If you’re not quite ready to cut the cord, and want to use services like Netflix without needing to buy a standalone streaming box, Dish Network’s Hopper 3 DVR is one of the best options available. Now the 4K DVR is stepping even further into the world of streaming video with the addition of YouTube to its lineup of apps.
While this may not initially sound like that big of a deal — it almost makes more sense to ask which hardware doesn’t have a YouTube app these days — it is in the pay-TV world. Dish Network is currently the only pay TV provider in the U.S. offering YouTube through its set-top box. The app isn’t currently available on Joey extenders, but considering Dish brought Netflix support to Joey receivers last year, it certainly could happen in the future.
“We designed Hopper 3 to be much more than a conventional set-top box,” Dish’s vice president of product management, Niraj Desai, said in a statement. “By aggregating apps like YouTube and Netflix with live linear television, Hopper 3 is capable of serving as a household’s comprehensive entertainment hub.”
With the new app, users can browse videos and log into their standard YouTube or YouTube Red accounts directly on the Hopper 3. As with the app on other hardware, users can also cast videos from the mobile YouTube apps to the Hopper 3, allowing for easy big-screen viewing.
The Dish Hopper 3 immediately took the crown as the most powerful DVR on the market when it was released earlier this year. Similarities to streaming boxes are immediately apparent via features like the voice-enabled remote and the ability to search across Netflix, the channel guide, and on-demand content at the same time.
If you’re a Dish Hopper 3 owner and looking to try the new YouTube app, it can be accessed by selecting channel 371, or by tapping the “Apps” button on the remote.
