Dish has once again upgraded its Hopper whole-home DVR system. Last year's upgrade added Sling-powered place-shifting, letting you watch Dish programming outside of the house. The new Hopper 3 brings ultra high-definition (UHD, or 4K) support. It also more than doubles the number of tuners in the box to 16, adds a fantastic full-screen four-channel multi-view Sports Bar mode, and features a redesigned, slimmer remote. There isn't a whole lot of 4K content to watch on the $350 box just yet, but considering it's available as a free upgrade for qualifying Dish subscribers when coupled with a $15 monthly whole-home DVR fee (the same as the previous Hopper), it's a no-brainer upgrade for future-proofing your Dish service. If you don't want to commit to satellite, the Tivo Bolt is an impressively functional DVR and tuner that can work with over-the-air and cable service. 

Design

The Hopper 3 looks like a slight redesign of the Hopper With Sling. Its 2.1-by-16-by-11.4-inch (HWD) black frame is similar in size, but with flatter sides and a bright red band that runs around the front panel as an accent. The front panel is glossy black plastic with a flip-down door on the left half that reveals a variety of controls, and a USB 2.0 port on the right half. The CableCARD slot now sits on the left side of the box. The back panel holds a plethora of connections, including HDMI, component, and composite video outputs, an optical audio output, two USB 3.0 ports, two Ethernet ports, a phone port, a coaxial Jack for the satellite connection, a coaxial jack for the remote control radio antenna, and a power connector.

Dish heavily redesigned the Hopper 3's remote, while retaining most of its layout and functionality. Like the larger, old remote, the new remote uses a radio connection to the Hopper, so you don't need to have a line of sight with the box; I could consistently control the Hopper 3 with my hands behind my back, pressing buttons.