A third generation DISH Hopper just broke cover at the FCC. The second gen model won CES 2013 Best of Show by building upon automatic recording and commercial skip with newly integrated Slingbox capabilities. As to the incoming model, we don’t have much to go on as the juiciest parts of the filing are confidential. Given the previously announced 4k Joey DVR extender, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suspect the Hopper 3 might similarly include UHD capabilities – it’s all the rage these days.
Beyond video resolution, this new Hopper is tricked out with all sorts of wireless capabilities:
- Bluetooth
- Zigbee
- 802.11 a/b/g/n
- 2.4 & 5GHz MIMO
What’s unclear is if that Zigbee is specific to RF remote control or somehow related to Echostar’s home automation aspirations. And certainly Bluetooth could come in handy for those sorts of interactions. Possibly related, is another Echostar filing for the Zigbee-powered “Wally” — as that’s the only wireless technology listed (thus far), could this be some sort of super-powered slab-style remote?
Unlike Amazon or TiVo, Echostar and DISH products have longer gestation periods post-FCC… so we may be waiting until January’s CES before we learn much more.
Yeah, Dish tends to use CES (for media attention and possible awards to tout for marketing) and their own team summits to introduce the latest and greatest, so I think January at CES is a good bet. From what is presented in this posting, it looks like not anything new on “killer” features. It seems a model designed to take advantage of better tech for wireless connections (MIMO) and other enhancements to current tech (such as MoCA 2.0, I hope. The previous Hoppers are all MoCA 1.1) and maybe enhanced home automation control, but I would also agree that 4K (UHD) TV support would not be a surprise.
With regard to MoCA, Dish’s Vivek Khemka, Senior Vice President of Product Management at DISH, had a Q&A answering subscribers technical questions. Vivek had cited the current Hoppers MoCA 1.1 limitation as being the reason Dish could not provide for the frequently asked for two Hoopers AND a Super Joey providing 8 satellite channels per household + 1 OTA tuner or up to as many as 12 channels simultaneously recording/viewing with the 4 major nets using ONE tuner (can do so 24/7, not just Prime Time Anytime) + 7 remaining sat tuners + 1 OTA tuner. The bandwidth still available with the current two Hopper installs or the One Hopper and Super Joey was believed to be left reserved for possible future features requiring it. It was made clear that there was no other issue or limitation such as billing, etc. or anything else other than MoCA 1.1 bandwidth as being the limitation for a 2 Hopper + 1 Joey install (it can be done technically). Maybe Hopper 3 has MoCA 2.0, and that would be nice for households or power users who need all those tuners.
Correction to above post:
I had written, “providing 8 satellite channels per household + 1 OTA tuner . . . ”
I should have stated, “satellite tuners,” not “satellite channels.”
The use of the words “tuner” and “channel” elsewhere is correct.