How many Hoppers before E* gets it right

[jibaro29]

Not happy right now Dishnetwork. Five months ago I made a bad move should have kept my 722s. This is my story: Two months after installation Hopper # 1 went bad. DVR functions got all screwie. Could not record anything. Afetr talking to E* a second receiver was sent to me. Three months later same problem. I am now waiting for # 3 to coming so I can try it again. In the mean time my Hopper is recording shows at random. What a pain in the neck. Also, ever since my upgrade I have had nothing but issues with picture quality. I have crappy signal coming off 129W (low 60s)one a good day and not so hot coming off 119W/110W (low70s). I've had 4 different people come here to check the dish and so far the problem still there. The last repair person told me I needed a bigger dish. Needless to say I have not heard from Dish ever since. What can I do?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Sounds like you have some other issue going on which is causing your Hopper problems. The Hopper itself have been one of the most stable receivers from DISH that I have ever had. Its had its software issues but now is really for the most part rock solid. The next one you get I would suggest plugging it into a UPS as my guess its a dirty electrical issue.

 

[GaryPen]

Needless to say I have not heard from Dish ever since. What can I do?

PM a DIRT member? (Red usernames on the bottom of the SatGuys home page.)

 

[jibaro29]

Sounds like you have some other issue going on which is causing your Hopper problems. The Hopper itself have been one of the most stable receivers from DISH that I have ever had. Its had its software issues but now is really for the most part rock solid. The next one you get I would suggest plugging it into a UPS as my guess its a dirty electrical issue.

It is on a UPS. One of the installers told me I had a glitch coming from the outside. I think he replaced the switch. Now I'm not so sure.

 

[TheKrell]

Except for the random recordings which are a mystery to me, I'd say all your problems are due to the disk inside the Hopper going bad. Happens. Look for issues that might cause the disk to go bad, and in particular inadequate ventilation, jarring, or as Scott mentioned, the quality of the A/C power.

IIRC, a "signal strength" of low 60's on 129 is actually about as good as it gets. All HD transponders are 8PSK, and they read lower than the QPSK transponders on other sats.

 

[jibaro29]

"IIRC, a "signal strength" of low 60's on 129 is actually about as good as it gets. All HD transponders are 8PSK, and they read lower than the QPSK transponders on other sats." Low 60's will not hold when overcast or rain here in South Florida. So you know when 129 goes out so does 119 and 110.

 

[Neutron]

I have to insert a bad joke here: "How many Hoppers does it take to screw in a light bulb?"

Just kidding. Hopefully a DIRT member will get you taken care of.

 

[Voyager6]

"IIRC, a "signal strength" of low 60's on 129 is actually about as good as it gets. All HD transponders are 8PSK, and they read lower than the QPSK transponders on other sats." Low 60's will not hold when overcast or rain here in South Florida. So you know when 129 goes out so does 119 and 110.

Maybe a switch to EA is in order.

5180	WPBF (25)	Tequesta, FL - ABC 25	MPEG4 HD	61.5°W	01	8PSK (2/3)	[SIZE=-2] Spotbeam 9[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]West Palm Beach, FL[/SIZE]		Available
5181	WPEC (12)	West Palm Beach, FL - CBS 12	MPEG4 HD	61.5°W	01	8PSK (2/3)	[SIZE=-2] Spotbeam 9[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]West Palm Beach, FL[/SIZE]		Available
5182	WPTV (5)	West Palm Beach, FL - NBC 5	MPEG4 HD	61.5°W	01	8PSK (2/3)	[SIZE=-2] Spotbeam 9[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]West Palm Beach, FL[/SIZE]		Available
5183	WFLX (29)	West Palm Beach, FL - FOX 29	MPEG4 HD	61.5°W	01	8PSK (2/3)	[SIZE=-2] Spotbeam 9[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]West Palm Beach, FL[/SIZE]		Available
8865	WTVX (34)	Fort Pierce, FL - MY 34	MPEG4 SD	61.5°W	01	8PSK (2/3)	[SIZE=-2] Spotbeam 9[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]West Palm Beach, FL[/SIZE]		Available
8866	WXEL (42)	West Palm Beach, FL - PBS 42	MPEG4 SD	61.5°W	01	8PSK (2/3)	[SIZE=-2] Spotbeam 9[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]West Palm Beach, FL[/SIZE]		Available
8867	WFGC (61)	Palm Beach, FL - IND 61	MPEG4 SD	61.5°W	01	8PSK (2/3)	[SIZE=-2] Spotbeam 9[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]West Palm Beach, FL[/SIZE]		Available
8871	WPXP (67)	Lake Worth, FL - ION 67	MPEG4 SD	61.5°W	01	8PSK (2/3)	[SIZE=-2] Spotbeam 9[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]West Palm Beach, FL[/SIZE]		Available
8873	WFUN (41)		MPEG4 SD	61.5°W	01	8PSK (2/3)	[SIZE=-2] Spotbeam 9[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]West Palm Beach, FL[/SIZE]		Available
8875	WTCE (21)	Fort Pierce, FL - TRIN 21	MPEG4 SD	61.5°W	01	8PSK (2/3)	[SIZE=-2] Spotbeam 9[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]West Palm Beach, FL[/SIZE]		Available
8876	WBEC (63)	Boca Raton, FL - EDU 63	MPEG4 SD	61.5°W	01	8PSK (2/3)	[SIZE=-2] Spotbeam 9[/SIZE]	[SIZE=-2]West Palm Beach, FL[/SIZE]		Available

 

[mopee3]

As Scott has mentioned maybe electrical. Once upon a time when I had a 622 I went through a few for them, they did much the same as you are describing, it was a bad ground. Once it was fixed everything ran great until I replaced it with 922.

Moe

 

[jibaro29]

Well I'm back wining again. Had the Dish tech here almost all day and... wait for it.. I may need another Hopper. This so ridiculous. My wife and I want out of this contract with Dish. Can this be possible with out penalty?

 

[3HaloODST]

"IIRC, a "signal strength" of low 60's on 129 is actually about as good as it gets. All HD transponders are 8PSK, and they read lower than the QPSK transponders on other sats." Low 60's will not hold when overcast or rain here in South Florida. So you know when 129 goes out so does 119 and 110.

Anything above low 60s will not make much of a difference with 129. Overcast and rain should not be making it drop out. Sounds like a line-of-sight issue. The signal should only be dropping out when massive thunderheads pass through. Even at that it should only be out for 15 minutes at most, with 5-10 minutes being typical.

Most of the thunderheads don't stick around for long. They're usually moving along at 30-50mph.

Well I'm back wining again. Had the Dish tech here almost all day and... wait for it.. I may need another Hopper. This so ridiculous. My wife and I want out of this contract with Dish. Can this be possible with out penalty?

Doubt that you can get out of the contract but they might be able to "downgrade" you back to ViP equipment.

By the way, signal strength does not affect picture quality. Since it is digital, it either works or it doesn't. Also low 60s on 129 is not low nor is low 70s on 110/119. You have to keep in mind that the signal strengths are not measured on a 0-100 (or 0-125) scale. on 110/119 you'd be hard pressed to EVER get a signal strength above 90 no matter how large the dish. For 61.5/72.7/77/129 the scale is different with 80 being stellar and anything above that near-impossible on the 8PSK TPs.

Sent from my iPhone 4S using SatelliteGuys

 

[jibaro29]

At this point downgrading might not be a bad thing. I used to have 2 VIPs 722. I wish a had them now.

 

[dare2be]

Most of the thunderheads don't stick around for long. They're usually moving along at 30-50mph.

Someone doesn't live in Florida.

 

[3HaloODST]

Someone doesn't live in Florida.

I live in the southeast though, not far behind.

Sent from my iPhone 4S using SatelliteGuys

 

[John Kotches]

I would check the heat / ventilation angle myself.

 

[jibaro29]

Well, #9 Dish Tech was here this morning and there is a good chance he might have fixed the problem. The RG6 cable that was in place was the wrong cable. I had a RG6 2.2GHZ and according to him it should be RG6 3GHZ. I'm going find out soon enough if this is going to work or not....rain is coming this afternoon.

 

[sparc]

Well, #9 Dish Tech was here this morning and there is a good chance he might have fixed the problem. The RG6 cable that was in place was the wrong cable. I had a RG6 2.2GHZ and according to him it should be RG6 3GHZ. I'm going find out soon enough if this is going to work or not....rain is coming this afternoon.

if the techs aren't following the installation rules, I would check through the whole install yourself to make sure everything is done correctly. Wiring should have been checked ages ago by those techs.

wiring diagrams: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=279755

 

[ZandarKoad]

Well, #9 Dish Tech was here this morning and there is a good chance he might have fixed the problem. The RG6 cable that was in place was the wrong cable. I had a RG6 2.2GHZ and according to him it should be RG6 3GHZ. I'm going find out soon enough if this is going to work or not....rain is coming this afternoon.

The technician replaced the cable, so you're going to wait and see if it fixes your rain fade problem? That is a technical non sequitur. Also, as many others have mentioned, your signal is not low. It is not on a 100 point scale. If you refuse to believe or cannot understand that, then switch to DirecTV, and you'll be happy to find that your technician can get you a perfect 100.

I would recommend taking detailed notes of all conversations with Dish, in particular names, dates, and times. Make sure they notate your account every time you are without service, and once service is restored, they should credit you for time without service.

 

[ZandarKoad]

if the techs aren't following the installation rules, I would check through the whole install yourself to make sure everything is done correctly. Wiring should have been checked ages ago by those techs.

wiring diagrams: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=279755

Cable that is "rated" to 2.2 Ghz may have been "swept tested" to 3 Ghz. Either one of those or neither may be printed on the cable jacket.

 

[sparc]

Cable that is "rated" to 2.2 Ghz may have been "swept tested" to 3 Ghz. Either one of those or neither may be printed on the cable jacket.

Are Dish techs allowed to cut corners by not making sure that wiring between node and hoppers is 3Ghz rated?

Makes me glad I got a field supervisor who basically made sure that my install was done right the first time. He didn't even like the cable from the dish to the node and ripped that out too because it was entirely unmarked.