SatelliteGuys FIRST LOOK - DISH's Hopper and Joey

Thanks guys for your comments and questions please keep them coming!

As for me I need to get to bed as I have to be to work in 5 hours. :D
 
I am a bit confused about the wiring. Currently I have a switch that feeds 3 TVs. Would this setup work with one Hopper and 2 Joeys or will I need to rewire?

Dish ---> Switch ----> 3 coaxes, one to each TV (DVR or receiver).
 
On the picture of the solo node, there are only 2 inputs for satellite feeds, one for the hopper (to host) and one to the joeys (to client). I thought there were supposed to be 3 satellite inputs to replace existing DPP switches.

Don't know what I'm missing, but clearly it's something.
 
I am a bit confused about the wiring. Currently I have a switch that feeds 3 TVs. Would this setup work with one Hopper and 2 Joeys or will I need to rewire?

Dish ---> Switch ----> 3 coaxes, one to each TV (DVR or receiver).

That's actually an excellent setup. The node and splitter is just added after the switch and before the lines.
 
Good info Scott, it was good to point out that if you a larger family you may want to look at a two hopper set up.
 
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Section 4: It's Prime Time Anytime!

One of the Hoppers major new features is the addition of PrimeTime Anytime, it should be noted that this feature does not come enabled by default on the Hopper. If you want to use PrimeTime Anytime you must enable it yourself and it's easy to do in the main PTAT tile. It's a simple A or B selection (And if you ever want to disable it you can do it anytime except when PrimeTime Anytime is actively recording.)

I let the Hopper load up with one night's worth of PrimeTime shows and then we jumped in. My wife was happy to see all her favorite shows recorded without her needing to set a single timer. In addition we found that we discovered many new shows we had never watched before -- many we found very enjoyable.

Over the few weeks of having the Hopper and Joeys, we have grown to love the PrimeTime Anytime feature. We have found that at times it can get confusing especially when trying to tell what we have watched and what we have not watched. A number of programs my wife was going to skip because the screen said we have watched them but we had not… instead my older son watched a number of the shows on his TV. It indicated on the screen that the shows were already watched. I would love to see a feature so that the PTAT listings are on a per receiver basis, so this way we can hide shows which we have watched or don’t want to see to make the experience less confusing but keep the shows there for other family members in the house who would want to watch those shows on their televisions.

If you can learn to get by its quirks then PrimeTime Anytime is one reason alone why you would want to upgrade to a Hopper system. I am willing to bet a lot of people will find themselves watching more prime time television on their own schedules I know that has been the case for me and my family. This increased viewership for prime time network programming should make the TV networks happy.

Scott I see that NESN sports desk made PTAT on your attachment?
 
Hey guys, if you know anyone who is interested in the Hopper please tell them about our review here at SatelliteGuys, as your currently not going to find a review anywhere else. :)

Please spread the word so others can learn about the Hopper system as well! :D
 
Section 5: True Multiroom DVR and other New Features

The DISH Hopper / Joey does not have the DISH Home Interactive feature. In addition when you are watching commercials that say “Press Select Now to tune to HBO,” these triggers do not function on the Hopper / Joey system.
Are you sure that's not a setting that's turned off by default? On the ViPs, it's Menu-6-1-6 to turn it on and off.
 
Its unfortunate that Dish decided to only use 3 tuners in the whole house. For the typical household usage pattern with 3 or more people in the home that is not going to work. And even households with 2 people. As soon as 2 kids start watching live TV and PTAT kicks in then there is nothing left to record anything. And if the master bedroom wants to watch live TV for a breaking news event you have to go kick the kids off the TV. They really messed up on the planning on this one and should have had the Joeys include their own tuner.

I know a lot of customers that don't know satellite stuff in and out are going to get frustrated with this setup once they run into their first night of TV in the house.
 
Its unfortunate that Dish decided to only use 3 tuners in the whole house. For the typical household usage pattern with 3 or more people in the home that is not going to work. And even households with 2 people. As soon as 2 kids start watching live TV and PTAT kicks in then there is nothing left to record anything. And if the master bedroom wants to watch live TV for a breaking news event you have to go kick the kids off the TV. They really messed up on the planning on this one and should have had the Joeys include their own tuner.

I know a lot of customers that don't know satellite stuff in and out are going to get frustrated with this setup once they run into their first night of TV in the house.

Luckily we are all entitled to our own opinions here. You are right about 1 Hopper not being enough, for people like us. I doubt I will rarely sell 2 Hoppers to customers. Most don't need it and others won't pay the extra fees. Most of our customers just have 1 dual tuner mirrored to multiple TVs. Most of our customers rarely fill up their DVRs too.

The problem with the views we share here on SatelliteGuys are we only seem to think about ourselves and our own personal situations. No one seems to think about the big picture like Dish is. This will be a smart roll out for Dish. They'll be able to learn from the initial launch and can make adjustments later. If Dish finds that more people want more tuners then they can add that to a new model in the future.

I'v also notice that most of the people bashing the Hopper are DTV subs and backers. I'm a Dish fan and retailer so my view is a little skewed towards Dish but I never bad mouth DTV. I happen to think they have a great product too. It's great for everyone to have options.
 
Its unfortunate that Dish decided to only use 3 tuners in the whole house. For the typical household usage pattern with 3 or more people in the home that is not going to work. And even households with 2 people. As soon as 2 kids start watching live TV and PTAT kicks in then there is nothing left to record anything. And if the master bedroom wants to watch live TV for a breaking news event you have to go kick the kids off the TV. They really messed up on the planning on this one and should have had the Joeys include their own tuner.

I know a lot of customers that don't know satellite stuff in and out are going to get frustrated with this setup once they run into their first night of TV in the house.

A agree. THe hopper should of been a 6 tuner receiver WITH ota support from the start. Right now you are limited by the lack of both. IF it had 6 tuners it would of been ready now and there would be no wait for two hopper integration. I can see a lot of frustration for those who like to still surf tv like my Dad. If he comes up on a show recording right now on his 722k and he doesn't want to watch it , he hits stop and no show recorded. So for older people this will confuse the hell out of them. Without ota , it is complete no go for many ,including me. Can't watch Metv or any other sub channels that DISH doesn't carry.
 

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