What is DishSMRT HUB? What all features are available on this box?
DishSMRT Hub is an Android TV based Internet connected Set-Top Box from Dish TV that gives you access to different Apps and Games in addition to regular TV channels. It comes with Google Assistant, built-in Chromecast, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support and Voice remote.
- a) You can now access Apps like Amazon Prime, ZEE5, Voot, SonyLIV, Alt Balaji, Hotstar, and YouTube and download many more from Google Playstore.
- b) With inbuilt Chromecast, you can simply cast any show, movies, music, games, sports, photos and videos and more from laptop, tablet or mobile phone directly on to your TV.
- c) Content discovery is easy because of Google Assistant Voice Search
- d) You can also watch your favourite TV Channels and set Favourites, Reminders and Record programs as per convenience
- e) You can watch personalized content recommendations as per your selected Profile.
What all Apps are available to access?
From App section you can access Featured and preloaded Apps on your set-top box like Prime Video, ZEE5, Voot, SonyLIV, Alt Balaji, Hungama and Watcho. You can also download from thousands of apps available on Android TV Playstore across genres like OTT (YouTube, Hotstar), Sports (ESPN, CNBC, NBC, Fox Sports), News (NDTV, Aaj Tak, India Today), Social media (Facebook watch), Motivational (TED Talks), Cooking (Food Network, Kitchen Stories), Devotional (Bhakti) etc. apps or Games (Asphalt, Bomb squad, Mars).
What are the other features available on this set-top box?
It is an Android TV based platform, so there will be incremental features and regular updates from Google. Some of the other features that will be coming soon are – Cloud storage and recording etc.
How is DishSMRT Hub better than regular set-top boxes?
- 1) It is Android TV based Internet connected set-top box with 1GB RAM
- 2) 8GB internal memory for downloading different apps & operating system updates
- 3) Voice remote for easy search
- 4) Multiple profiles for personalization
- 5) Two USB ports for recording content as per wish
- 6) You can now access different Apps and Games in addition to watching your favourite TV channels
Are there separate charges for using apps like YouTube/Prime/ZEE5 etc.?
There is no separate cost to use free apps or Games available on Playstore and apps available from Google like YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Google Play Music, Google Play Games etc. However you may have to additionally subscribe to Paid apps as per their subscription plan.
What is the use of following keys on Remote Control?
- Home: You can directly access Home screen
- Option: You can access Detailed Description screen for any Program.
- Google Assistant: You can use for Voice search
- Back: You can go back to previously visited section
- YouTube: You can directly access YouTube
- Watcho: You can directly access Watcho app
- Settings: You can directly access Settings section
- Guide: You can directly access Channel Guide
- Recording: You can directly Record program of your choice.
How can I create multiple user Profiles? How can I edit already created Profile?
You can access the Profile section from the top left of your screen and create upto 5 user profiles as per your choice. The same profiles can also be edited by using Option key of the remote.
What is the advantage of creating multiple user profiles?
You will get relevant content recommendation as per your choice. You will be able to customize your Home screen rails as per your convenience from “Customize your Tiles” options available at bottom of the screen. Also Recommended for You rail will show you content as per Language and Genres selected under your Profile.
How can I access Channels or Apps?
You can enter any channel number from remote to tune to respective channel or you can also access channel of your choice from Guide. You can also directly access recently watched Channel or App from Recent rail on the Home screen of the box.
How can I change language of Channel Audio?
You can change language of your channel audio from Green button of your remote.
How can I access TV guide?
You can directly access Guide from button on Remote or from side menu bar on Home screen.
How can I change or switch genres in Channel Guide?
You can use Red button on the remote to switch genres and select as desired. The selected genre will also be indicated in red colour on top left of your guide screen.
How can I set or remove Favourite or Reminders?
You can set or remove directly from Channel Infobar or Channel Guide. The same can also be set or removed from detailed description screen accessible from Option key on remote.
Can I record my favourite programs?
Yes you can record your favourites programs from Channel info bar or Guide. Or by simply using Record key on your remote.
How much can I record? / For how long can I record? / How much space do I have?
You can do unlimited recording post connecting any pen drive or hard drive.
What is the maximum USB storage supported? What is the Format supported?
Maximum USB capacity of 500 GB supported on the box with format NTFS or FAT32.
Can I record Future programs? Can I record program which have come in past?
You can record any ongoing program or any program scheduled for later. However you cannot record a program that has already been telecasted.
Can I record programs that are on internet or for example YouTube?
This will depend on the Apps that you are using. For example YouTube give offline feature that allows you to store the program on your set-top box but other Apps like ZEE5, Voot etc. will not give you such an option.
How can I access Recorded content? How can I delete it?
The recorded content can be accessed from My Recording section available under the side menu bar. It will have rails of My Recordings, Scheduled Recording and Reminders. You can click on My Recordings to watch them. The Scheduled Recordings and Reminders can also be seen and also deleted from Description page.
How can I format my Hard disk or Pendrive?
You can go to Settings>Recorder>Hard disk format to select your drive. Then click on Option key to format selected drive.
How can I set Parental control?
You can Lock channels from Settings>Parental Lock as per your choice. You will have to create and enter Password to access the section. The already locked channels can also be Unlocked from here. You will also get option to sort channels by Genre from here.
What all browsers are supported to be used on DishSMRT HUB?
There are no inbuilt browsers available on the platform. However you can download the browser of your choice from Google Playstore which can be used for your basic browsing needs. For e.g. Puffin TV browser, TV Web browser, Web Browser for Android TV etc.
How can I access Apps or download new apps?
You can access Apps from the All Apps or Featured Apps rail on Home screen. You can also access Apps section from side menu bar available on Home screen. You can access the Featured apps or your downloaded apps from All Apps section. You can also download new apps or games from Google Playstore.
How can I delete apps from my device?
You can go to Settings>Android Settings>Apps. Select the app you want to delete and Uninstall it.
How do I update the Apps that are installed on my Set-top box?
Default settings on Google Playstore are to update the apps automatically whenever STB is connected with internet. These updates will happen in the background and might slow down the performance for the update duration. You can disable the auto app updates if you face such a problem. This is NOT recommended as you will miss on the latest updates and fixes from different apps
Where will the downloaded apps on the device be stored?
The downloaded apps will be stored in the internal memory of the set-top-box. So once your device memory is full you will have to delete some of the apps to free up the space. Like it is done for any Android mobile device.
Can you use or download any App or internet services if the box is in Deactive status?
You need to have an active and working Dish TV connection to get access to different apps available on the platform or any internet based service like Voice search, posters etc.
How can I use Search functionality?
You can access Search from side menu bar on Home screen. You can directly type in what you are looking for from on screen keyword using your remote. You can also use voice search to find relevant content. The voice search can be accessed directly from the button on remote or it is also available on LHS next to the search tab during keyboard searching.
How can I use Voice search?
You can press Google Assistant button on your remote and speak the keyword you want to search in remote. The Google Assistant will answer or help you with your query. You can ask plenty of questions from Assistant like
- 1)Find & play media across apps
- 2)Get answers while watching TV
- 3)Control your smart home devices
- 4)Play music, weather updates and much more
You can also set interesting routines on your Google Home app. To know more about this please visit
https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7029585?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en
Sometime the voice search is not getting proper results. What should I do?
You can change language from Settings > Android Settings > Language for better results. Although we recommend you to use English (IN).
How to ensure that the Adult content is not listed in search results?
To avoid any explicit content on screen, please follow below mentioned steps.
Under Settings -> Android Settings -> Search: enable SafeSearchFilter
The YouTube recommendations also work based on your viewing pattern. You can disable explicit content from here also by enabling restricted mode from YouTube settings. Also, clear your browsing history.
Under YouTube -> Settings: Enable Restricted Mode
Is this box compatible with any specific type of TV?
DishSMRT HUB is compatible with all types of TVs including 4K, HD on LED, LCD, or Plasma technology. The box is supported with HDMI and CVBS output. So it is compatible with all types of TVs supported with HDMI and CVBS input.
What is the change in technology with this box?
The box is Android TV based Internet connected set-top-box. The earlier boxes were SD/HD and some having recorder facility.
How can I pair my Bluetooth remote in case of any issues post initial setup?
To pair your Bluetooth remote again please Press & Hold “OK” key until RED LED on RCU starts to blinks. Post this your remote will be paired again. Follow the same steps whenever this particular issue is observed.
How can I use learning keys for TV power on and what about Source keys on remote?
Refer the setup on User Manual page no. 6 to use. TV Power and Source key available on RCU can be used to control TV.
How can I connect this set-top box to Internet?
DishSMRT HUB has an inbuilt Wi-Fi receiver, so you can easily connect to your Home Wi-Fi network or mobile hotspot. In case you don’t have any Wi-Fi network then you can connect your box using Ethernet cable.
What is the minimum Internet speed required for this?
Recommended Internet speed is 4Mbps and above. Please note that to watch 4K content higher speeds may be required.
If I don’t use Internet, then can I use this as a simple STB if need be?
Yes you can use it as a simple set-top box, but for better experience it is recommended to use it with internet connection.
How much internal memory does this box have and how can I use it?
The box has 8GB internal memory. User can download Apps and Games from Google Playstore as per his requirement. The Apps can also be managed and deleted from Settings>Android Settings>Apps>Select respective App>Uninstall.
Do I get recording / downloading space from your side for this?
For Recording user will have to connect his own pen-drive, or USB disk.
What should I do if all internal memory is utilized? Can I expand the internal storage?
The internal storage cannot be expanded. You will have to delete few apps to free up the box memory.
How to watch my photos, movies that are on my personal USB drive.
You need to connect your pen-drive and access the downloaded app “File Browser” in All Apps rails to find the data available in external storage. You will need to download any App from Google Playstore that supports local content browsing. Few examples are FX File explorer, VLC, X-plore File Manager, File Manager Pro Android TV etc.
How to watch my photos, movies that are on my smartphones? How to use cast?
You can cast or screen mirror you phone directly onto the big screen. To use the casting
feature, DishSMRT HUB and your smartphone has to be on same Wi-Fi network. Next, open any cast
enabled App on your smartphone. Press the CAST icon to watch content on the TV screen and cast
applications on your TV.
You can also use Google Home Application on your smartphone to mirror the screen onto the TV.
To know more about casting please visit
https://support.google.com/chromecastbuiltin/answer/6059461?hl=en
What all applications are supported on Chromecast?
List of Chromecast enabled apps can be found at –
https://www.google.com/chromecast/built-in/apps/
I am not able to view Internet but DTH connection is working fine. What is to be done?
Please ensure that your internet Connection is working fine. Minimum required speed is 4Mbps. In case you are unable to watch or play any online content on your Android box, please check following:
- 1)Please check if you are able to access internet on your smartphone or laptop that is on thesame network. If yes, then you need to check Wi-Fi or IP settings on your box.
- 2)Are there any App updates in progress? If yes, please re check after the updates are over.
Is there any app to check Network speed on TV?
You can use Speedtest app that is available on ATV Playstore.
Will Weather conditions impact my TV viewing experience?
DTH signal may be impacted during the bad weather due to interrupted or blocked signals. However you can experience uninterrupted Internet based services provided your connectivity is stable.
How much money will I incur for my internet if I view TV for longer duration?
For watching any TV channel you do not incur any internet charges. Internet connectivity will be required for Recommendations on Home screen and Voice search feature but the data usage will be very minimal. If you will watch any online video or content, then you will incur data charges, which will be dependent on the selected video quality and will vary from App to App.
What features will be unavailable if I don’t have Internet connection?
Features like Voice/Text based search, Recommendations on home page, Android TV services like YouTube, Playstore, Featured apps that require internet connectivity will be unavailable in absence of Internet connectivity.
Is it possible to watch different program while recording?
Your DishSMRT HUB has single tuner. This means, you can tune to only one DTH channel at any point of time. You can, at a point of time
- 1)Record and watch same channel
- 2)Record 1 channel and watch something on other Apps
- 3)Record 1 channel and watch a recording
- 4)Pause Live TV
Will my existing TV remote work with DishSMRT HUB?
No. DishSMRT HUB uses new Bluetooth remote control which has special keys like Google Assistant, Home, Option, YouTube and Watcho for direct access to respective sections.
Any new features available with this Bluetooth remote?
Pairing is required with set-top box as a part of Set-up.
- 1)Voice search
- 2)No need to point and shoot towards TV
- 3)You can access keyboard to type and search for content of your choice
Can I connect my Bluetooth speakers also?
Yes, Bluetooth speakers can be connected.
Can I use my mobile to control Android box?
You can download Android TV Remote Control app from Playstore and use it to control your Android box. To get started, connect your Android phone or tablet to the same network as your Android TV device and then find your Android TV via Bluetooth. Then use your Android phone or tablet as a remote for your Android TV. Easily switch between d-pad and touchpad modes to navigate content and play games on your Android TV device. Tap the mic to start a voice search, or use the keyboard to input text on Android TV.
How can I check for latest Android software updates?
You can visit Android Settings and go to About section to check for any System or Remote control software update available.
How can I check for Set-Top-Box Software updates?
You can visit Settings > Tools > Software Upgrade section to check for latest software availability.
Sometimes my set-top box responds very slowly. How to fix this problem?
You will have to do Power Recycle to recover from such condition. If issue still persists then go to Settings > Android Settings > Storage & reset and do Factory data reset.