Dish Hopper and Joey Whole Home DVR Review

Whether you use satellite TV or cable, the traditional way you consume live and recorded television content is by utilizing a DVR or set-top box in every room where you want to watch TV. And, typically, those separate boxes don't talk to each other. But what if you just had one DVR? A big one. And it allowed you to watch anything you recorded anywhere in the house? That's the basic premise behind DISH's new Hopper & Joey Whole Home DVR System.

Hi, I'm Andrew Gash for Audioholics. We've reviewed lots of DISH DVRs in the past, from the well-regarded ViP 722, to the redesigned, Sling-integrated ViP 922. But the Hopper & Joey is a complete redesign of the way you'll record video and watch TV. Let's break down how it works, and some of the features...

The Hopper is the base DVR (that's Digital Video Recorder). You only need one to run up to 4 rooms. The Joey is a small Roku-like box that connects to the Hopper and lets you have local access to DVR content stored on the Hopper. The Joey/Hopper system allows you to have HD DVR functionality on every TV in your home. That means you can pause, rewind and record live TV in any room. You can also pause what you're watching in one room and pick it up in another. Or multiple rooms can stream the exact same show at the same time. This is going to revolutionize next year's Super Bowl party.

Now check this out. You can Record up to 6 high-definition channels at once if you figure in the new PrimeTime Anytime feature. When you enable it, the system automatically begins recording all of the networks during the three hours of prime time so that you can stream that to any room in addition to streaming up to three separate HD streams. It keeps the last 8 days recorded at all times. And, none of the Prime Time recording counts against or uses up any of the 2 terabytes of hard drive space which is included in the Hopper. Yep, 2 terabytes. that's 250 hours of high definition recording. If you watch that much TV you need to get a hobby. Go to a park or something.

So, to reiterate, you can record 4 local HD networks and 2 HD channels at the same time. You can stream up to four HD programs to four different TVs at the same time. You can call up NAVSTAR and redirect the satellite to rain down laser beams upon enemy camps in Afghanistan. Well, only if you're a senior level DISH technician...

We like the interface - which is basically an extension of what DISH came up with for the ViP 922. They just made it better. Another thing we liked about the new Hopper was the Seek & Record function. With it, you can search any genre, title, or series and record every episode, game, or movie, new or old. you can access it very easily by just hitting the Search button on the remote. And since, again, this is a whole-home system, you can do any of this from any room. We also loved "what" you could search. DISH now gives you access to Blockbuster @Home as well as On demand movies that let you stream free and fee-based rentals of some of the latest titles... In high def.

Boy this review is getting long. OK what else... DISH incorporated SRS TruVolume so you can watch TV and not get blasted away by commercials. There's a remote control locator button on the Hopper and Joeys that lets you find your remote regardless of where it is... Unless you... left it in the car or something. Look, this is a revolutionary system for DISH users. It's not the first whole home DVR system to hit the market, but it may be one of the most flexible and easy to use. About the only negatives we found is that it doesn't fully integrate into the various GoogleTV systems out there... Yet. Our hope is that it will. You also have to use a Sling Adapter if you want to access your content remotely. Unlike the ViP 922, it's not built in.

If you're an existing DISH subscriber, you are going to want to upgrade to this system. It's that cool. If your not already a DISH subscriber... Well after you watch or read this you just might wanna be.

So how do YOU watch TV? That's this week's question. Is it DISH? Cable? Antenna? Computer? Let us know by commenting on our video. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Many Bothans died to bring you this video. Let's show some support. And follow us at Twitter @AudioholicsLive. (That was an awkward transition...) Here's another one - Like us at Facebook.com/Audioholics.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.