Upgrade system, including RV, and installation quality control.

[Wen Valley]

Good Morning, and thanks in advance for your time.

We currently have a Dish VIP-722k receiver that serves two TVs. Plus a VIP722 that serves two TVs. The 622 has to be rebooted almost everyday, and it's now jumping ahead to live TV every ten minutes.

We own the 622 and lease the 722.

We have an RV with manual satellite dish and stand. I'm currently moving the 622 from the house to the RV. We are thinking of upgrading to a Hopper/Joey combo. The main TV entertainment center that we have would make it VERY difficult to pull a Hopper out of to move to the RV, so I would like to get two Hoppers. One that would stay in the entertainment center, and one that I could move back and forth from the house to the RV. The RV has only one TV.

So, I think I would need two Hoppers, and two Joeys. I've read that the Hoppers are $12.00 each, and the Joeys are $7.00 each per month. We currently pay $17.00 a month for the 622.

Am I on the right track?

One CSR suggested that I get the "insurance" and that service calls would be free. Is this a valid suggestion?

One other question. It seems when the installer comes out, they just want to slap the system together. I'm concerned that they won't take the time and effort to do a correct and proper install. Any suggestions? I don't want to be unreasonable, but I want it done right.

 

[dfergie]

You could get a 211k for the RV, they work great with the Tailgater and with the new X2 for RV's and get one Hopper for the house or if the 722k is still good, just keep it.

 

[bwexler]

Some installers will bend over backwords to make you happy, others will quote the rules book that says "I don't have to do that". It may depend not only on the individual you get, but which side of the bed he got up on, the number of installs he has and the previous install.
Some folks do their own prewire, others have diagrams of what they want done.
I think the key is clear communication before the work starts, about exactly what you want and the installers willingness to comply. If you don't see eye to eye, cancel and reschedule the install, perhaps with a local retailer who will agree to abide by your requests in advance.

 

[boba]

You could get a 211k for the RV, they work great with the Tailgater and with the new X2 for RV's and get one Hopper for the house or if the 722k is still good, just keep it.

I agree that a 211 instead of a 2nd Hopper may make more sense. 1 Hopper and 2 Joeys with a 211 for the RV. You can't keep the 722 though only 1 owned 211 receiver can be on a Hopper account and your 722 is leased so it goes back to DISH.

 

[navychop]

You talk about 4 TVs. How many are HDTVs? How many need independent viewing? How much recording do you do? How many tuners do you use at the same time, for viewing and recording?

You could:

A) Keep the ViP722K and feed all TVs, but only two channels would be available, via Home Distribution. This would be SD only, via coax. Get the ViP211 series (I recommend the K if you can get one) for use both in home and in RV when there.

B) Get a Hopper to feed all TVs, but have only one channel available on all TVs. Feeding the extra TVs will not be as easy as in A above. Get the ViP211 series (I recommend the K if you can get one) for use both in home and in RV when there.

C) Get a Hopper and 1 to 3 Joeys; each location can have independent viewing. If you don't get 4 boxes, the boxes you get can feed more than one TV, but not as simply as in A. Get the ViP211 series (I recommend the K if you can get one) for use both in home and in RV when there.

You COULD move the Hopper to the RV and back, but this may not be such a good idea. Not too hard, but not too simple, either, and you're moving a hard disk drive.

You can make the ViP211 series into a DVR by buying an EHD to attach and paying a one time fee to Dish of $40. The Hopper will not be able to read that EHD, nor will the ViP211 series read any Hopper EHDs.

You came to the right place for answers. I hope we have been helpful- please feel free to ask more questions!

 

[Wen Valley]

Thank You, for each of your responses.

I thought about the 211k, but we want a dual tuner with DVR in the RV. Two of our TV's are primary TV's, and the other two can be mirrored. Mirrored in SD would be OK, but would prefer HD as all of the TV's are HD capable.

Why would the Hopper be difficult to move? Like I originally posted, the upstairs Hopper is in an entertainment center and it would not be movable. The downstairs one is on a shelf system and would be easy to get access.

The Hopper is 12 bucks a month, the Joey is 7, I think two Hoppers for 24 bucks a month is a great value.

Also, Dish is telling me that both the 622 and the 722 are theirs, but I thought the 622 was ours, how can I check? We've had the 622 for several years.

Like I posted, we have the portable dish with the 3 LNBs, so a dual tuner receiver would work.

Last question, Dish said they could have someone out today to do the swap, I registered for a DIRT team to contact. Should I wait, or just call Dish and get this going?

Last Last question. How many of your pay extra for the "insurance"?

Thanks....

 

[navychop]

You need a duo node for two Hopper installations and a single node for one Hopper installations. Just wire it once. Cap off unused ports with 75 ohm terminators. Be very careful moving any receiver with a hard drive. Cushion it. Probably best to carry it in the car when moving.

Use DIRT.

I pay for the protection plan but am reconsidering. Many here find it a waste of money.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[navychop]

It would be best if you had, or could get, a receipt showing you bought the ViP622. But frankly, I can't imagine they're worth much today. I'd let the installer haul it off just to be rid of it.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[bwexler]

I had two Hoppers in my RV, with two TVs. We were full time and wouldn't think of having less.
Now we are in a house and have upgraded to Two Hoppers With Sling. I have added a new 50" TV and put the 26" on my desk in the home office. I plan to mirror it off one of the Hoppers but currently settle for Dish Anywhere since the TV is also connected to my computer as a second monitor, which is really handy.

 

[Wen Valley]

Thanks to all for posting. For clarification, the Hopper wouldn't (shouldn't?) be anymore of a chore to move than the 622, right? I understand that I might need to add hardware at the manual dish antenna to go to single mode(?). But why would it be anymore difficult?

Thanks.

 

[bwexler]

Both receivers, 622 and Hopper, have hard drives. Once the wiring is in place moving the receivers is the same task.
Disconnect the cables, carry it to new location, connect the cables, run check switch for each new location, every time you move the RV.

 

[navychop]

Thanks to all for posting. For clarification, the Hopper wouldn't (shouldn't?) be anymore of a chore to move than the 622, right? I understand that I might need to add hardware at the manual dish antenna to go to single mode(?). But why would it be anymore difficult?

Thanks.

Both receivers, 622 and Hopper, have hard drives. Once the wiring is in place moving the receivers is the same task.
Disconnect the cables, carry it to new location, connect the cables, run check switch for each new location, every time you move the RV.

Absolutely. Just keep in mind the Hopper wiring is different from ViP wiring. Matters if someone throws a ViP211 series into the mix.

A duo node at home, a single node on the RV. Run checkswitch to clear your matrix, THEN hookup the Hopper and checkswitch again to "catch" the sats on that dish. Do it each time you move the Hopper back and forth, or shift arcs (which you might never do.)

 

[navychop]

Actually, I believe if you set up a solo node at the RV, you can just take the sat feed coax from the Hopper and plug it into the ViP211 series and it will work just fine. Probably. Pretty sure about that.

Remember, if all else fails, run checkswitch. If that fails, run it with the sat feed coax disconnected, then again after reconnecting.

 

[TechWriter]

For clarification, the Hopper wouldn't (shouldn't?) be anymore of a chore to move than the 622, right? I understand that I might need to add hardware at the manual dish antenna to go to single mode(?). But why would it be anymore difficult?

For a two-TV RV system with a Hopper and a Joey, you have several wiring choices for a portable sat dish:
- Solo Node inside the RV: http://rvseniormoments.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/12_dish_twotvs_hopper_joey_hdhd_dual_rg6.pdf
- Solo Node attached to tripod dish: http://rvseniormoments.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/125_dish_twotvs_hopper_joey_hdhd_single_rg6.pdf
- Hopper/211 network: http://rvseniormoments.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/999_dish_hopper_vip_mixed_network_tripod.pdf

I've used both of these installs, and it's much easier running a single coax from a portable dish than dual coax. However, if you go with the Solo Node at the tripod, the RG6 coax from Solo Node to RV has to be rated at 3 GHz.