Just a short time ago DISH Network announced their brand-new whole-home DVR solution at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. DISH may have lagged behind their competitors in this area for a while, but they may be making up for it with superior technology.
The “Hopper” is the main brain of the new system and will drive units called “Joeys” that can be placed in other rooms of a home to allow access to DISH Network programming. The Hopper will support three Joeys, giving customers a total of four separate locations in the home to access DISH Network programming and recorded content in HD.
This new whole-home DVR system – unlike most competitors – allows full-function DVR capability on each remote Joey unit. This means all viewers can take advantage of features such as the ability to pause, play and rewind live TV as well as recorded programs.
The Hopper features a 2-terabyte internal hard drive which allows the storage of up to 250 hours of recorded HD programming or 1,000 hours of standard-definition programming, which, according to DISH Network CEO Joe Clayton, offers twice the storage capacity of competing units from other pay-TV providers.
A very impressive-sounding feature of The Hopper is its ability to record six HD programs at the same time. This feature does mandate a disclaimer however. Six programs can be recorded simultaneously only during prime time (from 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm Eastern) because four of the six recorded programs are what “the big four” networks are offering during that time period. Branded as “Primetime Anytime,” this feature will record all of the primetime programming on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC every night and retain the recorded programming for up to eight days. The other two programs that can be recorded during this time are selectable by the user.
Even while recording six programs at once, the system still allows all four units to play back any recorded or on-demand content that’s available.
The Hopper boasts some other unique features such as Bluetooth connectivity for connecting Bluetooth-enabled devices such as wireless headphones. The new remote control technology introduced with this system may help make lost remotes a thing of the past thanks to its remote locator feature which allows the user to make the remote control emit a “beep” that should more easily lead to the discovery of a lost remote control.
Currently, much of DISH Network’s on-demand programming is dependent on access to a broadband internet connection. The Hopper, with its “DISH Unplugged” capability provides access to hundreds of the most popular movies and TV shows by delivering them to the hard drive via satellite. DISH Unplugged provides a high quality picture with no buffering problems and provides access to many of the same streaming movie choices offered by Blockbuster @Home, including premium movie access.
This new whole-home system also doubles as a whole-home music distribution system which features access to 73 SiriusXM channels and includes album art and a collapsible list of music channels at the top of the channel guide, making it faster and easier for music fans to find their favorite tunes.
Users are likely to appreciate the system’s easy and fast tile-based user user interface that also includes predictive search capability.
Having recently heard a report that labeled set-top boxes as some of the most energy inefficient devices in the typical home, it’s welcome news to discover that a four-room installation of this new system is 50 percent more energy efficient than previous models.
In keeping with the spirit of “interconnected everything,” The Hopper also features apps that allow users to access Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, photo sharing sites, games, news and more.
We’re likely to be hearing more about this new whole-home DVR system in the near future. DISH Network expects The Hopper to be released during the first quarter (January – March) of 2012. Stay tuned.
DISH Network Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Tags: dish network, DISH Unplugged, DVR, Hopper, Joey, Primetime Anytime, Whole House