DBSTalk Forum banner

My Hopper/Joey Install Experience

164K views 491 replies 160 participants last post by  Stewart Vernon 
#1 ·
Now that Hopper/Joey are available we expect a few people to join the "bleeding edge" and either change out their existing DISH system for Hopper/Joey or become a new DISH subscriber.

Once you have Hopper/Joey installed in your home tell us your experience! Make sure you tell us what you replaced and your initial reactions (whether you are pleased or regret the decision to go with Hopper/Joey, what are the good or bad experiences so far).

We hope to have a structured look at this new product in a few days but here is your chance to share - member to member - your experience. So once you get your Hopper/Joey tell us all about it right here.
 
#103 ·
I have never been more frustrated with an install than I am tonight, I am not blaming the installer, he did everything he could to get it to work and spent 5 hours at my house and left with only the two hoppers working. I ordered two hoppers and 4 joeys and he tried everything he could and nothing would get the damn joeys to see the hoppers as hoppers. He tried several different install methods as specified from dish support to no avail. Hopefully the overnight update will resolve the issues. Otherwise they will have to come tomorrow and rip the entire system out.

Update: After doing some research and trial and error, I finally have the joeys working. The 1303 error was fixed with a solution I found on the Sat Guys site, it might be somewhere here but that is where I found it first. Anyway, the way I fixed it was to

1. Unplug all Power/AC and coax from all joeys.
2. Make sure all Hoppers are activated plugged in and running.
3. Plug in one joey WITHOUT the coax. You will still see 1303 error.
4. Hit the power button and put the joey in standby.
5. Plug in the coax with the joey still in standby.
6. Unplug AC power from joey for 5 seconds.
7. Plug AC power back and stand back. The joey should go to screen 61, download some programming and should activate in a few minutes.
8. Once joey is working, unplug coax and power from that working joey and move onto the next problem joey and repeat.
 
#104 ·
Ok, shutting down for the night, and discovered one nice thing about the Hopper and Joey: Both have NO lights on at all when shut down! No glaring blue LED's like my 922 had. Kudos for this minor detail!

BTW, my Hopper and Joe's have worked flawlessly all day, including Sling, PTAT, and Blockbuster. I was seeing Blockbuster streaming > 20Mbps on my 30Mbps internet connection, through wireless. The search function wasn't working at first, but now it's working as expected.

I have to say, I upgraded for the PTAT feature mostly, and it's truly awesome. Just what I was hoping for. Amazing to record that may shows using a single tuner!

My config is pretty simple I guess; it's identical to the diagram here on page 5 of http://horizonent.net/uploads/HopperJoeySystem_JobAid.pdf (except we're using a wireless USB dongle and have a Sling Adapter)

I'm amazed how much faster the Hopper changes channels than my 922 did, even if the new channel you change to is on a different satellite, it's very fast.

If I had to make one recommendation, it's do it like my installer did. Install the Hopper alone, turn it on and let it update and become fully operational (~20-30 minutes). Call Dish, activate all of the units including Joey's, then install the Joey's one at a time. That sequence worked perfect here. Also remember, all the units sit for 5-10 minutes when first turned on, and appear dead (Hopper's fan running full speed). Don't touch them, they will come to life!
 
#105 ·
OinkinOregon said:
Installer came on Friday to install 1 Hopper and 3 Joeys. He pretty much ripped out the old coax from the Dish to the internal house wiring. Crawled under the house to run a home run from the new DUO switch to the Hopper. Activated the Hopper and then my problem with Dish began. I had 2 722's and a 622. I planned on keeping the 622 active. Dish made sure that was not going to happen.

Got on the phone with CSR to Loyalty Department to Executive. "Sorry sir, we cannot have a Hopper system with the old VIP receivers they are not compatible." Even though the installer had his install diagrams that clearly stated it could be done and it was done and working just fine until the CSR deactivated all 3 VIP receivers. I argued and got nowhere except having to fork over another 100 bucks for another Hopper to replace the 622, that is coming this morning. Has anyone else had this problem? I was told that I would be able to keep my 622 that I own by the original CSR.

As far as the Hopper Joey performance goes, it is worth it. I love how everything looks and feels and the system is running perfectly. I really love how the remotes can learn commands from the original remote and how there is no more fumbling for the remote codes. Primetime anytime is an excellent feature and find myself watching other shows I would not normally record.

I will be interested to see what happens to others as they have this system installed and whether or not they are forced to give up legacy receivers.
There has been a ton of discussion on the net since the H/J was announced about VIPs being a no go. Even though the installation diagrams clearly show that the VIP will work with the system, DISH is NOT allowing mixed setups at this time. There have been numerous complaints especially from RVers and tailgaters as the H/J setup is not portable and the tailgater only works with 211. All that said it has been known for several weeks that DISH was not allowing mixed setups at least at launch.
 
#106 ·
called to upgrade from 2 722's to hopper joey system... dish rep told me sure we can do that ....for only 750.00 ....????Dish rep also stated that with 1 hopper and 3 joeys i could view 4 independent " live " programs which i know is not true ffrom what i can tell....the dma i live in does not have hd locals and im using an ota on my 722's Is there an ota option on the hopper/joey system that anyone knows??
 
#107 ·
brewsky said:
called to upgrade from 2 722's to hopper joey system... dish rep told me sure we can do that ....for only 750.00 ....????Dish rep also stated that with 1 hopper and 3 joeys i could view 4 independent " live " programs which i know is not true ffrom what i can tell....the dma i live in does not have hd locals and im using an ota on my 722's Is there an ota option on the hopper/joey system that anyone knows??
Even though my system is still not working I can tell you there is no direct input for an OTA antenna, I wanted to hook mine up and that is not possible.

EDIT: After more reading and research it looks like OTA support will be coming this summer but I am still not sure where the antenna input will go.
 
#108 ·
Got my Hopper + 2 Joeys installed yesterday. Very impressed so far. EHD was recognized immediately with all recorded shows. Fast response with every command. Hopper did froze once while playing with an app. Had to reset it but everything looks fine.
It's my understanding the Hopper has 2TB hard drive, one for Dish, one for user.
Does anyone know if the PTAT is stored on Dish partition?
 
#110 ·
New Dish customer here.

Had the system installed yesterday and the tech left thinking everything was fine. The we got to primetime when I wanted to watch two shows and record a third (1 Hopper/1 Joey setup).

It was then that I realized that there wasn't a signal coming in to the third tuner. Today another tech has been here all day changing out the Hopper, and the Joey, and the LNB (?), to no avail.

Has anyone had trouble with a third tuner working on a system with only 2 boxes? It's my understanding that all three tuners are in the Hopper and just diseminated to the Joeys remotely.

Suggestions welcome, and appreciated...
 
#111 ·
Are your local channels broadcast in HD? If you don't have HD local channels, it will not record PTAT. Please PM your account number to me so I can check on this for you. Thanks.

chadwick110 said:
New Dish customer here.

Had the system installed yesterday and the tech left thinking everything was fine. The we got to primetime when I wanted to watch two shows and record a third (1 Hopper/1 Joey setup).

It was then that I realized that there wasn't a signal coming in to the third tuner. Today another tech has been here all day changing out the Hopper, and the Joey, and the LNB (?), to no avail.

Has anyone had trouble with a third tuner working on a system with only 2 boxes? It's my understanding that all three tuners are in the Hopper and just diseminated to the Joeys remotely.

Suggestions welcome, and appreciated...
 
#112 ·
I'm in the Atlanta broadcast area and have my locals in HD. The PTAT isn't the issue. We just couldn't get the third tuner to get a signal.

After replacing all hardware, the tech took a shot in the dark and replaced the RG6 from the dish to the node...ta da! That was it.

So, word to the wise, make sure you get new cabling if there are any issues.

Thanks.

Ray C@DISH Network said:
Are your local channels broadcast in HD? If you don't have HD local channels, it will not record PTAT. Please PM your account number to me so I can check on this for you. Thanks.
 
#113 ·
Hello,

I don't mean to bother any of you, but I had tried to "PM" Ray C of the DIRT team, and since I'm just a newbie with less than 5 postings here, it bounced back on me.

Anyhoo, if Ray C of the DIRT team, or any others on here can help, I could use some assistance.....

We got a 2-Hopper/4 Joey installation on Sunday, and everything went somewhat smoothly with the exception of 2 things:

1) A Broadband connection wasn't put in (explained below); and
2) all four Joey's got linked to one Hopper, for some reason.

Regarding the broadband situation, my internet was down the day of the installation, so we didn't get it connected then. The installer left me with an ethernet cable, showed me how to get to the Broadband screen, and told me that I simply had to plug in the ethernet to the back of the Hopper and then into the router. The lights are on at the ethernet jacks on the Hopper and router, so there's life in the cable, so to speak.

I had mentioned to the tech that I have MAC address filtering established on my router, and he said the MAC address was also on the Broadband screen. So, I put the MAC address into the router, went to the broadband setup screen on the Hopper, clicked on the 'Reset Connection' button and recycled the Hopper (as well as my router) -- that didn't work. Next, clicked on the 'Reset Network' button, recycled the Hopper, and the router -- still have the "failed" in the list.

It wasn't until I did the 2nd reset, that I noticed that the Hopper seems to have a static IP address attached to it, or at least I think so since it's not getting a DHCP-assigned IP address from my router. I also noticed that the Hopper's IP address is in the 169 range, with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0, while my router works in the 192 range, with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. I tried setting up a "port forwarding" rule, but the router wouldn't allow it giving me an "out of range" error msg. I have thought of trying to establish a "DMZ port" for it, but I'm worried about it being outside of the protection of the router's internal network.

Would you have any ideas or suggestions on how I would go about getting the Hopper connected to the internet? I'm hoping this is just an easy fix, and that I'm just overlooking something.

Any help you could supply would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance, and I look forward to any assistance any of you could supply.

Rick W
 
#114 ·
Replaced my 722/612/211 with a 2H/2J system yesterday. The tech had trouble with both Hoppers but they finally installed OK. No such luck with the Joeys. Those things are an abortion; if they are not installed correctly they can get to a state where they will not initialize but will immediately start looking for a Hopper to link to. No amount of reset sequences will fix it. Another tech showed up today and tried some more with no success. He finally replaced 1 Joey and ordered a replacement for the other.
 
#115 ·
After a failed appointment on Friday, Raymond reentered the order and did a great job of scheduling a technician. The technician replaced my dish as well as my 922. The GUI in the Hopper seems much faster than the 922, and as some others have mentioned, I think the picture quality is better as well.
 
#116 ·
It's been nearly ten years since I was with Dish, but on Sunday the 18th I returned with the installation of a Hopper and 3 Joeys. Other than the long time it took to install (nearly 6 hours total), download and mate the Joeys with the Hopper, I can say that I am quite pleased. (One Joey was particularly stubborn). Having been with D* for the past 10 years, I was amazed with the speed of the DVR functions, guide and "forgotten features" - most notably the 30 second skip. So far, I think that Dish got this system right.
 
#119 ·
Discovered something cool about PTAT tonight. Was watching a show recorded last night, and when it reaches the end of that show, it seamlessly goes right into the show that follows it, without even stopping.

What this means is if a show runs long into the next time slot, you can just keep watching seamlessly. You can't even tell it's running long. If you want to watch the next show, just let it keep going, or stop when the first show finishes up. No cares about deleting it when done.

No more missing the end of a show if it runs a bit long, no more having to pad timers.

PTAT just takes all pressure off watching network shows. You don't have to remember if you setup a timer for that new show you wanted to catch, worry about juggling priorities, etc.

I am just LOVING the PTAT feature. I have to say, it's a huge advance in the way DVR's function. Stellar...

My Hopper and Joey's are the bomb. It is bittersweet that my 922 never worked this well, but this system is just *sweet*.
 
#120 ·
ZBoomer said:
No more missing the end of a show if it runs a bit long, no more having to pad timers.
It appears that saved shows (recorded by PTA and saved to "your" section of the drive, not individual tuner timers) also save in this manner. I've played the entire night's broadcast of that channel from a saved recording.

PTA doesn't run late for sports. They do start early and end late if any prime time show is scheduled to start before "prime time" or scheduled to run over, but if the programming exceeds the schedule (as 48 Hours Mystery and CSI:Miami did this past weekend) the end isn't there.

My Hopper and Joey's are the bomb. It is bittersweet that my 922 never worked this well, but this system is just *sweet*.
I'd like to thank your 922 for paving the way for the Hopper. :)
 
#121 ·
Well, I kicked D* to the curb and went for a Hopper and 3 Joeys :) The install took 2 days due to a hardware problem and this being the tech's first Hopper install. The first day Hopper ended up being DOA and no others on his truck, so the next morning bright and early (7 AM) he showed up with a new Hopper and Starbucks for me and the wife - a very dedicated tech :D. It took a while but the second Hopper worked like a champ, and the Joeys installed perfectly. I am very impressed with the HD picture. My only problem now is learning new channel numbers.
 
#122 ·
Install went pretty easily. Was done in about two hours, including replacing a couple of faceplates that had bad barrels. Now that I have some time to breathe:
1. Guide didn't populate fully until the 4th reboot. Couldn't turn PTAT on until it did.
2. EHD worked perfectly, tech was pleasantly surprised. Transfer is still in effect, so I'll know that everything's back sometime today.
3. Joey takes a bit to find the Hopper first thing in the morning.
4. Logitech Revue was working fine without having to tell it the receiver (ex 211, now Joey) had changed.

The bad:
1. DLNA stuff is dead in the water, as mentioned in the Software thread. Pain in the butt.
2. Search doesn't ...quite work right. I'll give it another 24 hours before I panic, since I'm a veteran of the old 922 "bake-in" process.

Otherwise it's weird to say but it LOOKS better, PQ-wise. I don't know why. PTAT is pretty freaking slick. I was under the impression it was 7-11 not 8-11 but meh.
 
#123 ·
Took a few days before search was fully functional on mine.

PTAT is 7-11 on weekends I think, 8-11 otherwise with a few exceptions for special events (sports, etc.).

PQ seemed better to me too, both HD and SD.

There is apparently a bug making timers from DishOnline (which is how a made all of mine :mad:). So I had to delete them all and create them on the DVR or they wouldn't work properly. Be aware of that.
 
#124 ·
Hello again,

I haven't heard anything regarding my original posting (#113), but in "sleeping on it" a bit, I may have narrowed down the issue -- at least, it sounded good in my head while I was dreaming about it.....

Being new to the world of DISH acronyms and the various components, it dawned on me that the MAC address I was looking at, and put into my router was for the "MoCA", not the ethernet card..... Does this sound correct?

So, if that's the case, then HOW or WHERE do I discover the MAC address of the ethernet card(s) that are in the Hopper(s)?

I am only able to see the details of the "MoCA" under the Broadband screen on the Hopper .... the cursor will not scroll over any of the other options that are there. (Ethernet Top, Ethernet Bottom, or Wireless)

Please, I could REALLY use your help here.

Thanks.

Rick W
 
#125 ·
It sounds like the Hopper is not seeing the router. A 169.x.x.x is normally a default address assign by the computer, ex. Windows. You have already stated your router IP range begins with 192.x.x.x so something is preventing the Hopper from obtaining the correct address. It sounds like a configuration issue with the router. Is DHCP enabled on your router? Have you spoken to your ISP provider? Thanks.

I found this information on the Internet:

If your IP Address starts with 169.XX.XX.XX you have an invalid IP Address and will not be able to access the Internet. The reasons you would have such an IP Address are: (1) You've hooked a new computer up to your modem (or a different computer), (2) You have reformatted your hard drive, (3) You connected another device to your modem or router and have lost your correct IP Address. The aforementioned are usually the reasons you lose your IP. A correct IP Address starts with 192.168.X.XXX if you have a router, if you're connected directly from the modem to one computer your IP Address will start with 2 numbers before the first decimal point instead of 3, in a format like 24.XX.XX.XX, or 72.XX.XX.XX, or 68, 69, 72, etc.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5963613_change-169-ip-address.html

New2Hopper said:
Hello again,

I haven't heard anything regarding my original posting (#113), but in "sleeping on it" a bit, I may have narrowed down the issue -- at least, it sounded good in my head while I was dreaming about it.....

Being new to the world of DISH acronyms and the various components, it dawned on me that the MAC address I was looking at, and put into my router was for the "MoCA", not the ethernet card..... Does this sound correct?

So, if that's the case, then HOW or WHERE do I discover the MAC address of the ethernet card(s) that are in the Hopper(s)?

I am only able to see the details of the "MoCA" under the Broadband screen on the Hopper .... the cursor will not scroll over any of the other options that are there. (Ethernet Top, Ethernet Bottom, or Wireless)

Please, I could REALLY use your help here.

Thanks.

Rick W
 
#126 ·
New2Hopper said:
Hello again,

I haven't heard anything regarding my original posting (#113), but in "sleeping on it" a bit, I may have narrowed down the issue -- at least, it sounded good in my head while I was dreaming about it.....

Being new to the world of DISH acronyms and the various components, it dawned on me that the MAC address I was looking at, and put into my router was for the "MoCA", not the ethernet card..... Does this sound correct?

So, if that's the case, then HOW or WHERE do I discover the MAC address of the ethernet card(s) that are in the Hopper(s)?

I am only able to see the details of the "MoCA" under the Broadband screen on the Hopper .... the cursor will not scroll over any of the other options that are there. (Ethernet Top, Ethernet Bottom, or Wireless)

Please, I could REALLY use your help here.

Thanks.

Rick W
Instead of trying to scroll the cursor to the left, move it all the way up to the top. It should jump over to it OR you can simply hit the "red" shortcut button.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top