# Manual Timer- Hopper



## lshen

Hello. We've had our hopper/joey system around 3 months. Still learning and discovering. Is there a way to set up a manual timer? For example, I want to record on channel 138 every night, 7 days a week, from 1 AM to 330 AM no matter what show is on. I could do this with my old dish receivers prior to switching to the hopper/joey system.


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## Stewart Vernon

This feature was taken away from the 922 years ago when it came out... I don't expect it back with the Hopper.

You used to be able to set such timers manually through the Web or Dish Remote Access apps, though, but I haven't tried in a while.


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## lshen

Thanks. Bummer.


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## Jhon69

lshen said:


> Hello. We've had our hopper/joey system around 3 months. Still learning and discovering. Is there a way to set up a manual timer? For example, I want to record on channel 138 every night, 7 days a week, from 1 AM to 330 AM no matter what show is on. I could do this with my old dish receivers prior to switching to the hopper/joey system.


This maybe the answer:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/hopper-zone/281137-manual-recording-5.html#post2872104


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## Stewart Vernon

Jhon69 said:


> This maybe the answer:
> 
> http://www.satelliteguys.us/hopper-zone/281137-manual-recording-5.html#post2872104


You mean like the answer I gave above when I said they might still be able to do it with Dish Remote Access on their phone or the Web?

I can't verify since I don't have a Hopper... but I did mention this a couple of posts above.


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## olguy

Stewart Vernon said:


> You mean like the answer I gave above when I said they might still be able to do it with Dish Remote Access on their phone or the Web?
> 
> I can't verify since I don't have a Hopper... but I did mention this a couple of posts above.


No Stewart. Doing the way explained at the link you use your remote and Hopper.


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## Stewart Vernon

olguy said:


> No Stewart. Doing the way explained at the link you use your remote and Hopper.


That link doesn't describe how to set a manual timer... I checked. It seems to be a description of something that might be a replacement for "Dish Pass" though.


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## olguy

You're right Stewart. Should have made that clear. But I knew what I was talking about.


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## Stewart Vernon

olguy said:


> You're right Stewart. Should have made that clear. But I knew what I was talking about.


No problem... When I initially replied I had not visited the link. I checked it later and realized it answered one of the original questions, just not both.


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## 4HiMarks

This blows. I missed about a third of the game today when the timer didn't fire. They need to fix the EPG or allow manual timers. I tried to set a timer to record the Redskins-Saints game today. When I set it, the EPG just reported "NFL Football: Teams TBA". I set the timer to record weekly, figuring whenever the teams were announced, it would record that. It didn't even skip it. Nothing fired at all. And the EPG now insists I am watching the Eagles-Browns game. For next week, it says "NFL Football: Teams TBA" on Fox again. If I can't set a timer to record Fox at 1:00 every Sunday, that will really suck. I normally don't even start watching the game until 2:00 or 3:00 so I build up a good buffer and see the whole thing in a little over an hour instead of 3+ hrs.


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## Jaspear

4HiMarks said:


> This blows. I missed about a third of the game today when the timer didn't fire. They need to fix the EPG or allow manual timers. I tried to set a timer to record the Redskins-Saints game today. When I set it, the EPG just reported "NFL Football: Teams TBA". I set the timer to record weekly, figuring whenever the teams were announced, it would record that. It didn't even skip it. Nothing fired at all. And the EPG now insists I am watching the Eagles-Browns game. For next week, it says "NFL Football: Teams TBA" on Fox again. If I can't set a timer to record Fox at 1:00 every Sunday, that will really suck. I normally don't even start watching the game until 2:00 or 3:00 so I build up a good buffer and see the whole thing in a little over an hour instead of 3+ hrs.


Same thing happened to me. I set up a timer for the Seahawks/Cardinals game on Monday, September 3rd. The EPG indicated "Teams TBA". My Hopper set it up and listed the timer. I checked again Thursday night. Nothing had changed; I still had the timer and EPG still said "Teams TBA". Yesterday, I had no recording and nothing in the history indicating it had ever been set. Apparently, when the EPG finally does update, it drops the timer. Timely EPG data would solve this.


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## garys

For some reason when the info is changed, Dish's dvrs drop the timer. It's like it thinks the programing was changed and you don't want the new recording. Manual timer would record whatever programing it is, whether the info changed or not. Hopper really needs the manual timer.


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## 3HaloODST

For those of you still wondering, it has been confirmed that manual timers will (eventually) be added to the Hopper :-

http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads...rs-after-only-33/page15?p=2945011#post2945011


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## Stewart Vernon

How is that link confirmation?

There are lots of things on a list of features to be added that will never be added.

Dish dropped manual timers from the 922... that was a LONG time ago... they kept that firmware to start the Hoppers... so it is a precedent now.

I argued back at the beginning of the 922 that dropping manual timers was a bad thing... I also argued against dropping DishPass timers too... but ALL indication from Dish was that they felt not many people used those features... you know, like when they decide not many people watch a channel?

Dish has shown they are stubborn in things like this... and they aren't likely to backtrack unless they lose a flood of customers... and that isn't likely.

I will be completely surprised if manual timers come back. I wish it so... but I'll be surprised.


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## 4HiMarks

I have never been happy with Dish's treatment of sports programming. I know there are sports fans in India. Why can't they build in a way to set a timer to record all of a particular team's (or city's) games, no matter what time or channel?


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## P Smith

4HiMarks said:


> I have never been happy with Dish's treatment of sports programming. I know there are sports fans in India. Why can't they build in a way to set a timer to record all of a particular team's (or city's) games, no matter what time or channel?


Developers team is small, overloaded and underpaid ... They count each dollar, so they will do what they want regardless of whining in Internet.


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## James Long

P Smith said:


> Developers team is small, overloaded and underpaid ... They count each dollar, so they will do what they want regardless of whining in Internet.


I won't agree with all that but they certainly seem to be under-appreciated.

Developers do what they are asked to do. Priorities start with fixing things that don't work (not just "don't work the way some customer wants it to work" but not functioning the way it is designed to do. Then priorities shift to new features. Sometimes new features are important enough that they get done before some of the fixes.

At the end of the list is changing the design of the receiver to make it work differently. The receiver works now ... it is lacking the Manual Timer feature. While this (to some) may be a mistake or a horrible oversight it is not a bug. The receiver is not designed to have a Manual Timer.

Personally I hope it is added. I've missed recordings because of the lack of a manual timer.


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## P Smith

> The receiver is *not designed* to have a Manual Timer.


 
Perhaps more reading here will help you remove rose glasses ... Also, check salary wages for open positions there ...


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## 3HaloODST

Stewart Vernon said:


> ...I also argued against dropping DishPass timers too... but ALL indication from Dish was that they felt not many people used those features... you know, like when they decide not many people watch a channel?


Hopper has "Dish Pass" ... It's called "Seek and Record."


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## Stewart Vernon

3HaloODST said:


> Hopper has "Dish Pass" ... It's called "Seek and Record."


Does it work beyond the current week, though?

I got the impression that "Seek and Record" only works for events in the current 9-day EPG... while "Dish Pass" worked essentially indefinitely.

I could be wrong, I just didn't think it worked that way.


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## James Long

Stewart Vernon said:


> Does it work beyond the current week, though?
> 
> I got the impression that "Seek and Record" only works for events in the current 9-day EPG... while "Dish Pass" worked essentially indefinitely.


The search function works for the 9 day EPG, but when one chooses the green "Seek and Record" option to set a timer it becomes an indefinite timer - similar to DISHPass.


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## 4HiMarks

P Smith said:


> Developers team is small, overloaded and underpaid ... They count each dollar, so they will do what they want regardless of whining in Internet.


Cry me a river. Whose fault is that? Not mine. Being overworked is normal in the New World Order. Previous boxes had manual timers. It was a conscious decision to take them out (or not put them in) during development of software for the new boxes. Who made the decision and why did they think it was a good idea?


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## Stewart Vernon

James Long said:


> The search function works for the 9 day EPG, but when one chooses the green "Seek and Record" option to set a timer it becomes an indefinite timer - similar to DISHPass.


Cool. Learn something new all the time! So, I guess maybe pressure did sort-of bring Dish Pass or something like it back to the Hopper after eliminating it for the 922.


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## Jaspear

James Long said:


> The search function works for the 9 day EPG, but when one chooses the green "Seek and Record" option to set a timer it becomes an indefinite timer - similar to DISHPass.


If I do this after the guide listings finally update for a football game (From "teams TBA" to the actual teams playing), would the Hopper set the recording automatically after the guide updates? If so, this would solve the problem I had on Sunday with the Seahawks game.


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## James Long

Jaspear said:


> If I do this after the guide listings finally update for a football game (From "teams TBA" to the actual teams playing), would the Hopper set the recording automatically after the guide updates? If so, this would solve the problem I had on Sunday with the Seahawks game.


It depends on when the EPG changed. You could probably set a Seek and Record for "Seahawks" and skip unwanted hits.


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## jeffdb27

I havent tested this thouroughly, but you could set a timer for a show in the time range you want to record and then start up to an hour early and end up to 90 minutes late. I think if the original show isn't on some night, you wouldn't get anything, however (again - untested).

I have confirmed you can set a manual timer on dish.sling.com, but found no way to do it on dishonline.com. They have been saying for a long time that dish.sling.com is going away, but it hasn't yet. I don't know if you need the sling adapter to use this. I do have one. After setting a timer this way, on the receiver in the timer list, it just picked one show to show as the timer name, I don't know what would happen if that show isn't on one night. I set up a seven day timer from 9pm CDT to 2am CDT on Hallmark channel (185). I may report back on what happens, if anyone is interested.

Years ago, the 721 receiver handled this great. If a DVR event had more than one program in it, it would list them all, and you could jump to any of them. I expected better handling of this on the Hopper. I didn't expect manual timers to be removed completely! I've not had any experience with at 922, so was unaware they had already been removed from that receiver.


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## some guy

"jeffdb27" said:


> I havent tested this thouroughly, but you could set a timer for a show in the time range you want to record and then start up to an hour early and end up to 90 minutes late. I think if the original show isn't on some night, you wouldn't get anything, however (again - untested).
> 
> I have confirmed you can set a manual timer on dish.sling.com, but found no way to do it on dishonline.com. They have been saying for a long time that dish.sling.com is going away, but it hasn't yet. I don't know if you need the sling adapter to use this. I do have one. After setting a timer this way, on the receiver in the timer list, it just picked one show to show as the timer name, I don't know what would happen if that show isn't on one night. I set up a seven day timer from 9pm CDT to 2am CDT on Hallmark channel (185). I may report back on what happens, if anyone is interested.
> 
> Years ago, the 721 receiver handled this great. If a DVR event had more than one program in it, it would list them all, and you could jump to any of them. I expected better handling of this on the Hopper. I didn't expect manual timers to be removed completely! I've not had any experience with at 922, so was unaware they had already been removed from that receiver.


Dish online had the manual timer option removed which is why you can't find it and manual timers ill be added to the hopper in the future.


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## scottchez

Manual Timers would also be needed for when or if they come out with an over the air tuner (USB OTA TUNER) as often some locals that you get free over the air dont have any guide data that you can record on.


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## jeffdb27

scottchez said:


> Manual Timers would also be needed for when or if they come out with an over the air tuner (USB OTA TUNER) as often some locals that you get free over the air dont have any guide data that you can record on.


Hopefully they will have some better way to obtain guide information. With my 722k I had a station that had guide info for years, then they changed something and it was gone. Dish blamed the station and the station blamed Dish, so there is still not guide information a year later.


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## dmspen

I posted an issue a bit back about No Info Available in my Daily Schedule. During the troubleshooting with the advanced tech, he asked me to set a manual timer on my Hopper. I asked him how to do that. He checked somewhere, apologized, and said it wasn't out yet but would be in an upcoming release.

Confirmation? Hardly, but maybe.


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## Stewart Vernon

Somehow I doubt it. They took manual timers away from the 922 a couple of years ago (before it launched)... and pretty much said "nobody uses it" as the reason why...

I would love to have manual timers back... but I wouldn't hold my breath.


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## 3HaloODST

I'm leaning toward yes, hopefully with OTA, since it was already unofficially confirmed.


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## Stewart Vernon

3HaloODST said:


> I'm leaning toward yes, hopefully with OTA, since it was already unofficially confirmed.


Again I echo, don't hold your breath. I'm sure OTA is coming.. but very doubtful about manual timers.

People like me with the 922 and OTA have struggled with the lack of manual timers for several years now and deaf ears from Dish on getting those features back.

Since the Hopper firmware seems to be developed off of the 922 firmware... I'll be very surprised to see manual timers come back.

I hope for it, to be sure! But I'm very skeptical. Somebody somewhere at Dish seems to think "nobody wants it" and seems stubborn about sticking to that opinion.


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## P Smith

Stewart Vernon said:


> Again I echo, don't hold your breath. I'm sure OTA is coming.. but very doubtful about manual timers.
> 
> People like me with the 922 and OTA have struggled with the lack of manual timers for several years now and deaf ears from Dish on getting those features back.
> 
> Since the Hopper firmware seems to be developed off of the 922 firmware... I'll be very surprised to see manual timers come back.
> 
> I hope for it, to be sure! But I'm very skeptical. Somebody somewhere at Dish seems to think "nobody wants it" and seems stubborn about sticking to that opinion.


OMG !

How dare are you to tell such harsh things.


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## 3HaloODST

It's fine that you're skeptical but someone else at Dish obviously has seen our complaints about the lack of timers and said that they're working on it. I know it's no guarantee but as I said I am leaning toward yes. 

Comparing Hopper, Dish's flagship, highly-advertised receiver to Dish's bastard child (the 922) that barely received support as a flagship receiver let alone it's current state with less support than the 722 is IMO not a very fair comparison. Far more people will be using Hopper than ever were using the 922. In 2 years from now I expect Hopper to still be supported and not practically abandoned like the 922 is now compared to when it was released.


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## Stewart Vernon

3HaloODST said:


> It's fine that you're skeptical but someone else at Dish obviously has seen our complaints about the lack of timers and said that they're working on it. I know it's no guarantee but as I said I am leaning toward yes.
> 
> Comparing Hopper, Dish's flagship, highly-advertised receiver to Dish's bastard child (the 922) that barely received support as a flagship receiver let alone it's current state with less support than the 722 is IMO not a very fair comparison. Far more people will be using Hopper than ever were using the 922. In 2 years from now I expect Hopper to still be supported and not practically abandoned like the 922 is now compared to when it was released.


I hear what you are saying... I can tell you though that every time I ever ask anything about it, I am given pretty much the same "not many customers use that feature" response as to why it was taken away... and while I surely wish they would change that, and I've pointing out many scenarios where manual timers are more than just a "nice" feature... I haven't seen anything to lead me to believe it is coming back.

You should probably also take the "it is coming soon" or "it is being worked on" with a grain of salt, depending on who told you that... I remember years ago being told that Dish was working on native-pass-through for HD resolutions... and that has yet to happen on any ViP or beyond receiver.

I'm pretty sure there is a list somewhere of all the stuff Dish said "we are working on it" that never happened... I tend to be skeptical and not believe it until I see it if it outside the norm... so I'll be pleasantly surprised if manual timers come back.

I had a little more hope before they started tweaking Dish Online and trying to take away the manual and dish pass timers from there, which had been a workaround on the 922.


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## 3HaloODST

Hopper has already had far more proactive software support than even the 722 series. Many of the bugs have been fixed in only 7 months. Several new features have been added in the same timespan. Dish Pass is already on Hopper as "Seek & Record." Dish will soon be adding a "recycle-bin-like" feature to Hopper. I don't think that they'll have much of an issue with adding manual timers back, especially when people have been asking for them back for 2 years. Sure, there is no guarantee, but Dish is really doing things differently with Hopper. Never before has Dish had DIRT, or advertised receivers on television. I see Hopper commercials all the time. I don't think that they're going to leave out functionality that people request. You could make the same argument for OTA, in that "nobody uses it" but again, I'm pretty sure that OTA will be out too, sooner or later. From what I hear, they are waiting on FCC approval. No official confirmation on that, but I'm fairly confident.

Only time will tell us who's gut feeling is correct.


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## jeffdb27

I discovered another semi-related feature that is gone from the Hopper. On the 622/722 when you were watching a show if you pressed record you were presented with several options. One of which was to record until manually stopped. This is not present on the Hopper. I was watching WSOP Main Event on ESPN last night and it went hours past the allotted time. All it would allow me to do is record the current show then add time to it, which is limited to 90 minutes. I needed more than 90 minutes.


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## some guy

I would just stay tuned.good things coming


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## tenwinecans

some guy said:


> I would just stay tuned.good things coming


absolutely! December 21 is just around the corner....  :nono:


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## jeffdb27

jeffdb27 said:


> I discovered another semi-related feature that is gone from the Hopper. On the 622/722 when you were watching a show if you pressed record you were presented with several options. One of which was to record until manually stopped. This is not present on the Hopper. I was watching *WSOP Main Event on ESPN *last night and it went hours past the allotted time. All it would allow me to do is record the current show then add time to it, which is limited to 90 minutes. I needed more than 90 minutes.


BTW, this show ended up going for TWELVE hours. Only ten hours over the scheduled time. I watched most of it later on ESPN3.com


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## some guy

Manual timers are coming to the hopper and that is certain. That was posted on satellite guys by Vivek so I would say that's a 100 percent reliable source.


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## Stewart Vernon

I still say don't hold your breath. If it happens, I welcome it... I pestered them for a while before I gave up... I thought it was a mistake to take manual timers away from the 922... and they seem to be continuing the trend with the Hopper.


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## 3HaloODST

"some guy" said:


> Manual timers are coming to the hopper and that is certain. That was posted on satellite guys by Vivek so I would say that's a 100 percent reliable source.


I agree. Especially now that they added OTA. As it currently stands, OTA channels with no guide data can't be recorded at all.


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## James Long

3HaloODST said:


> I agree. Especially now that they added OTA. As it currently stands, OTA channels with no guide data can't be recorded at all.


Isn't that the way it has been on the 922 since manual timers were removed?

Yes, manual timers would be nice. Being able to edit the names on saved programs would be nice. It seems that the powers that be are not maintaining that functionality while they move on to features other receivers don't have.


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## 3HaloODST

"James Long" said:


> Isn't that the way it has been on the 922 since manual timers were removed?
> 
> Yes, manual timers would be nice. Being able to edit the names on saved programs would be nice. It seems that the powers that be are not maintaining that functionality while they move on to features other receivers don't have.


Dish barely supported the 922. Hopper has had far better support. People around here were skeptical that OTA would be released, so anything is possible.


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## James Long

3HaloODST said:


> Dish barely supported the 922. Hopper has had far better support. People around here were skeptical that OTA would be released, so anything is possible.


I had no question that DISH would release OTA for the Hopper, even though it is in a very limited form.
I agree with Stewart that Manual Tuners are more of a long shot.

Perhaps if Vivek is championing the addition of Manual Timers perhaps it will actually happen. But I don't see it happening unless someone is pushing for the addition of the feature (or restoration, considering Manual Timers existed on the 922 and prior receivers).


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## 3HaloODST

All I can say is: We'll see!


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## jeffdb27

3HaloODST said:


> I agree. Especially now that they added OTA. As it currently stands, OTA channels with no guide data can't be recorded at all.


This is rediculous. Even without manual timers, I should be able to go to an OTA station that is missing guide info and press record. But you are right, it does nothing.

Someone said this OTA implementation was "limited". I second that!


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## James Long

Bleeding edge ... but it will get better. "Soon." :lol:


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## 3HaloODST

Really irked me when I discovered that fact. Wanted to record an OTA channel so I could share it across Hoppers. But hey, better than no OTA at all. I talked with DIRT, and Dish will be looking into fixing it.


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## 3HaloODST

Rumor has it that manual timers will be in the next update!

:jumpingja


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## RasputinAXP

I'd bet on that rumor being true. Just sayin'.


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## 3HaloODST

I sure hope so! Been a long time coming.


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## 3HaloODST

Aaaand we have MANUAL TIMERS!!! As of S234!


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## 4HiMarks

I set one yesterday for 1:00 Sunday afternoon football. It's a shame the season is almost over.


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## jeffdb27

I suppose I'll be one of the last ones to get this update too. Still don't have it as of now!


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## StringFellow

"4HiMarks" said:


> I set one yesterday for 1:00 Sunday afternoon football. It's a shame the season is almost over.


How do you set manual timers. I have the 234 update but can't find the option.


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## n0qcu

StringFellow said:


> How do you set manual timers. I have the 234 update but can't find the option.


Press dvr button four times then green.


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## some guy

"StringFellow" said:


> How do you set manual timers. I have the 234 update but can't find the option.


Or go to an OTA channel airing in the future and press select from the guide. The manual timer screen will pop up.


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## jeffdb27

Now we just need to be able to edit the names of these recordings and will have caught up to the 722's functionality. Being able to rename the actual manual timers would be even better. I've set up four or five recurring manual timers on an OTA channel I get with no guide info, so I get lots of recordings with time stamps on them for the program name. Impossible to tell what's in there without starting playback!


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## 3HaloODST

"jeffdb27" said:


> Now we just need to be able to edit the names of these recordings and will have caught up to the 722's functionality. Being able to rename the actual manual timers would be even better. I've set up four or five recurring manual timers on an OTA channel I get with no guide info, so I get lots of recordings with time stamps on them for the program name. Impossible to tell what's in there without starting playback!


Yep I agree! They're probably aware of that though.


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