# HopView MultiChannel-a great waste of Technology



## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

There is not much Sat New right now so about this topic. . . .
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WHAT-
Hopper View, also known as MultiChannel View (the 6 channels on one screen channel) On Channel 100 on the Hopper Guide.
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PURPOSE OF THIS POST-
The purpose of my commentary is to gain the attention to Dish Upper Management (not just D.I.R.T. team member) about a worthless channel that could easily be change at the push of some buttons into a very high value customer retaining channel used by all Dish Customers and not offered by DirecTV. 
The Secondary Purpose of my post is to gather other forum members Ideas on this topic so Dish Executives will also consider them. I just prosed a couple of solutions to get us started. The higher the post count the better the chance Dish Executives will take note (they do read some of these).
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WHAT IS WRONG-
Currently the MultiChannel View shows one channel from each category. A of this post I see:
ESPN- Sports, FoxNews-News, Discovery-Info, USA and TNT- General, and NICK-Kids.
In other words you are showing ONE channel from each category. This serves no human purpose as you cant go to channel 100 to see what is on and then click on a channel to watch it. The reason is most are interested in One Category of programming at the time of the vist to the channel. Let say I want to watch NEWS. All that is there is Fox News, I could of just gone to that channel. Lets say I looking for Kids Programming for the Children, all that is there is Nick. I could of just gone to that channel. You get the idea. Right now the only thing useful for this channel is in the Store Show Room to show off that you offer these channels, such a waist of technology.
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PROPOSED SOLUTION-
Since you do not have bandwidth to have One Category channel each (News, Kids, General, Movies, Sports) I propose that to you rotate Categories based on time of day and week and label it in the Guide.
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(times and days are just a guess to show one possible example of how this would work)
News Mix- Every Day 6am to 11AM CT
Sports Mix- Weekends 11AM to 6PM CT
KIDs MIX- Every Day 11AM t 6PM CT Mon-Fri
General Mix- Every Day 6PM to 10PM
Movies Mix (non Premium) 10PM to 6AM
Premium Chan Mix- during free views of HBO, Starz, Show, ect
Fox Sports Mix- during free view of Sports package
Storm Mix (like DirecTV)- as needed during tornado outbreaks and hurricanes
Breaking News- (same is News Mix but add some locals news coverage) any time there is a big news or crisis. News like when the big 4 start to break in for news coverage all day.
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Storm Mix will include local channels from around the county but only while they are covering the storm, just like DirecTV does during Hurricane coverage.
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DirecTV Weather Mix

http://investor.directv.com/press-releases/press-release-details/2014/DIRECTV-and-WeatherNation-Enhance-Coverage-with-Local-Weather-Now-Instant-Access-and-a-New-Severe-Weather-Mix-to-Be-Activated-During-Major-Weather-Events/default.aspx


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

Does any one even use the channel, got no comments. 
Channel seems to have no purpose today


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

It is a channel that has been on DISH receivers for over a decade - and was finally brought to the Hopper system for the Olympics this year. Not having it for the past couple of years I learned to live without it. (BTW: It was also used for March Madness.)

When I first got the Hopper I wondered where the channel was and felt that it was something missing (a channel I could get on my 301 but not my new Hopper?). From that perspective, they are restoring a lost feature. But it does seem to be of limited use.

The original channel 100 is a launchpad for apps ... the Hopper has one on every channel - press the blue button and all the apps on the receiver appear across the bottom of the screen. So that purpose is lost. The only thing left is having channel 100 be a showcase of six channels.

While your suggestion for time based changes to the channel line up is interesting I do not see DISH giving the channel that much thought. If there is something special going on I can see them selecting channels to match that event (Olympics, March Madness, perhaps news channels on Election Day). I would not expect changes throughout the day.

Today's oddity is that they are using letterboxed feeds in each of the boxes. It is a HD channel, I'd expect the HD feeds to be in each box (no SD stretch). But as I mentioned, I don't believe DISH is giving the channel much thought unless they have a special event.

If it were up to me I'd put free preview channels on channel 100.


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## Blueflash (Jan 16, 2009)

By the way it waste not "waist" 

But they do change the channel lineup just not sure of their schedule. Today it's 4 sports channels and 2 seasonal channels.
And the app channel is important for non hopper subscribers.


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## Blueflash (Jan 16, 2009)

They do change I never paid much attention but go there on my old 622 twice a day to check local weather on the weather app.
Sunday like I said above they were sports part of they day . This morning I saw news, And now I they are hist . disc, tbs , fx
Now we just need to ask DIRT if they know the schedule if there is one.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

The thing is... if there is a schedule... it would be just as difficult for you to learn their schedule and try to catch the mosaic when you want it, as it would be to just scan the EPG yourself and try out some new channels every now and then.

The Mosaic is really there to catch an impulse viewer in a random moment I think. Anyone that would put the effort into trying to catch the mosaic on a schedule could have found channels they want much easier already, no?


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

All 6 on my Channel 100 say "locked".

If I click on cancel they all appear for a second while the app exits.

Is there a trick to get the channels to show?

I have a Hopper/W sling and a Hopper 2K, the 2k has the channels on screen but the 6 boxes that say "locked" cover them, the Hw/s just has a blue background with the 6 grey "locked" boxes on it.

I am on the EA sats.


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## n0qcu (Mar 23, 2002)

Jim5506 said:


> All 6 on my Channel 100 say "locked".
> 
> If I click on cancel they all appear for a second while the app exits.
> 
> ...


Yes go in to parental controls and unlock the channels.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

The HD versions of all these channels are unlocked.

If these are the SD version, I do not see any purpose in channel 100 on the Hopper.

Why would I want to see the SD versions of channels from a mosaic when I can see the HD version.


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## Blueflash (Jan 16, 2009)

Like James said above and in this post when it first appeared on the hopper http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/209836-uplink-activity-for-january-2014/page-3#entry3223769

It has been around for along time just not on Hopper. It's main use on hopper would be for the special sporting events like the Olympics, certain tennis tourney, Basketball ncaa big dance, etc. where you can watch multiple screens at once. (directv sets up mosaic channels fro special events like the masters)

For non-Hopper users it is the only channel to access the interactive apps.

As for why not in HD that is a question for Dish and has been bantered around for a while also but never replied to by dish.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Blueflash said:


> As for why not in HD that is a question for Dish and has been bantered around for a while also but never replied to by dish.


I believe channel 100 HopView is a HD channel. A HD backdrop with text added by the receiver. In a quick experiment, if either the HD or SD feed of the source channel is locked the feed is locked. Sports blackouts should work the same way.

It appears that DISH is using SD channels on the HD HopView channel ... but shrunk down to less than 1/9th of the screen size the sources can be SD. I'd prefer that they were not letterboxed inside the frames.


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## Mike.H_DISHNetwork (Feb 1, 2011)

scottchez said:


> There is not much Sat New right now so about this topic. . . .
> -
> 
> WHAT-
> ...


scottchez,

We do value all of our customers input on equipment and programming they want or would like to see changed. It has been requested (by other customers) to provide them with the ability to change/select those channels. 

I have forward your request and thoughts along for the improvements to this channel. 

Thanks


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

Looks like Dish reads social media for customer feed back- thank you dish
Today they have made the HopView channel into something useable.
Today it is a sports view channels so you can quickly finds the games or watch several at once.
The weekend has lots of sports.
Thank you DIRT members for letting Dish know.
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Now lets take the next step and rotate. Maybe make it a NEWS mix channel on weekdays when there is not much sports on?


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

All the news channels are grouped together already in the 200s... It's easier for me to go to the EPG and check to see what is on.


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

Dish is trying. They are getting close.
They did a sports Mix in the daytime on Saturday and then a Comedy/Kids mix at night.
Now they just need to lable what type of mix it is in the program guide. For example right now it is a Sports Mix, if I am not interested in sports right now I would skip it.
I also would suggested a News Mix Sat and Sundays from 6am to 11am CT when no sports is on.
A news Mix would also be good durring Hurricains and tornado outbreaks. 
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If a channel shows as blocked make sure both the SD and HD channels is not blocked in Parental controls. Myself I unblock both as on the hopper it set it to only show the HD IF BOTH are there. Also if during rain fade if the HD is not avl it will auto jump to the SD channel even though its is not on the guide.


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

Update
Many use this channel, Dish would not of spent a ton of money on paying developers to write the code if they did not.
The channels works by showing the 6 channels to everyone, then the software loads and checks what channels you are authorized to use.
Then it puts a box over the ones you can not use. It uses the multi language option in the stream to pick which audio to give you as you move boxes.
Since dish is going to have this channel, I am trying to provide input on how they can make it better.
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WHATS NEW- dish is working with us to make it better. We have a Sports Mix on weekends and a General cable mix on Weekdays
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WHATS MISSING- we still need a news mix from 6am to 11am CT when few games are on and less are watching general cable. Then we would have all types covered. We also need a News mix on during breaking news events like the recent tornado out breaks and the CA wild fires.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Dish could use the data from the What's Hot app to decide what is popular throughout the day. The mix may be accurate.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

But it's all still SD and I have every SD copy of my HD channels locked out - Hopview is useless to me.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Jim5506 said:


> But it's all still SD and I have every SD copy of my HD channels locked out - Hopview is useless to me.


HopView is a HD mosaic ... your decision to lock out SD channels sounds like a personal problem.

Perhaps DISH should rework the logic to say "if either HD or SD is unlocked show the channel" instead of "if either HD or SD is locked hide the channel". But locking out SD is unneeded. HD is already preferred on the receiver. You're not doing yourself any favors locking out SD channels.


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## Mike.H_DISHNetwork (Feb 1, 2011)

James Long said:


> Dish could use the data from the What's Hot app to decide what is popular throughout the day. The mix may be accurate.


James,
I think it's a great idea and I will add it to our open forum to get the data from What's Hot.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Just to be the fly in the ointment...

Putting the "what's hot" channels into the mix seems like an odd thing to me.

Consider...

You get on the "what's hot" list by being the most heavily viewed channels... so if you're already "hot" you need the exposure on the multichannel view less than a less "hot" channel, don't you?

I would actually propose the inverse... take the least hot channels and put them into the multichannel view to help "sell" some of those channels to a new audience.


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

THANK YOU DISH-
Today they have the NEWS MIX ON. I am happy. This was at 9AM when I watch all the news. It did have ESPN in one of the boxes, but close enough. ESPN was showing Sports news at the time so I guess that counts.

THANK YOU DISH-
Today they have the NEWS MIX ON. I am happy. This was at 9AM when I watch all the news. It did have ESPN in one of the boxes, but close enough. ESPN was showing Sports news at the time so I guess that counts.


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

We are making great progress on making this channel usable. Dish is listening to us.
We are almost there. Just need a few more tweaks.
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1. When doing the News Mix channel we need MSBC on there instead of ESPN, ESPN is sports. MSNBC is news. ALso CNBC does not show news on weekends (showing infomercials now) can we please add one of the other international channels that we all get?
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2. Need to put in the guide what kind of mix is going on right now. News, Kids, HBO, General cable. That way we dont tune to it if we are not interested in it.
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3. Schedule. I suggest,
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News Mix 6am to 11am every day including Sat and Sunday plus during any national breaking news like Hurricains, tornado outbreaks, and also international events
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Kids mix- Mon-Fri in afternoons
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Sports mix- Sat and Sundays afternoons
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General mix- after 7pm every day
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HBO, Starz, Show Mix- only durring free previews


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## AlienBeans (Aug 10, 2014)

Forget all this time altered rotation. What dish needs to do is give US the ability to change those channels individually and leave them alone. Or at least give us the option of having it rotate or user control to set individual channels. As it stands now, the multi channel view doesn't do me any good at all.


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

Agree, this is just nor working out.
Dish was trying sooo hard, they tried a news mix and sports mix and kids mix all at different times of the day, but it tends to just confuse everyone.
They need to make it simple.
I say sports mix all weekend 
News mix all other days.
Kids dont know how to use it so dump the kids mix.
Better yet lets just have 3 searate mix channels like directv once did.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

The channels is not only unusable, it is unnecessary.

I know which channels I like to watch, I know the channel numbers, I ncan build my own favorites list if I want to.

USELESS.


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

Based on feed back from here and other forums it sounds like no one is ever using this channel as it changes too much. 
Also The channel is taking up valuable HD space fix this issue or remove it to add a new HD channel.

I now think they just need to make it so people will use it. If people do not use it they should remove it. I am sure dish has channel usage stats on internet connected box.
Dish please do this
-News mix 24x7 every day except make it Sports mix Sat and Sunday only from 11am CT to 11PM
Also when its in news mix mode it has one ESPN channel This is not a news channel add a news channel


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## britrail26 (Aug 28, 2014)

AlienBeans and Mike.H_DISHNetwork have the best suggestion: Make the channels user-selectable. That would be a useful tool for each person whenever they wanted to use it. If I was happy with someone telling me what to watch, I'd be watching over the air broadcasts instead of shelling out for a broad range of services from Dish.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

With the way that channels are delivered via satellite (a group of channels per transponder with different channels on different transponders) one would only be able to choose from channels on a single transponder to make their own mix. Mixing channels from multiple transponders would take multiple tuners. At best DISH would be able to offer a selection of six of ~30 SD channels on a transponder (assuming MPEG4) but that would burn an entire transponder for a single channel. A transponder that could be used for nine new HD channels.

Would you rather have your choice of 30 channels on a mix channel or more HD? I believe most people would choose the more HD.

I like the concept of a "choose your own mix" and would not mind seeing more mix channels for different genres ... but if mix channels get in the way of new HD they are counterproductive.


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

They way the software works for BOTH Dish and DirectV is they have a channel that has the 6 channels on it. This is ONE channel.
then the software loads and provides the switching of the sound as you move around boxes. It can also block ot a box if you dont sub to it.
Since this ALL takes a channel it is not possible to provide every combination.
After reading all the comments most would rather have MORE HD .

Here is what DIsh need to do.

*********DISH hope you read this as you are waisting bandwidth as everyone is so confused, you cant use this channel as it is now********

1. Keep the schedual the same every day so we are not confused. It changes so much that once a person goes to it and its not what you wanted you NEVER COME BACK.
It is a waist of bandwidth

2. Use this schedual

News Mix Every Day 6am to 11am
Sports Mix Every Day 11am to 6PM
Misc Cable Mix Every Day 6PM to 6am

Better yet switch to a SD version of the Mix channels so you can put 7 new mix channels up for the same bandwidth as the one HD vesion. the boxes are so small anyway tht SD or HD does not matter.
Then have 7 different mix channels full time.


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## scottchez (Feb 4, 2003)

***BREADKING NEWS***
Dish must of listen, they just added a full time sports mix channel called Colloge sports mix. Its in the guide next to the ESPN channels.

Bad news is I was watching channel 100 the new Mix and they switched it over to some kind general cable mix I wish they would keep the schedual the same. This is so confusing.


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