Following its debut at the International CES confab in January, Dish Network on Thursday followed with the commercial launch of the “Super Joey,” a new device that allows Dish customers to record up to eight shows when it’s paired with the Hopper with Sling HD-DVR.
The Super Joey houses two tuners, complementing the three native tuners in the baseline Hopper HD-DVR. That product mix is capable of recording up to eight shows at once so long as four include the major broadcast channels (ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS). Dish’s Primetime Anytime feature, which records the primetime hours of those broadcast channels, uses technology that ingests all four live broadcast TV feeds on a single tuner.
Dish is leasing the Super Joey for an additional $10 per month, an official said via email. The Super Joey uses a high-powered Broadcom BCM7346 processor and supports Multimedia over Coax (MoCA) and Ethernet-based home network connectivity.
Dish, which has 14.04 million satellite TV subs, is pitching the Super Joey to new and existing subs, billing it as a device that can virtually eliminate recording conflicts. It will do battle with DirecTV’s Genie whole-home DVR and Comcast’s X1 platform, which can both record up to five programs at once. Comcast’s new cloud DVR, currently available only in Boston, allows customers to record up to four shows at once while watching a fifth, though the operator has plans to expand it so customers can record up to six shows while watching a seventh. Cablevision Systems’ recently upgraded, cloud-based, $12.95/month Multi-Room DVR currently allows users to record up to ten shows at once.
“We know TV viewers have searched for years for a solution to alleviate conflict over what to watch, and with Super Joey, customers no longer have to choose one program over another,” said Vivek Khemka, Dish senior vice president of product management, in a statement. “Combined with Hopper’s 2,000 hours of storage, Super Joey makes it even easier for customers to enjoy more of the shows they love without having to negotiate what’s recorded with other viewers in the house.”
Dish has not yet set a release date for the Wireless Joey, a device that uses 802.11ac WiFi to deliver live and recorded video to IP-based devices connected to the customer’s home network.
