811 owners with OTA 49% problem read this

[Iceman]

I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of the 49% OTA problem with my 811.
I have a 3020 Channel Master antenna that was pulling in my locals with the 811 in the high 80's. The problem was the 811 would suddenly drop signal to 49% and I would lose all picture. For laughs and giggles, I added a 20db gain amp to it just to see if it made any difference. Of course, it did not.
I had read where there is a chip that has something to do with the OTA tuner that is defective. I knew that with my setup, there is no way there could be any reason on why I couldn't keep signal locked other than my suspicions.
I called Dish to do a swap out and was not going to take no for an answer. So after 30 minutes of arguements, they agreed to swap it out.

What do ya know???????? It is the chip! The replacement receiver locks on in the low 90's and does not fall. No 49% problem any more!!!
I noticed that on the back of the replacement receiver, there is a group of numbers that are a few digits off. Could mean something, could mean nothing.

I also noticed that the new one had the dishpro trademark on the front panel, and the old one did not. The old one was from the first shipment of 811's if that helps any of you.

Could it mean that the new 811's have had this chip replaced? I am willing to bet the farm on it.

Just thought this bit of info might be some use to you.

Take care,
Ice

 

[Grandude]

That is indeed good news, especially for you. I wonder if this is going to trigger a lot of requests for replacements and if a future replacement just might be your old 811? That would be a bummer.
I think I'll hold off until the next round or two of software updates to see if I get any improvement. Distance to the towers is a big part of my problem.

 

[mike1002]

Iceman

Do you have any idea what it is about the particular signals that that chip has problems with? I have just gotten an 811 about 2 weeks ago and it has a problem on my local PBS station. I get a signal up in the 80-90s and then it drops to 49% and it cycles through that for several minutes. If I let it sit for several minutes (sometimes 5-10 minutes) it will eventually lock and it is fine until I go off channel and then come back. I have heard it is a multipath problem. But, my PBS station's antenna is as far away and in generally the same location as all the other channels that come in just fine (according to AntennaWeb). I just went and checked my 811 and it does NOT have the DishPro on the front panel so I suspect I have one of those older receivers. Did you finally get someone at Dish to admit there was a problem with that chip or is this empirical evidence from your own experience?

Thanks
Mike

 

[Iceman]

Do you have any idea what it is about the particular signals that that chip has problems with? .....

I just went and checked my 811 and it does NOT have the DishPro on the front panel so I suspect I have one of those older receivers. Did you finally get someone at Dish to admit there was a problem with that chip or is this empirical evidence from your own experience?

Thanks
Mike

To my understanding, the chip is what controls the OTA tuner. It is a hardware problem, but Dish tried to fix it with a software patch/s. What they did ultimately, was turned up the sensitivity on the tuner, so people would stop complaining about not being able to receive ALL of their locals. The negative side effect was that it caused the tuner not to be able to lock on the signal.

I finally got someone I think they called themselves Level 2 support(don't quote me on that). The guy's name was Matt. He admitted they have had "issues" with the 811 and 921 OTA tuners. He didn't mentioned specifics.

If you are having this issue, I would call them and have them do the right thing and have them swap it out. If a 811 owner is not using the OTA tuner and has no plans on using it, there is no need to swap it out.

 

[DSquared]

Iceman

Where are you located? I have the same problem with my 811. I am located in Modesto 49 miles from the tower. I get my CBS and ABC OTA in the 90% range my PBS (KVIE, Sacramento) in the 49 to 80 % range.

I get many video freezes and audio drop outs from that station. Not nearly as many when using my 6000 on my main HDTV.

Dsquared
Modesto, CA

 

[Iceman]

reply

Iceman

Where are you located? I have the same problem with my 811. I am located in Modesto 49 miles from the tower. I get my CBS and ABC OTA in the 90% range my PBS (KVIE, Sacramento) in the 49 to 80 % range.

I get many video freezes and audio drop outs from that station. Not nearly as many when using my 6000 on my main HDTV.

Dsquared
Modesto, CA

I live about 40 miles west of Atlanta. My neighbor can get in the high 60's to low 70's with a $3 bowtie antenna with his 811, and here I was with a $200 antenna and looking at 49%; further proving it is a hardware problem.

 

[bjohn]

I highly doubt that your new 811 has any new chips in it.
Just could be that your signal got better because of some trees moving or leaves growing or something like that.

just thinking...

 

[mike1002]

Thanks Iceman. I will give them a call. I use the OTA tuner all the time. Specifically CBS and the PBS-HD channels. This is the 2nd 811 for me in the last 2 weeks. The first one must have been sitting on my dealer's shelf since last year because when I got it home and tried to download the latest firmware it wouldn't download. I called tech support and was told that that was the original firmware when the box was released. They shipped me a new one that did allow me to download 266. So I guess I need to get them to send me another one. Is that the indicator (the Dish Pro logo on the faceplate)?

I really like the 811 and I guess thats what you get for being at the begining of a new box' release. The component inputs really deliver a nice picture to my Toshiba RPTV. I sure hope they get this taken care of soon. Although all of the other locals (other than PBS) pop right in. I just try to turn the 811 on early and set it to PBS-HD and go watch something else. When that is over I go back to the 811 and by then PBS-HD has locked in. Kinda silly but it works.

Thanks for the info Iceman.

Mike

 

[JimMcC]

Iceman

What do you mean "there are a group of numbers that are a few digits off"?

 

[spanky]

HHMMMM...My first 811 decided to stop receiving my local digital channels so dish sent me another 811. Worked fine for a few days.
Now my digital locals come in at a lower % upper 60's lower 70's and constantly jitter in and out. Also notice that they do not come in dd whereas before they did. After calling tech support the gal argued with me that this was all from my ota antenna.
So why do my local digitals come in beautifully when the 811 is not even turned on, yet once on through the dish they are of poor reception?

 

[snathanb]

So why do my local digitals come in beautifully when the 811 is not even turned on, yet once on through the dish they are of poor reception?

??

You may need to clarify that a little... how do you know they come in beautifully when the 811 is not turned on??

 

[tonyp56]

One problem with this folks, if everyone doesn't raise this issue, and one year (from the day we each bought our 811) goes by without us getting our 811's replaced, we will be stuck with bad 811's.

Just a thought

 

[SatinKzo]

I had called on this issue iafter the 266 update, I lost 2 of my 4 ota channels. It got bad the last couple days and I called dish and told them of the problem and then I had my friends Samsung HDTV receiver there while I was on the phone with them and told them it maps all 4 just fine. Originally, I though due to spring and things, the foilage coming in was causing problems, but the samsung had no problems getting the signals.
So after about 20 minutes of things, they decided to RMA it.
They had me read some info on the screen and issued an RMA. I should be getting my new replacement in a couple days, we'll see if it has the dishpro logo and how it does.

 

[mike123abc]

It is also possible that they have not changed the 811, but that there is a marginal part being used in the OTA tuner. You just trade out your 811 and get one that is more in spec.

 

[Iceman]

??????????

I highly doubt that your new 811 has any new chips in it.
Just could be that your signal got better because of some trees moving or leaves growing or something like that.

just thinking...

You sound like a Dish operator. It has nothing to do with trees, leaves and the wind...at least in my case.
The facts are what they are. I had one of the first 811s available that had problems with the OTA tuner. They send me a new one, and there is no more problems. That's with the same trees, same leaves, weather and everything else.

Go figure.

 

[bjohn]

No, I'm not a dish csr
Can you take a picture of your 811 with the dishpro label so everyone can see?

Thanks

 

[WeeJavaDude]

You sound like a Dish operator. It has nothing to do with trees, leaves and the wind...at least in my case.
The facts are what they are. I had one of the first 811s available that had problems with the OTA tuner. They send me a new one, and there is no more problems. That's with the same trees, same leaves, weather and everything else.

Go figure.

Maybe there was a bad chip bunch released that got into the 811s or maybe this is caused by tolerences in the OTA chip. Hmm this is an interesting development. I wonder if you have one of those mystery silent released 811s that was rumored. How is the svideo on this unit?

 

[GaryPen]

Remember that Charlie Chat where the moustache guy (Jim?) eluded to a chip problem slowing down production of the 811? Some folks took it to mean there was a supply issue.

I, and a few others, took it to mean the original chips were defective, and they had to wait for a supply of updated chips. Perhaps this is proof of our theory.

 

[spanky]

??

You may need to clarify that a little... how do you know they come in beautifully when the 811 is not turned on??

My sony xbr has a hd tuner built in that receives all of my local hd channels excellently.With the recent replacement 811 that was sent to me the local hd channels do not perform as well as before the receiver swap-according to dish techs that is all on my side of the fence-presumably my ota antenna,hmmm.

 

[Iceman]

sure

No, I'm not a dish csr
Can you take a picture of your 811 with the dishpro label so everyone can see?

Thanks

Sure. Here you go