@Zordar wrote:
I'm on the cusp of calling my local Dish installer. Could you tell me why "pretty good" as opposed to "great" or excellent?
Cons:
- The local networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX), TNT, and Showtime are not available in the on demand lineup. However, they do have their Prime Time Anytime recordings on the Hoppers that uses one of the three available tuners to record the prime time shows every night, you can set series to save and it will keep those shows on the DVR until you delete them. The others just "fall off" after 8 days. I also have Hulu Plus (had it for years) and that covers pretty much any other gaps.
- Can't view On Demand programming through the iPhone or Droid apps, however it is available on PC.
- We live in Florida. About once or twice every couple of months, the signal gets blocked for a few minutes by heavy clouds. It is not a common event, but can be aggravating if at a critical point in a show. Unless it is a "big 4", I can re-record a show later to catch it or hit it on Hulu in a day or so.
Pros:
1. With the Sling adapter (built into the Hopper DVR), I can truly stream live or recorded programming to my iPhone, PC, or tablet anywhere I can get an internet connection, including 3G. When I say live programming, I mean exactly that--the app or browser is connected to the DVR via the internet, and I am streaming live television on the iphone while riding (not driving) in the car down I95 on the way to or from my son's house.
2. Whole home DVR is exactly that. I can pause, rewind, set recordings, manage recordings, and view recordings from any television in the house that is hooked up to either a Hopper or Joey (linked to the Hopper).
3. While HBOgo is available on the Roku, unless I am travelling, I don't need it. The entire HBOgo library is available through On Demand.
4. Addressable remotes. We have two televisions in the living room (think hubby and sports and car/motor shows). Each remote is addressed to the appropriate receiver, and when changing the channel on one device, only that device is affected. (With Comcast, when he would change channels, mine would change too).
5. I currently have over 290 HD recordings on one of my Hoppers (the entire season of several series, and a dozen or so movies, we like to "marathon" them when the season is over--and the drive is only 58% full. I can also put an external drive on it if I want, and probably will this fall, JUST in case of equipment failure--I'll move my recordings that I need to "save" onto the drive.
There are many, many more things I could list about what I like about it. Other things to be aware of:
1. Each Hopper has three tuners and can be connected to a maximum of 2 Joeys. With the exception of the Prime Time Anytime recording, which uses one tuner to record the "big 4", leaving 2 others available during prime time. Multiple televisions can be watching the same show at the same time using a single tuner, but if you have more than 2 televisions (or have 2 and are DVR hogs as my husband and I are), you may want to get 2 Hoppers (we did) for a total of 6 tuners. Every television can access recordings on any of the Hoppers or Joeys in the house. The only limitation is that I can view or delete recordings on the second Hopper while using the first one, one Hopper can't set a recording on the other Hopper. (BTW, some installers are not aware the Hoppers themselves can "talk" to each other.)
2. I would call Dish directly to see what kind of deal you can get. I don't know if they are still offering it, but they were just recently offering a iPad to new Hopper customers (you can download recorded shows to the iPad for offline viewing, not available on droids yet, dangit). My installation was free, and to upgrade to a second Hopper does incur a one time fee (worth it to us).
If you want any more info, let me know.
