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Dish Anywhere mobile apps to get offline viewing by the end of 2013
Dish currently has a splintered mobile app strategy: you have to use Dish Anywhere for streaming TV shows, and Hopper Transfers for all your offline viewing. It's about to get much simpler, though, as the company has just promised that Dish Anywhere will handle offline videos by the end of the year. In addition to consolidating the experience, the upgrade also introduces Transfers support to Android and iPhone users -- you won't have to use an iPad to catch up on Hopper DVR recordings. While we'd prefer a more definite release date, we won't mind waiting for a much simpler approach to remote TV watching.
Dish ships Hopper with Sling DVR to livestreamers across the US
Dish didn't quite make the January release target for the Hopper with Sling, but we'll take a slight delay for such a tangible upgrade. As of today, subscribers across the US can pick up the remote streaming DVR if they're willing to pay the $10 monthly whole-home DVR fee; new subscribers who pick at least the $50 Top 120 channel bundle won't have to pay anything up front for the 2TB set-top box. Of course, the real savings theoretically come from skipping the need for a discrete Slingbox -- instead, viewers only need the Dish Anywhere app to stream live and recorded shows, and they can travel with offline copies of their recordings through Hopper Transfers. If you're the sort to see TV as a pay once and watch anywhere service, the Sling-equipped Hopper might justify the longer wait.
Dish Hopper Transfers for iPad takes your DVR content offline (hands-on)
There's really no way to encapsulate all of this awesomeness in a headline, so you're gonna want to read on. Sure, there's Dish Anywhere, for realtime streaming of live TV and DVR content, but Hopper with Sling owners will soon be able to take their content offline, for viewing on trains, planes and anywhere else where you don't have a connection (or don't want to burst your monthly bandwidth cap with hours of video). Assuming you have the necessary hardware, including Dish's latest DVR and an iPad, Hopper Transfers will let you offload any and all of your recorded movies and TV shows to the Apple tablet. The STB uses the Sling transcoder to convert your content to a compatible format, then the app wireless boots a sub-HD version to your portable device. Transcoding occurs at 1:1 speed, meaning an hour of footage will take an hour of processing, but you do have the option of converting your videos immediately after they're recorded, so they're prepped before you need to run out the door to catch a flight (the actual wireless transfer takes between five and eight minutes for each hour-long show). Your iPad will need to be on your home network in order to receive files, so this isn't something you can handle remotely. The workflow also varies according to programming arrangements, so some shows and movies will need to be moved (erased from the DVR), while others can coexist on both devices, but can only be sent to one iPad. (Of course, there's no restriction on the number of times you can record a show to the Hopper, though.) You also don't own the content that you move over -- the app will need to connect to your DVR once each month to verify your subscription in order to remain active. We took a look at some flicks that had already made the jump, and playback worked well with the iPad in Airplane mode, so everything appears to be in order. Like the Anywhere app, content doesn't appear in HD, but the quality will almost surely beat your airline's in-flight entertainment system. Like Dish Anywhere, Hopper Transfers is free, and it's expected to hit the App Store in January. Sadly, there's no word on if or when it'll be available for Android. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
