Accurately checking satellite and transponder on receiver (H3)

[ljdonato]

On the Hopper 3, is there a way to accurately check the satellite and transponder a channel is on?
Diagnostics- Dish is all over the place. Sometimes it gets stuck on a spot beam, no matter the channel I change the receiver to. Sometimes it changes, but shows the wrong sat or even the wrong transponder. Very unreliable, as others had mentioned (e.g. ScubaGuy ) in posts on another thread.
Info-- Recall seems to work well, but that only shows the satellite, no transponder.
Thanks in advance.

(Yes, I miss "The List"... a lot).

 

[HipKat]

On the Hopper 3, is there a way to accurately check the satellite and transponder a channel is on?
Diagnostics- Dish is all over the place. Sometimes it gets stuck on a spot beam, no matter the channel I change the receiver to. Sometimes it changes, but shows the wrong sat or even the wrong transponder. Very unreliable, as others had mentioned (e.g. ScubaGuy ) in posts on another thread.
Info-- Recall seems to work well, but that only shows the satellite, no transponder.
Thanks in advance.

(Yes, I miss "The List"... a lot).

Tune to a channel, use info recall to see which Sat you're on, then hit Home three times, hit 3 for Dish, change to that Sat in the check switch screen and I believe the Transponder shown is the one you're on. Don't know why I believe that, I think I just remember that from somewhere in the past

 

[ljdonato]

Tune to a channel, use info recall to see which Sat you're on, then hit Home three times, hit 3 for Dish, change to that Sat in the check switch screen and I believe the Transponder shown is the one you're on. Don't know why I believe that, I think I just remember that from somewhere in the past

Thanks for the suggestion. I think it did not work (had my hopes high).
Just for testing, I went to SEC (404), checked with Diagns-- 3 but it showed correct (110 tp22), Went to Daystar, ch 263, which I already knew is on 119, check directly to diagnostics but it showed 110. "Great!", I thought, "I can check with this channel".
So I did as you suggested; Info--Recall-Homex3, 3, changed to sat 119, the screen briefly showed transponder 19 before changing and staying at tp21. Great!, changed channel and went back a few times and, yes!, it always showed tp21. Then, suddenly, at the next check, it changed to sat 110 again. I did "the trick" or procedure you described, but this time it showed transponder 16, not 21. Tried a few times, and stayed on 16, before eventually going back to 21, but unreliably. Went to another channel I know is on 119 spotbeam 1, it showed 110. Tried the trick again, changed sat to 119, but transponder changed to one with no signal at all. Exit that, went back, and it was showing the correct sat and tp again. So there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the display shown in Diagnostics-- Dish.
Thanks a lot HipKat . Any other suggestions I can try?
Anyone else?
Thanks.

 

[ScubaGuy]

Thanks for the suggestion. I think it did not work (had my hopes high).
Just for testing, I went to SEC (404), checked with Diagns-- 3 but it showed correct (110 tp22), Went to Daystar, ch 263, which I already knew is on 119, check directly to diagnostics but it showed 110. "Great!", I thought, "I can check with this channel".
So I did as you suggested; Info--Recall-Homex3, 3, changed to sat 119, the screen briefly showed transponder 19 before changing and staying at tp21. Great!, changed channel and went back a few times and, yes!, it always showed tp21. Then, suddenly, at the next check, it changed to sat 110 again. I did "the trick" or procedure you described, but this time it showed transponder 16, not 21. Tried a few times, and stayed on 16, before eventually going back to 21, but unreliably. Went to another channel I know is on 119 spotbeam 1, it showed 110. Tried the trick again, changed sat to 119, but transponder changed to one with no signal at all. Exit that, went back, and it was showing the correct sat and tp again. So there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the display shown in Diagnostics-- Dish.
Thanks a lot HipKat . Any other suggestions I can try?
Anyone else?
Thanks.

Exactly! This type of stuff is the same thing that I have experienced. Totally unreliable, inconsistent, and therefore, nearly useless.

 

[HipKat]

Thanks for the suggestion. I think it did not work (had my hopes high).
Just for testing, I went to SEC (404), checked with Diagns-- 3 but it showed correct (110 tp22), Went to Daystar, ch 263, which I already knew is on 119, check directly to diagnostics but it showed 110. "Great!", I thought, "I can check with this channel".
So I did as you suggested; Info--Recall-Homex3, 3, changed to sat 119, the screen briefly showed transponder 19 before changing and staying at tp21. Great!, changed channel and went back a few times and, yes!, it always showed tp21. Then, suddenly, at the next check, it changed to sat 110 again. I did "the trick" or procedure you described, but this time it showed transponder 16, not 21. Tried a few times, and stayed on 16, before eventually going back to 21, but unreliably. Went to another channel I know is on 119 spotbeam 1, it showed 110. Tried the trick again, changed sat to 119, but transponder changed to one with no signal at all. Exit that, went back, and it was showing the correct sat and tp again. So there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the display shown in Diagnostics-- Dish.
Thanks a lot HipKat . Any other suggestions I can try?
Anyone else?
Thanks.

I'll look around. That "trick" may just not work anymore, but I'm sure it was accurate at one time

 

[zippyfrog]

I have seen this happen, even on my VIP211k, but nowhere near how much I hear about this on the Hopper. Does the channel load on the screen before you go and see what satellite/transponder it is tuned to? I have had the situation occur where my VIP211k would still be tuned to the previous channel I was on if I do the satellite/transponder check too quickly.

And yes, Daystar, channel 263 is on 119, TP 16.

 

[ScubaGuy]

I have seen this happen, even on my VIP211k, but nowhere near how much I hear about this on the Hopper. Does the channel load on the screen before you go and see what satellite/transponder it is tuned to? I have had the situation occur where my VIP211k would still be tuned to the previous channel I was on if I do the satellite/transponder check too quickly.

And yes, Daystar, channel 263 is on 119, TP 16.

In my experience, yes, the channel loads properly, the Info>Recall method shows the correct satellite, but the Home x3>Dish method may or may not give the correct information.

 

[ljdonato]

I have seen this happen, even on my VIP211k, but nowhere near how much I hear about this on the Hopper. Does the channel load on the screen before you go and see what satellite/transponder it is tuned to? I have had the situation occur where my VIP211k would still be tuned to the previous channel I was on if I do the satellite/transponder check too quickly.

And yes, Daystar, channel 263 is on 119, TP 16.

On my tests, most of the time, it says TP 21, then occasionally changes to TP 16. Thanks for the info.

 

[ethanlerma]

A few things of note:

Firstly, to get an accurate reading from the diagnostics menu you need to make sure that the only tuner in use is the channel being watched on the Hopper. So no active Joeys, or active recordings in the background.

Secondly, when you access the diagnostics screen and see a spotbeam being used even though you are not on a local channel, this is most likely because it is currently prime time and the receiver does this weird thing where it refuses to lose lock on your local spotbeam to ensure prime time shows are recorded.

 

[ljdonato]

A few things of note:

Firstly, to get an accurate reading from the diagnostics menu you need to make sure that the only tuner in use is the channel being watched on the Hopper. So no active Joeys, or active recordings in the background.

Secondly, when you access the diagnostics screen and see a spotbeam being used even though you are not on a local channel, this is most likely because it is currently prime time and the receiver does this weird thing where it refuses to lose lock on your local spotbeam to ensure prime time shows are recorded.

Thanks. In my case, both conditions were met.

 

[ScubaGuy]

A few things of note:

Firstly, to get an accurate reading from the diagnostics menu you need to make sure that the only tuner in use is the channel being watched on the Hopper. So no active Joeys, or active recordings in the background.

Secondly, when you access the diagnostics screen and see a spotbeam being used even though you are not on a local channel, this is most likely because it is currently prime time and the receiver does this weird thing where it refuses to lose lock on your local spotbeam to ensure prime time shows are recorded.

Thanks for this. However, the other day when I was checking, the Hopper 3 was the only thing on (both Joeys were off), there were no programs recording, and it was in the middle of the afternoon, so no prime time (not to mention the fact that I can't see any spotbeams anyway). So even though I had met all of the stipulations that you've laid out, I still wasn't getting accurate results from the diagnostics menu.

 

[Bobby]

Thanks for this. However, the other day when I was checking, the Hopper 3 was the only thing on (both Joeys were off), there were no programs recording, and it was in the middle of the afternoon, so no prime time (not to mention the fact that I can't see any spotbeams anyway). So even though I had met all of the stipulations that you've laid out, I still wasn't getting accurate results from the diagnostics menu.

When I look at my TV Activity I see that PTAT is always on and dedicated to tuner 16. It stays there even if I turn off PTAT. Take a look at your TV Activity and see if you have the same.

 

[ScubaGuy]

When I look at my TV Activity I see that PTAT is always on and dedicated to tuner 16. It stays there even if I turn off PTAT. Take a look at your TV Activity and see if you have the same.

I hate to admit this, but I don't know how to do that. I checked the menu to see if I could find anything labeled "TV Activity", but I didn't have any luck. I'd be happy to do it if you'll tell me how.

 

[dweber]

I hate to admit this, but I don't know how to do that. I checked the menu to see if I could find anything labeled "TV Activity", but I didn't have any luck. I'd be happy to do it if you'll tell me how.

Hit options on your remote.
TV Activity is number 1.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bobby]

or if you are using a 40 remote press the red button and then press 1. Note, this also works for any paired remote (like a Harmony) that has the color buttons.

 

[ScubaGuy]

Hit options on your remote.
TV Activity is number 1.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh! I don't know if I've ever pushed that button when just watching TV (I use it when I want to transfer a program from the DVR to the external hard drive, though). I just did it, and it showed that only 1 tuner out of 16 was in use (the channel that was on at that time). No programs were recording. I don't use PTAT (and to be honest, I hardly ever watch those stations - only when my NASCAR races are on FOX or NBC, or when some other live sporting event is on them). From what I understand, PTAT only works on the HD versions, and I only get the SD.

 

[ljdonato]

When I look at my TV Activity I see that PTAT is always on and dedicated to tuner 16. It stays there even if I turn off PTAT. Take a look at your TV Activity and see if you have the same.

I checked and there was no tuner in use for PTAT. Still the unreliable behavior.

 

[ethanlerma]

From what I understand, PTAT only works on the HD versions, and I only get the SD.

To be more precise you need the spotbeam for the specific DMA, which makes PTAT irrelevant in your case.