Cable TV Alternatives

Hopper 3 DVR

The Hopper 3 DVR has a lot to be said about it, and few of them bad. Dish’s latest iteration of the Hopper DVR, this piece set top box is famous for its capability to download 16 shows at any given time. It also brings faster performance, a more intuitive remote, and the option to watch up to four shows at the same time.

However, with Hopper 3, Dish is also setting up a place for new technologies, such as 4K video. This video format can now be streamed from Netflix on Hopper 3, and even recorded and played later.

Installing Hopper For 4K

4K satellite streams can only be received in your home through a specially upgrades antenna. That is why Dish technicians these days are replacing the LNB on the dish, which takes about 15 minutes. If you have an older Hopper, they remove that, put in the new one, and then connect it to your 4K ready TV. In all, this takes less than an hour to set up.

In addition to that, if you are swapping out the Hopper you had, you will lose all the recordings stored and scheduled in it. Move the shows to an external hard drive if you want to keep them.

4K Joey

Hopper 3 comes with the option of adding a 4K Joey receiver if you have another TV in your home. There is no tuner in this one, because the Hopper handles all that. Still, the wireless Joey does not need a separate coaxial cable connecting it to the dish, although it still lacks 4K streaming support.

Interface On The Hopper 3

Dish Network Channels

Dish Network Packages

The new receiver has its own on-screen interface, with a black and white menu, that has red accents. There is more screen usage for the channel grid, and live-TV has been moved to the upper right. Searching for channels and shows is a lot faster, with almost no delay after you select a letter. The instant results are also broken up by genre, so you could be searching for a title, or the name of an actor.

Switch to a new channel and you will see the bar at the top flash program info, as well as the remaining runtime. Dish is planning to release a remote that lets you do voice searches, though they have not opened up about the pricing or timing on that.