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View Full Version : Dish Network goes marsupial.



2ndRick
01-10-2012, 04:21 PM
Dish Network is announcing a whole-house shared DVR platform called 'The Hopper'.

2 terabytes, three tuner DVR, built in Sling TV, and something new called 'Primetime Anytime' that automatically saves ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox programming to the DVR.

The secondary boxes are called 'Joeys' and they stream content from the Hopper over the traditional coax infrastructure.

It did not mention the size of the Joey units...

jonnyg
01-10-2012, 05:00 PM
It seems dish is playing a little catch up, but good to see. Haven't tried it yet, but I think the new DirecTV HR-34 will be sweet with the TVs that support DLNA. Not a big Sling Guy as it requires an internet connection, but the NOMAD from DirecTV has promise.

2ndRick
01-10-2012, 06:16 PM
I have heard from a friend who was in the meeting that there is a limitation of 'five TVs'... I am not sure if that is five Joeys PLUS the Hopper, or five total outputs INCLUDING the Hopper.

Also, the Joeys are small, but not as small as I was hoping.
I think you could cram that thing in one of the larger in-wall enclosures that go behind flat panel sets.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-O0rNr5YYJfM/TwzTSfOXoDI/AAAAAAAAFAk/jxOLC76Gh2s/s800/dish20network_hopper20dvr20joey-8594443.jpg

The remote is Zigbee, with IR output for controlling TVs. I guess that Zigbee is good if you are using them standalone... No word on the integration capabilities.

2ndRick
01-10-2012, 07:01 PM
I found more clarification on the 'record six shows' claim.

There are three tuners, but somehow the 'Primetime Anytime' option that records all four major networks only uses one of the tuners, and the second and third can each record something different.

Primetime Anytime stores eight days of content from the four major networks.

Subscribers can add the Blockbuster package to their Hopper system for $10/mo.
This is the service that competes with Netflix, and brings thousands of shows and movies into the boxes from the web.

PAAI
02-18-2012, 08:27 AM
As usual, this is taking a long time to release. So is the VIA-Sat system. I hope they can eventually just make a three or 4 tuner box with DLNA streaming to the latest TVs and DVD players. One could only wish.