# Can you get a hopper without adding a joey?



## Conway (Oct 29, 2002)

I have a vip 922 I want to upgrade to the hopper but I dont' want any joeys.. is it possible?


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

You need the Hopper as it has the tuners, Joeys are for adding additional tv's to the system. If you have one tv, you do not need any Joey's.


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## Conway (Oct 29, 2002)

I have a few other tv's but I don't need the joey's on them.. I just want the hopper. A few reps tell me you can't get just a hopper you have to replace all of your other receivers with Joeys.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

You cannot run a Hopper with any legacy Dish equipment.


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

Conway said:


> I have a few other tv's but I don't need the joey's on them.. I just want the hopper. A few reps tell me you can't get just a hopper you have to replace all of your other receivers with Joeys.


If you replace with a Hopper, you cannot have any other type of receiver except a Joey. All your other tv's will not have any receiver to receive Dish's signal since they will be removed from your active account.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Conway said:


> A few reps tell me you can't get just a hopper you have to replace all of your other receivers with Joeys.


A few of the reps are right. For some reason DISH has decided that the "better way" is to change out entire households to Hopper/Joey instead of allowing a mix of Hopper/Joey and ViP or other equipment.

Personally I like the idea of having a separate receiver with its own tuners and recording capability as an OPTION. But it seems that the business rules are against this.

And the concept in the title of having a Hopper an no Joeys is appealing to me as well. The Hopper itself seems like a decent receiver without the "whole house" features. It will be better when it can record OTA. (Which is one reason why people might want to hang on to their ViP receivers.)


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

James Long said:


> It will be better when it can record OTA. (Which is one reason why people might want to hang on to their ViP receivers.)


In other words, as with almost all new technology, wait several months before jumping. Let somebody else have the headaches and growing pains.


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

Of those headaches and growing pains, the potential for an unusual number of hard drive failures.


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## mdavej (Jan 31, 2007)

I just replaced my lone 722 with a lone hopper (no joeys). No problem.


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## n-spring (Mar 6, 2007)

Blowgun said:


> Of those headaches and growing pains, the potential for an unusual number of hard drive failures.


I fail to see how the failure rate of an HDD inside the Hopper would be different from any other application, whether it be a DVR or computer.


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

It isn't, that's the point. The Hopper isn't using the same size hard drive as with previous DISH DVRs. And, the hard drive failure rate with large hard drives is based on observations used in computers, and a DVR is basically a type of computer.


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## fwampler (Dec 2, 2005)

Blowgun said:


> It isn't, that's the point. The Hopper isn't using the same size hard drive as with previous DISH DVRs. And, the hard drive failure rate with large hard drives is based on observations used in computers, and a DVR is basically a type of computer.


It sounds like you are saying only small hard drives are dependable? Be nice to see some hard data supporting your theory on that one.


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## archer75 (Oct 13, 2006)

I have heard of people getting hoppers without joey's and I have heard of people being forced to get a joey with their hopper. There seems to be some inconsistentcies.
Some people being forced to upgrade to higher end packages and others able to keep their lower end packages.


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

fwampler said:


> It sounds like you are saying only small hard drives are dependable? Be nice to see some hard data supporting your theory on that one.


First off, I didn't add the spam link in my reply. I don't know where the spam link came from, but I didn't put the spam there, and I wish the spam was removed.

No, I'm not saying that the small hard drives are always dependable. I'm saying that larger hard drives are less dependable. Particularly ones that were made around the time of the flooding. The hard data can be seen from actual purchases wherever hard drives are sold.

Check out New egg, for example. Look at the unusually high failure and return rates. Then look at the replacements that also quickly died. I've read reviews where 10 drives were purchased and 90 percent have needed RMA over a short period of time. While any size and brand of hard drive can die, the larger hard drives (2TB and above) seem to have a higher failure rate than when compared to their smaller counterparts.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

Off topic, but I don't think that's spam, that's probably the Viglink stuff that DBSTalk is using to make a little extra money.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Conway said:


> I have a vip 922 I want to upgrade to the hopper but I dont' want any joeys.. is it possible?


Yes, just call them.


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## Blowgun (May 23, 2008)

RasputinAXP said:


> Off topic, but I don't think that's spam, that's probably the Viglink stuff that DBSTalk is using to make a little extra money.


Thanks.


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## dbldaz (Aug 4, 2007)

I contacted a CSR to replace my 722 with a Hopper. I was told that I had to pay the $4 a month Whole-Home DVR Fee even though I only I have 1 Hopper and no Joeys.

Has anyone been able to have this fee waived when only using 1 Hopper and no Joeys?


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## mdavej (Jan 31, 2007)

That would be nice, but I have not been able to do that either.


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## Ray [email protected] Network (Dec 28, 2010)

That is a new fee (Whole Home) associated with the Hopper, even though you may not have any Joeys. Thanks.



dbldaz said:


> I contacted a CSR to replace my 722 with a Hopper. I was told that I had to pay the $4 a month Whole-Home DVR Fee even though I only I have 1 Hopper and no Joeys.
> 
> Has anyone been able to have this fee waived when only using 1 Hopper and no Joeys?


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## steff3 (Jun 12, 2006)

Probably a ridiculous question but can you use two Hoppers with Whole Home or does it have to be Hopper and Joey?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

that question you must address directly to CSR or DIRT team here.


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## steff3 (Jun 12, 2006)

P Smith said:


> that question you must address directly to CSR or DIRT team here.


Excuse my ignorance..but what is DIRT team?????


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## tampa8 (Mar 30, 2002)

The post above is the first post I have read at either forum where Dish allowed only a Hopper installed. So I don't know how easy it is to get that done. On that same note, Dish is not allowing at this time just two Hoppers either, again based on all the posts I have read.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

steff3 said:


> Excuse my ignorance..but what is DIRT team?????


Check a pattern of member nick in a post#20. I guess it's self-explanatory.


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## steff3 (Jun 12, 2006)

P Smith said:


> Check a pattern of member nick in a post#20. I guess it's self-explanatory.


Duh, my bad. Got it, thanks


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Two Hoppers will not currently talk to each other and DISH has a lot of orders to fill so I can understand why two hoppers would be discouraged. I would not consider it impossible unless DIRT (DISH Internet Response Team) people say it is. And as far as the Hopper only systems (no Joeys), that can be ordered online so it shouldn't be a problem upgrading to one Hopper.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

It sure looks (based on the commercials) like Dish wants to setup new customers with a Hopper... so I have to think they would want to set you up with a Hopper even if you don't need another room Joey yet... so that it is an easier install to add a Joey later.


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## PokerMunkee (Mar 15, 2012)

How does the Hopper work? Just one coax cable required?

I have a VIP722K and would love to record more than two shows at once. Also really really want to be able to watch stuff from the DVR in my bedroom.

Lastly, how much will DISH charge me to upgrade to this? I signed up on 06/2011 and have the Protection Plan.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I was under impression you got one h2k already.

One h2k req 2 coax from DPP switch/LNBF to Solo Node; two h2k - three coaxes to Dual Node.


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