# Single buffer / No swap on Joeys



## 79MI (Jan 23, 2004)

I've come to realize the only feature (622) I cannot live without is "swap".. Over the past 5-6 years I've gotten so used to having that capability, I can't imagine not having it. Commercial?..Pause, swap, live TV on another channel or DVR for a bit, swap back. 

Does the joey/hopper setup offer this IDENTICAL function on all TVs?

I asked a tech about this the last time I contacted Dish. He wasn't sure, but said that feature wasn't available after the 622.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

The Hopper will let you swap... but the Joeys will not.

The person at the Hopper should be able to have PiP and swap like usual... but each Joey will "behave" as if they only have access to a single tuner.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

If more than one Joey or timer is active at once, you won't be able to swap live channels, just a channel and a recording.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

BobaBird said:


> If more than one Joey or timer is active at once, you won't be able to swap live channels, just a channel and a recording.


Good point. I should have qualified my response... If you only have a Hopper OR if your Joeys are inactive so that you have at least 2 free tuners, then swap is available at the Hopper.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

And a Sling Adapter adds additional complications, if one wants to get confused.


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## dtvgone (Jul 21, 2007)

Have 1 Hopper and 2 Joeys. The Joeys only have single buffer, even if the Hopper and one Joey are in standby mode. "feature not currently available" error shows if the swap button is pressed. The dual buffer function works normally on the Hopper. Does anyone know whether dual buffer functionality will be enabled in the future?


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## gtal98 (Jan 30, 2011)

No, it will not be added in the future.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Each Joey only "sees" one tuner. It might not always be the same tuner, depending on what tuner is available when the Joey is turned on... but it will not have access to another tuner. Joey behaves as if it is a single-tuner receiver.

Only the Hopper will directly have access to all 3 tuners.


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## js0873 (Apr 18, 2005)

I too use the swap function a lot, and I am disheartened to hear that you can't use it on the Joeys. Two tech reps have told me wrong on that, and I love that feature so much I consider it a necessity.

As far as swapping on the Hopper is concerned, does anyone know if it's any different now with swapping between 2 programs where one of them is being recorded? That is, today if a recording is being made, and you pause the program being recorded, then swap to a non-recorded program, then come back to the one being recorded with another swap, it loses its positioning and goes to live action. With the Hopper now will the program being recorded be paused where I last left it paused (like I'd like) or will it go to live action like it does today?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Stewart Vernon said:


> Each Joey only "sees" one tuner. It might not always be the same tuner, depending on what tuner is available when the Joey is turned on... but it will not have access to another tuner. Joey behaves as if it is a single-tuner receiver.
> 
> Only the Hopper will directly have access to all 3 tuners.


Joye is a client - if H2k FW would be written to fulfill the request, it will switch Joye to other tuner.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

P Smith said:


> Joye is a client - if H2k FW would be written to fulfill the request, it will switch Joye to other tuner.


If my grandmother had wheels, she would be a bus.

Of course it *could*... there are a lot of things it *could* do if they wrote firmware to support it.

But I don't see this happening... because in order for it to work at the Joey end, you would have to give Joeys the ability to kick people (Hopper or other Joeys) off of a tuner... Right now, only the Hopper lets you override and take a tuner away from another Joey. You really wouldn't want each Joey having the capability to hijack another tuner like that.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

P Smith said:


> Joye is a client - if H2k FW would be written to fulfill the request, it will switch Joye to other tuner.


What is a Joye? Has DISH released a new receiver without telling us? 

It would not be hard to stream multiple tuners from Hoppers to a single Joey up to the limit of MoCA. Whether the Joey could handle it is a separate question. Right now it is beyond the design of the unit.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Stewart Vernon said:


> Right now, only the Hopper lets you override and take a tuner away from another Joey. You really wouldn't want each Joey having the capability to hijack another tuner like that.


Sorry, but they do. A Joey user can "steal" the tuner the Hopper is using and change channels. A warning pops up on the receiver making the channel change but the distant viewer does not get a warning before the channel change.

Perhaps something that might need to be added to the preferences? Protecting Hopper tuners?


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

James Long said:


> Sorry, but they do. A Joey user can "steal" the tuner the Hopper is using and change channels. A warning pops up on the receiver making the channel change but the distant viewer does not get a warning before the channel change.
> 
> Perhaps something that might need to be added to the preferences? Protecting Hopper tuners?


Really? wow... Can it steal a tuner that is in use by another Joey? Maybe that is why I thought it couldn't happen...

If Joeys can take control of other tuners... that sounds like a potential mess.

IF its just the Joey taking over a Hopper tuner (and vice-versa) that might be more manageable... but I could still see where a surprised viewer in another room loses his tuner and wondered what just happened.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Joeys and Hoppers have equal powers. Joeys and Hoppers can join any tuner regardless of if it is currently used by a Joey or Hopper. Then if they pause, rewind, etc the other viewer sees the trick play too. If any one of the users watching a shared tuner changes channel the receiver will change to a different tuner if available - but if all tuners are in use a warning will be shown to the user requesting the change (not to the shared users) and the channel will change.

An icon can be turned on at the bottom corner of the screen to denote shared use.


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## js0873 (Apr 18, 2005)

James Long said:


> Joeys and Hoppers have equal powers. Joeys and Hoppers can join any tuner regardless of if it is currently used by a Joey or Hopper.


Just double checking then based on equal powers. Have we concluded for sure that the Joey cannot do the swap function at all?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

js0873 said:


> Just double checking then based on equal powers. Have we concluded for sure that the Joey cannot do the swap function at all?


Yes. They can use any of the tuners on the Hopper but cannot swap. It is "not an active feature."


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

Every time I think I'm ready to replace one of my 622s with a Hopper and Two Joeys (mainly just to get access to DVR recordings from the Hopper to one room that currently doesn't have access to that 622 and to be able to watch two different things in two rooms that currently share a connection to the same 622) I read something like this and decide my current setup is probably better. :roundandr


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