# Are we paying DISH to be their test department? Frustrated with Hopper/Joey problems



## Xyzzy.dude (Apr 6, 2012)

I've come to the conclusion that DISH doesn't test any of their software before releasing it. 

I've had the Hopper/Joey set up for a few weeks now and am fed up with the problems. I'm on software 2.09 and it's still glitchy. Some of the problems I've experienced and still experience:

1. If the Hopper is in standby and someone is watching a Joey, when the Hopper gets turned on it does the switch check which takes the Joeys down and dumps all buffers. Who came up with that design?

2. Hopper freezes/glitches which takes out the Joeys (and the buffers, natch). 

3. Joey gets turned on, comes up in a frozen mode, can't do anything. Sometimes pressing the red button and selecting something that's on in another room wakes it up, sometimes not. 

4. Hopper simply freezes up when you leave live TV paused for more than few minutes. I've found that sometimes I can go to a Joey and tell it to watch what's on the Hopper, which wakes the Hopper up. 

5. Watching a recorded show tonight, at the end I selected DELETE and the Hopper responded by freezing, then rebooting itself. Naturally that takes out all the Joeys as well.

It's not like I'm doing anything unusual, or even have to use the system for very long to hit these problems. I could go on but it's pretty clear that DISH believes that its paying customers are its test department. 

Serious qusetion: is DIRECT's gear as glitchy and buggy as DISH's?


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Xyzzy.dude said:


> Serious qusetion: is DIRECT's gear as glitchy and buggy as DISH's?


Well, there are 100 threads about the DirecTv gear. Might want to do a quick search. Heck, you dont even need to search, just look at the topics in the DirecTv HD DVR forum


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

> it's pretty clear that DISH believes that its paying customers are its test department


We knew that last 10+ years ... and posting same conclusion 1000 times already ...


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

Knowing that the Hopper has all the tuners, reseting would have to make the Joey loose the tuner they are watching. The same happens with the dual tuner receivers so this is nothing new.


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## EdJ (Jan 9, 2007)

Based on my background as a software designer/tester, I can tell you that anything that is that complex and a new design will have a lot of bugs. There is simply no feasible way for the design to be tested enough to find them all before release. This is true with all tech devices. If one wants to own new designs soon after release, this is the price you pay. If you want a mostly debugged product, wait a year or so after release.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

Xyzzy.dude said:


> I've come to the conclusion that DISH doesn't test any of their software before releasing it.
> 
> I've had the Hopper/Joey set up for a few weeks now and am fed up with the problems. I'm on software 2.09 and it's still glitchy. Some of the problems I've experienced and still experience:
> 
> ...


None of this is normal behavior. Not to be That Guy, but have you even called Dish yet? It shouldn't be doing a Check Switch every time it wakes up, and certainly shouldn't be freezing.

Ask for help, call, chat or message one of the DIRT folks on here. They'll get your Hopper replaced.


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## [email protected] Network (Jul 21, 2011)

Please send me a PM with your phone or account number so I can assist you to get this corrected. Thank you!


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

> *Are we paying DISH to be their test department? Frustrated with Hopper/Joey problems*


It appears you have some problems that most others don't. You should work with RaymondG. These DIRT folks do seem to get things done for people.

With that said, I notice you're relatively new to posting here so
:welcome_s​
In answer to your question in the thread title, I posted the following in January:


phrelin said:


> NOTE: Early adopters will feel like Beta or even Alpha testers.


And I posted the following in February:


phrelin said:


> If Dish releases a new piece of hardware to new customers first, I'll likely just be grinning as I read those new member posts here.
> 
> I have never seen an Echostar significantly different new product release that didn't seem like a Beta, if not Alpha, Release and I cannot believe this one won't work out about the same.
> 
> ...


In other words, the answer to your question is "yes." Some of the tech types here enjoy it. Some of the masochists here also enjoy it.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

EdJ said:


> Based on my background as a software designer/tester, I can tell you that anything that is that complex and a new design will have a lot of bugs. There is simply no feasible way for the design to be tested enough to find them all before release. This is true with all tech devices. If one wants to own new designs soon after release, this is the price you pay. If you want a mostly debugged product, wait a year or so after release.


I wouldn't be surprised if you did work for the company. Good, no ... PERFECT match ! :lol:


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## 356B (Oct 11, 2008)

Compared to the vip922 the Hopper/Joey system is a walk in the park. Is it perfect? no, will it be? probably not, that said it has solved many of the wants posters here and elsewhere have been asking for. I like the Hopper, I wish the EHD stuff would get worked out.... but I'm a inpatient type.
They'll be another system in a year or two for the "masochist and tech types" to rail and or drool over...can't wait.


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## prentp (Dec 18, 2008)

I have seen a lot of the same issues as you have. I was on the phone tonight with tech support complain of multiple times were I saw video freeze up and I had to reset the hopper. While I had the technician on the phone the Hopper froze up again and all he said was call back when I didn't have any recording going on.

What fun. Nightly resets and an agrivated wife.

The lockup this evening I had Prime time anytime running and 2 other programs recording and my hopper kept getting more and more sluggish in the menus until the video playback froze on the Joey my wife was watching. I tried to go into a recording and couldn't until I reset the Hopper.

I'm sorry but I had an HR24 dvr from directv that I remember only a couple hard resets in 2 years


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## EdJ (Jan 9, 2007)

P Smith said:


> I wouldn't be surprised if you did work for the company. Good, no ... PERFECT match ! :lol:


No, I did not ever work for DISH.... :nono: I got all my software experience with IBM coding the big mainframe systems.... Trust me, there is no software existing that does not have some bugs in it that will show up eventually given some unique conditions. The newer the software, the more bugs in it.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I don't need that reminder ... as a person who wrote and continue writing programs ...

Same time, I'll tell you - at such bug level of DVR FW .. it's out of any norm.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

Xyzzy.dude said:


> Serious qusetion: is DIRECT's gear as glitchy and buggy as DISH's?


Having just recently switched from DirecTV to Dish, I can tell you that in my experiences the Hopper/Joey system is far superior.
I have had the Dish system for over a month and I have had only one incident wherein I had to reset the primary receiver. It has otherwise been trouble-free. It has also been vastly more responsive than my DirecTV DVR was. 
That thing was like using a 14.4 modem on today's Internet.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

[email protected] Network said:


> Please send me a PM with your phone or account number so I can assist you to get this corrected. Thank you!


One more reason I'm loving Dish right now.
These guys are very helpful.


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## jdskycaster (Sep 1, 2008)

Sounds like you have a bad hopper. I have two hoppers, 3 joey's and not a single lockup, missed recording, shutdown, reboot on anything since installation over four weeks ago. Anyone having these issues regularly should get the afflicted hopper replaced.


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