Scott's Hopper Thoughts

[John Kotches]

For those of us with > 1 dual output receiver the pricing will be closer than those with only one dual output receiver. I expect the latest technology will be a bit pricier in the early adoption phase and that's the price you pay for being an early adopter.

 

[Scherrman]

To me the fees are OK. but a free joey would help retain customers
what I would really like to see is a post compare the good things vs the bad
your excited to get it but why?
the good stuff i see is hd to all the TVs that's great I want that for sure
pta if it works is a good idea if you watch the big 4
the bad stuff the two hoppers will not see each other and with only 3 tuners the conflicts would make it unusable for me.
if you had a third joey can it access the contents both hoppers I never seen a answer for this.
The real funny thing for me I see a lot of different people post that three tuners is more then the customer needs then post they want two.

When we say if more than what the customer needs we mean the general public/average customer. There are a lot of people who have DVRs and barely know how to use them. We are the major exception.

 

[dwarren2]

Because instead of having a wire come from your satellite dish to each of your receivers like it does not the satellite dish is wired to the node, which then goes to your Hopper, also from the node you have a single wire coming out which feeds to your Joeys. Now you can use a regular splitter to split the signal going to each room where the Joey will live.

In my situation I have the cable coming into the hous in the basement to a grounding block where it then run to the living room with my 722 and my computer room with a 211. Could they use those cables for the 2 Hoppers and then run the cables for the Joeys?

 

[Scherrman]

If you check out the wiring diagrams it may help you understand how yours will be hooked up.

 

[dont24]

I'll have to do the math. I have 3 722s and a 612. 612 feeds a 2nd tv over coax. One 722 feeds TV2. Last 2 are in single mode. So I'd need 2 Hoppers and 5 joeys? looks like I'll be paying more in fees. No real desire to go to whole house connectivity. VIP mixed mode would suit me better.

 

[Tampa8]

I'm glad that the fee structure for your setup will be in line with what you're willing to pay. For many of us, it won't.

I do have a third TV (211K) and would be interested to hear how I could pay less with a third TV in the H/J setup. My calculations have me currently paying $13 per month in fees, and would be paying $24 in fees in a Hopper/Joey/Joey setup to service the same number of TVs...

Well of course, math dictates if the first two TV's cost about $11 more ($4 fee and $7 mirror fee) with a hopper, adding a third is still $11 more. As I agreed your two TV's compared to the two with the hopper are the difference, not the third. You are still comparing one particular economy set-up to the Hopper no matter how many TV's you add. I get that for you it is not worth it. For the many who have two DVR's at two locations however it is very comparable if one has a second Hopper. Price is about the same with no second hopper and Joey instead but flexibility in a second receiver is lost.
Even a 211K at a second TV is comparable, the $4 whole house fee being the difference, though now with a compatible EHD and full DVR functions with the Hopper set-up. There has to be many, and maybe most who fit those two ways of having two TV's connected.

 

[dare2be]

I'll have to do the math. I have 3 722s and a 612. 612 feeds a 2nd tv over coax. One 722 feeds TV2. Last 2 are in single mode. So I'd need 2 Hoppers and 5 joeys? looks like I'll be paying more in fees. No real desire to go to whole house connectivity. VIP mixed mode would suit me better.

High volume (TVs) users should always end up with roughly equal or lower fees. I assume you are paying $54 in fees now. You would drop to $52 with hopper.

 

[JM42]

I'll have to do the math. I have 3 722s and a 612. 612 feeds a 2nd tv over coax. One 722 feeds TV2. Last 2 are in single mode. So I'd need 2 Hoppers and 5 joeys? looks like I'll be paying more in fees. No real desire to go to whole house connectivity. VIP mixed mode would suit me better.

$2 more to have all HD by my count. Not a bad deal, but if your happy where your at, why change?

You can keep the Hoppers "separate" from each other using isolators, just have to decide which Joeys see which Hopper.

 

[Teehar]

High volume (TVs) users should always end up with roughly equal or lower fees. I assume you are paying $54 in fees now. You would drop to $52 with hopper.

Yep thats what my math comes up with as well.My math is off lol

it would be $2 more for 2 hoppers and 5 joeys

 

[dare2be]

Yep thats what my math comes up with as well.My math is off lol

it would be $2 more for 2 hoppers and 5 joeys

my turn to make a mistake. I was thinking he had a 922 for some reason, and was putting in $10 instead of $6 for the DVR fee.

 

[Ganthet]

In my situation I have the cable coming into the hous in the basement to a grounding block where it then run to the living room with my 722 and my computer room with a 211. Could they use those cables for the 2 Hoppers and then run the cables for the Joeys?

I have a similar situation: 2 cables coming off the Dish into the house to a grounding block and then feeding a 622 and a 211. Looking over the screenshots in the training material thread (http://www.satelliteguys.us/hopper-zone/277416-hopper-installation-training-materials.html) it seems that would work for a single hopper install. The 2 cables coming off the grounding block connect to the solo node and then to the hopper/joey(s)

For a 2-hopper setup the duo node takes 3 inputs so I'm guessing that the 2 lines off the dish will need to go into a distribution amp (DPP 34 or 44?) to create the 3 inputs for the duo node and then to the hoppers/joeys.

Anyone who knows more about the equipment coming off the dish please feel free to correct me.

 

[navychop]

I'll have to do the math. I have 3 722s and a 612. 612 feeds a 2nd tv over coax. One 722 feeds TV2. Last 2 are in single mode. So I'd need 2 Hoppers and 5 joeys? looks like I'll be paying more in fees. No real desire to go to whole house connectivity. VIP mixed mode would suit me better.

Then why would you consider the Hopper? That would be like being unhappy Ford came out with a station wagon version of the sedan you're happy with.

 

[n0qcu]

Secondly I believe that DISH should be including 1 Joey with the Hopper at no extra charge. I have no problems with additional Hoppers being $7 a month. But to give the first Hopper at no additional cost would be something that would cause POSSITIVE BUZZ for DISH and would allow for DISH customers to show off the new Hopper Technology to their friends. In seeing how Joey works people would want more Joeys for other TV's in there house and most importantly it would make DISh customers more sticky, as going anywhere else would cost them more. When Joe Clayton was talking about More Movies, More Music, More Magic, this could be the real magic of it all. The positive word of mouth alone would pay for the costs in the long run. Again a Hopper should come with 1 Joey STANDARD at no extra cost for that Joey.

Scott, Didn't you mean Joey not Hopper in these two spots?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Scott, Didn't you mean Joey not Hopper in these two spots?

Yes I did let me fix that (whoops!)

 

[CFGuy]

High volume (TVs) users should always end up with roughly equal or lower fees. I assume you are paying $54 in fees now. You would drop to $52 with hopper.

That is what I am seeing. I currently lease 4 receivers for a total of 8 tuners, feeding 4 tvs. A coax split feeds my office tv but with the way I have things setup the office has to watch whatever is on in the living room. Total fees are $36.

If I go with 2 Hoopers and 3 Joeys my fees go to $38 but I get a receiver on my office tv and a shared DVR. (Eventually, lol)
If I just want to duplicate my current shared setup I can just do 2 Hoopers/ 2 Joeys and my fees drop to $31.
For the extra $2 I'll take the extra receiver.

One thing that I haven't seen anyone mention is the size of the Joeys. The WAF was very high when I showed my wife how little room they will take up on the dresser/tv stand.


I agree with Scott. I can't wait to get the Hoppers/Joeys installed.

 

[rglore]

For a 2-hopper setup the duo node takes 3 inputs so I'm guessing that the 2 lines off the dish will need to go into a distribution amp (DPP 34 or 44?) to create the 3 inputs for the duo node and then to the hoppers/joeys.

Anyone who knows more about the equipment coming off the dish please feel free to correct me.

Nope, you need three lines from the dish to the duo node. No magical way to turn two lines into three since each line from the dish carries two satellite signals and a dual node requires 6 independent satellite signals for the 6 tuners, therefore, there must be 3 lines from the dish.

 

[dare2be]

For the extra $2 I'll take the extra receiver.

Must be nice.

 

[digiblur]

The big hang up for me was the Joey's didn't have their own tuner. If they had that then the 3 tuners combined with primetime using one of them would have probably worked in my home.

 

[dont24]

High volume (TVs) users should always end up with roughly equal or lower fees. I assume you are paying $54 in fees now. You would drop to $52 with hopper.

I'm paying $50 in fees. $34 for the 2 722s. $10 for the 612. $6 DVR fee.

 

[dont24]

Then why would you consider the Hopper? That would be like being unhappy Ford came out with a station wagon version of the sedan you're happy with.

Figured I'd throw my .02 in. I sometimes wish I could get HD to my set using TV2. I have an OTA, as well, but that only gets me locals in HD. Although *I have no desire for a whole house solution, the wife may think otherwise. I see her sometimes recording the same shows in the bedroom and living room, depending on where she plans to watch her shows.