Dish Hopper and Joey Whole Home DVR Video Review

[admin]

Whether you use satellite TV or cable, the traditional way you consume live and recorded television content is by utilizing a DVR or set-top box in every room where you want to watch TV. And, typically, those separate boxes don't talk to each other. But what if you just had one DVR? A big one. And it allowed you to watch anything you recorded anywhere in the house? That's the basic premise behind DISH's new Hopper & Joey Whole Home DVR System. We've reviewed lots of DISH DVRs in the past, from the well-regarded ViP 722, to the redesigned, Sling-integrated ViP 922. But the Hopper & Joey is a complete redesign of the way you'll record video and watch TV.


Discuss "Dish Hopper and Joey Whole Home DVR Video Review" here. Read the article.

[GregorB]

Thanks, but no thanks. I've been a Dish Network subscriber ever since I abandoned C-Band. But until they put an ATSC tuner into it I'm a no go. I sold my OTA Toshiba HD tuner years ago when I got my Dish VIP-622 w/built-in OTA HD. Now they're telling me I can't get OTA HD? I don't think so. Some of us have projectors that don't have built in tuners.

[brian6751]

i have had the Hopper for a few months and there are still bugs. i often have to reset it and i have issues with the sling adapter and the Ethernet connection. Just a FYI to those checking it out. I talked to CS and they said they are still updating it frequently.

[Clint DeBoer]

Thanks, but no thanks. I've been a Dish Network subscriber ever since I abandoned C-Band. But until they put an ATSC tuner into it I'm a no go. I sold my OTA Toshiba HD tuner years ago when I got my Dish VIP-622 w/built-in OTA HD. Now they're telling me I can't get OTA HD? I don't think so. Some of us have projectors that don't have built in tuners.

I hear you - they do indeed need to add back in the tuner option.

[lance615]

I have been a Dish customer for 10 years and always thought their DVR was superior to others I have seen. It had the largest hard drive, well designed menus that were easy to read and I could do most things using the remote without even looking.

I have made the biggest mistake going to Hopper. While Hopper provides almost unlimited storage with a huge 2 terabyte hard drive, it goes down hill from there.

Most the problems I have with Hopper deal with ability to read the text.
1. The Guide now shows 6 channels at a time with no ability to reduce it to 4, thereby making the test larger.
2. the time at the top is difficult to read because they got fancy with shading for no reason.
3. You can't skip forward to the same time each day (now you have to use the forward button to advance 24 hours, a half-hour at a time).

The channel information bar you get when you press the Cancel button, is hard to read for no reason. You can readily see the time, but the duration of the program and minutes remaining are more faint and should be the same clarity as the time.

Now comes the worse part. When you try to look at what you have recorded, it no longer shows it in the old easy to read format. You now get ICONs that are too small to read without getting out of your chair and close to the TV to see what they are.

This is not progress, this is regress. I suppose if you had a very large 50-60 inch TV it wouldn't be a problem, But even then, why do you need this. It all was fine the way it was.

My wife has vision problems and it's impossible for her to see anything dealing with the new system and Dish won't let us go back to the old system.

Before you invest in Hopper, go to someone that has it along with a TV size you presently have and you will see what I mean.

There is also a deceiving feature that Dish promotes and that is the Hopper records your local network stations daily and allows you to watch them commercial free. This comes at a price. What they tell you is that you can record up to 6 programs at a time. What they don't tell you is that four of the stations are being used by Hopper to record the local channels, therefore only allowing you to watch one channel and record another, just like it was before. They at least give you the ability to deactivate this feature, thus allowing you to watch one and record five.

Dish needs to beta test new systems with seniors, not just young people with 20-20 vision.

The one good feature is the volume leveling.