DISH has become the first pay-TV provider in the industry to introduce MultiView Mode, a viewing experience in which your home TV screen mimics the sports bar experience of having multiple TV programs on display at once. With Sports Bar Mode, also known as MultiView, you and your family and friends can watch any four channels at once on a 4K or HDTV screen, including both sports events and premium movie content. Sports Bar Mode works in conjunction with an array of new features, all of which come with the new DISH Hopper 3. Here’s how it works:
What MultiView Mode Does
The outstanding innovation of MultiView Mode is that it lets you watch up to four channels at once on a 4K or HDTV screen by splitting the screen into four quadrants, each displaying a different program. On 4K televisions, the video content will be displayed in 1080 HD resolution.
The audio is taken from the channel you highlight; the other three channels will remain muted. You can focus on hearing the sports commentary of your choice while you keep an eye on the other three games to glance at scores and tune in to highlight plays. You can also use MultiView Mode to watch non-sports broadcasts, including movies, TV shows, news and weather.
Technical Requirements and Specs
MultiView Mode works by decoding four different broadcast feeds and displaying them simultaneously. The feature requires a DISH Hopper 3 receiver, the latest Hopper upgrade. It also requires a 4K or HDTV, which can be directly connected to the Hopper 3 or connected via an AV receiver.
For content, the Hopper 3 can decode and output 60 FPS and 10-bit color. It supports H.264 and H.265 and is HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 compatible. The Hopper 3 is compatible with HDR10/BDA 2.0 encoded streams.
An Entertainment Industry Game Changer
The Hopper 3 was unveiled at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in January. It is the most advanced receiver on the market, featuring — in addition to MultiView Mode — 16 tuners, 4K integration, USB 3.0 compatibility and integrated Netflix search results. Among its great offerings:
- DISH has a deal with Sony to broadcast releases such as The Amazing Spider-Man, Smurfs 2 and American Hustle in 4K.
- The Hopper 3 lets you record up to 16 shows at once including 500 hours of HD programming or 2,000 hours of SD programming.
When all of these features are combined with the Hopper 3 MultiView Mode capability, the total package truly is revolutionary, representing the first pay-TV platform to merge a 4K receiver, streaming on-demand content, multi-screen display, mobile video and DVR technology into one seamless entertainment hub.
