DISH Sports Bar Mode Enabled on Hopper 3
Ever since DISH announced the new DISH 4K Joey and the Hopper 3 DVR at CES, we’ve been waiting for some of the new features to make it into the software. Today marked the debut of Sports Bar Mode, also known as MultiView. Hopper 3 customers will be able to use the new mode to, for example, display four NCAA tournament first-round games on the screen. That’s right, DISH Sports Bar Mode is a multi-channel view that divides any UltraHD 4K TV or display or HDTV screen into quadrants—letting each quadrant display a different program. With a 4K TV that’s like having four HDTVs playing at once! The feature works by decoding any four different feeds and displaying them at the same time—you just choose which audio you want to hear.
DISH Sports Bar Mode Features
DISH Sports Bar Mode shipped in the latest software update pushed to Hopper 3 set-top boxes last night. It arrives in time for the March NCAA tournament games, which schedules several basketball matchups at the same time within the first two rounds. In addition to Sports Bar Mode, the software update included performance enhancements and general bug fixes.
“This technology replicates the fan experience of catching several games at once, now from the comfort of your home instead of heading to a local pub. DISH Sports Bar Mode is an especially useful tool throughout the month of March, as the tournament airs across four different channels. Not to mention, it’s great for households who don’t want to miss their favorite drama or sitcom, but also want to keep tabs on any live basketball games.”
– Vivek Khemka, DISH Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
The DISH Sports Bar Mode works with all live, linear channels in DISH’s programming lineup, as well as on demand content, and recorded TV shows and movies. To access the feature, customers press the “Options” button on the remote control, select “Picture In Picture,” then “MultiView.” Once the TV screen is divided into quadrants, customers can easily toggle among the four channels to determine which one will have its audio played. Sports Bar Mode is compatible with both 4K and HD televisions when connected to a Hopper 3. On 4K TVs, the four quadrants display in 1080; on HDTVs, the four quadrants display in 540.
DISH Hopper 3 includes additional multi-channel configurations, including a split-screen feature that places two channels side-by-side, as well as a setting that overlays a second channel in the upper right hand corner of the TV screen.
Designed to change the way consumers find, record, stream and watch content, the DISH Hopper 3 was first announced at the 2016 CES, then made available to the general market on Jan. 31. The third-generation of DISH’s whole-home DVR system, Hopper 3 features 16 tuners, delivers an enhanced 4K experience, supports up to seven TVs simultaneously and integrates Netflix titles into universal search results.
