3 shows chopped into 3 segments

[Grandude]

I was watching NCIS LA on Tuesday, I day delayed and discovered it was chopped into three segments, first 30 minutes, second 1 minute and third 30 minutes. First time this ever happened.
Then I discovered that the other programs recorded in the same time-frame, Castle and The Night Shift also were chopped the same way.

I thought maybe a couple of short power outages caused it but didn't notice the lights flicker the night the recordings were being made. Then it dawned on me that since it was a very windy night, maybe my neighbors trees were bending far enough to block the satellite signal reaching the dish. Looking at the trees in the light of day, it doesn't look like that could happen but will watch the next time it gets really windy, if I remember to do so.

The other possibility is that the small Cyberpower UPS that I have in the garage for the Dish switches and nodes was affected by a small glitch that wasn't enough to trigger the bigger UPS I have for my PC stuff and the other one for the main TV. If that is the case, I could lose the Dish stream without having anything happen to the Hoppers.

All three programs on same stream from Dish satellite 19 via PTAT.

If it turns out to be trees, now I'm wondering if that might be the source of the random pixelations happening randomly form time to time.

 

[Bobby]

You and I are looking at the same satellite and live in the same area, grandude, and my recordings of NCIS: LA and Castle are just fine. You may be on to something with the trees but I doubt it. You obviously took a hit right in the middle of the programming. I'd be looking at that UPS in the garage. That said, I'm curious as to what that UPS is doing. Dish switches and nodes, in a typical Hopper configuration, are powered by the receivers not by an external source. Why is it there?

 

[Grandude]

You and I are looking at the same satellite and live in the same area, grandude, and my recordings of NCIS: LA and Castle are just fine. You may be on to something with the trees but I doubt it. You obviously took a hit right in the middle of the programming. I'd be looking at that UPS in the garage. That said, I'm curious as to what that UPS is doing. Dish switches and nodes, in a typical Hopper configuration, are powered by the receivers not by an external source. Why is it there?

I have to have it as I have two separate dishes, one for 110 and 119 and the other added later for 129.
These are feeding a DPP44 switch powered by the brick in the garage.

Hey, here is a new twist. I've switched over to recording and watching on Hopper 2 and my Hopper 1 which has been pixelating a lot is now backup and I may replace the disk drive. Anyway, those three programs are recorded on Hopper 1 without being chopper. Rules out the trees methinks.
Both Hoppers are powered by an APC UPS along with the TV and the ethernet switch feeding my router from that location.

Shucks, my prolific, troubleshooting brain is getting muddled. I guess, the only thing I can think of to do next is to swap the two lines from the node to the hoppers and see if it ever happens again.

Do you have any other ideas??????

 

[lucky86]

Maybe the signal was so low that only one hopper had adequate signal to record the show, while your other hopper dropped signal. I've had things like that happen in the past with my multiple hopper setup. My dish was on a makeshift mount which bobbed in the wind while I was getting something permanent built. So I think it could very well be the trees and signal.

 

[broeddog]

I had this happen as well on Tuesday night but it was on the history channel. I have no issues with trees or poor signal.

 

[Grandude]

Since the same three shows didn't break into three pieces on one Hopper, I watched two of them through the time frame involved on the good shows and saw no indication of a poor signal. No pixelation, no nothing during that time.
Next step for me is to climb the ladder and check connections and look for any wobble on the dish which would only happen during windy weather, I suppose.

 

[Grandude]

I may have solved my problems with pixelation and the chopped programs.
Drug the ladder out and planned to swap the H1 and H2 connections at the node output. Discovered that both connections were somewhat loose.
Swapped the connections and tightened down to a snug connection with a small wrench.
Both Hoppers OK but discovered that one of them had a problem seeing the satellites properly. Check switch didn't fix the problem so did a reset, from the menu, and all came up fine.

I guess that will teach me to always do a reset after new firmware downloaded. I usually do this but didn't this last upgrade if memory serves me right.

PS. I put off getting the ladder out as it is a fiberglass one, 10 ft, and weighs a ton. Dang, I should have bought an aluminum one. Those are a lot easier to handle by an old fart like me.