OTA Dropouts Driving me nuts!!

[Surveyor98]

I just sent this to Dish. MAYBE they will try to fix it.

QUOTE
I have a VIP622 HD receiver with a UHF antenna attached for OTA digital channels. The receiver has added the digital channels to the guide. My problem is with incessant, constant and extremely anoying OTA digital channel dropouts on only one or two stations in my area(Austin, Texas).

Before you jump to conclusions that it is just a problem with the broadcast station, you should know that when the antenna is connected directly to the HD Television, there are absolutely NO dropouts. I have checked all my connections, used different antennas, aimed the antenna in a different direction to get stronger signal and even tried an amplifier and then an atenuator without success. I also took the indoor antenna and put it on the roof to see if multipath was the problem. If anything, the problem was worse. Tech support even sent me a replacement receiver. The problem STILL persists.

I have come to the conclusion that the 622's digital OTA receiver is inferior to my Sony's receiver. I am very disappointed in the 622's OTA reception of the Local FOX station and want to know why Dish cannot fix this problem. It cannot be that hard to manufacture a HD receiver for the 622 that is of the same quality of the Sony's HD receiver.

 

[JAG72]

This problem is not just you. I can not get 3/4 of my OTA HD stations with the 622 but they all come in 100% with no problems using the tunner in the TV.

 

[Surveyor98]

This was posted on another forum and I'm posting it here.

Hello thelonious,

I don’t want you to think I’ve forgotten you or the problems you and others are experiencing with reception of KTBC DT using the DISH Network or Direct TV OTA receivers.

I am in contact with our network group and Dish Network and we are all trying to understand what seems to be a widespread problem.

Thank you again for all of your input in this matter.



12/13/2006



From: Gene Kirby

Director of Engineering

KTBC Television

119 E. 10th ST.

Austin, TX 78701

 

[ccash]

I just sent this to Dish. MAYBE they will try to fix it.

QUOTE
I have a VIP622 HD receiver with a UHF antenna attached for OTA digital channels. The receiver has added the digital channels to the guide. My problem is with incessant, constant and extremely anoying OTA digital channel dropouts on only one or two stations in my area(Austin, Texas).

Before you jump to conclusions that it is just a problem with the broadcast station, you should know that when the antenna is connected directly to the HD Television, there are absolutely NO dropouts. I have checked all my connections, used different antennas, aimed the antenna in a different direction to get stronger signal and even tried an amplifier and then an atenuator without success. I also took the indoor antenna and put it on the roof to see if multipath was the problem. If anything, the problem was worse. Tech support even sent me a replacement receiver. The problem STILL persists.

I have come to the conclusion that the 622's digital OTA receiver is inferior to my Sony's receiver. I am very disappointed in the 622's OTA reception of the Local FOX station and want to know why Dish cannot fix this problem. It cannot be that hard to manufacture a HD receiver for the 622 that is of the same quality of the Sony's HD receiver.

Same issues here. Had them since my replacement 622 arrived (bad HDMI). Received the replacement at about the same time as the last software update. Had no such problems with the original unit. Don’t know if it’s the unit or the latest software (doubt dish knows either) but I will wait for the next update, and if that doesn’t work I'll be looking for 622 No. 3!

 

[LER]

Good, it's not just me. I had relatives over yesterday and they were trying to watch KTBC-DT (Fox) here, and getting the dropouts.

They wound up watching the SD version via SAT.

 

[rfb3]

Me too

Surveyor,
I am in the same boat. I have the VIP622, new antenna anstallation, and the tuner drops out. When connected straight to the Mits HDTV, all's well.

I called DN and the guy I spoke to had not heard of the trouble. I looged a formal complaint.

For now I am having to swith inputs on the TV to got to the OTA HD stations. I hate not having the DVR functionality!!!

Please let me know if any improvements come out...

freddie

 

[LER]

I also sent a note to the engineering folks at KTBC-DT, just on general principles.

I don't expect much, but we'll see.

 

[richiephx]

I bet the same problem exists with the VIP211 receiver too. I can get all local digital channels (about 15) except the local FOX channel. Seems odd, huh.

 

[A10HDTV]

I am in North Austin area and am seeing the same problems only with the 942 HD receiver, And only on FOX all others come in fine. FOX has a signal strength of 92 which is higher than others which I receive fine. I have the signal split off the antenna and my Sony TV receives the signal with no errors in video or audio.

I will call Dish tomorrow and maybe even email KTBCDT about this issue. This needs to be fixed before "24" airs in two weeks

 

[VegasVoomer]

I'm sure its a software problem. Mine was working fine before the last download and is having the same dropout problem since the last download.

 

[RuralSatGuy]

My fourth Vip622 receives two towers (total of 5 stations with subs). One has signal of 94 and is fine. The other is 91 and never locks in for more than 1 minute. Antenna aimed more at the 91 station than the 95. Put up new antenna and preamp on 50 ft. tower here in the country. Same story.

Bought a HDTV PCI tuner card for PC and both towers come in 100% perfect. Picture on PC is fantastic, with no dropouts, etc. Just to prove a point, I bought a Samsung DTB-H260F HD OTA receiver to feed into Samsung DLP that has no HD tuner. H260F get both towers with perfect pictures on all channels and subs. After several hundred dollars of upgrades and talking with engineers at both stations and a Ph.D. elec. engr. friend, the conclusion is:

The 622 Tuner I have has problems. Duh! Possibly not able to handle strong signals or not able to handle multipath. For fun, I put attenuators in the coax in from the tower until I reached 36db of attenuation. Finally, the station that would not lock finally locked in at a signal of about 65. Like I said, my 622 OTA tuner has problems. I did not have this OTA problem with three previous 622s or my 811. Excuse me, I need to set a timer on my BeyondTV screen on PC as backup in case my 622 fails to record one of my favorite shows.

 

[jrobins121]

This thread is very interesting. Many of us in the Columbus Ohio area who use a 622 are unable to lock in the OTA signal from the local NBC station. All other OTA signals are coming in loud and clear. The station changed some of their equipment around the 1st of December and we have had nothing but problems since. Many of us have been in contact with the director or engineering at the station and she is troubleshooting the problem but to no avail as of yet. So you are not alone, and this is not only a problem in Austin.

 

[mzopinionated]

I bet the same problem exists with the VIP211 receiver too. I can get all local digital channels (about 15) except the local FOX channel. Seems odd, huh.

Yes, the problem does exist with the 211 also. I bet E* does this so that we will keep sending the $5.00 extra a mo and not drop the SD locals.

 

[JAG72]

This thread is very interesting. Many of us in the Columbus Ohio area who use a 622 are unable to lock in the OTA signal from the local NBC station. All other OTA signals are coming in loud and clear. The station changed some of their equipment around the 1st of December and we have had nothing but problems since. Many of us have been in contact with the director or engineering at the station and she is troubleshooting the problem but to no avail as of yet. So you are not alone, and this is not only a problem in Austin.

I don't think that it is NBC's problem. I get channel 4 perfect with my TV but get nada with the 622. If it was their problem I would think that my TV would also have some issues. I never see any dropouts with the TV tuner.

 

[ghia]

I have this problem with my VIP-211, but only with one channel, 27-1 which is the Dallas MyTV. The station comes on perfect on my Hitachi tuner without a problem and a steady signal quality of 83%. On the 211 the signal quality bounces between 0 and 97 with lots of breakups and artifacts. It is irritating. I noticed it after the 3.43 software "upgrade"

 

[jrobins121]

I don't think that it is NBC's problem. I get channel 4 perfect with my TV but get nada with the 622. If it was their problem I would think that my TV would also have some issues. I never see any dropouts with the TV tuner.

I agree that the problem only occurs when I use the OTA tuner in the 622. The station engineer told me that their tests show that the 622 OTA tuner processes the signal differently than other tuners. However, they switched back to their old equipment for a few days and our problem went away. When they reinstalled their new equipment the problem returned.

 

[Trek2000]

Dish 622 OTA Problems

I have the same problem with my 622 on my local FOX station, constant breakups and dropouts even though I have a 95 + signal. I have no problem with the other Network stations on my 622. When I hook my antenna directly to my TV I have no breakup or dropout at all. The local FOX station engineer said it was a station problem and he was in contact with the Dish technical people to try an work it out.

 

[tonyp56]

Yeah, I think, and this is IMO, Dish Networks receivers have a second (or 3rd, 4th, ...?) class OTA tuner. Face it, they are a satellite company, and therefore the primary function of our receivers is to have satellite channels.

I have an 811, have had it about 3 years (will be in March) and I've had OTA channel problems since DAY 1. Now it seems worse than ever, they broke it--at least made things worse--with 2, or so, SW updates ago.

Think we'd be better off saving our money and go out and buy OTA tuner from Wal-Mart for $200 or so. Then drop LIL channels through Dish.

 

[Jim5506]

There is something in the encoder that FOX uses that needs to be tweaked for it to work correctly with the 622.

Our local FOX affiliate just went full power with a new encoder, tower and transmitter and it took 3 weeks to fix the tiling and audio dropouts but they did it.

 

[A10HDTV]

Surveyor98 - Any Updates?

Surveyor98 - Any updates from KTBC on this dropout issue? I am in Pflugerville and am experiencing this problem also. I called Dish on Sunday and had to do quite a bit of talking to speak to an engineer. Finally talked to one in product engineering and he talked to others in the department and checked the KRI's (known Rec issues) and said they had no knowledge of this issue. I filled him in on all the info I could including some posts from this and two other fourms I've been checking for resolution to this problem, and he thanked me and said they would research more into it.

I am now ready to go to KTBC and press this issue with them. Hoped someone here had new info before I contact them. This problem is getting very old and some one needs to accept responsibility for solving this problem.

Thanks