Last month at CES, Dish had two major announcements for 4K TV owners: the 4K Joey set top box, and the latest in its line of Hopper DVRs, the 4K Hopper 3. Dish initially said the Hopper 3 would be available sometime in January. It missed its mark, but only by a day, as the Hopper 3 is now available to customers
Dish calls the Hopper 3 a “whole-home DVR system,” and the company isn’t exaggerating. In combination with the 4K Joey, Wireless Joey, and standard Joey set top boxes, the Hopper 3 can support up to seven TVs.
The Hopper 3 is available to new and existing customers, and there is no up-front cost. The Hopper 3 will cost $3 per month, and you’ll need a Joey for each TV, which can be had for $7 per month, no matter the model.
“Packed with industry firsts, Hopper 3 is the most advanced DVR in the world. It provides our customers with the innovative features they loved on our legacy Hopper DVRs, while additionally delivering the ultimate, conflict-free entertainment experience,” Dish executive VP and chief technology officer Vivek Khemka said in a statement.
“Since the introduction of our first-generation Hopper only four years ago, we have continued to invest in innovation,” Khemka continued. “Dish has a history of being at the forefront of consumer entertainment technology, and I’m proud to say that Hopper 3 offers no exception.”
In addition to supporting seven rooms, the Hopper 3 is equipped with a total of 16 tuners, allowing viewers in multiple rooms to watch and record shows at the same time. In order to power all this functionality, the Hopper 3 features a Broadcom BCM7445 quad-core ARM chip running at 1.5 GHz. A 2TB drive is included, making for plenty of storage for shows. The DVR supports both H.264 and H.265, and can output 60 frames per second in 10-bit color.
As a supplement to Dish programming, the Hopper 3 will soon add Netflix, and titles will be integrated into search results, making picking what to watch a much easier task. For sports fans, the DVR will soon integrate something Dish calls Sports Bar Mode. This divides the screen into quadrants, each of which can display a different show or event.
For more information about how to upgrade, see the Dish website.
