New Customer--Many Problems!

[bs0755]

Hi:

I have had my Dish for about a month now, and I am having many issues with quirky behavior and missing features. My setup includes a Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus and two Joey 4s. I still do not have two of the features I was most interested in when purchasing--Prime Anytime and Multiview. Even though it is turned on in Settings, I get a message that this feature is not available (code 1003). In researching the archives, I noted that it may take a few days before all of the features are available, so I did not contact customer service until last week. (In the meantime, I answered two surveys from Dish, and stated my issues, and asked to be contacted...). After doing some basic troubleshooting, the agent escalated my case to the tech department and told me they would be in touch--but I have still not heard anything.

I also am experiencing odd behaviors, such as the sound going away (I went in Settings and disabled Dolby). I have the timer set for the Hopper to go to sleep after 6 hours, but it will unexpectedly shut down at various times. The rewind is very finicky, and if I go too far, it will bounce back to the current time. I have read where the Hopper Plus may be the cause of some problems, and I am considering disconnecting it--Is there a certain procedure to follow when doing this, in case I want to hook it back up?

My wife is a diehard Tivo fan, and it took a lot of persuasion to get her to agree to getting the Dish. Our cable provider (Spectrum) is discontinuing support for TiVo, and we have already lost several stations. On paper, Dish seems to provide the closest thing to Tivo out there, but I am seriously considering cutting my losses and sending everything back....

 

[Bobby]

I can address multiview. You will not get that with the H+ attached to the Hopper. Take it out the mix and you will have multiview on that Hopper. Joeys never did have multiview.

 

[tanman]

It is very easy to disconnect the H+ and /or reconnect it.I'm doing this from memory but disconnect any wires running from the H3 to the H+ .Disconnect at the H3.Plug an HDMI wire into the back of the H3 output.Should be good.I'd kill power to both before.Not sure if necessary.
IMO you only need the H+ if you don't have a Roku,Firestick etc.Otherwise it's redundant and as noted kills multiview.
The H3 is an excellent DVR.

 

[KAB]

Hi:

I have had my Dish for about a month now, and I am having many issues with quirky behavior and missing features. My setup includes a Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus and two Joey 4s. I still do not have two of the features I was most interested in when purchasing--Prime Anytime and Multiview. Even though it is turned on in Settings, I get a message that this feature is not available (code 1003). In researching the archives, I noted that it may take a few days before all of the features are available, so I did not contact customer service until last week. (In the meantime, I answered two surveys from Dish, and stated my issues, and asked to be contacted...). After doing some basic troubleshooting, the agent escalated my case to the tech department and told me they would be in touch--but I have still not heard anything.

I also am experiencing odd behaviors, such as the sound going away (I went in Settings and disabled Dolby). I have the timer set for the Hopper to go to sleep after 6 hours, but it will unexpectedly shut down at various times. The rewind is very finicky, and if I go too far, it will bounce back to the current time. I have read where the Hopper Plus may be the cause of some problems, and I am considering disconnecting it--Is there a certain procedure to follow when doing this, in case I want to hook it back up?

My wife is a diehard Tivo fan, and it took a lot of persuasion to get her to agree to getting the Dish. Our cable provider (Spectrum) is discontinuing support for TiVo, and we have already lost several stations. On paper, Dish seems to provide the closest thing to Tivo out there, but I am seriously considering cutting my losses and sending everything back....

As said already, you should never have started your Dish experience with a Hopper +!

 

[n0qcu]

After you remove the H+ you will need to reboot the H3 several times

 

[tjboston5676]

After you remove the H+ you will need to reboot the H3 several times

That's incorrect. You disconnect and reboot just once then wait 15-20 minutes, do not touch anything at all during that time.

 

[tjboston5676]

The prime time anytime needs to be manually turned on and need subscription to locals and they have to be HD locals. Some markets have access to both sd and hd locals (but on different satellites). If this is the case the tech should of never continued without first telling you they couldn't get the hd locals. But it may not be the case as it's a rare thing to happen.

 

[bs0755]

Thanks everyone! I disconnected the H+ and I do indeed have Multiview/PIP. There are still some odd behaviors, such as when I restarted the Hopper 3, the start page came up as Hopper with Sling--but the box sure looks like a Hopper 3...

Regarding Primetime Anytime--I am using my antenna for OTA, so I am wondering if that is the reason why that feature has not been working?

 

[jsmit86]

I have a Hopper 3 and updated to Joey 4s to enable 4K + HDR events.
I have a pretty complex installation, having the Hopper 3 on my main set, + 5 Joey 4s supporting a Man Cave, plus 4 bedrooms. My original install was buggy perhaps because I did not want the Hopper Plus because I wanted to keep PIP and Multiview.

A week or so later, I had the installer come back, and insert the plus into the mix because they though that may have been the cause of the problems I had with viewing satellite on the Joey 4s. (Freezing pic)
On as side note, I still had the original Hopper syncing my DVR back to a new Hopper 3. That may have actually been the cause of the issue. No way to know for sure.

Once everything was stable, my only issue was losing the PIP and Multiview. I updated software on the Hopper 3., and the system did not work. My installer walked me through multiple reboots, and disconnected the plus. Eventually it also received the needed software for the Joey 4s. Bottom line, I ditched the plus, and everything works well now. My Samsung TV has all of the apps I need, so the plus was not adding any value for me.

While it took a few weeks to get everything working, I am very pleased with the final outcome. The Joey 4s can do 4K HDR, and that was my reason for updating.

There is one weird behavior on the Joey 4s. The output is always flagged as HDR regardless of content. This means your TV will assume HDR content, and use settings for HDR, usually 100% brightness, and HDR color space. Not ideal. The work around is to set your TV to use standard HDMI setting, not enhanced. Just select enhanced when you are watching HDR content. Not a huge deal. I have suggested that Dish change that if possible with a firmware update, unless this is hard corded into the Joey 4 hardware.

I was fortunate that my installers were persistent in solving the initial problems. To be fair, most of the tech support does not have a lot of experience in the new Google TV hardware. The originally thought that the plus was required to support the Joey 4s. That may have some element of truth in the first install, but once all of the software is synced, the Joeys work fine without the plus.

 

[Bruce]

There is one weird behavior on the Joey 4s. The output is always flagged as HDR regardless of content. This means your TV will assume HDR content, and use settings for HDR, usually 100% brightness, and HDR color space. Not ideal. The work around is to set your TV to use standard HDMI setting, not enhanced. Just select enhanced when you are watching HDR content. Not a huge deal. I have suggested that Dish change that if possible with a firmware update, unless this is hard corded into the Joey 4 hardware.

This still amazes me, if I remember correctly, this has been going on for more then a year.

I have a Roku Ultra that flags the correct material as HDR/DV or not, I do not have to go into the settings every time and switch it off or on.

If a basic inexpensive device like the Roku can do it correctly, why cannot Dish fix the Joey 4 to do the same?

 

[navychop]

If you decide to replace a Joey with an off board device and Dish Anywhere, I recommend the Fire Stick. It is very easy to get DA up and running on the Firestick, as it is an available app. Not so easy on the Roku. It CAN be done on Rokus, but seems to involve kissing your elbow and other antics (essentially a side load).

 

[tjboston5676]

Thanks everyone! I disconnected the H+ and I do indeed have Multiview/PIP. There are still some odd behaviors, such as when I restarted the Hopper 3, the start page came up as Hopper with Sling--but the box sure looks like a Hopper 3...

Regarding Primetime Anytime--I am using my antenna for OTA, so I am wondering if that is the reason why that feature has not been working?

The hopper start will say hopper with sling then have a small 3 on the bottom right corner of logo. Also hopper3 has a red line across the front of receiver, if you don't see both of those it's a hopper2.

And correct, ota locals don't work with pta. Must be subscribed for it to work.

 

[Bobby]

You can easily tell which Hopper you have by going to the Diagnostic page, press Home 3 times on your remote, and the model you have is listed at the very top of the page.

 

[navychop]

Red stripe is easier

 

[Bobby]

Red stripe is easier

Yeah it is but a Wally also has a red stripe.

 

[bs0755]

You can easily tell which Hopper you have by going to the Diagnostic page, press Home 3 times on your remote, and the model you have is listed at the very top of the page.

Got it--Thanks!

 

[bs0755]

The hopper start will say hopper with sling then have a small 3 on the bottom right corner of logo. Also hopper3 has a red line across the front of receiver, if you don't see both of those it's a hopper2.

And correct, ota locals don't work with pta. Must be subscribed for it to work.

Thanks!

 

[Ray_Clum]

 

[navychop]

I love that beer!

Got stinking drunk on it at the O Club at Guantanamo.

Now I can buy it around here. Not cheap.

 

[Bobby]

I love that beer!

Got stinking drunk on it at the O Club at Guantanamo.

Now I can buy it around here. Not cheap.

$14.50 a 12 pack around here.