Antenna work if dish out?

[menelfloss]

I have attached my OTA Antenna to my new 722 and it works great. I like the fact that I get programming information in the antenna slots.
What happens if the dish goes out? Do I still see and am I still able to access the antenna supplied signal through the 722?

Mike

 

[czarlos]

I have attached my OTA Antenna to my new 722 and it works great. I like the fact that I get programming information in the antenna slots.
What happens if the dish goes out? Do I still see and am I still able to access the antenna supplied signal through the 722?

Mike

Awesome! I have a 622 with an OTA attached all I get is DIgital Service scattered on my guide.

If your dish loses signal, Yes you should still be able to get OTA channels.

What I also did was run a splitter straight to my TV off the OTA just in case.

Enjoy!

 

[vegassatellite]

Try disconnecting the satellite lines from the back of your receiver and try it out. Let us know.

 

[czarlos]

Try disconnecting the satellite lines from the back of your receiver and try it out. Let us know.

Awesome! haha do not try this.

Thought your title says Supporter not sabotager.

 

[Pepper]

Best way to find out something is to try it. We encourage experimentation.

 

[vegassatellite]

Awesome! haha do not try this.

Thought your title says Supporter not sabotager.

It wouldn't cause any harm. The loss of signal is corrected when you re-connect the wiring.

The word you were looking for was saboteur.

 

[menelfloss]

I was thinking about using a splitter and run a line right to the tv.
Just thought somebody would have experienced bad weather with an antenna looped through a DVR.
Mike

 

[Pepper]

actually now that you mention it, we had about a 10-minute, 2-inch downpour this afternoon. I was on an OTA channel at the time, the PIP window said "acquiring signal"

I stupidly pressed swap then I was hosed. The OTA played silently in the pip window underneath the "Acquiring Signal" message and I couldn't do anything about it till the storm was over.

 

[garys]

Yes, you can watch OTA, but the trick is to get to it fast enough before the receiver goes into lockdown mode. You might be able to use the menu or guide should you not be able to change channel normally. Also, the dvr may work as well.

 

[cparker]

The easy way to make sure you have OTA available if your dish goes out is to split the antenna cable before the dish and run 1 to dish and 1 direct to your TV. I've been lucky and caught the guide before it disappeared and I've been not-so-lucky as well. It's just easier to split it.

Although I have to say, my dish goes out so rarely, I haven't even used teh "split" yet. But it's there if I need it.

 

[Hall]

Awesome! haha do not try this.

Thought your title says Supporter not sabotager.

Please enlighten in what the harm is.

 

[B_Kranski]

Splitting it works great if your t.v. has the digital tuner...otherwise would be stuck with the standard def channels. My opinion is that the OTA should work wether or not the satalite is working. I am sure it is just Dish making sure no one can use the recievers as just an OTA reciever. But maybe give it like a time limit so you can at least use it for like less say 2 weeks after you loose connection, so you can get a tech out to fix what ever is wrong with the Dish and then get you back up and running.

 

[menelfloss]

I figggr I will do the split just to make sure. It is nice to see what is going on with the weather when the dish goes out.

One note of interest. The channels that I have added are the PBS channels that Dish does not carry here in Minneapolis. When I first added them, they came up with nothing in the programming menu slots. That information must get loaded over the phone line at 3am because the next day the programming slots were all populated. Works great!
Mike

 

[FitzAusTex]

In general, yes you can access OTA when system is acquiring sat signal, although i have found that when the acquiring signal warning is on the screen that you cant always change channels like normal.

the way that i do it is to hit DVR button, then pull up the EPG and then use the EPG to navigate to the OTA channel.

I find it often impossible during a storm to switch directly to an OTA channel without going to EPG.

Even then, every so often the system seems too overwhelmed to take me to the EPG. Every so often, i'll get the 'unable to obtain guide'.

 

[Hall]

In general, yes you can access OTA when system is acquiring sat signal, although i have found that when the acquiring signal warning is on the screen that you cant always change channels like normal.

Yeah, navigating through channels can be tricky because there are satellite channels mixed in with the OTA channels so if you simply "CH UP" or "CH DN", you'll hit a satellite channel and get stuck. You have to manually move to the OTA channel(s) and then SELECT them.

 

[thedamaja]

In general, yes you can access OTA when system is acquiring sat signal, although i have found that when the acquiring signal warning is on the screen that you cant always change channels like normal.

the way that i do it is to hit DVR button, then pull up the EPG and then use the EPG to navigate to the OTA channel.

I find it often impossible during a storm to switch directly to an OTA channel without going to EPG.

Even then, every so often the system seems too overwhelmed to take me to the EPG. Every so often, i'll get the 'unable to obtain guide'.

Normally I press menu then select guide and it works like a charm. This is handy for switching to OTA or just off of 129 if you're "acquiring signal".

Another trick I've learned is when the guide forces an update on you. Just accept it, then stop and press menu quickly. I can then manually input a channel number and not have to wait for the download.