Here’s one that goes out to our friends with DISH service. RV customers love DISH, and it’s easy to see why. You can get more HD channels with a typical RV dish, and DISH has month-to-month plans that make it easy for people to use the service when they want. But, nothing in life is truly perfect, and here’s an example. Before I answer the question, I’ll take a minute to define the question. If you already understand the technology, feel free to skip down a bit.
DISH’s Hopper DVR
The Hopper 3 DVR from DISH has been around a few years, but as they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It’s a 4K DVR that supports wired and wireless clients. DISH customers can have two of them in the home if they want, for an astounding 32 recording tuners and up to 18 rooms active at the same time. If that’s not enough for you, DISH has something new up their sleeves for 2023. It’s called Hopper Plus, and it’s an addon to the Hopper 3. It adds a full streaming box experience including thousands of apps that can all be accessed without changing inputs on your TV. It’s the latest and greatest, and customers love it.
Tailgater and Playmaker
If you’re out on the road, you might miss live TV the way you watched it at home. That’s where these devices come in. KING’s Tailgater, branded as a DISH product, is as simple as it gets. Put this big grey gumdrop (pictured at the top of this article) on a level surface, connect it to a DISH Wally, and that’s it. In just minutes, you’ll be watching live TV. Winegard’s Playmaker, also branded as a DISH product is essentially the same idea without some of the bells and whistles. No matter which you use, it’s an easy way to get live TV because the devices literally aim themselves. You can’t ask for much more than that.
Now, on to the question.
The simple answer is, No, you can’t hook a Hopper to one of these devices. The reasoning’s a little more complex.
DISH’s Hopper 3 requires a Hybrid system in order to work. The Hybrid dish adds critical functionality which allows for the Hopper and the client boxes to connect easily. It also creates a path for having up to 32 Wallys coming off the same line. The Tailgater and Playmaker don’t have this hybrid capability.
The next issue is that in order to work properly, both the Tailgater and Playmaker need to be recognized by the receiver. Wally receivers have this ability, and Hoppers don’t. It’s as simple as that.
Finally, Hoppers are just not designed to see only one satellite at a time. The Playmaker and Tailgater focus in on just one satellite at a time. If they had the ability to see more satellites than that, they would have to be unreasonably large. Seeing only one satellite only lets you see about a third of the channels at one time, but when you’re only hooking up two receivers that’s not such a big deal. On the other hand, a Hopper trying to support 16 tuners would have problems.
Ready to upgrade?
If you haven’t gotten your RV upgraded to live TV, let us help! Signal Connect has more experience than anyone else in the world when it comes to RV satellite upgrades. Our technicians can recommend the best option for you and even take care of all the activation steps. When you call us, you’ll get trained satellite experts at our Detroit-area corporate offices, not some overseas call center. Try now! The number is 888-233-7563 and we’re here’s during East Coast business hours. If it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get back to you, usually within one business day.
