Have either of you figured out hot to "Seek & Record" That was a great feature & I hope a software update fixes that soon!
We want to hear how about your ordering experience!
I did the ordering. I had 10 months left on my contract & had to extend it for 2 years. The rep wanted me to pay $8 per month for a service contract. He could explain why I would need that & could answer what the standard warranty period was. He seemed frustrated so I ended the call & tried later. The next person said they would cover the 1st 30 days. They also wanted an installation fee. When I balked at that they say OK, free.
We want to hear about your install how did it go?
Tech was a little late but no biggie.
We want to hear what the Techs did and upgraded at your house!
The tech needed to install a different LNB which didn't take long. It did take a while to download things before it fired up. He was at my home for about an hour to 1.5 hours.
We want to hear your thoughts on the Hopper 3!
My first impression was the picture looked darker. It took my hours to figure out how to do Picture n Picture. When I finally figured it out the receiver went haywire after about 20 minutes. It looked like several pictures were present & had lots of vertical & diagonal lines. I had to push the red rest button to fix it & no problems since.
I cannot figure out how to "Seek & Record" no could a Dish rep who in fact had no idea what I was talking about.
We want to hear what you would change about the Hopper 3?
The bottom is I don't like the remote so far. The old remote was big but overall much easier to fine things. With the new one you must dig through several buttons to do simple things. I get used to it but doubt if I'll ever really like it.
I got mine yesterday and I will try to be as thorough as I can. Appointment was scheduled for 8am to 12pm, tech arrived at 9:15am and he was a subcontractor and electrician by trade. He is obviously not a low voltage expert and said he had only three days of training. This was not his first H3 install, but it was his first 4k joey install. I immediately informed him that I wanted to keep my old remotes from my former H2, super joey and my other joey 1.0....he said he had to call that in and I showed him my PM with Khemka discussing why which in my case were all my old settings including 67 timers and a number of home theater setting for devices in each location. He said both he and his supervising office knew nothing about the ability to transfer these settings from pairing the old remotes with the new equipment....when the software downloads were complete he could not believe his eyes when the old remotes paired and the settings and timers were transferred perfectly. I then showed him how on another tv I had an android stick with Dishanywhere on it and how perfectly the tv worked without the need for joey...LOL!....good test of the new H3 and Dishanywhere working fine! Total install time about an hour and a half including software downloads...in spite of this being a subcontractor I felt he did a great job...he took the new remotes back with him and to be honest the new remote that came with the H3 is pathetic...would never want it!
The H3 performed perfectly and every function worked immediately...recognized my EHD's and I began immediately transferring back programs that were on the old H2 that were of the watch one time variety...transfer speed is great. I got 4k joeys even though I have 1080p tv's in their locations and I am glad I did because the speed of these devices is awesome...4k Sony connected to H3 working great as well. Digital audio pass through back to my Pioneer and Sony surround receivers is perfect. I do not have a single issue with the H3 or 4k joeys....all are working perfectly....fyi, my internet connection speed is 50 down and 5 up and I am directly wired from the router to the H3.
With all the good behind let me tell you how lousy I think the new UI is:
1. The guide in black and white is a joke...SD channels are marked as such which is the reverse concept as before (are you kidding!)...without color highlighting it is easy to not notice carrier VOD lines...stupid! The worst is I pay over $200/month for Dish service and the damn guide has a banner line on the bottom with a TV Guide promo which is like getting the free version of an android app with an advertising promo line!
2. What is it with the program info with a line and hash showing what looks like a volume control on time remaining and the reduction in size of the channel and program name...stupid...old display was far better!
3. At least my old remote has red, green, yellow, and blue buttons which surely save steps over that toy remote that came with the H3.
4. Having the sources under the DVR menu with a cumbersome series of boxes to move programming back and froth from the H3 to EHD's is another longer and more pathetic approach than the old UI...I would love to meet the nerd who designed this!
5. As many have said the Home screen needs to be eliminated...what a waste of time....I do not need a Dish Showcase concept!
All in all, the devices work perfectly and that is a big step forward on a new release, but I want the old UI back!
