Virtual Joey on LG TV's - How seamless is it?

[CubsWin]

I may be in the market for a new TV soon and am considering a 2014-model LG. Has anyone used the LG Virtual Joey interface yet? If so, can you comment on the process to start the Virtual Joey app?

In other words, if someone comes into my house and doesn't know anything about Virtual Joey, can they just pick up my Dish remote and turn the TV on and use it just like any other receiver was connected to the TV? Or does it always require an extra step or steps to navigate to the Virtual Joey app before it becomes functional?

 

[osu1991]

I loaded the app on my LG last night after it did a firmware upgrade. Buy since I dont have a hopper it wouldn't let me do anything.
I would be interested to hear some hands on experience with it too.

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[lucky86]

You have to pull up the apps menu and select it. I believe if you turned the TV off, last using the VJ, then it should start up with the Joey screen saver as if you had a reciever. The performance depends on your network, but I've had nothing but positive results when using it

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[CubsWin]

The performance depends on your network, but I've had nothing but positive results when using it !

Are you using Wifi or Wired, and how does the responsiveness compare to a physical Joey?

 

[lucky86]

I used both hardline and wifi. They both worked great and I'd say the response is the same as a regular joey. I didn't really notice any lag issues.

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[sca]

does this use a joey, or 'add' another? I realize tuners remain 3 with a normal hopper system but I am wondering if it is like using sling on 722 where you are actually changing channels in one of the rooms in certain cases.

 

[lucky86]

It's just like a real Joey. It uses a tuner if watching live, and no tuner if viewing dvr Content.

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[sca]

sweet. seems like a money loser for dish tho....
and there are bound to be installers who will take advantage of this.

 

[osu1991]

sweet. seems like a money loser for dish tho....
and there are bound to be installers who will take advantage of this.

It still costs you a mirroring fee to use it, so Dish actually saves money as they don't have to provide hardware

 

[dare2be]

sweet. seems like a money loser for dish tho....
and there are bound to be installers who will take advantage of this.

How so? The virtual joey carries the same monthly fee as the regular joey. Seems like a money winner, since there is no hardware to manufacture/support.

 

[Scherrman]

The only people losing money on the Virtual Joey are the retailers. That's an additional TV setup we lose out on since the customer is the one that has to call into Dish to activate after the system is installed. I'm not saying we are losing a ton of money here but it is a legitimate loss for us. For Dish it's just more money in the bank and they don't have any equipment to make or service along with not having to pay a tech to install it.

So far I've only seen the Virtual Joey at last year's Team Summit and it looked and ran great. I couldn't tell there wasn't a Joey there.