AutoHop skips across commercials in a few seconds, instead of making you wait and roll your eyes at awful ads for a few minutes. This takes the guesswork out of rewinding, pausing, and fast-forwarding. It’s one of our favorite DVR features. One of the biggest advantages the Hopper has over the Genie (and most DVRs) is the inclusion of a voice control remote. Saying a show’s title is easier than skipping through menus looking for the right channels. You can also find shows by cast names, genres, or sports teams. Both DVRS can be set to record extra time before or after an episode, so that way you don’t miss anything due to network time conflicts. For those of us who watch series that get interrupted by weekly sports, this option is very helpful. With either of these DVRs, you could record all of Game of Thrones and Westworld, but fans of sitcoms like Seinfeld or How I Met Your Mother would want to opt for the Hopper to fit those long-running shows with 20+ episodes per season. If you’re still worried about space, both DVRs can expand storage space with an external hard drive. For example, you may have four Genie Minis feeding off the main Genie, but only three will have a unique picture. The fourth one will be a duplicate of one of the other receivers. Not a big deal for someone who hosts football games at their house—they may only need the single picture. It’s problematic for large households where everyone wants to watch something different. Consider how many different TVs you have in your home and if you can evade scheduling conflicts by planning ahead. It can also be annoying to click out individual letters, but you won’t have to with these remotes because they both have predictive guessing. You don’t have to know the channel name either—you can search by title, actor/actress name, or other relevant keywords. Both of these remotes are a cut above the average remote, but the Hopper remote is special. Beyond voice control, the Hopper Voice Remote’s backlit display makes it easy to read if you’re in a dark theater room or have a hard time reading small print. The remote doesn’t just light up for readability, but also to be found. Lost remote? You can push a button on the Hopper DVR or Joey receivers that will cause the remote to light up and blink while beeping so you can hear it underneath couch cushions or see it amongst a sea of black devices. The Genie took a step in the right direction by including both infrared and radio frequency technology, giving your remote and receiver better communication. Although we didn’t have any trouble with the Hopper’s remote, the inclusion of both technologies avoids common problems like the receiver not directly “seeing” the remote. Infrared allows signals to go through cabinet windows and doors more easily. If you end up hating the provided remote from either brand, you can always opt for either using your mobile device or a universal remote—but if you choose the Hopper, you won’t want to give up the remote. Avoiding obnoxious ads is one of our favorite things. The Hopper does this just a bit better with the “AutoHop” feature that cuts right to the end of the commercial. The Genie has regular fast forwarding or 30-second skipping, so you may find yourself trying to find the balance between skipping too far ahead and accidentally rewatching the same commercial over and over. It’s one thing to have access at any time, but another to save time and hassle by picking up right where you left off. Place-shifting allows you to switch from your computer to TV to device and back. You won’t lose your spot or your mind trying to find it. Forgot to save something to watch? Both providers include on-demand libraries that work on mobile devices. These libraries usually have restrictions on programming, but you’ll find plenty of choices. Neither Genie or Hopper has built-in Wi-Fi, so your separate break-out box (sometimes called a Wireless Video Bridge) will provide the connection to your in-home network. The only other thing you have to keep in mind by going wireless is the lack of an ethernet connection: on-demand programing requires an internet connection, so if you have weak Wi-Fi, the streaming may take a bit to buffer. DIRECTV has two different ways of recommending shows:
Genie Recommends is one such offering. It records shows based off what you already watch. The predictive technology isn’t perfect and definitely favors quantity, so if you’re the type to leave a reality show on while you do chores around the house, you’ll get a ton of similar recommendations for more reality shows, even if you’d personally rate West World much higher than Jersey Shore Season 3. Google-like contextual recommendations make more sense than Genie Recommends. As you search, you’ll get recommendations based on similar genres or look at specific details like actors or directors and search for similar programs.
DISH’s recommendations will pop up as soon as you start typing or say a voice command. So if you have a favorite team, you can say something like “Go Jazz!” and it’ll pull up the NBA team and any games, but you might come up with some hip music documentaries, too. Plus, Smart Search scans across all live TV, Netflix, and on demand programs, meaning you don’t have to dig into separate menus to find what you want. DVRs add cost to your bill in a few different ways: price of service, equipment rental, installation, and wireless connectivity. As you’ll see, equipment costs can add a lot to your monthly bill and installation costs. Both DIRECTV and DISH include primary receiver service and rental, as well as HD fees. Both satellite brands require a two-year contract, but only DIRECTV increases price during the second year. With this in mind, you’ll see how DISH beats out DIRECTV in terms of cost. For this example, let’s assume you’re getting a DVR setup for five rooms so each TV can play something different. We’ll also opt for wireless receivers for a clean look. As you’ll see, DISH’s Hopper and Joeys cost less than DIRECTV Genie and Genie Minis, especially if you only need a room or two. We like the voice control and AutoHop features in particular, but the large storage capacity seals the deal for us. DISH Hopper apps are a bit better and include built-in Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, Vevo, Facebook, The Weather Channel, and ESPN. If you’re using your TV to play music, you may find apps like Pandora or Spotify helpful, but we mostly like apps that act like Widgets (such as the sports app). Super Joeys give you two additional network tuners. If you need to add up to 16 tuners, choose additional Super Joeys. We recommend calling or chatting with a sales agent for DISH to figure out your exact home setup.
Ethernet jack HDMI RCA Composite S-Video Component Coax digital audio output Digital optical audio output SATA 2 USB ports (front/back) Phone jack IR (infrared) AC power connector
Standard HDMI Composite outputs Digital audio output 2 Ethernet jacks 2 USB ports SATA
