Hoppers and Joey's have me confused

[UFO Pilot]

As I posted, your experience may be different. I have tried 3 or 4 times to convert the stick house to the Hopper / Joey setup and each time they have told me I can't keep the DVR in the MH. Maybe the 2 DVR rule only applies with the Hopper / Joey setup?

[Journey39n]

I set up my 612 and 211 Dish receivers at home, 1st, then moved into the rv full time. My king dome had two leads, so the 211 receiver was in the bedroom, the 612 out in the living room. The way the king dome works, only the master receiver (living room) could actually aim the dome. So whichever of the three satellites the dome was pointed to, was the channels the bedroom receiver could see. That part all worked well.

After a time, I got rid of the bedroom receiver, we just weren't watching TV there, or could use the 'over-the-air' signals for that. It did trim the DISH invoice down a little.

The remaining receiver worked well for watching live shows with the King Dome, but when trying to record two channels at once, it was a hit or miss action, mostly miss, so I set up a three beam external dish sometimes, but with full time RV travel, I finally gave up, and got the [ Traveler ] to replace the king dome. Now, everything worked.

Then DISH discontinued the travelling package, where local stations were both LA and New York all the time. So I got used to calling in as I travelled to new locations. The general rule seems to be, if you get more than about 200 miles away from a major city, you need to change over to the locals at the next nearest major city. It does vary a little, but is very easy.

After 4 years, the 612 receiver was getting a little flakey on some of the recording, so we upgraded to the 'Hopper'. Fantastic move, better image quality, and can record up to 6 channels at once. Keep in mind, the 'Hopper' is the main unit that does all the recording and such. The companion 'Joey' is a remote unit that accesses the recordings kept on the 'Hopper'. If you only need one TV, then you don't need any Joeys.

There is no problem moving your receiver from the house to the RV, and back again, but I don't think you can have a receiver in each location, working, at the same time, as they will only give you one location for the spot beam of local programming.
I hope this helps.

[Us out West]

Originally Posted by TheToads

I need to ask a question here. If we deal with 1 issue at a time maybe it will be simpler. The motor home is on the road and we are 205 miles from home.
Have the king dome programmed to dish with a VIP211z receiver. Now as I understand the RV on the go package (or monthly) all I have to do each and every time I move , is call Dish and give them my new location, give them a few minutes to program us in and we should get all/most of the local stations.


Dean

To answer this specific question;

Correct!!

[TechWriter]

Originally Posted by UFO Pilot

I have tried 3 or 4 times to convert the stick house to the Hopper / Joey setup and each time they have told me I can't keep the DVR in the MH.

From a previous post you said you already have a DVR in your MH, so I'm guessing it's a VIP 622 or 722.

If so, then DISH will NOT allow you to have a Hopper/Joey in your house and a VIP DVR in your MH unless you use a VIP 211. That's the only exception.

So if you don't want to move a Hopper/Joey back & forth from your house to your RV, then swap the 622/722 in your RV for a 211. Then add a USB hard drive to the 211 to turn it into a DVR.

However, here's a network diagram of an RVer on the Escapees forum who was planning a 3-Hopper setup -- 2 Hoppers permanently in his house, and one Hopper that can be disconnected from his house system and put in his RV.

Originally Posted by UFO Pilot

Maybe the 2 DVR rule only applies with the Hopper / Joey setup?

DISH has gone back and forth (and back and forth and back . . ) with using a Hopper in an RV. I think DISH would rather not have Hoppers in RVs because installers do not like setting up Hoppers in RVs. When I had my Hopper and 2 Joeys first installed in 2012, I had to contact several local installers before one agreed to do it. It took a lot of persuasion.

The times have changed and it should be easier to find an installer willing to put in a Hopper, but be prepared for push back.

Also, you can have up to 4 Hoppers (that's 12 tuners, folks). Here's a 4-Hopper install someone did on www.satelliteguys.us.

Originally I had 1 Hopper and 2 Joeys in my RV, then went to 2 Hoppers and a single Joey because the additional Hopper only cost $5 more per month + the added Hopper gave me 3 more tuners.