AM21 NBC New York

That’s one of the many reasons I sold my AM21 (not including that I later got a Genie 2) and use my TiVo Bolt instead for off-air channels.

 

Directv gets their OTA database from their guide provider, so it has to get updated on their end and filter through to Directv before it is reflected on the AM21. These changes take some time, and that time seems to be increasing because there are many channels changing frequency due to the repack.

I doubt calling Directv would help, they no longer support the AM21 and even getting a CSR that knows what the heck that is is a challenge.

 

to Satelliteguys Kamakazie2!

 

Actually, and believe me much to everyone's total surprise, DIRECTV appears to be making a major upgrade to their OTA database. Not done since '09.

As Dallas, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City, markets have all recieved substantial updates.

See the following posts on the Edgecutter site beginning here:

Transponder Maps: Domestic, Mexico, Latin ~ Data 5/24/2018 - Page 55

Whether this is being done now in preparation for the soon release of a long rumored new OTA dongle as a sucessor to the obsolete AM21 which is compatible with the HS17 and future above, I don't know.

But on the four AM21s I have here in the LA market, they pulled in all the new additions after resetting and then rerunning the setup just fine.

In fact my OTA TiVo channels are now virtually redundant to all our HD-DVR + AM21 combos ....

Sort of surprised slice didn't mention any of these new developments in his previous post ...

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I didn't since it didn't affect his market and we don't know yet whether Directv will continue doing this across all markets or like some of the other projects they will start and then lose interest with it partway done

For all we know those four DMAs are where the president of AT&T Video has homes...

 

Correct me if I am wrong ...(like I really had to ask for that) but didn't when the AM-21 first came out
do a real over the air scan and Direct turned it off for the database system? Point being , why can't
they turn that feature back on in the software .... and why was it even removed?

 

Not exactly ...

As I remember it all too well ....

It was when the Genie models first came out the firmware they ran would actually allow scanning for OTA signals when connected to the AM21s which had been out long before.

The Genie originally would ...

1) If the channels in the OTA database matched those detected in the off-air scan. They would be displayed in the guide with both channel ID and program descriptions.

2) If channels found during the OTA scan did not match any of those found in the OTA database, they would still be displayed in the guide with channel IDs, but had no program descriptions.

3) And in a very convenient feature for clearing up the guide. For channels in the OTA database, but were not detected in the off-air scan, would not be displayed in the guide at all.

DIRECTV eventually removed 2 and 3 above for no apparent reason. When I complained bitterly to the "Office of the President" (OOP) at the time for the reason (as tech. support was completely clueless as usual), they contacted STB Engineering who said those features on the Genie were never intended and totally serendipitous and fortuitous.

So we're removed ...

Go figure ...

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All that I referred to took place long before there ever was a genie ... it was when AM21 was first
released to subscribers

 

There are various theories but no one knows for sure why scanning was disabled for AM21 setups. Not that it helps you, but it is still possible to scan for channels with the H20's built-in OTA tuner. When you do the initial setup it just finds channels in the database, but if you select the 'scan again' menu item it does a full scan and finds all the channels not in the database. It is possible the same is true on the HR20 since it also has a built-in tuner, I don't know.

Things may get better in the future if the database additions HoTat2 referred to continue, and the new OTA dongle is released so OTA support doesn't end with the HR54 but continues into the Genie 2 era...not that this helps Kamakazie2's more immediate issue with channel frequency changes taking a few months to filter through from their guide data provider. If that continues when the repack is in full swing, his complaints will become commonplace starting this fall.

 

For the life of me I really don't remember it that way ....

I've had AM21s installed here ever since DIRECTV released them. And first attached them to variois HR21s/22s and R22s which I had at that time.

And none of them had the OTA scan capability of numbers 2 and 3. Only number 1.

Not until my first Genie, an HR34-700, did I ever see 2 and 3.

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If DTV cancelled the AM21, how are people supposed to get local broadcasts? Is there a newer model?

 

There was an internal DIRECTV tech. memo for employees posted some months ago by a field tech. on the dbstalk forum that mentioned one was coming.

Described in the memo as a USB dongle mfr. by Hauppauge. But while the technician said the source of the memo was reliable nothing has been heard about it since.

However, just recently 4 local markets have received large updates to the DIRECTV OTA database which has been virtually dormant since '09. So this could be an indication of the new dongle's release.

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Originally posted here among other details specifically by DIRECTV tech. "West99999" back on Aug. 30th, '17 ...

Some good news I hope for all the OTA fans from DirecTV

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Just curious, if/when this new dongle does appear .... will it work on the generations before the HS17 ?
Some of our AM21's are getting quite old and this new dongle would not take up room on the shelf. (no addl. recvr type device needed.)