# Trying To Decide - Hopper Question



## Thunderstruck (Jan 14, 2013)

Unfortunately I lost my job on January 1st. Now we are in the "save as much money as possible" mode. We can live without satellite, but this is really our only form on entertainment since we are homebodies.

Currently I have DirecTV. I have no issues with them other than my bill. When I called to see if they could offer me any solutions, they tried, but couldn't offer me much in monthly savings.

So I am now looking at moving over to Dish Network. Besides a monthly saving for the first year of $50 a month, I get get the Hopper/Joey set up.

I have done some research so I am not totally clueless, but one question I do have is: 

Is the UI fast or is it sluggish like my DirecTV HR-24?

Also, is the switch as dramatic as I am thinking or is it pretty painless?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Faster then HR24.
Not at all.

I'm doubt you'll save your money; wouldn't any OTA signals satisfy your habits ?


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

I agree with Mr. Smith, if you are not working, I don't see why you would change providers. I would reduce the bill as much as possible and going to OTA only would totally eliminate it. You should be able to sign up once you are working again.


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## AZ. (Mar 27, 2011)

OTA, and Netflix if you want to be crazy! other than that hunker down who knows what will happen with our latest self inflicted wound we will be dealing with about paying our bills that we have allready spent. (raising debt ceiling)


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## Thunderstruck (Jan 14, 2013)

P Smith said:


> Faster then HR24.
> Not at all.
> 
> I'm doubt you'll save your money; wouldn't any OTA signals satisfy your habits ?


As stated, I can save $50 a month by changing providers. I have checked into it.

My HR-24 takes about 3 seconds to change channels and 5 seconds to bring up guides, playlists, etc. I have rebooted it, reset it, and all but kicked it down the street and it remains slow as frozen oil.


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## crabtrp (Sep 23, 2006)

I used to have a house full of HR-2* equipment, and it annoyed me how sluggish it was. I was a little dubious over hoppers and joeys, but I have found them very responsive and the whole home dvr experience very good on them. I am happier with dish overall over directv. I have a 2H 2J set up.

I hope you get back on your feet soon.


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## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

Thunderstruck said:


> My HR-24 takes about 3 seconds to change channels and 5 seconds to bring up guides, playlists, etc. I have rebooted it, reset it, and all but kicked it down the street and it remains slow as frozen oil.


Channel changes are probably similar. It's part of the digital compression technology. You can't flip through digital OTA channels as fast as you could through analogs, either. I-frames only come through every second or two.

Bringing up guides and playlists are very fast. It will depend somewhat on how much stuff you have recorded, and the huge hard drive in the Hopper allows you to have a lot of stuff. But even so, it's pretty snappy. Searching the DirecTV forums shows that DirecTV has not fixed their slow UI problems, which was part of the reason I left them in April (I had an HR22, a notorious dog compared to the HR24.) The switch was incredibly easy.


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## boba (May 23, 2003)

Limited/no income go with OTA close your satellite accounts. If unemployment has hit your credit report you may not pass DISH's credit check.

Do you really need to enter into a 2 yr contract for entertainment?


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## Yankee (Oct 24, 2011)

Thunderstruck said:


> Unfortunately I lost my job on January 1st. Now we are in the "save as much money as possible" mode. We can live without satellite, but this is really our only form on entertainment since we are homebodies.
> 
> Currently I have DirecTV. I have no issues with them other than my bill. When I called to see if they could offer me any solutions, they tried, but couldn't offer me much in monthly savings.
> 
> ...


The Hopper and joey system is pretty fast brings up the guide pretty much soon as you click the guide button. Also the guide is very fast it self.Hopper is not sluggish at all to me.Channel changing is very fast as well.

They switch is painless. You'll enjoy the Hopper/Joey System I had dish for 2 years now before that had DTV for 3 years i would never switch back i like Dish much better.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Thunderstruck said:


> As stated, I can save $50 a month by changing providers. I have checked into it.
> 
> My HR-24 takes about 3 seconds to change channels and 5 seconds to bring up guides, playlists, etc. I have rebooted it, reset it, and all but kicked it down the street and it remains slow as frozen oil.


What about to switch to *FREE* OTA TV ?


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## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

OTA TV is not free. There are some pretty hefty startup costs, depending on where you live, and assuming you want to use a DVR. You have to learn about and understand some antenna technologies. My current antenna setup, which is on the "easy" side of things cost just over $100, because I was able to do all the work myself. I called one antenna installer and they quoted me $1000 for a properly done system; I probably need to put another $200-$300 into mine for it to be done right. 

And then you need to consider a DVR - there are not any affordable OTA-only DVRs out there these days. The Tivo Premiere is probably the closest thing, and it's about $145+$15/month. Or the Channel Master CM7400, which runs $400. For someone trying to reduce cost outlays in the short term (and I think we all can agree that we're hoping the unemployment situation will not last very long), that's a lot of money. Sure, in the long run, it could pay back the cost of Dish service, but with free installation and promotional discounts, it could cost his first year of service with AT120 with the Hopper to go with a truly equivalent "free" OTA option.

Now, if he lives somewhere with strong signals, and he's willing to give up DVR functionality, OTA could be quite workable. A decent indoor antenna is only $30 (I highly recommend the Leaf), and then there's no additional fees. But this is very dependent on where he lives.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I wouldn't be so dramatically pedaling initial OTA cost.
Seen at Fry's pretty good outdoor antennas in a range $50-$100 (using Terk T55 with internal amplifier for $100 ); add to that dual tuner Dtvpal DVR /CM-7000PAL for $200-300 at eBay. DIY would be reasonable investment too.


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## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

P Smith said:


> I wouldn't be so dramatically pedaling initial OTA cost.
> Seen at Fry's pretty good outdoor antennas in a range $50-$100 (using Terk T55 with internal amplifier for $100 ); add to that dual tuner Dtvpal DVR /CM-7000PAL for $200-300 at eBay. DIY would be reasonable investment too.


My outdoor antenna was $50. The preamplifier was another $40. I needed a 25' run of coax, which was another $10. Thus the $100 out of pocket. I was lucky enough to have the coaxial cable already run through the wall into an accessible place, with the grounding wire and block already in place. I zip tied the antenna contraption to a post holding up my deck, which meant I didn't have to buy a mast, roof sealant, or tripod.

A proper setup will include another 100' of coax to put the antenna on the roof, $100 for a good quality rotor, a 5' tripod and two lengths of mast.

But I was extremely lucky. My location is at a relatively high, unobstructed elevation and my local stations are all in the same general direction and only 30-35 miles away. At another location closer to the towers, but about 140' lower, I could get absolutely nothing at ground level. A roof-mount was a requirement. People down the street from me at that location, being lower and on the wrong side of a large hill, could get nothing without a 50' tower, which will run you a cool grand used.

You obviously know nothing about antennas if you think the Terk TV55 is a good antenna. That is an overpriced dog, with performance that barely beats rabbit ears.

I know whereof I speak when it comes to reception. It isn't always as easy as it should be. I would never tell someone they can get OTA reception until a proper evaluation of their particular location had been done. You can start at TVFool, which has a very good prediction tool that will tell you if you're even in the ballpark. But even that has its limits.

Even if we took your numbers and he could buy a $100 antenna and a $200 DVR off eBay (which, we hope, doesn't have a problem or undisclosed issue) and get all his local channels, it would take 8 months to break even compared to Dish's Top 120 promotional rate +DVR fee, which has a whole lot more channels and a much better guide.


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## some guy (Oct 27, 2012)

sregener;3163246 said:


> You obviously know nothing about ....


He posts on everything as if he's a subject matter expert on everything and half the time it makes no sense or its completely inaccurate.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Let us stick with discussing things, not people.


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## Thunderstruck (Jan 14, 2013)

crabtrp said:


> I used to have a house full of HR-2* equipment, and it annoyed me how sluggish it was. I was a little dubious over hoppers and joeys, but I have found them very responsive and the whole home dvr experience very good on them. I am happier with dish overall over directv. I have a 2H 2J set up.
> 
> I hope you get back on your feet soon.


Thank you!


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## Thunderstruck (Jan 14, 2013)

Guys, I live 150 miles from the nearest TV station. OTA is not possible.


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## Bradrlz (Jan 19, 2013)

I am debatingo stay with Dishor kove


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## saberfly (Apr 5, 2010)

What?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

saberfly said:


> What?


see his post in other thread about calling DIRT ...


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## celticpride (Sep 6, 2006)

Sometimes people think everybody can get free over the air but unless you live in a big city or have a good antenna ,you may not be able to get a good signal.I live 90 miles from the towers and cant get a good signals because the mountains block the signal coming into the valley. we do have a tv translator where i live but i dont know if they ever upgrade the system to digital i guess i'll go ask my local tv repairman since no one at best buy knows That way if i ever have to go ota i know i just need to buy an antenna.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

not everyone live there ... here, in Silicon valley we have 80+ channels from SF, SJ and Salinas, Richmond, etc


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

There are certainly places where OTA is better and places where OTA is worse. I suspect better would be harder to find than worse - but I am like most people who want to put up a simple antenna and not need to engineer a system that picks up signals from multiple directions without causing problems with multi-path.

I am fortunate to have a home where I can put up a rooftop antenna (no HOA restrictions) but I don't want to put up a tower. The extra channels are just not that interesting. The trade off to being in a city where more stations and subchannels may be available is losing locations to put an antenna.

That being said I appreciate the way DISH handles OTA locals ... allowing people to tune any channel and subchannel they manage to receive on their antenna and not artificially limiting stations based on a zip code. It is good to see that restriction go away on newer DirecTV boxes.

OTA would be more useful if there were more tuners available. Since OTA cannot be stacked on the cable to the Hopper (as was allowed on previous models) I would prefer a separate tuner module accessible via MoCA. Install the tuner where OTA signals are available and connect to the MoCA network. But that is not the design DISH followed.


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

I have to replace my nearly dead 722. I inquired about a Hopper and I've been quoted a $50.00 upgrade fee only which is not a deal killer.

But I haven't been keeping up here. Are you still blocked from watching saved EHD recordings from channels you don't subscribe to? That probably would be a deal killer for me.


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## some guy (Oct 27, 2012)

phrelin;3165907 said:


> I have to replace my nearly dead 722. I inquired about a Hopper and I've been quoted a $50.00 upgrade fee only which is not a deal killer.
> 
> But I haven't been keeping up here. Are you still blocked from watching saved EHD recordings from channels you don't subscribe to? That probably would be a deal killer for me.


People have been reporting it but I believe it's a bug. I don't think everyone runs into this.


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## garys (Nov 4, 2005)

phrelin said:


> I have to replace my nearly dead 722. I inquired about a Hopper and I've been quoted a $50.00 upgrade fee only which is not a deal killer.
> 
> But I haven't been keeping up here. Are you still blocked from watching saved EHD recordings from channels you don't subscribe to? That probably would be a deal killer for me.


This was a bug when the Hopper first came out. It has been working great for about the last 10 months.


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## fudpucker (Jul 23, 2007)

phrelin said:


> I have to replace my nearly dead 722. I inquired about a Hopper and I've been quoted a $50.00 upgrade fee only which is not a deal killer.
> 
> But I haven't been keeping up here. Are you still blocked from watching saved EHD recordings from channels you don't subscribe to? That probably would be a deal killer for me.


That's the "old" Hopper, not the newest one (Hopper with Sling) right?


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## some guy (Oct 27, 2012)

$50 is the average cost for Hopper 2000 upgrades. Hopper with Sling is $200-300 from all the posts I've been reading.


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