Here is the Hopper Secret Sauce.
"To create the AutoHop functionality, Dish technicians in Cheyenne, Wyoming manually view Fox's primetime programing each night and technologically mark the beginning and end of each commercial.
The program contentis not altered in any way.
The electronically marked files are then uplinked in Wyoming and eventually transmitted to subscribers in an "announcement" file that Dish makes available to subscribers after the show has aired.
Simultaneously with the uplink, three "beta Hoppers" record the Fox primetime block for transmissions in Kentucky,Pennsylvania, and Florida to test the marking announcement.These copies remain at the uplink facility and are used to make sure the commercials have been accurately marked and that no portion of the program has been cut off"