Dish Network just made a slew of big announcements at its CES press conference today, introducing the Hopper HD DVR system, the corollary Joey set-top box, and a new, TV Everywhere-based Test Drive service. Let's start with the hardware: the Hopper unit is comprised of three satellite TV tuners, a 2TB hard drive that promises up to 2,000 hours of entertainment, including up to 250 hours of HD viewing and 1,000 hours of SD recording. The device can record up to six TV shows at once, and allows users to watch as many as four recorded shows in four different rooms. When combined with the Joey, users can take advantage of a 750MHz Broadcom processor that, according to Dish, is the fastest satellite receiver on the market.
Also announced today is something known as Test Drive -- a new "try before they buy" service that allows customers to get a free taste of TV Everywhere for 24 hours. As of February 1st, users will be able to sign up for Test Drive and stream select TV shows to their PCs, tablets or smartphones at no charge (for a limited time, of course). Also in February, the company will launch a new satellite broadband package, as part of a new service launched with ViaSat. These new packages will offer download speeds of up to 12Mbps, and upload rates of up to 3Mbps. Installation prices will start at $99, with bundles starting at around $80 per month. For more details, hit up the troika of PRs, after the break.
Also announced today is something known as Test Drive -- a new "try before they buy" service that allows customers to get a free taste of TV Everywhere for 24 hours. As of February 1st, users will be able to sign up for Test Drive and stream select TV shows to their PCs, tablets or smartphones at no charge (for a limited time, of course). Also in February, the company will launch a new satellite broadband package, as part of a new service launched with ViaSat. These new packages will offer download speeds of up to 12Mbps, and upload rates of up to 3Mbps. Installation prices will start at $99, with bundles starting at around $80 per month. For more details, hit up the troika of PRs, after the break.
Dish Network announces Hopper DVR system, Joey set-top box, launches broadband, Test Drive services originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/09/dish-network-announces-hopper-dvr-system-joey-set-top-box-laun/
i am legend bret michaels bret michaels the unit bob weston seabiscuit david wilson
There is something to be said about waiting to release a product until it is ready to be launched, and DISH did just that. Making sure that all the features worked, and the features that are there are out of this world. The Primetime Anytime feature has become my favorite feature on the receiver, it has single handedly reduced my stress levels from DVR conflicts and missing some shows that I wanted to watch. Now all the Primetime blocks from the big 4 networks are recorded automatically and I have access to those shows for an 8 day period after airing. I spend most of my time watching recorded shows because I work nights at DISH, but now I have a lot more flexibility and content to watch when I want.
Posted by: John Surfer | 04/01/2012 at 04:47 PM
John, its great to see other people like myself that work at Dish out there talking about their experiances with the Hopper. You are right that its good to make sure your features work before they are released. I have loved my experiance with the Hopper and it just keeps getting better. With recent updates they have doubled my recording space, added Pandora and I just found out about the new Auto Hop feature. Last week I hit play on an episode of NCIS when my Hopper asked me if I wanted to skip teh comercials for that show. Of course I would like that! I don't think Dish can top that but they have surpised me before.
Posted by: Tomas Hunter | 05/13/2012 at 04:19 PM
Why don’t CBS, FOX, and NBC execs want consumers to enjoy commercial-free TV? It’s what we want! I’m a customer and employee of Dish, and I think AutoHop is great because you can easily watch commercial-free TV. A well known consumer advocacy group, Public Knowledge, agrees that people should have the right to control how they watch TV. They’re taking a stand for consumers by creating a petition that tells CBS, FOX, and NBC media to keep their hands out of your living room and DVR. Sign their petition to keep control of how you watch TV http://bit.ly/KigXAn
Posted by: Alfred Enewman | 06/10/2012 at 04:47 PM