Virtual Joey to be discontinued

[stardust3]

C/P: May have been posted already, sorry if dupe.


Virtual Joey® to be discontinued

Sept. 22, 2015
Soon, we will be making some enhancements to the software on the Hopper® platform that will eliminate the functionality of the Virtual Joey.
As a result, effective Sept. 24, 2015, the Virtual Joey will no longer be available for new customers, or for existing customers who do not currently have a Virtual Joey active and paired with their Hopper® or Hopper with Sling®. The app is no longer available for download from the PlayStation® store and will soon be removed from the LG® store for LG Smart TVs.
Virtual Joeys that are active and paired with a Hopper will remain operational.

 

[DWS44]

RIP, Virtual Joey. We hardly knew ye.

 

[TheKrell]

Well... If new functionality precludes continuing the VJ for new customers, how can it still work for existing customers?

 

[navychop]

I don't read it as new functionality "precluding" it- I think they decided to discontinue it, allowing current active users to continue on. For a while.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Probably too many issues with tech support.

It's like selling Vonage. Half the idiots I sell it to do not know how to hook it up properly, and waste hours of my time trying to explain how to plug a cable into their router.

 

[Hall]

Well... If new functionality precludes continuing the VJ for new customers, how can it still work for existing customers?

That was the best way they could phrase it instead of saying "the user base of this feature is so tiny, we've decided to discontinue it".

 

[MikeD-C05]

I'm betting that it was the price. Why pay $7.00 for a virtual joey, when you can get a real one for the same price? A real one that can do so much more than the virtual one. Now if they had discounted it by a couple of dollars, it might of had a chance.

 

[TheKrell]

Or made it free and make up for it in everybody upgrading to Hoppers.

 

[Jim S.]

Another example of why proprietary systems are bad.

 

[david_jr]

I'm betting that it was the price. Why pay $7.00 for a virtual joey, when you can get a real one for the same price? A real one that can do so much more than the virtual one. Now if they had discounted it by a couple of dollars, it might of had a chance.

Have to agree Mike. Priced more aggressively this would have had more appeal.

 

[navychop]

Or made it free and make up for it in everybody upgrading to Hoppers.

And THEN discontinuing it!

 

[Hall]

Have to agree Mike. Priced more aggressively this would have had more appeal.

It was ONLY available on PlayStations and (some) LG TVs. It needs to be more widely available first, then factor in pricing.

 

[Canesman]

It was just a stupid idea in the first place.

Most Customers would rather see Dishanywhere apps developed on video game consoles. Not this sorta thing.

 

[Hall]

But Dish doesn't charge for DishAnywhere

 

[Canesman]

But Dish doesn't charge for DishAnywhere

No one is debating that.

 

[ChadT41]

Most customers would rather not pay any fees for premium or upgraded content, but that is not going to happen either in this FOR PROFIT company.

 

[DishSubLA]

I seem to remember something from Dish's FCC filing that Hopper 3 would have some type of Mirror-casting technology, and apparently from the press release posted above, will be loaded onto the current Hoppers and HWS's, and that may be the "preclude" part because Mirro-casting does pretty much what the Virtual Joey does, and at no extra cost, one presumes, and to just about any HDTV in the house.

The devil is in the details: will this have to be initiated via mobile device (like Slingbox to Roku)? Can we initiate it from the Hopper or Joey itself without a mobile device? Will it mirror from only a Hopper or Joey or either? Of course, this would mean that the Hopper or Joey being used fro the Mirror-cast would be unavailable for someone else to use independently while another person is Mirror-casting to whatever room with the HDTV at the same time, hence, no extra?

So, it could be about taking a Hopper and Joey and "extending" to another room to an HDTV like the Mirroring many already do with modulators, HDMI or other types of splitters, but now it would be built-in to the Dish Hopper system. I'd say that is a pretty good compromise for the death of the Virtual Joey since the VJ had such limited availability, but did offer absolute independent viewing at all times.

I can hardly wait to see the new enhancement.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Mirroring a joey or hopper without a FEE? This is DISH the king of the additional receiver fee structure via class of receivers. I can't see them giving this mirroring ability away for free or as Charlie puts it : "Leaving money on the table." It would be nice but I just don't see him doing it .

 

[DishSubLA]

Mirroring a joey or hopper without a FEE? This is DISH the king of the additional receiver fee structure via class of receivers. I can't see them giving this mirroring ability away for free or as Charlie puts it : "Leaving money on the table." It would be nice but I just don't see him doing it .

I could see it being free of charge if one is mirroring FROM a Hopper or Joey IN THE SAME HOME/LAN because it would NOT add an independent viewing experience. It would be like using a Slingbox to "mirror" to another HDTV in another room. It would merely "repeat" the signal from the Hopper or Joey. And would initiating the Mirroring command shut down any signal to the originating Joey or Hopper from which we mirror? However, I think not. It would certainly PLEASE customers that they could MIRROR from a Joey or Hopper in occasional situations when it would be cost prohibitive to the subscriber or too much money for Dish to subsidize all the changes in the complicated Hopper system to support an additional Joey for only occasional use, a problem MANY on this board have found frustrating experience. This would reduce some of the customer "grumble" with current limitations providing a signal to a room or place in the home on occasion. Paying $7 per month for a Joey that is used only an hour a day in the exercise room would be this sort of "grumble." Dish seems to be having a change in attitude and seems willing to accommodate such situations with MIRRORING a non-independent viewing experience. This would be move to make Dish Hopper more FRIENDLY to the modern subscriber and a more competitive product, especially when DirecTV will allow simultaneous streams on multiple devices. Charlie is being dragged into the 21st century.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I could see it being free of charge if one is mirroring FROM a Hopper or Joey IN THE SAME HOME/LAN because it would NOT add an independent viewing experience. It would be like using a Slingbox to "mirror" to another HDTV in another room. It would merely "repeat" the signal from the Hopper or Joey. And would initiating the Mirroring command shut down any signal to the originating Joey or Hopper from which we mirror? However, I think not. It would certainly PLEASE customers that they could MIRROR from a Joey or Hopper in occasional situations when it would be cost prohibitive to the subscriber or too much money for Dish to subsidize all the changes in the complicated Hopper system to support an additional Joey for only occasional use, a problem MANY on this board have found frustrating experience. This would reduce some of the customer "grumble" with current limitations providing a signal to a room or place in the home on occasion. Paying $7 per month for a Joey that is used only an hour a day in the exercise room would be this sort of "grumble." Dish seems to be having a change in attitude and seems willing to accommodate such situations with MIRRORING a non-independent viewing experience. This would be move to make Dish Hopper more FRIENDLY to the modern subscriber and a more competitive product, especially when DirecTV will allow simultaneous streams on multiple devices. Charlie is being dragged into the 21st century.

God I hope so. But I really doubt it. The additional receiver fees have proliferated in this decade to ridiculous heights and I feel have lead in part along with higher programming costs to DISH's higher churn numbers. IF DISH would allow true mirroring on the same network it would be great. I use an hdmi splitter to accomplish this now in my computer room ,which is right behind my living room,so both tvs are sitting back to back between the walls.