always in favor of getting a HIC into the system.
 
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The other option is not to use provider based routers/modems (especially the combo units). I've found that those tend to cause problems more often than not and as such I avoid them. My current setup is definitely atypical (pFSense virtualized on a Dell PowerEdge rackmount server feeding into an enterprise grade layer 3 managed switch) but I would recommend if you don't already get a solid modem standalone unit (I tend to prefer Arris) and a solid router from TP-Link like the Archer C7 or C9 or one that can be easily flashed to DD-WRT.
 
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I'm not here to bash Direct, but I think it's time to make the change. As I see it, I'll need an H3 and 3 4K Joeys with AT250 package. However, before I switch, I hope someone can please answer a few questions for me:

1. Since changing to a Genie 2, the lag is terrible when changing channels, skipping ahead and doing other "button press" functions. It takes 3-4 seconds for each press to register...not exactly an enjoyable user experience to say the least. Will switching to Dish H3 & Joeys solve this problem?

Even the Joey 2.0 is so much better than the C61k, if that is the DirecTV clients you are using with your Genie2. The Joey 3 or 4K should be even better. The Hopper3 itself is great. Still not quite as good as the Tivo Roamio OTA I used to have, but the Hopper3 is also doing way more work, and it is certainly better than the HR54 I used to have and perfectly acceptable.
 
Well, one thing that screws up Netflix and On Demand on the Joeys is certain Router/Gateways by certain providers, but I think I posted the list of known Gateways that have problems and yours wasn't on there. I know some people have used wifi adapters to connect their Joeys to their network to run Netflix, but I think you have to disable Bridging at the Hopper, to avoid a networking mismatch. That's one thing you can try. I'm always in favor of getting a HIC into the system.

I don't think bridging is on. My Joeys are connected both to MoCA and hardwired GigE to my D-Link router.
 
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Even the Joey 2.0 is so much better than the C61k, if that is the DirecTV clients you are using with your Genie2. The Joey 3 or 4K should be even better. The Hopper3 itself is great. Still not quite as good as the Tivo Roamio OTA I used to have, but the Hopper3 is also doing way more work, and it is certainly better than the HR54 I used to have and perfectly acceptable.
I wouldn’t go that far. Having several Joey 3’s and C61 and C61k I don’t see any speed difference between the two. I would say doing some tasks are faster on the C61k.
 
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Sorry but it is true. I hit menu on the C61 the menu pulls up in a second. It is 3-4 seconds by the time it finishes loading on the Joey 3

Sorry but it's not true. If you're looking at the Home Screen which is not really a menu on the Joey 3 then yes, it takes a little longer because of all the content that comes from your broadband connection. The actual menu loads immediately.

I deal with Hopper/Joeys and Genie/Clients every day of the week and there's no way the Genie boxes are anywhere near as fast as the Hopper boxes.
 
Sorry but it's not true. If you're looking at the Home Screen which is not really a menu on the Joey 3 then yes, it takes a little longer because of all the content that comes from your broadband connection. The actual menu loads immediately.

I deal with Hopper/Joeys and Genie/Clients every day of the week and there's no way the Genie boxes are anywhere near as fast as the Hopper boxes.
I didn’t mention the hopper. I mentioned the Joey. Granted there may be people with crappy wiring and wireless. But at least when it comes to performance so far on a client basis from my H3 and J3 compared to my HS17 and C61 clients. The clients are damn near the same speed. Granted I have a 5 year old house with brand new home run coax I hit guide on both. Guide pulls up right away. I scroll the guide. Both have that slight hiccup scrolling the guide
 
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I didn’t mention the hopper. I mentioned the Joey. Granted there may be people with crappy wiring and wireless. But at least when it comes to performance so far on a client basis from my H3 and J3 compared to my HS17 and C61 clients. The clients are damn near the same speed. Granted I have a 5 year old house with brand new home run coax I hit guide on both. Guide pulls up right away. I scroll the guide. Both have that slight hiccup scrolling the guide

And I also was referring to the Joey 3. I have no idea why you're talking about with the crappy wire and the wireless, that has nothing to do with the actual speed of the boxes. Yes, the clients are nearly the same speed as the Genies and the Joey 3's are as fast as the Hopper 3's but in my extensive experience overall the Hopper 3/Joey 3 systems are noticeably faster than the Genie/Client systems.