Receiver dongle question.

[freetek]

During a recent service call Dish told us we needed, a USB dongle was installed on our aged receiver that supposedly was intended to improve reaction time to remote commands.

I couldn’t really discern that it had.

It has, however, annoyed us multiple times daily, causing the interruption of whatever we were viewing while often popping up a message to inform us that the dongle had connected and was working. When clicking to “OK”, the interrupted DVR video was gone and the receiver went to live TV and we had to reload the stopped video to continue viewing item interrupted item.



Changes made a couple years ago in the user interface coding were so poorly done have resulted in inconsistent behavior of nearly every interaction one does too frequent to bother cataloging the occurrences.

It almost seems the features code is being maintained by a 14 year old.

Not knowing which functions it would affect, can I just unplug the receiver and remove the dongle?

 

[TheKrell]

Not knowing which functions it would affect, can I just unplug the receiver and remove the dongle?

Do you have the original Hopper?

Was that the L shaped USB thing that speeds up the GUI? I think you can just unplug it without unplugging the receiver. But I don't know. When those things first came out, just about everybody saw impressive speed bumps on the GUI. From your comments above, I think you got a defective one.

 

[pattykay]

From the behavior, I would say that it is either defective, or it is not fully pushed all the way into the USB port, so it keeps losing and reacquiring the connection. Try pushing in on it, to make sure that it is pushed in all the way firmly, and then reboot the receiver. If you continue to have the same issues, then unhook the dongle (Hopper Snap) and request a replacement.

 

[dishdude]

How long have you had this old Hopper? You might be eligible for an upgrade to a Hopper 3.

 

[freetek]

How long have you had this old Hopper? You might be eligible for an upgrade to a Hopper 3.

The receiver was replaced once due to a complete failure probably 6-8 years ago with the same model.
BTW, if this would be replaced with one dependent on Google Assistant, I would return it and cancel my non-contract billing.

 

[freetek]

From the behavior, I would say that it is either defective, or it is not fully pushed all the way into the USB port, so it keeps losing and reacquiring the connection. Try pushing in on it, to make sure that it is pushed in all the way firmly, and then reboot the receiver. If you continue to have the same issues, then unhook the dongle (Hopper Snap) and request a replacement.

I have done this now, we'll see if it again does this junk.
Thanks, and oh, it was fully seated but I pulled it and reinserted it.

 

[freetek]

Do you have the original Hopper?

Was that the L shaped USB thing that speeds up the GUI? I think you can just unplug it without unplugging the receiver. But I don't know. When those things first came out, just about everybody saw impressive speed bumps on the GUI. From your comments above, I think you got a defective one.

I pulled the USB dongle and it did not appear "L" shaped, the plug appeared located in the middle and although the tech said it would shorten the response time I noticed no change so it may be defective if that was its primary purpose.
The only thing I noticed that was odd; yesterday, we had 4 recordings running simultaneously, this has only been rarely seen and then only during a short overlap, never longer than a minute or two.
Could that 4th "channel" be recording the extra one?

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Bobby]

I'm very confused. I'd like to know exactly which receiver you have. Could you go to your diagnostic page (press home twice on your remote if it's a 54 or simply press or press the Sys Info button on the receiver itself) and tell us what the top line says, Hopper 2000, Hopper 2 or Hopper 3. Then, if you can take a picture of this dongle you are talking about. We are speculating what you might have and it's makes it difficult to help you.

 

[pattykay]

Just an educated guess, but it is almost certainly the original Hopper. If it was replaced eight years ago, then it must be the original model, since the Hopper With Sling had not even been released yet then. Also, I seem to remember reading awhile back that Dish was no longer providing Hopper Snap devices for Hopper 2 (aka Hopper With Sling) receivers, only the original ones. So, if that is what this dongle is, and if this was a recent service call, then it is most likely the original Hopper, aka Hopper 2000.

 

[Bobby]

Just an educated guess, but it is almost certainly the original Hopper. If it was replaced eight years ago, then it must be the original model, since the Hopper With Sling had not even been released yet then. Also, I seem to remember reading awhile back that Dish was no longer providing Hopper Snap devices for Hopper 2 (aka Hopper With Sling) receivers, only the original ones. So, if that is what this dongle is, and if this was a recent service call, then it is most likely the original Hopper, aka Hopper 2000.

I might agree but educated guesses are just that. If the OP can be specific to the exact receiver and the exact equipment then guesses are moot, they are exact information.

 

[TheKrell]

BTW, if this would be replaced with one dependent on Google Assistant...

Yes, the new voice remotes all use Google Assistant to work. When I first got a Hopper 3, they came with the 54 voice remote and had a built-in (presumably Dish) voice search function. It wasn't that great, but occasionally worked and was nice tech which I welcomed. But then Dish replaced their own voice processing and search function with Google Assistant, and so I refused to agree when setting that up. They require your Google username/password, so it's easy not to add that and thereby not sacrifice your privacy further. But as a consequence, I have 3 voice remotes that don't do voice. Everything else works as it did.

 

[dishdude]

Yes, the new voice remotes all use Google Assistant to work. When I first got a Hopper 3, they came with the 54 voice remote and had a built-in (presumably Dish) voice search function. It wasn't that great, but occasionally worked and was nice tech which I welcomed. But then Dish replaced their own voice processing and search function with Google Assistant, and so I refused to agree when setting that up. They require your Google username/password, so it's easy not to add that and thereby not sacrifice your privacy further. But as a consequence, I have 3 voice remotes that don't do voice. Everything else works as it did.

That's odd, on my Wally I can use Google Assistant without entering my Google password.

 

[dweber]

That's odd, on my Wally I can use Google Assistant without entering my Google password.

Google Assistant has 2 different setups on the Hopper receivers.
1) If you want to Access the Google Assistant on Dish Voice Remote, you need to link it to your Google account. This allows you to control lights and do several other functions since it acts as a Google Assistant Device.
2) Control Dish through a Google Assistant Device. This allows you to control your Hopper through a separate Google Assistant Device. This would not require a Google password but your Hopper would not work as a Google Assistant.

I love the fact that Dish has built the Google Assistant into the Hopper3. I use it to control my Lutron Caseta lights throughout my house, tell me Appointments from my calendar, answer questions, and the program search works fairly well. I know that some people are scared to allow Google access but I use Google, Alexa, and Siri to assist me.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[pattykay]

I might agree but educated guesses are just that. If the OP can be specific to the exact receiver and the exact equipment then guesses are moot, they are exact information.

True, but speculating is our favorite pastime around here. So, of course we are going to make guesses until we actually have that exact information.

 

[pattykay]

Yes, the new voice remotes all use Google Assistant to work. When I first got a Hopper 3, they came with the 54 voice remote and had a built-in (presumably Dish) voice search function. It wasn't that great, but occasionally worked and was nice tech which I welcomed. But then Dish replaced their own voice processing and search function with Google Assistant, and so I refused to agree when setting that up. They require your Google username/password, so it's easy not to add that and thereby not sacrifice your privacy further. But as a consequence, I have 3 voice remotes that don't do voice. Everything else works as it did.

When you go through the setup, it prompts you to link your Hopper Google Assistant to your Google account, but you can easily skip that step. That way, you do not get the full functionality of the Google Assistant, such as pulling up a slideshow of your saved photos, or getting reminders from your calendar. However, the voice search features still work, and you can still ask Google Assistant questions, such as weather information and general knowledge trivia. If you ask something that would require access to your Google account, it will simply come up with an error saying that account linking is required, which you can then easily ignore.

 

[TheKrell]

When you go through the setup, it prompts you to link your Hopper Google Assistant to your Google account, but you can easily skip that step. That way, you do not get the full functionality of the Google Assistant...

2) Control Dish through a Google Assistant Device. This allows you to control your Hopper through a separate Google Assistant Device. This would not require a Google password but your Hopper would not work as a Google Assistant.

That mode #2 sounds like the way to go. But I don't have anything. How do you activate the "congrol Dish trhough a Google Assistant device, e.g. by skipping that step?

 

[HipKat]

BTW, if this would be replaced with one dependent on Google Assistant, I would return it and cancel my non-contract billing.

Nothing is "dependent" on Google Assistant. You don't have to access Assistant options and they won't matter anyhow if you don't link your Google Account to your Hopper.
Also, is that "Dongle", which is the Hopper Snap in the top USB port?? And all it does is speed up the reaction time of the remote as you use the menus/guide, etc.

 

[HipKat]

Yes, the new voice remotes all use Google Assistant to work. When I first got a Hopper 3, they came with the 54 voice remote and had a built-in (presumably Dish) voice search function. It wasn't that great, but occasionally worked and was nice tech which I welcomed. But then Dish replaced their own voice processing and search function with Google Assistant, and so I refused to agree when setting that up. They require your Google username/password, so it's easy not to add that and thereby not sacrifice your privacy further. But as a consequence, I have 3 voice remotes that don't do voice. Everything else works as it did.

You don't have to log into your Google acct for the voice remote to work. After you select I Understand and I Agreee, back out and the voice remote works fine

 

[TheKrell]

You don't have to log into your Google acct for the voice remote to work. After you select I Understand and I Agreee, back out and the voice remote works fine

I thought I tried that already. OK, I'll try it again. That works! It says it won't, but it does. It also says that it still uses Google... Now I'm unsure how much of my privacy is being invaded by Google in this halfway mode.

 

[HipKat]

I thought I tried that already. OK, I'll try it again. That works! It says it won't, but it does. It also says that it still uses Google... Now I'm unsure how much of my privacy is being invaded by Google in this halfway mode.

Your personal privacy, none. What channels that hopper is watching at most...