# Hopper 3 can record "blocks of time..." (problem with Ch.602 Globo, Brasilian TV)



## socalbronze (Jun 30, 2016)

Hopper 3 has lots'a features.... and some aren't even known by Dish Advanced Tech Support.....
How about "Create a custom timer".... 

We've been with Dish since Brazil's Globo Network became available; that's well over 15 years now. And during this time, I've always set the recording boxes to record "daily", from 3pm to 10pm. That's the time period where channel 602-Globo schedules their novelas (soap operas), as well as other popular shows. Well, just recently we upgraded to the new Hopper 3, so that we could take advantage of the 16 tuner record capability. And since doing this about three weeks ago, we could not set up our familiar "time block" recording for Globo. The "timer" function graphics/software didn't show that option.

I was really confused. And more importantly, my wife was upset...! Yes, I found a "work-around." But it wasn't convenient. I had to set up timers for each and every show within that time block. And that presents another problem, as on weekends, the Globo schedule changes. It was a mess...... and that led me to call "Advanced Technical Support." My first call, luckily, (or so I thought), was with a CSR that actually wanted to do the same thing at home, but decided that it couldn't be done. He told me that the new Hopper 3 no longer had that feature.

What I now believe is that he was only looking as far as the "Timer" tab... and never went any further. (hit "DVR" button, go up to the tabs and top and select "TIMER"... you then hit your "OPTIONS" button! It sends you into a page where you can then create a "manual timer." You pick your channel, the interval of recording, the start and end time (based on your schedule/time zone), and you can also assign a folder if you want for the recordings. You can also decide how many "recording events" the box will store. 

Accepting software/hardware defeat from my first CSR's news.... I nearly gave up. But my wife was so upset, I decided to call Dish one more time. My second call to Advanced Tech Support got a young gal who well knew about the Brazilian novelas, and actually directed me to the location in the menu where I could do "block time recording by channel." But she only figured it out when she asked another CSR in her area while we were on the phone. I followed her instructions, but when I tried to set the time for "3pm to 10pm" + "DAILY" ...... it refused to let me "save and create" my 7-hour block. After nearly an hour on the phone, neither of us could get the timer to set for that time span of seven hours. I was really depressed. She created a case for "Engineering", and said that they might not get to it for up to a week.

Here's how things got solved...... I told my wife the "good news - bad news" after hanging up with Dish, went into our master bedroom, and proceeded to explain how it was supposed to work, and then tried to set the timer again; one more shot. I couldn't get it to take my settings! All of sudden I got a brainstorm......... based on GLOBO having different show schedules on weekends, I decided to try creating a timer with the interval of "WEEKDAYS." (you'll see "WEEKLY" (you pick the day of the week), "WEEKDAYS" (Mon-Fri), or "DAILY" (Mon.-Sun.). Well, oddly enough it worked! My settings for "WEEKDAYS" took. I then created another timer just for Saturday, using the "WEEKLY" interval, and then called out "SATURDAY" as the day, 3pm to 10pm. Damn if it didn't work!

Evindently, the software/hardware hangup in recording "blocks of hours on one channel"..... at least with Channel 602 GLOBO, involves choosing the interval of "DAILY", as it mingles weekdays and the weekend. (?) Don't ask me..... I didn't get paid a consulting fee for resolving my problem!?  The good news is that it works. Hope this helps anyone else with this same issue.


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## Soccernut (Jan 20, 2004)

On SlingTV you can just go back in time and watch what you want, picture on Globo looks great in HD. Now I wish that PFC was HD the picture in SD looks horrible on that channel. I think that it's also cheaper than Satellite.


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## fjc (Jun 10, 2016)

Thanks for this info. I don't often need to record blocks of time, but there are times that our local station bumps shows back a bit for one reason or another, and I'll do a time block recording to get a full show.


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## Soccernut (Jan 20, 2004)

fjc said:


> Thanks for this info. I don't often need to record blocks of time, but there are times that our local station bumps shows back a bit for one reason or another, and I'll do a time block recording to get a full show.


Just to clarify that I was talking specifically about the Globo channel, you can go back in time about a week. I don't subscribe to the regular channels so I don't know if that applies to them also, I'm not sure local channels are available on SlingTV.


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## rsblaski (Jul 6, 2003)

Hi, I'm new to Dish after 15 years with DirecTv. To set up a custom timer, go to the DVR menu, go to the timer tab, click on "options", one of which will let you set up a manual timer. I did this for the entire seasons of NASCAR, Formula 1, IMSA and Indycar. It took a while, but I was able to set up longer padding than 90 minutes.
Look for me to be asking a lot of questions in the future.


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## socalbronze (Jun 30, 2016)

RS... I think beyond the "self-resolution" approach I had to take, I found it very interesting (although not surprising), that this latest upgrade in hardware by Dish is still not fully understood by the very department that is supposed to be serving the client-base. There's always the assumption that the vendor has all the answers. I've found that many companies, in the newer technologies, go to market far ahead of running their service and products through all of the possible scenarios. It's not always possible. (computer system software is a good example... well, for PC anyway.) I just returned nearly $1k worth of Samsung wireless security cameras because the system was so buggy, and Samsung's support was not able to keep up with all of the "fails" that were happening in the field. Overall, I'm very happy with both the Dish Hopper 3, and frankly, the "stateside" support they provide. We're now a week or so into using the custom-timer function, and I see it performs as well as the functions we had on the earlier boxes. And I like the upgraded interface-graphics on this new Hopper 3 system.


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