Dish Hopper Transfers for iPad takes your DVR content offline (hands-on)

There’s really no way to encapsulate all of this awesomeness in a headline, so you’re gonna want to read on. Sure, there’s Dish Anywhere, for realtime streaming of live TV and DVR content, but Hopper with Sling owners will soon be able to take their content offline, for viewing on trains, planes and anywhere else where you don’t have a connection (or don’t want to burst your monthly bandwidth cap with hours of video). Assuming you have the necessary hardware, including Dish’s latest DVR and an iPad, Hopper Transfers will let you offload any and all of your recorded movies and TV shows to the Apple tablet. The STB uses the Sling transcoder to convert your content to a compatible format, then the app wireless boots a sub-HD version to your portable device. Transcoding occurs at 1:1 speed, meaning an hour of footage will take an hour of processing, but you do have the option of converting your videos immediately after they’re recorded, so they’re prepped before you need to run out the door to catch a flight (the actual wireless transfer takes between five and eight minutes for each hour-long show).

Your iPad will need to be on your home network in order to receive files, so this isn’t something you can handle remotely. The workflow also varies according to programming arrangements, so some shows and movies will need to be moved (erased from the DVR), while others can coexist on both devices, but can only be sent to one iPad. (Of course, there’s no restriction on the number of times you can record a show to the Hopper, though.) You also don’t own the content that you move over — the app will need to connect to your DVR once each month to verify your subscription in order to remain active. We took a look at some flicks that had already made the jump, and playback worked well with the iPad in Airplane mode, so everything appears to be in order. Like the Anywhere app, content doesn’t appear in HD, but the quality will almost surely beat your airline’s in-flight entertainment system. Like Dish Anywhere, Hopper Transfers is free, and it’s expected to hit the App Store in January. Sadly, there’s no word on if or when it’ll be available for Android.

Gallery: Dish Hopper Transfers hands-on