DISH Hopper & Joey Information Thread
 

The Hopper & Joey Whole-Home HD-DVR system has proven to be a big hit!

February 11, 2013 UPDATE:

DISH Announces Nationwide Availability of its All-New, Award-Winning Hopper with Sling Technology

CES “Best of Show” winner debuts to consumers with new capabilities
and a national ad campaign featuring the “Boston Guys”

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Feb. 11, 2012 – Today DISH (NASDAQ: DISH) announced nationwide consumer availability of its all-new Hopper™ with Sling® Whole-Home HD DVR, winner of the 2013 CES “Best of Show” award. Consumers will be introduced to the latest Hopper via a new multimillion-dollar national marketing campaign featuring DISH’s “Boston Guys.”

As part of its “Only the Hopper” campaign, DISH is launching a series of television, radio, print and digital advertisements that follow the Boston Guys as they demonstrate how the second-generation Hopper delivers a complete entertainment experience by enabling customers to:


Take the at-home DISH TV experience anywhere using the Hopper’s new built-in Sling capabilities and the new DISH Anywhere™ app. With these features customers can watch their live and recorded home television content on Internet-connected tablets, smartphones and PCs at no additional charge
Download DVR content to mobile devices. With the free Hopper Transfers™ app, viewers can move recorded television to an iPad for viewing without an Internet connection
Receive all the great features of the previous Hopper like AutoHop, PrimeTime Anytime and up to 500 hours of high-definition (2,000 hours of standard definition) recording capability


“These lovable characters from Boston helped put the first generation of the ‘Hawpah’ on the map and made nearly three out of four consumers aware of the Hopper,” said James Moorhead, DISH chief marketing officer and senior vice president. “This campaign takes the Boston family out of the house to show the world that only Hopper with Sling can provide a truly unique entertainment experience.”

DISH first introduced Hopper with Sling at last month’s 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show, where the cutting-edge set-top box was recognized as a CES Innovations 2013 Design and Engineering Award honoree and, notably, won the “Best of Show” award.

“The magic of Hopper with Sling is that it redefines how customers think about their pay-TV experience,” said Joe Clayton, DISH president and CEO. “No other provider can offer the experience that is now available to our customers anytime, anywhere.”
Sling technology is now built into each new generation Hopper. It works by encoding and redirecting – or place-shifting – a live or recorded TV signal from the Hopper to Internet-connected iOS and Android tablets and smartphones. The DISH Anywhere experience is also available on PCs and Macs.

Customers can also use the Sling feature to watch DVR recordings stored on Hopper’s hard drive, including major network shows recorded using DISH’s PrimeTime Anytime feature.

New DISH customers who subscribe to DISH's America's Top 200 or DishLATINO Dos programming packages or greater can receive one Hopper and up to three Joey units for free, including a standard professional installation. The Hopper system requires a whole-home DVR fee of $10 per month and $7 per month for each Joey.

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(End of Press Release)

New features and free apps (like Facebook, etc.) are always being added. One of the latest additions is a new Over-The-Air (OTA) USB tuner option for only $30 delivered. This adds a fourth recording tuner and allows you to watch and record any of your local channels in HD. With the Hopper you can automatically watch commercial-free primetime major network (ABC, CBS, NBC & FOX) programming without pressing the "skip forward" button! We absolutely love our new Hopper with its Whole-Home HD DVR!:)

As stated in the press release: "New DISH customers who subscribe to DISH's America's Top 200 or DishLATINO Dos programming packages or greater can receive one Hopper and up to three Joey units for free, including a standard professional installation."

Existing customers in good standing will have a $50 equipment upgrade fee for the original "Hopper 2000" and a $100 equipment upgrade fee for the new "Hopper with Sling." There is no upgrade fee for up to 3 Joeys. Installation for existing customers will be $95 or $15 if they are on the $7/mo. Protection Plan (which you can sign up for on the same call to order). If you have the Hopper 2000 you can purchase the Sling adapter for $50 through your online account.

The one Whole-Home Hopper HD-DVR service fee is $10/mo. and covers the Hopper and all HD-DVR service on all TVs. The additional outlet lease fee for each Joey is $7/mo.

Also In the news:

DISH’s Hopper Whole-Home HD DVR Awarded “Best of Show” at 2012 Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) Line Shows

· Electronics industry event recognizes Hopper for whole-home capability, expansive video storage
· PrimeTime Anytime and AutoHop provide consumer choice and control of TV viewing

NEW YORK, June 28, 2012 – DISH’s new Hopper™ Whole-Home HD DVR receives the Best of Show award at the CEA Line Shows electronics event in Manhattan, which runs through Thursday.

Culminating a week of consumer electronics industry activities, DISH’s Hopper system was recognized by the Line Shows judges for its innovative features, including three satellite-TV tuners and a two-terabyte hard drive that stores up to 2,000 hours of video. Accompanied by small, sleek Joey™ units for second, third, and fourth-room viewing, the Hopper enables customers to pause live TV in one room and continue watching in another room.

Hopper also features the unique PrimeTime Anytime™ and AutoHop™ capabilities that customers can enable to record major network primetime broadcasts and play them back commercial-free the following day.

“The Hopper embodies the evolving nature of innovation in technology and new ideas to deliver a better experience to TV viewers,” said Joseph Clayton, DISH’s CEO. “PrimeTime Anytime is a consumer-enabled feature that is a great way to showcase network content. AutoHop is an extension of what consumers already do, skip commercials on shows they record.”

AutoHop is an extension of the Hopper’s PrimeTime Anytime capability, the exclusive feature that allows viewers, with one click, to record all of the primetime TV programming on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC in HD -- the networks that deliver some of the most popular shows during primetime.

Once the consumer enables the PrimeTime Anytime feature, the Hopper stores these shows for eight days after they have aired making it easy to access episodes from last night, or last week. The patented AutoHop feature works with most shows recorded using PrimeTime Anytime.

A viewer can watch a show with the AutoHop option commercial-free starting at 1 a.m. ET, after a show has been recorded with the Hopper’s PrimeTime Anytime capability. Prior to that, the Hopper’s 30-second “hop forward” feature continues to work for same-day viewing of recorded shows.

For Internet-connected customers, the Hopper's on-demand capabilities give access to DISH's Blockbuster @Home™ for $10 per month, providing thousands of movies and TV shows streaming to the TV. Even if you don't have internet this package is an excellent value because it also has about 20 premium channels which include several commercial-free HD movie channels along with Blu-ray Discs by mail!

New Dish customers can receive an additional $50 off by calling dish at 1-888-285-9433 and saying you were referred to Dish and provide a unique Refer a Friend Number: DRA126762216, DRA126405592, DRA126247363, DRA126411441, DRA126247355, or DRH898578850.

So one Hopper and one Joey, with the Hopper as the only receiver would be $11 more than a 722K monthly for two TVs?

DVR fee = $6
Whole Home DVR = $4
Joey = $7

example for a home with 4 TV's

10 + 7 + 7 + 7 = $31

My math agrees with that. $17 for hopper + joey instead of $6 for first 722K.

Very interested in the Hopper set up. I currently have a VIP722K and 2 VIP211K. What components would I need to upgrade in order have this system replace my current hardware?

I don't think you can use your current equipment with a Hopper/Joey, Dish wants Hopper and Joey only systems, not mixed systems.

1 Hooper with 3 Joey's for the sat tuners, you may be able to share the Joey's as you will loose 1 active sat tuner, not sure what you use as far as OTA, you will loose them if you have it.

OTA is not set up through the Dish receiver. So, if I want to get rid of one of the VIP211's, I assume the set up would be 1 Hopper with 2 Joey's correct? Since one of the 211's is in one of the kids rooms, would they still be able to watch what they want without interfering with the main room?

When they are watching live TV, they will tie up one of the three tuners.

ok im a little lost. if i get a hopper and a joey do i need to already have a dish dvr or does this take the place of the dish dvr?

Hopper is a three tuner Dish dvr. It can output one or two tuners at the same time (two if you are using the pip feature) or something prerecorded. Joeys connected to the system can only use one of the tuners or prerecorded. If you have four tv's that may need a live feed at anyone time, you need one Hopper with three Joey's connected.

The Hopper would take the place of the DVR receiver with one extra tuner then the other DVRs, plus a larger storage space. As garys stated, the Hopper provides 3 tuners whereas our other DVRs only have 2 tuners. Thanks.

Will I be allowed to upgrade, or do I have to wait until my contract is up? What will be the anticipated cost to change from my current VIP722K and 2 VIP211K's, in other words, will there be out-of-pocket expenses or will we simply swap out the old hardware for the new (with new monthly Hopper/Joey equipment fee)?

We don't have pricing yet for the Hopper and Joey. Once it is released, pricing will be available to answer your question. I don't have that information yet. Keep checking back with us. Thanks.

How would the Joey and Hopper apply to my scenario?

I have a 612K VIP HD DVR and a HD stand alone receiver;

So I can watch a live show on the DVR, record another show on the same DVR and I can watch a third show on the HD stand alone receiver.

How would the Joey and Hopper apply to my case because I definitely want to be able to watch something while something else is being recorded and have the other TV in my room to be independent and watch a third show. So 3 active tuners.