• Features two-terabyte hard drive for up to 2,000 hours of entertainment
• Never miss a primetime network show with PrimeTime Anytime
• Records up to six programs in HD simultaneously, including PrimeTime Anytime
• Hopper and three small Joeys let viewers watch HD and control DVR in four rooms

Las Vegas – Jan. 9, 2012 – [NASDAQ: DISH] – DISH Network L.L.C., the nation’s third largest pay TV provider, today introduced a whole-home high definition DVR entertainment system featuring the award-winning Hopper™ and Joey™.

The Hopper HD DVR and accompanying small Joey set-top boxes create a whole-home HD DVR entertainment system that lets DISH customers easily record, pause, and play back shows from any room in the home. While most whole-home DVRs do not have the same DVR functionality on every TV, the Hopper and Joey whole-home system offers the same DVR functionality on every TV, letting customers pause, play and rewind both live and recorded HD programs in up to four rooms.

The Hopper was unveiled by DISH CEO Joe Clayton at the 2012 International CES in Las Vegas today, and it is already winning honors as a CES Innovations 2012 Design and Engineering Award honoree. Pricing and packaging will be announced later this quarter.

The main Hopper unit features:

• Three satellite TV tuners
• A two-terabyte hard drive for up to 2,000 hours of video entertainment
• Up to 250 hours of HD or up to 1,000 hours of SD user recordings
• Bluetooth for linking to devices such as wireless headphones
• Picture-in-picture for watching any two channels simultaneously

Combined with a Joey, the Hopper whole-home HD DVR system offers more advanced features:

• 750 MHz Broadcom processer – the fastest satellite receiver processor available today for a quick, responsive on-screen guide
• Approximately 50 percent more energy efficient for a four-room installation than previous models
• ZigBee RF4CE using a proprietary protocol remote with “remote control finder” alert
• High definition user interface
• Easy-to-use, fast, graphical, tile-based user interface with predictive search
• Small, sleek chassis for convenient placement

“Building on a heritage of award-winning DVRs, DISH is proud to be the first to introduce a groundbreaking product that delivers the most choices for TV entertainment by integrating multiple sources of video into one set-top box,” said DISH Network CEO Joe Clayton. “The Hopper gives our customers network TV shows on demand and thousands of family movie choices streaming or delivered to the hard drive. With its massive storage, the Hopper leads the industry in delivering the most entertainment options, bar none, for every member of the household.”

The Hopper – Endless Entertainment Options

The Hopper’s new, unparalleled feature, PrimeTime Anytime™ allows customers, with one click, to record using a single tuner all of the primetime TV programming from ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC – the networks that deliver the most popular shows during primetime. Once activated by a customer, PrimeTime Anytime records network programming in high definition, where available, every night and stores them for eight days after they have aired. This creates an on-demand library of approximately 100 hours of primetime TV shows, and makes it easy to catch up on episodes from last night and last week’s airing.

The Hopper can record up to six TV shows at once (two live programs and four PrimeTime Anytime shows) while allowing viewers to watch up to four different recorded or on-demand shows in four rooms of the house, simultaneously. This gives a family a variety of options to control or view their recordings and to watch shows in any room from a single Hopper.

The Hopper’s on-demand capabilities give access to DISH’s Blockbuster @Home™ for $10 per month which is now enhanced with more than 10,000 total titles streaming to the TV.

The Hopper also offers on-demand content for customers with limited or no Internet access with a feature called DISH Unplugged. This feature delivers via satellite hundreds of the most popular movies and TV shows to the hard drive, including transactional and authenticated videos on demand. DISH Unplugged provides a high quality picture without buffering and makes available many of the same streaming movie choices offered by Blockbuster @Home, including premium movie access.

And for subscribers of DISH’s America’s Top 120 programming package or greater, the Hopper provides whole-home music distribution from 73 SiriusXM channels, including album art and a unique collapsible list of music channels located at the top of the channel guide at Channel 99, making it faster and easier for SiriusXM music fans to find their favorite music.

Additionally, the Hopper will feature TV apps that give viewers real time access to Facebook, Twitter, Pandora and photo sharing, as well as games, news, weather, sports, and stock quotes.

TV Everywhere

Customers can manage the Hopper via the Internet at DishOnline.com or the DISH Remote Access app, providing the ability to control DVR recordings on their tablets, smartphones and computers. Connecting the Hopper with DISH’s Sling® Adapter provides customers the ability to watch and control all live TV channels, PrimeTime Anytime programs and the DVR on their computer, tablet or smartphone wherever they go.

The Hopper and Joey are designed and engineered by EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS). The Hopper works by distributing HD signals through existing co-axial cable in the home using the Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) specification. The Hopper is powered by a Broadcom 750 MHz processor, the most powerful satellite TV processor available today delivering a fast and responsive on-screen guide and a graphical user interface that features channel logos to help search channels, movies or TV shows quickly. The advanced search platform also allows for navigation of programs across satellite TV, broadband and an optional external hard drive.

For more information about the award-winning Hopper and Joey by DISH, including technical specifications, please visitdish.com/hopper.

To watch live TV on the iPad, subscribers need a Sling Adapter from DISH and a broadband-connected compatible DISH HD DVR receiver. More information is available at dish.com/tveverywhere/remoteaccess.

About DISH Network

DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), through its subsidiary DISH Network L.L.C., provides more than 13.945 million satellite TV customers, as of Sept. 30, 2011, with the highest quality programming and technology with the most choices at the best value, including HD Free for Life. Subscribers enjoy the largest high definition line-up with more than 200 national HD channels, the most international channels, and award-winning HD and DVR technology. DISH Network’s subsidiary, Blockbuster L.L.C., delivers family entertainment to millions of customers around the world. DISH Network Corporation is a Fortune 200 company. Visit www.dish.com.

Paul from Bethlehem, PA writes:

In the past, I believe it was DishNetwork that required a phone-line hook-up for it’s equipment. Is that still a requirement for either of these companies now? If no phone line in house, what are other options: internet hook-up?

Thank you! I found your site very informative.

I can’t speak for Dish Network because I currently have DIRECTV. They don’t require a phone line or internet connection. Everything comes through the dish as far as I can tell, and i have whole home DVR. I even have an iPhone app that I can use to view upcoming shows and tell my DVR to record it.

So for Dish Network, you’ll have to call and verify, but my feeling would be no, they don’t require one anymore.

Hope this helps.

Dustin

Debbyc from Minneapolis writes:

Do you have to have a HD TV to get Dish?
I’ve had friends that complain they lose TV with the slightest wind or rain, is that still a frequent problem with Dish?

Debbyc,

No, you don’t have to have an HDTV. Their receivers work with older models of TVs.

As far as loss of signal with satellite TV, your mileage may vary. In one home I had DISH Network for 3 years and I don’t remember it EVER going out. I live in Utah so we also deal with a lot of snow. Once we moved we got DISH again and it was great for about 2 years, then it started going out frequently with minor overcast. I suspect that it got moved a bit. Rather than paying for a technition to come look at it and adjust it, I just switched to DIRECTV. I didn’t have issues with DIRECTV after that (we had DIRECTV for over 2 years).

Then we moved once again to a new area and I got Comcast. Oddly enough, even though there was no satellite we kept having issues during bad storms. It made no sense to me. We are now back with Directv. It has gone out a couple times with bad snow storms. It seems to me that the best reception we had was with our first house where we had it mounted on the side of our house rather than the roof.

I hope this helps.

Dustin
http://www.direct-vs-dish.com

As you know, I recently had DIRECTV installed. The installer that came was from a 3rd party company. He had on a shirt with both the DIRECTV and DISH Network logo.

I asked him if he had a preference. His short reply was, “I have DIRECTV in my house.”

The more we talked, the more I learned why he prefers DIRECTV. Some of his answers made me laugh.

• He said DISH Network uses a lot of refurbished equipment to save costs
• DISH Network’s most popular DVR that controls two TVs often overheats and he has to replace them.
• DIRECTV’s satellites install much more securely on roofs. You know they won’t move around in the wind.
• “People with money always get DIRECTV. You will only see DIRECTV on the roofs in Park City.”

Still, having a been a DISH Network customer also, I know it has its advantages – the price point is the biggest. Take the above comments for what they’re worth.

I recently made the switch to DIRECTV. I was on Comcast. First of all, let me explain why I was on Comcast:

1. It all started when BYU and University of Utah moved to the MTN. The only way you could watch their games was to get Comcast.
2. I have Comcast high-speed internet. I get a small discount by also getting my TV service through them.
3. I built my own DVR with Windows Media Center. I still think Media Center is awesome (Comcast, not so much)

Comcast recently turned off their analog signals and started scrambling their digital signals. So my TV tuner card would only pick local channels through Comcast. Here were my new options:

1. Stop using Windows Media Center (WMC) and just use the set top box Comcast provides. There are a few problems with this. First, their set top box they gave me absolutely sucks. I have two wide screen TVs and the set top box doesn’t support white screen. I was told by their support that it was a TV setting I had to adjust. Um no. Also, using only the set top box I lose my DVR. I was not about to pay their outlandish prices for DVR service.
2. Connect my set top box to WMC. I’ve only heard this works. You can use an IR blaster to change channels. To me it seems there would be a lag and the though of doing things this way was just not appealing.
3. Buy a tuner card that supports CableCard. The problem with this is that they don’t exist. Well, they didn’t exist. The only one I could find was this Ceton model. It actually looked really cool. It has four tuners while only needing one CableCard. The problem was twofold: 1) Everything was pre-order. They were struggling to get them released. 2) They were $400! Why pay $400 for something that used to just work?
4. Switch to DISH Network or DIRECTV. This way I could vote with my wallet and drop Comcast like a bad habit. There were plenty of upsides, but the one downside I could think of was that I would lose the cool features of using my WMC media pc.

I decided to make the switch to DIRECTV. Here are the reasons why I chose it over my Comcast plan:

1. It works!
2. I get so much more for the same price. I was paying $50/mo for basic cable. Only my local channels were digital and in HD on my media center PC. On the set top box that I had on our other TV, everything was digital, but no HD – not even locals
3. On our TV where we had the digital box, it was so glitchy and annoying. This is something we used to experience years ago with DISH Network during REALLY bad snow storms. You just don’t expect such poor reception every night when you have cable running right into your home.
4. It seems I always had to play games with Comcast. I could call in and get a discount that would last for 6 months. That was nice. By why make me keep calling in begging for discounts every six months. Just make your prices more reasonable.

Being the tight-wad that I am, my inclination is was to choose DISH Network over DIRECTV, but I chose DIRECTV instead. Here’s why:

1. I really wanted to check out the whole-home DVR system. We have two TVs, one downstairs in our family room and one in our bedroom. The thought of controlling the DVR remotely and watching recorded shows from our room was appealing. DISH Network has a DVR that you can control from two different rooms, but you can only get HD on one TV while the other one will be standard def. When it comes to technology, computers & gadgets, I become a kid and price is less of an issue for me.
2. Going back to the begging of this article, I wanted the MTN so I could watch BYU football games this fall. The MTN is only available on DIRECTV.
3. My wife wanted DIRECTV – probably because her mom and sister have DIRECTV. They often get on the phone and say “check out Food Network/HGTV/TLC…” It bother her that shows played at different times on Comcast that they did on DIRECTV. Also, I think she would like to have the same channels so they can just say “turn to channel ###”

So that is why I ordered DIRECTV.

I just happened to be on DISH Network’s site today to look up some information when I noticed a new banner.

Apparently DISH Network now has over 200 HD channels. Add that to their free HD for life deal and I would venture to say that if you love HD, you’ll love DISH Network even more now!

Susan from Tempe Arizona writes:

I am considering switching but there is one comparison I don’t really understand. With DISH we share a DVR box. That allows me to record on both of my TV’s and watch recordings from either tv on either one. But with Direct the boxes are separate. Does that mean I can only view what was recorded on that specific TV? That seems like a disadvantage. Can you give me your opinion about which is preferable?
Thanks!

This is a nice feature, and this comes up on a number of occasions. For example, say you start watching a recorded show in the family room, then put the kids to bed and want to finish watching the show in your bedroom. Or, maybe you have a series scheduled to record. You have to watch all the shows on the TV that you scheduled to record them.

Dish Network was the first to offer this capability, but DIRECTV has also entered the game in a big way. With Dish Network’s DuoDVR VIP 722k, you can watch on two different computers. There is a 500 MB hard drive to store all your shows. One drawback is that only one of the TV’s can have High Definition, the other will be standard. This may not be a big deal. Their newest DVR – the VIP 922 SlingLoaded DVR allows you to watch TV on your computer and mobile devices. It has double the memory with a 1 terabyte hard drive. But from what I understand you still can’t watch on more than one TV.

DIRECTV offers multi-room viewing with a single DVR. You would need the DIRECTV Plus HD DVR Receiver, and a DIRECTV Plus HD Receiver for each additional TV you want to connect. This will require a home network, which DIRECTV can professionally install. There are also other fees involved – $3/month for the Whole-Home DVR service, $10/month for HD access (currently FREE for life for new customers), and $7/month for DVR service. Also, each receiver beyond your first will be $5 per month. So to put in two HD TVs and share the same DVR, with the free HD promotion, you are looking at $15/month on top of your base package price.

I suppose it was only a matter of time, but Kudos to Dish Network to be the first to offer free HD for life. If you sign up for any package. You can get HD programming included for the life of your contract. I wonder if other providers will jump on this bandwagon. What do you think?

Don from Erie, PA writes:

I am trying to decide on either Direct or Dish.   My wife and I want the local channels-a must!  I want a STO sports channel (Sports Time Ohio) so I can watch my Cleveland Indians.  My wife enjoys her soap operas especially Days of Our Lives.   We have Time Warner Cable now and would like most of those channels that are on Cable to be also on Direct TV or DISH. .   We definitely need a DVR and we would like to have a receiver on 4 TV’s.   I would like to know what tier packages are available for both.  Please help me to make a logical decision.

Don,

Both DIRECTV and Dish Network have local channels. I did a zip code search with your zip code and got a list from Dish Network, but on DIRECTV’s site it said "We don’t currently offer local channels in your area." So that might be the deciding factor right there if that is really the case. Local channels with Dish are $5.00 per month. They are included in the price of DIRECTV.

Local channel links: Dish Network / DIRECTV

I can’t say for sure about STO… On their website the channels are listed for both satellite providers in "All areas of the Indians TV Territory". If you are out of that territory you may have to look at another options such as MLB Extra Innings, which is only available on DIRECTV.

Again, both offer free DVR upgrades, but that is generally for one room. Extra DVRs may cost more. Also, installing in 4 rooms is free for both, but you will again pay an extra fee for additional receivers – generally $5 per receiver per month.

You may get the information you need to fill the gaps fastest by calling both of them and getting the exact prices for what you need.

I hope this helps,
Dustin

Television entertainment has never been so in demand and so easy to get in this day and age. Today, it is not about scarcity of entertainment sources, it is about choosing the best option for optimal spending to value ratio.

The choices for quality television entertainment today are between cable and satellite TV. The question of consumers is – “Which one has the coolest channels for the price?” However, satellite TV is not as straightforward as cable. If you choose satellite TV, you need to choose between Direct TV and Dish Network.

So, which one has the better value for the money?

Let’s start with the coverage, the most important thing consumers need to know. Which of the two satellite TV providers can cover the best areas? The answer is that both have shortcomings in city coverage.

Dish Network covers cities that Direct TV does not. The same is true with Direct TV. For example, Direct TV covers Las Vegas, Memphis, Milwaukee, Columbus and Baltimore. Meanwhile, Dish Network covers Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Honolulu and Grand Rapids.

So look at the list carefully if your city is covered.

The next one to look at after you know that you are covered by the service is programming. What shows do you think you will want to watch the most to get the best bang for your hard-earned buck?

Both satellite TV providers offer cheap packages. Direct TV offers 3 packages with a starting price of $39.99. Dish Network has an offering of 5 packages, starting at $24.99.

Direct TV and Dish Network both offer the best sports channels out there today. If you are a sports buff, you won’t miss games from the NHL, MLB, NFL and a lot more. The only difference is in pricing. You can buy the sports package from both providers, but Direct TV has some exclusive sports channels that you can buy.

The Dish Network, however, has a better selection of international and foreign language programming. Take this into consideration if you are an overseas worker or immigrant because some of your country’s programs might be included here.

Now that you know a bit about the programs, make sure that you don’t miss any show by taking advantage of PVR technology. The two providers have this capability built-in out of the box.

PVR or Personal Video Recording can allow you to record shows so you won’t miss any of your favorites when you are away. The downside with Direct TV is the monthly fee to access this feature. Dish Network offers this service for free.

Lastly, both providers have 12 months of warranty and 24-hour customer service. Many say that Dish Network has superior customer service because it’s done within the company and not outsourced in any way.

If you want the best entertainment experience, you have to go digital satellite. Just remember the coverage, programming, price and customer service. This way, you will need to research and make an informed decision, before you pull money out of your wallet.