722K w OTA module bug in reception while recording

[TheForce]

Well, I finally got a 722K with OTA module after much ado with the CSR group. Thanks to Jason and Dan at CES, I got a hold of the right person at Dish to order the 722K and the 722K arrived on Thursday, the OTA module on Friday.

All seems well with it but I observed a strange problem and didn't see any threads on this in the past couple months search.

Here's the system, I have DPP LNB with a 61.5 side dish. I have a good solid ATSC signal from a roof top antenna reading 95-99 signal on all channels scanned in. The ATSC signal also runs to my 722 in the kitchen. The 722 works fine.

The problem was observed when I was recording one local channel using ATSC tuner and then tuned to another local channel to watch. The red record light was still on. In about 3 minutes of watching, a popup warning came up stating that I had lost my local channel signal and to call the station. Also, the red record light went out from the recording I had running on another channel. Upon checking, that recording never showed up in the DVR menu. Not even a remnant. I tuned up channel to another local and back to the original channel and it was back. It played fine. I tried to record a different local channel and watched that one at the same time and within a minute the popup again said I had lost signal, yet the other 722 still had signal on that same channel. I repeated this for several channels.
It appears that the OTA tuner works fine but will not record to DVR without the lost signal message. The sat tuner / DVR recordings all work fine.

Any idea what could be causing this? Has this been a bug ever reported before?

I will continue to try this for a few days and if no answers here, I report this to Echostar engineer contact.



PS- the 622 reboot issue I had with 4 - 622's last Fall has been resolved by Echostar engineering I understand. As I suggested it was a power supply issue where a connector was losing connection and the spring contacts were weak from heat over time. It would not be caught in the short testing they normally do during refurb. Some 622's would take a day of running before fail. I understand they are now replacing those connectors on all old 622's when sent back for refurb. They said they began doing this as of Dec 1.

 

[whatchel1]

install?

Well, I finally got a 722K with OTA module after much ado with the CSR group. Thanks to Jason and Dan at CES, I got a hold of the right person at Dish to order the 722K and the 722K arrived on Thursday, the OTA module on Friday.

All seems well with it but I observed a strange problem and didn't see any threads on this in the past couple months search.

Here's the system, I have DPP LNB with a 61.5 side dish. I have a good solid ATSC signal from a roof top antenna reading 95-99 signal on all channels scanned in. The ATSC signal also runs to my 722 in the kitchen. The 722 works fine.

The problem was observed when I was recording one local channel using ATSC tuner and then tuned to another local channel to watch. The red record light was still on. In about 3 minutes of watching, a popup warning came up stating that I had lost my local channel signal and to call the station. Also, the red record light went out from the recording I had running on another channel. Upon checking, that recording never showed up in the DVR menu. Not even a remnant. I tuned up channel to another local and back to the original channel and it was back. It played fine. I tried to record a different local channel and watched that one at the same time and within a minute the popup again said I had lost signal, yet the other 722 still had signal on that same channel. I repeated this for several channels.
It appears that the OTA tuner works fine but will not record to DVR without the lost signal message. The sat tuner / DVR recordings all work fine.

Any idea what could be causing this? Has this been a bug ever reported before?

I will continue to try this for a few days and if no answers here, I report this to Echostar engineer contact.



PS- the 622 reboot issue I had with 4 - 622's last Fall has been resolved by Echostar engineering I understand. As I suggested it was a power supply issue where a connector was losing connection and the spring contacts were weak from heat over time. It would not be caught in the short testing they normally do during refurb. Some 622's would take a day of running before fail. I understand they are now replacing those connectors on all old 622's when sent back for refurb. They said they began doing this as of Dec 1.

Did you install both the OTA & sat at same time or did you install the sat 1st day then the OTA next day? The later is the best. It has been know to cause problems if both are installed at the same time. Also has it dnld the latest S/W version yet. One other thing is that the OTA is still a little too sensitive to multi-path.

 

[cditty]

You may have a multipath or signal issue with one of the locals. If ANY of the tuners lose signal on a 722K, you get that popup... I used to see that all the time before I changed the way my OTA was aimed.

If you are watching satellite and your last tuned OTA channel loses signal, you will also get that popup. It is quite annoying and I filed a bug report with Dish a few months back.

I have not noticed the recording issue, however... Unless you were trying to record the channel that you are having trouble with.

 

[TheForce]

By chance- the installer didn't have my complete order on his truck the first day so he came back the second day and installed the OTA module. It was exactly 24 hours from the time of 722K activation to the time of the OTA module insertion. So, if there is some anomaly about installing the OTA the same time that did not happen here.

I did some more tests yesterday.
I set up two timers on two different OTA channels at the same time. Then put the DVR on another sat channel and waited to see what recorded. It recorded the first OTA channel fine. The second was not even listed. No popups on the sat channel being viewed and I didn't test it on the OTA channel to see what was going on.

It really is acting like the OTA module is running with only one tuner working, except for the setup of recording timers, where it is allowing me to set two OTA timers at the same time.

Repeating the test demonstrates it consistently records fine on the first timer in the priority stack but not the second.

As for multipath or signal issues, I doubt it. I am aimed at the towers with a 7 ft. yagi and the signals are very steady. I'm only 3.8 miles from the towers and I can visually see them. There are no tall buildings except 6 miles behind me. It's about as ideal a location as one can get for multipath issues and far enough away to avoid spurious emissions from the transmitters. All our ATSC stations transmit from one location tower farm in this city.

Later today, I plan to reseat the OTA module to see if it just wasn't pluged in correctly. The installer did it and I observed the first day when he hooked up my two sat cables to the 722K he didn't screw the f connectors down, left them really loose. I twisted them on tight and didn't mention anything about his sloppiness.

I was also wondering if Dish ever made a single tuner OTA module and I may have gotten one of these??? He said he apologized for not having one the first day and there would be no charge for the OTA module, even though I had given Dish Network CSR my CC# at time of order. We'll wait and see about the billing!
The installer took all the packaging for everything and left me with no manual or accessories. All I got in this deal were two new remotes and the 722K and the OTA module plus the papers I signed. I suppose I can get a 722K manual online. I still have my old 622 manual but I'm sure it's different.

 

[Bob Haller]

One of my 722s have done that.

It was so bad I removed the OTA line to the second receiver since it was driving my roomate nuts.

If they arent recording something today I will try swapping the OTA modules.

if my problem moves perhaps its a OTA module problem, since its new it should be under warranty., and since the fee increase I will likely sell everything and dont want to sell a problem.

although many 722s appear to get a annoying lost sat message if the OTA drops. I have near 100% on all active OTA channels. using a 4 foot UHF beam antenna currently ty wrapped to my chain link fence.

I believe the drop outs are caused by airplane flutter.

 

[whatchel1]

mutipath

One of my 722s have done that.

It was so bad I removed the OTA line to the second receiver since it was driving my roomate nuts.

If they arent recording something today I will try swapping the OTA modules.

if my problem moves perhaps its a OTA module problem, since its new it should be under warranty., and since the fee increase I will likely sell everything and dont want to sell a problem.

although many 722s appear to get a annoying lost sat message if the OTA drops. I have near 100% on all active OTA channels. using a 4 foot UHF beam antenna currently ty wrapped to my chain link fence.

I believe the drop outs are caused by airplane flutter.

"Airplane Flutter" is a type of multipath that is only produced when a plane comes by with all the reflections from the plane.

 

[Bob Haller]

"Airplane Flutter" is a type of multipath that is only produced when a plane comes by with all the reflections from the plane.

Thats my theory before the digital conversion my analog would go multipath ghosts at times.

So it fits the conditions normally all my stations are 90+

I watched my plain digital converter locked on signal strength drop to zero briefly once as a helicoter passed over. I am near a hospital life flight path. They vary the route a bit every day so its not all the time.

Life flight didnt bother me, if it wasnt for them I would of likely died in 1985

 

[TheForce]

I still don't think my issue is multipath.

Last evening I was watching local FOX channel for an hour with no issues. As soon as a new program came on I wanted to record, I pressed the record button and within 10 seconds it said I lost the signal. I had no other recordings going on. I ran to the other 722 with my OTA antenna and set up a quick recording so as to not lose the program I desired to archive.

It appears that the only time I can record an OTA channel is to have it set in the timers and not be tuned to any OTA channels, but be watching a sat channel.

 

[Bob Haller]

If you have two OTA modules try swapping them.........

 

[TheForce]

PROBLEM resolved!

Score another to sloppy professional installers!

I decided to pull the 722K from the rack and instead of pulling out the OTA module, pulled the black cover first. Now I have no idea how this installer managed to do this but he inserted the OTA module in such a way that it looked cocked in the slot and was not making solid contact with the circuit board connection. On the back panel I saw the installer had put in one black screw but the opposite corner where another screw was supposed to go, the bracket was about an eigth of an inch sticking out and would not push in. I had to use a screw driver to pry the OTA module out of the slot. Once out, I easily slid the module back all the way in and now the module looked squarely in place. Put the cover back on and found another screw to add to the back plate and remounted the 722K in my rack and booted it up.

All the goofiness is gone and it works as expected, perfect.

First test I did was try to record two OTA programs at the same time. Worked perfectly.

Second test- recorded an OTA channel while surfing other channels including trick play and all worked fine.

Neither of the above worked before reseating the OTA module. For the rest of the evening the 722K and OTA module performed properly with not one lost OTA channel signal error message.


I would be a very happy camper if I NEVER had another so called professional Dish installer ever enter my house again. in ALL cases they left me with more work than they performed. While this case wasn't as catastrophic as the previous "installer" there really wasn't much for him to do that a 12 year old child couldn't do.

I wish we here in Florida would pass a law requiring ever installer pass a qualifications test and be annually licensed to do satellite, and cable installations. My wife has to qualify every year to renew her licenses to do her job. I have to renew a license as well. It's time all installers be regulated by the state with passing a test and being licensed.

 

[BuddTX]

PROBLEM resolved!

Score another to sloppy professional installers!

I decided to pull the 722K from the rack and instead of pulling out the OTA module, pulled the black cover first. Now I have no idea how this installer managed to do this but he inserted the OTA module in such a way that it looked cocked in the slot and was not making solid contact with the circuit board connection. On the back panel I saw the installer had put in one black screw but the opposite corner where another screw was supposed to go, the bracket was about an eigth of an inch sticking out and would not push in. I had to use a screw driver to pry the OTA module out of the slot. Once out, I easily slid the module back all the way in and now the module looked squarely in place. Put the cover back on and found another screw to add to the back plate and remounted the 722K in my rack and booted it up.

All the goofiness is gone and it works as expected, perfect.

First test I did was try to record two OTA programs at the same time. Worked perfectly.

Second test- recorded an OTA channel while surfing other channels including trick play and all worked fine.

Neither of the above worked before reseating the OTA module. For the rest of the evening the 722K and OTA module performed properly with not one lost OTA channel signal error message.


I would be a very happy camper if I NEVER had another so called professional Dish installer ever enter my house again. in ALL cases they left me with more work than they performed. While this case wasn't as catastrophic as the previous "installer" there really wasn't much for him to do that a 12 year old child couldn't do.

I wish we here in Florida would pass a law requiring ever installer pass a qualifications test and be annually licensed to do satellite, and cable installations. My wife has to qualify every year to renew her licenses to do her job. I have to renew a license as well. It's time all installers be regulated by the state with passing a test and being licensed.

Well this is interesting! So you pulled off the entire cover of the 722K? I have been having a fit with my 722k and the OTA module, bought 3 different external OTA's the last one is a Antennas Direct DB8, have it mounted 30 feet in the air, and it still gives me problems, and I should be getting a perfect signal considering where I live in relation to the broadcast antennas.

Thanks, I will try removing the cover and see what I see!