Dish Network has opened access to the Hopper 3, a next-gen whole-home DVR platform that’s packed with 16 tuners and 4K video capabilities.

Dish said qualified new and existing customers can receive one Hopper 3 for  no upfront cost.  Others can get their hands on it for $15 per month, plus $7 per month for each Joey client, including Dish’s new 4K Joey.

Dish unveiled the Hopper 3 at last month’s CES gadgetfest in Las Vegas.

The Hopper 3 will also support some elements from previous-generation Hopper platforms, including Sling Media place-shifting technology and AutoHop. The Hopper 3 will also support MoCA 2.0 (for whole-home support via coax lines), a gigabit Ethernet port, and a USB 3.0 port for expanded storage.

The 16-tuner device allows subs to attach up to six Joey clients, enabling them to watch seven different shows at the same time. Hopper 3 users can also watch and record up to 16 shows at once. 

Taking advantage of the new Hopper’s 4K resolution capability, the new device also lets viewers stitch four live HD streams onto the TV screen at the same time – what Dish calls “Sports Bar Mode.”

Dish said the Hopper 3 will launch the Netflix app and integrate Netflix titles into the Hopper 3’s “universal” search platform in the “coming weeks.”  Dish has also announced plans to bring YouTube to the Hopper platform.

The 16-tuner Hopper 3 gives bragging rights to Dish, enabling it to one-up Cablevision Systems’ multi-room DVR and a multi-device X1 setup that Comcast is testing that enables customers to record up to 15 shows at once. Verizon FiOS TV’s Quantum TV platform lets usersrecord up to 10 shows at once when they combine the functions of two Arris-made Verizon Media Servers. 

“Packed with industry firsts, Hopper 3 is the most advanced DVR in the world,” Vivek Khemka, Dish’s EVP and CTO , said in a statement. “It provides our customers with the innovative features they loved on our legacy Hopper DVRs, while additionally delivering the ultimate, conflict-free entertainment experience.” 

Dish will try to pump sub numbers with the Hopper 3 in the new year. It lost 23,000 video subs in Q3 2015, ending the period with 13.91 million. 

Ahead of the fall TV season, Bright House is broadening its DVR platform with a new whole-home system called “Voyager” that can record six shows at once.

The MSO said the offering combined the recording capabilities of its “Enhanced” DVR with a whole-home system that can connect to seven additional cable boxes in the house. Subs can manage the DVR remotely via the BHTV app for iOS and  Android devices.

Pricing on the Voyager whole-home option and its suppliers were not immediately available (it does look similar to this Samsung-made model). According to a web page dedicated to the product, its Enhanced DVR allows users to store up to 150 hours of HD video. Time Warner Cable markets a similar six-tuner/1 Terabyte “enhanced” DVR made by Arris (the DCX 3600)  that it’s rolling out as part of its TWC Maxx upgrades.

Bright House, which serves 2.5 million subs in parts of Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Michigan and  California, is in the process of being acquired by Charter Communications. Charter, which is also trying to buy Time Warner Cable, is expected to extend its Worldbox/Spectrum Guide product strategy to the acquired properties.

Offering a clear indication that adoption of MoCA 2.0 is accelerating, all new product certifications during the first quarter of 2015 were for devices that integrated the speedy coax-based home networking platform, according to the Multimedia Over Coax Alliance.

MoCA technology is being used in a variety of whole-home DVRs, set-tops, broadband gateways, and Ethernet-to-coax bridge devices. As an upgrade of MoCA 1.1, the 2.0 version is designed to support usable throughputs of more than 400 Mbps in “Basic” mode and 500 Mbps in a “Turbo” point-to-point setting when connected devices are operating in the baseline mode and utilizing a single channel. MoCA 2.0 also supports an “Enhanced” mode that uses channel bonding to produce throughputs of between 800 Mbps to 1 Gbps. In January, MoCA said preliminary 2.0 field trial results showed that the technology achieved net throughputs of 400 Mbps or more in 90% of coax “paths,” and greater than 350 Mbps in 95% of paths.

Of the 35 device certifications since the launch of the MoCA 2.0 certification program in Q1 2014, 28 have been for products integrating MoCA 2.0, and nine integrating MoCA 1.1, the Alliance said, noting that Comcast and Verizon were among the service providers that announced MoCA 2.0-capable gateways last year.

Arris, Alcatel-Lucent, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Entropic Communications, Hitron, Netgear, Pace, Samsung, Technicolor, Ubee Interactive, and WNC are among the companies that have received MoCA 2.0 certifications for various products.

“This has been a prolific year for certification of devices incorporating MoCA 2.0,” said Dr. Stephen Palm, chair of the MoCA Certification Board and senior technical director at Broadcom, a maker of MoCA silicon.  “MoCA Certification and the interoperability it represents are cornerstones for continued successful adoption of any connectivity technology standard, especially when used by service providers.”

“MoCA 2.0 certifications have surpassed our expectations just one year after the launch of the certification program,” added Charlie Cerino, president of MoCA. “The number of certified MoCA 2.0 devices is a clear trend on how quickly it is being adopted by the industry.”