[Janeen]

How big of an external Hard Drive should I have to connect to the Hopper to record all the Prime Time Shows? Would 1T do it?

 

[garys]

Hopper has a 2T hard drive built into the receiver and should be able to record over 2,000 hours. PTAT has it's own partition on the hard drive. You have plenty of time to use the system and figure out what you may need since it will take you a while to fill the internal HD. The Hopper will work with EHD's up to 2T.

 

[P Smith]

Hopper has a 2T hard drive built into the receiver and should be able to record over 2,000 hours. PTAT has it's own partition on the hard drive. You have plenty of time to use the system and figure out what you may need since it will take you a while to fill the internal HD. The Hopper will work with EHD's up to 2T.

That's urban legend - I posted full info about partitions and how the recordings do occupy drive space. Also provided some info how QUOTA manager control the space.

 

[P Smith]

How big of an external Hard Drive should I have to connect to the Hopper to record all the Prime Time Shows? Would 1T do it?

You can't use EHD for automated recordings like PTA or timers. Its size limited to 2 TB, but using a hub you could use up to four of such EHD (8 TB total).

PTA recordings will be on internal 2 TB drive. Later you can manually transfer saves parts (shows) from PTA to EHD.

 

[bigdog9586]

Welcome to the beta test club.

 

[Janeen]

Thanks for the responses, but now I think I am even more confused, lol.

The first person at DISH I talked to about the Hopper told me IF I had an External Hard Drive I could choose the option to - between the hours of 7-10 (prime time in CST) record ALL the programs on ABC, CBS, NBS, & FOX. So, she made it sound as if I could only do that with an EHD.

So, you guys are saying I don't have to have the EHD unless I wish to save any or all of the shows taped on the Hopper?

In other words, I don't have to go run out and buy an EHD once I get the Hopper?

Oh and by the way, big surprise (NOT) they didn't show up today and won't be coming until Tues.

Does anyone have this and is it worth it?

Thanks again.

 

[James Long]

Correct. You do NOT need an EHD to turn on PrimeTime Any Time recording.

The EHD is for storing shows off of the main drive - generally used on older receivers when the main drive hard drive filled up or to sneakernet the programs to another compatible DVR. It is harder to fill 1231 GB ... and sneakernet isn't needed to remote view programs on a Hopper.

 

[P Smith]

You can't use EHD for automated recordings like PTA or timers. Its size limited to 2 TB, but using a hub you could use up to four of such EHD (8 TB total).

PTA recordings will be on internal 2 TB drive. Later you can manually transfer saves parts (shows) from PTA to EHD.

Thanks for the responses, but now I think I am even more confused, lol.

The first person at DISH I talked to about the Hopper told me IF I had an External Hard Drive I could choose the option to - between the hours of 7-10 (prime time in CST) record ALL the programs on ABC, CBS, NBS, & FOX. So, she made it sound as if I could only do that with an EHD.

So, you guys are saying I don't have to have the EHD unless I wish to save any or all of the shows taped on the Hopper?

In other words, I don't have to go run out and buy an EHD once I get the Hopper?

Oh and by the way, big surprise (NOT) they didn't show up today and won't be coming until Tues.

Does anyone have this and is it worth it?

Thanks again.

That's correct. Again.

 

[Janeen]

Thanks again. Forgive me but I'm a 62 year old woman trying my best to keep up with the changing technology. My son finally talked me into getting a "God Phone" (that's what he called his iPhone, lol) 3 years ago. Started with the 3G, now I have the 4S.

He talked me into getting the DVR and took me a while to master it, but then I got the 722 HD DVR and love being able to tape two programs at once. The bad thing about that is that if you tape two at once you have to be either watching one of those shows (which defeat the purpose of skipping through commercials by taping it) or watch a pre-recorded program while taping the two channels. This works great for me, but not so great for my husband. He, of course, doesn't like the same programs, or at least 85% of them that I like. So he is left out in the cold when it comes to the TV.

I was going to just get another DVR single box and have it wired directly to another room so he could watch it while I was taping on the Dual receiver. But then when I saw the Hopper commercial I thought that would be even better.

My question, sorry for the long back-story, is this - With the Hopper, can I tape two programs at once, while watching live TV on one of the other two Joey's? So if I'm taping two channels in the living room can my husband watch live television in the family room while I'm watching live television in say the bedroom? I need to get this straight in my head because I hate change and don't want any surprises. :nono2:

Thanks for answering my dumb questions.

 

[mdavej]

Except for the big 4 networks during primetime, one hopper can show 3 live programs at once. So if you are recording on 2 of them, then only one other live tv viewing is possible. If you think you may do this often, you should get 2 hoppers and 1 joey instead. That way you have 6 tuners total. The initial cost is higher for 2H 1J than 1H 2J, but the monthly cost is the same.

 

[P Smith]

Yeah, ask that guy to change its order - looks like 1xH and 2xJ wouldn't be enough,
the other config - 2xH + 1xJ looks more appealing for your requirement.

 

[James Long]

I am in a two person household and still find it better to have two Hoppers. My wife was deleting programs after she viewed them (without waiting for me to view them). Now she has a Hopper and I have a Hopper. Our marriage is safe! :lol:

 

[Janeen]

Well the woman told me the Joey could also record, but was she meaning it could record as you are watching? Because that would defeat the purpose. So, I can request two Hoppers and then he could record his own shows and me mine and we could still watch Live TV while taping on both of them and then have the Joey in a spare room for someone else to watch a different program than the ones we were taping and watching?

Acccckkkkk! Maybe I should just switch to Direct TV, they say you can record up to five programs at once.

P.S.
If I am using the Prime Time feature, can I still record two OTHER channels at the same time?

 

[P Smith]

Two H2k will give you six (6) programs to write and 6 to play from a drive ... More then DTV's HR34 alone.

 

[James Long]

Joeys can SET recordings ... but the recordings actually occur on the Hopper.

You don't have to view the same program that you are recording ... but you do have to have tuners available (on the Hopper) for what you want to do at the same time. For example, if you want to watch three different live programs (eg: one on the Hopper and one on each Joey) you cannot be recording anything else.

PrimeTime Any Time skews that statement ... while it is recording up to four local network channels you can watch one or all of them on the receivers. So you could be recording your local Fox while watching your local ABC on the same tuner.

The 2nd Hopper is expensive ... but it is worth it. Especially if you are actually using multiple locations at the same time. My wife and I could work with a single Hopper and two Joeys ... but that 2nd Hopper certainly makes life easier.

 

[mdavej]

Well the woman told me the Joey could also record, but was she meaning it could record as you are watching? Because that would defeat the purpose. So, I can request two Hoppers and then he could record his own shows and me mine and we could still watch Live TV while taping on both of them and then have the Joey in a spare room for someone else to watch a different program than the ones we were taping and watching?

Acccckkkkk! Maybe I should just switch to Direct TV, they say you can record up to five programs at once.

P.S.
If I am using the Prime Time feature, can I still record two OTHER channels at the same time?

You are correct on all points. As others have already said, Joey can schedule and view recordings but has no recording capability by itself.

Take the Joeys completely out of the picture for a moment and imagine your hopper is connected directly to 3 TVs. Any of those TVs can operate the Hopper, watch any live tuner or any recording independent of the other TVs. That's how your system will work. A Joey is essentially just a box that allows you to connect to a Hopper from a different room.

One DirecTV box can record 5 at once, one hopper can record 6 at once using PTAT or 3 at once without PTAT. Two hoppers can record 9 at once using PTAT or 6 at once without PTAT. I agree the Dish system is more confusing. But I find it much simpler and less work to use day to day, due mostly to a lot less recording management.

When I had Dish, our 4 person household did fine with a single Hopper, but 2 would have been handy at times. We also did find with our single DVR DirecTV system a few years earlier. However they were missing several channels that Dish had back then. Now they've nearly caught up, so it's almost a wash. Both systems are very good.

 

[Janeen]

"one hopper can record 6 at once using PTAT or 3 at once without PTAT."

So, I could record three programs at once BUT those three programs would be playing on each one of the televisions. BUT, if I were to only be taping two programs, then the third TV could be independently watching another program live? If that is the case, excluding the PTAT, I could do that now if I were to just get another HD Receiver for the DH to watch his FOX News. Because with the VIP722K I can tape two shows, but have to be watching one. Well I have enough recorded that I can always have the recorder going while I watch a pre-recorded program.

With the PTAT in the picture, that means I could still tape say Bravo AND TNT at the same time the system is recording the PTAT? But, of course I would have to be watching one of the programs on all three of the TV's?

 

[david_jr]

"one hopper can record 6 at once using PTAT or 3 at once without PTAT."

So, I could record three programs at once BUT those three programs would be playing on each one of the televisions. BUT, if I were to only be taping two programs, then the third TV could be independently watching another program live? If that is the case, excluding the PTAT, I could do that now if I were to just get another HD Receiver for the DH to watch his FOX News. Because with the VIP722K I can tape two shows, but have to be watching one. Well I have enough recorded that I can always have the recorder going while I watch a pre-recorded program.

With the PTAT in the picture, that means I could still tape say Bravo AND TNT at the same time the system is recording the PTAT? But, of course I would have to be watching one of the programs on all three of the TV's?[/QUOTE]

If recording 3 events at once or 6 using PTAT (only during prime time hours), each location has access to any of those recordings as they record or to any previously stored recordings. If you want a 4th tuner available at any of your 3 locations while those 3 or 6 events are recording, a second Hopper would be needed. As a poster noted 2nd Hopper is $99 up front cost, but same monthly as Joey at $7 - A huge bargain as Joey can access either Hopper's contents, but has no tuner of it's own and either Hopper can also access either Hopper's recordings (but not its tuners).

Hope this helps.

 

[Janeen]

Yes, this all helped get my mind in first gear, so to speak, but I finally got on the DISH Chat and gave out all the scenarios I could think of with having 1 Hopper/2 Joeys versus 2 Hoppers/1 Joey.

I finally shifted into 5th Gear when Tuners were mentioned. Tuners I understand. So, the Hopper has 3 Tuners. If you have 3 TV's and you want to tape 3 shows, then all 3 TV's will be 'playing' those shows being recorded, so you can't watch live TV while recording on all 3 Tuners.

However, if you are using the PTAT then that feature only takes up 1 of the Tuners, leaving the other two tuners free to either tape a show or watch live TV.

So, if I'm using the PTAT (1 Tuner) and then recording on Bravo (2nd Tuner) then the DH can still watch the 3rd tuner live that isn't being used to record a program. So, I would still be basically getting all my major programs recorded, plus record a non-major network channel at the same time. I never watch live TV, I just watch a pre-recorded one while recording more. But, the big difference is 1 TV would be free for the DH to watch.

With the new season coming up I will be a recording mad-woman and didn't want him left out, lol. Basically he watches FOX News, PBS, and some Footballs games and that's about it. So, I can leave one tuner free for him to watch with the 1 Hopper/2 Joey set-up. Plus, since I'm a long standing loyal customer I am getting the $100 fee waived for the Hopper and one of the $50 fees waived for one of the Joey's. (Old home, not wired for 20th Century, let alone 21st Century, lol. So, they have to drop the lines in the walls for the Joey's at $50 a pop. But, I will only be paying $50 instead of $200 and my monthly fee with another discount they gave me will only be about $5 more a month.

So, I appreciate all the help and now that I have 'a clear signal' in my head, ha ha, I think I'll stick with the 1 Hopper and 2 Joey's. They will serve our needs just fine.

Thanks!!!!!!!

 

[Rickt1962]

I am a Directv user but was thinking about switching to the Hopper 6 tuners is great but the feature that will get me to switch is the commercial killer ! I love that feature ! my problem is once i get it can Dish turn that feature off in the near future ? Because the TV industry is going after Dish to remove it ! Replay TV years ago had the same feature and they got sued and went bankrupt