DISH has owned CES in recent years with spectacular product reveals… and 2016 sees that trend continue with massive upgrades to their flagship DVR (that I first caught wind of back in September). The 3rd generation Hopper carries forward integrated Slingbox capabilities and (limited) commercial skip, as they introduce 4k support and jump to 16 tuners. Sixteen! DISH isn’t kidding when they declare “channel conflict eliminated” as this surely provides enough to handle all your satellite units during an evening of heavy recording plus some remote streaming.
On the 4k front, content will initially be offered through a Sony streaming service and updates to the existing Netflix app (now integrated into universal, voice search). Beyond online content and having set the stage for linear 4k content, DISH utilizes these extra pixels (and upgraded quad core processing power) for something I’ve been trying to build (on the cheap) for years in “Sports Bar” mode. When output to a 4k television, four distinct 1080i channels can be displayed simultaneously. THIS is how I want to watch college football.
Like it’s predecessor, DISH Hopper 3 ships with 2TB of storage. But, by swapping out eSATA for USB 3.0, owners will have many economical options for storage expansion. And, unlike TiVo, external hard drives are not restricted by business relationship and brand.
The new Hopper is expected early this year, landing at the same price point as the prior generation.
Any news on if this will require a new LNB on the dish itself? Looks like it may be time to upgrade from my 722k.
When I tell people on the tivocommunity forums that 6 tuners aren’t enough for our household they tell me I’m crazy. We can easily be recording 3 shows at once during primetime and with padding it could need six at certain points. You then add in 2 or 3 mini’s around the house and 6 isn’t enough. I’d be happy with 8 tuners, but 16 would remove any chance of tuner conflicts and would only require 2 cable cards.
They should sell this thing with a cable card. And compete with tivo
I’d just be happy if the Carbon UI that was shown at last year’s CES (?) would ever show up. Rumors pointed to October (2015!). Sheesh. I’m much happier with The Hopper vs my TiVo (minus remote, of course), but this UI is badly needing a refresh.
Dave, satellite tuner mechanics are likely different… and somewhat related to Lance’s question. Echostar did dabble in some CableCARD set-tops, but didn’t follow-thru – perhaps because tru2way was a bust and no US cable provider was interested in working with them?
https://zatznotfunny.com/2009-04/echostar-at-the-cable-show/
Lance, from Satellite Guys and Scott G who always provide me the assist.
New Hybrid LNB, and a Single Node Hub
Thread covers some specific dish upgrade options:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/what-wiring-changes-will-be-required-for-hopper-3.356296/
Related, checking on Archie’s concern.
Is this maybe what TIVO was broadly alluding to that the bolt was not geared towards the enthusiast – do they have something in the works with multiple tuners and PIP viewing (the multiple tuners and customizable UI lend themselves to being able to view multiple channels at once and I’m surprised it’s taken someone so long to pick it up – too bad I didn’t file a patent on that) – dish beat them to the punch, while they were distracted by the watch
“THIS is how I want to watch college football.”
Great advances have been made in ADHD meds, y’know…
This is great news for Dish users. I personally have had no issues with only 6 tuners on TiVo, but I also currently only have one mini. If I get another, and when my provider gets the remaining analog channels moved into digital space, I could potentially begin to see occasional (but rare) issues. I don’t do too much in the way of streaming to iPads or other TiVo units (mini included) at the moment, but I can see a time in the next year where that becomes more prevelent as the kids’ tastes begin to evolve.
Hey Dave, are word on the TiVo development front if they are planning the multiplexing capability for the Bolt or a future version? I have no plans to buy another TiVo device (I currently own a Roamio, XL4 and 5 minis) but if they offered the “Sports Bar” functionality, as you call it, I would buy that device today.
Can the hopper offload recordings to another device? Meaning can you download recordings to a PC, iOS device or android device?
While I like being able to stream to my phone/tablet, I greatly prefer downloading for flights/travel and for not having to rely on spotty cell signals on my commute.
They also introduced a pretty cool way to offload recordings.
http://www.engadget.com/2016/01/05/dish-hopper-go/
It’s a small 64Gb portable hard drive with built in battery and wireless hot spot.
Yeah, DISH has been providing ways to offload video since like 2005. The new thing is basically a successor to PocketDISH, a white labeled Archos device.
https://zatznotfunny.com/2005-10/pocketdishes-released/
Turns out I found the HopperGo back in September. On paper, it sounds like a clever and useful accessory. Wonder how well it’ll sell. What’s the demand and is the value/approach too hard to convey to the masses?
https://zatznotfunny.com/2015-09/dish-prepping-slingbox-powered-hopper-go/