[Wildblue]

Please excuse the question, as I would imagine this has been answered elsewhere already. But I did a search, and browsed through the manual, and couldn't figure it out.

Are the HD and SD outputs simulatneously active on the Hopper? Specifically, do the HDMI and composite RCA jacks simultaneously output video?

If so, I would imagine that there are some sort of details. Hopefully it's the case that watching an HD show, the HDMI output would show in HD, with the composite RCA output showing a mirrored display, down-rezzed to 480i. That's the way it works with my current HR20 with DirecTV, but I'm considering switching to Dish and the Hopper.

To save time, I won't get into my particular setup, but I definitely have the need for the source DVR to simultaneously output on HDMI (in HD) and composite video.

 

[3HaloODST]

Yep it does both at the same time .

 

[Wildblue]

Sweet--much thanks!

 

[mdavej]

Hopefully it's the case that watching an HD show, the HDMI output would show in HD, with the composite RCA output showing a mirrored display, down-rezzed to 480i. That's the way it works with my current HR20 with DirecTV...

Really? I thought you had to switch resolutions or live with the nag message about the guide not displaying in SD. At least it worked that way on mine.

Anyway, something you'll really like is that IR and RF can be used simultaneously on Dish boxes, unlike DirecTV. So you can use a universal IR remote in one room and an RF Dish remote in another.

 

[Wildblue]

Yeah, right now, my DirecTV HR20 will show in HD from the HDMI, and I can access the Guide. At the same time, it outputs 480i from the composite video RCA, and shows the Guide in SD. I think DirecTV has changed this in the newest units.

As long as the Hopper has the SD and HD video jacks simultaneously active on the Hopper, I'm seriously considering jumping over to/from the dark side and switching to Dish.

All the remotes in my house are high-end programmable remotes, mostly from URC. (programming them has become one of my specialties) So I don't think I'd need the RF, but that is cool. Of course, if I switch over to Dish, I'd have to totally reprogram all the remotes in my house, but... ce'st la vie.

 

[RasputinAXP]

All of the outputs are hot.

 

[mdavej]

All the remotes in my house are high-end programmable remotes, mostly from URC. (programming them has become one of my specialties) So I don't think I'd need the RF, but that is cool. Of course, if I switch over to Dish, I'd have to totally reprogram all the remotes in my house, but... ce'st la vie.

I think you will need some Dish RF remotes anyway. Today, I imagine you're using RF from your URCs that go to blasters on your HR's. And you probably have each HR on it's own unique IR address. The problem is Hopper/Joey only have 1 IR address, so any IR signal goes to ALL of them. However they have plenty of RF addresses, plus the Dish remotes give you signal strength indication and a locate beep of you misplace it. And, out of the box, I think IR is disabled on Hopper/Joey, so you'll need to dig into the settings and enable it.

Another wrinkle is that Dish Hopper/Joey remotes are impossible to learn from. So you'll need to use URCs built-in codes, buy an older Dish remote, or find the pronto hex codes (I've posted most of it a couple of times myself).

So I highly recommend you keep using the URCs for your main systems and switch to Dish RF for your remote systems. And unlike DirecTV remotes, Dish remotes are also learning, so it's easy to add any missing commands. But they don't do macros. If you don't have multiple HR's then all this is moot, and you can continue using Dish the same way you use DirecTV today and not bother with Dish RF remotes at all.

 

[Wildblue]

Good stuff there, Dave. yes, I do indeed currently have two HR20's, both with IR mice on the front, in my house's central equipment room. I'm also headed to CEDIA next month, so even if I can't get codes I need from the URC database, I imagine I'll be able to ask the Dish fellas in person.