Upgrade to Hopper now or wait for bug fixes?

[smokey982]

I had planned to call my local installer and get an appoinment for an upgrade next week. But after reading so many threads about the various problems people have been having I'm starting to wonder if I should wait. Now don't get me wrong. I've read just as many positive posts on the Hopper as well. But for those that have upgraded. Are you happy with your upgrade or do you maybe wish you had held off for a few months until the bugs get worked out? I think my biggest concern are the numerous post about the DVR not recording when it was scheduled. I'm a big TV junkie that DVR's a LOT of shows, especially prime time shows. And I would be pretty upset if I started missing shows that failed to record. So what are your thoughts?

 

[Bobby]

I've been Hoppered for nearly 2 weeks now. I have yet to have a failure of any kind..... and PTAT works flawlessly as well as selected DVR events.

 

[Dishman1978]

I am an installer, have been told I cant upgrade yet because I am an employee. All I can say is i WISH they would let me, i want it so bad.

Yes there are some bugs, its new, but i have noticed that people that dont have problems tend not to say much, and people who do brodcast, so for every issue you see im sure there are 10 that dont have any issues.

Just hope you get an installer that actually gets how it supposed to be installed and doesnt try to wing it.

 

[Teehar]

Just my personal opinion.I would wait a bit unless you are one of the folks that just have to have the latest and greatest,or you are offered a really sweet deal.Working ota plus a few bug fixes would make it much more enticing for me.

 

[smokey982]

Just hope you get an installer that actually gets how it supposed to be installed and doesnt try to wing it.

I already discussed the install with a local installer that I've used in the past. He has done great work for me in the past. I've had my feel of going directly through Dish and I don't want to ever do that again unless I have to. As a matter of fact. I'm willing to pay an extra $79 to have it done from this particular installer so I don't have to deal with Dish. This is a fee that he's just recently started charging for upgrades. He said he just has to wait too long to get his money from Dish when he does upgrades so he's started charging this fee. I just have to call him back to schedule the install when I get ready. I'm still on the fence but I'm leaning real hard on going ahead with the upgrade now.

 

[patmurphey]

If you're a recording junkie, go for it. Get 2 Hoppers if you have 2 or more TVs. I haven't had any serious problems that out weigh how much h/js are more versatile and fast compared to my old 722/622/212 combo. PTAT is amazing, as you learn to work these boxes it gets better and better.

 

[Brodieb]

I would go for it - the Hopper is not nearly as bad as the Hopper Zone threads make it sound. PTAT is worth it just by itself, let alone all the nice UI updates and speed improvements. If you have the protection plan on your account Dish will fix any major problems for cheap just in case you get a lemon.

 

[gadams]

Finally having our bedroom TV in HD, off the same central receiver, is fantastic. Overall the interface improvements are really nice, although there is of course a small learning curve to get used to the differences. Unless OTA is a deal-breaker, I'd say go for it.

 

[king3pj]

I had planned to call my local installer and get an appoinment for an upgrade next week. But after reading so many threads about the various problems people have been having I'm starting to wonder if I should wait. Now don't get me wrong. I've read just as many positive posts on the Hopper as well. But for those that have upgraded. Are you happy with your upgrade or do you maybe wish you had held off for a few months until the bugs get worked out? I think my biggest concern are the numerous post about the DVR not recording when it was scheduled. I'm a big TV junkie that DVR's a LOT of shows, especially prime time shows. And I would be pretty upset if I started missing shows that failed to record. So what are your thoughts?

I have 2 hoppers and 3 joeys. PTAT has only recorded for me 1 out of the 4 nights since my upgrade. The night it did work it recorded on both hoppers. Besides that I'm still happy with the upgrade.

I just schedule individual timers on my HD locals as well as leaving PTAT enabled so if PTAT doesn't fire I still don't miss the recordings of the shows I actually wanted. I have more tuners than I did before so conflicts haven't been an issue. Dish on demand works much better for me than it ever did on my 722. Plus HD on all 5 TVs is much better.

Sure it's frustrating that PTAT won't work reliably for me but the way I see it I didn't lose anything I had before and I gained a lot. I did get PTAT for 1 night so I know my setup is capable of it. I'm just hoping it works consistently for me once the next software update gets pushed out. If not I will schedule a tech visit. Besides that there hasn't really been any bugs for me. I think it's a pretty solid system already so I say go for it.

This thread should probably be in the hopper zone though.

 

[smokey982]

I have 2 hoppers and 3 joeys. PTAT has only recorded for me 1 out of the 4 nights since my upgrade. The night it did work it recorded on both hoppers. Besides that I'm still happy with the upgrade.

I just schedule individual timers on my HD locals as well as leaving PTAT enabled so if PTAT doesn't fire I still don't miss the recordings of the shows I actually wanted.

That was something else I've been wondering. So as long as you set individual timers those shows will record even if PTAT doesn't fire? What if you set three timers for 8pm locals and the PTAT doesn't fire, will it take up all three tuners in that scenario? I understand that PTAT only uses one tuner but if it doesn't fire then the one tuner recording probably wouldn't apply would it?

 

[king3pj]

Exactly. If I have 3 scheduled recordings it will take up all 3 tuners if PTAT doesn't fire. Luckily for me I have a 2nd hopper so it still isn't that big of a deal. I wouldn't worry about that though. It seems like I am in a very small minority of people having trouble with PTAT.

If PTAT does fire like it should it would still only use 1 tuner even though you set 3 individual timers. These shows with individual timers will also be saved in your regular DVR space so you won't lose them after 8 days.