New DISH Equipment

ty1273 said:

Satellite tv is on the way out. Costs way too much to build new birds. Streaming is the way now and with broadband internet becoming available in the boonies soon. Starlink is going to make that happen now. Plus Dish will have it made since they will only have 10 channels to stream due to cheap Charlie not paying higher retransmission fees. Does he think that Dish should be allowed to carry programming for at no cost to Dish? Sorry Charlie, it does not work that way.

Click to expand...

Huh?

NashGuy said:

Interesting theory and it's certainly possible that Dish plans to offer more linear channels via streaming. But why couldn't they do that with the current hardware? Those boxes (if internet-connected) can already access certain linear channels that are streaming-only, such as some of the recently-added HBO channels.

Only reason I can think why they'd be switching to hardware with an "Android UI" as these new units have is because they want access to apps from Google Play. All over the world, we're seeing pay TV operators move toward one of two OS platforms for their boxes: Google's Android TV Operator Tier (which, for instance, DirecTV Stream uses on their boxes) or RDK (an open-source framework that's largely backed by Comcast in the US and Liberty Global in Europe). RDK is mainly being used by traditional cable operators while Android TV is being adopted by everyone else, particularly IPTV/telco/fiber operators.

Click to expand...

It could be the current, say H3, was not designed with optimization for handling several high quality streams from the internet to multiple clients. The new equipment would, in theory, be able to do this with far more streams, far more reliably, and with the latest more bandwidth rich MoCA 2.5 that offers 2.5Gig (up from MoCA 2.0's 1Gig that is the MoCA used for the H3).

All the latest tech in a new box means a truly robust, highly capable, mega-multistream of channels from the internet with far more bandwidth of MoCA 2.5 to provide a solid performance with far less hiccups that customers would expect. Trying to do this on a grand scale with the now older tech H3 would just create a diminished and frustrating experience. So, such an add-on component that works with the H3 is probably a more cost effective way or "upgrading" the H3 and the H3 experience. Keep in mind the Roku's and Fire TV's are designed to be CHEAP and, therefore, have limitations such as MULTI-streaming. Dish needs a far more complex box that likely will attempt to mimic the current MVPD experience, but designed to work WITH a Hopper or other latest models of Dish sat boxes to achieve this.

DishSubLA said:

It could be the current, say H3, was not designed with optimization for handling several high quality streams from the internet to multiple clients. The new equipment would, in theory, be able to do this with far more streams, far more reliably, and with the latest more bandwidth rich MoCA 2.5 that offers 2.5Gig (up from MoCA 2.0's 1Gig that is the MoCA used for the H3).

Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Replay
Unmute

Current Time 0:19
/
Duration 0:19
Loaded: 0.00%


0:19
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently playing liveLIVE
Remaining Time -0:00

Playback Rate

1x
Chapters

• Chapters

Descriptions

• descriptions off, selected

Captions

• captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
• captions off, selected

Audio Track

Fullscreen
This is a modal window.

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
TextColorWhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-Transparent
BackgroundColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyOpaqueSemi-TransparentTransparent
WindowColorBlackWhiteRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyanTransparencyTransparentSemi-TransparentOpaque
Font Size50%75%100%125%150%175%200%300%400%
Text Edge StyleNoneRaisedDepressedUniformDropshadow
Font FamilyProportional Sans-SerifMonospace Sans-SerifProportional SerifMonospace SerifCasualScriptSmall Caps
Reset restore all settings to the default valuesDone
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.​

All the latest tech in a new box means a truly robust, highly capable, mega-multistream of channels from the internet with far more bandwidth of MoCA 2.5 to provide a solid performance with far less hiccups that customers would expect. Trying to do this on a grand scale with the now older tech H3 would just create a diminished and frustrating experience. So, such an add-on component that works with the H3 is probably a more cost effective way or "upgrading" the H3 and the H3 experience. Keep in mind the Roku's and Fire TV's are designed to be CHEAP and, therefore, have limitations such as MULTI-streaming. Dish needs a far more complex box that likely will attempt to mimic the current MVPD experience, but designed to work WITH a Hopper or other latest models of Dish sat boxes to achieve this.

Click to expand...

Eh, maybe, but then nothing you're stating there has anything to do with the description "Hopper DVR upgrade for Android UI". Being able to process multiple streams doesn't require Android and doesn't have anything to do with a UI. Assuming the existing Hopper 3 isn't powerful enough to handle multiple simultaneous streams (which I doubt), it's going to need beefier hardware, e.g. faster SoC and/or faster network connection, not an Android UI.

Maybe these new Hopper products are designed to work with the Directv signal, since the current Hopper and the Directv signal are not compatible. That way when Dish and Directv merge, Dish would already have a Sat receiver to replace Directv's Genie and it may also work with Dish's current signal. A dual signal receiver.

NashGuy said:

Eh, maybe, but then nothing you're stating there has anything to do with the description "Hopper DVR upgrade for Android UI". Being able to process multiple streams doesn't require Android and doesn't have anything to do with a UI. Assuming the existing Hopper 3 isn't powerful enough to handle multiple simultaneous streams (which I doubt), it's going to need beefier hardware, e.g. faster SoC and/or faster network connection, not an Android UI.

Click to expand...

Well, we know is pretty much next to NOTHING! What we do know is Anroid "TV" and UI and this certainly means streaming, and that's it. After that, any speculation is just as likely as anyone else's.

Android ("TV"?) is a FOUNDATION, not indicative of anything other than OS and possibilities of UI that could be Dish's own along with the ability of streaming content. After that, companies are NOT limited to offering a host of features and innovations and purposes.

So, what you seem to be saying is that only knowing the new add-on device to be running Android OS of some kind (but could be Android TV that can provide for CUSTOM UI and functionality much like a Hopper 3's UI and functionality), there is no need to speculate. I would say since we know only the above, that makes almost anything possible. Than again, even those known things could be in ERROR or even abandoned by Dish, so I guess that puts us back to your square ZERO on any speculation. Of course, is that not what speculation is, in the first place? That last sentence is what is called a rhetorical question; please, save your valuable time and energy and don't it feel necessary to respond to a rhetorical question.

I should add that earlier this year, I had read a well done reputable article about how Starlink has no chance of making any money (nor breaking even) with only rural customers, and the its only hope of solvency is in providing a competitive option to urban and suburban dwellers, and even then, the economics will still be very tight. I can't recall the article, but perhaps a G search may bring up for those who are interested.

DishSubLA said:

I should add that earlier this year, I had read a well done reputable article about how Starlink has no chance of making any money (nor breaking even) with only rural customers, and the its only hope of solvency is in providing a competitive option to urban and suburban dwellers, and even then, the economics will still be very tight. I can't recall the article, but perhaps a G search may bring up for those who are interested.

Click to expand...

I read that same article and it totally ignored the deals Musk is already working on and the potential for more-Airlines , Government ( Local, State and Federal), Military .

Do a search on Star Link and a lot of these deals pop up, too many to list here.

DishSubLA said:

So, what you seem to be saying is that only knowing the new add-on device to be running Android OS of some kind (but could be Android TV that can provide for CUSTOM UI and functionality much like a Hopper 3's UI and functionality), there is no need to speculate.

Click to expand...

No, speculate away. All I'm saying that is the description available ("Hopper DVR upgrade for Android UI") doesn't seem to have much to do with the features you're speculating about, although that doesn't mean you're wrong. IMO, it seems much more likely that it's talking about incorporating Google's Android TV operating system into their Hopper line-up (which already feature the Google Assistant, BTW). And the main reason DISH would have to do that -- the main thing Android TV has going for it that DISH currently lacks -- is access to a large ready-to-go platform of popular streaming apps via the Google Play app store.

The Hopper currently has apps for YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video and Pandora that those companies have made specifically for DISH. But Android TV has tons of additional apps, including HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV, Peacock, Paramount+, ESPN, AMC+, etc. Getting all those services to create and continually support a version of their app just for the Hopper is a long, drawn-out process and many of them just won't ever do it; they're already supporting lots of other platforms. Injecting Android TV into their receivers immediately solves the problem for DISH and lets them effectively catch up to Comcast's X1 system in terms of app support and integration. The Hopper platform is a standout, technology-wise, versus other pay TV operators' equipment. Having so few apps is its only real shortfall.

Who knows, maybe you're right about this shift involving an increased reliance by DISH on delivering linear channels via streaming, and therefore less reliance on satellite delivery. Maybe at some point after this new equipment rolls out, we'll see DISH begin offering service completely via the internet, with no need for a dish or professional installation. It's an interesting idea (although raises the question of why have Sling as a separate service). We don't have much to go on other than the short description -- "Hopper DVR upgrade for Android UI" -- and it's certainly possible that that description doesn't fully reflect the scope of features/changes that this new Hopper Plus will bring. We'll see eventually, I guess...