Anyone else having these issues/problems with their 811?

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hemway

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Sep 8, 2003
293
2
Arizona
Finally got my 811 installed on Sunday and have been trying to shake out/identify all of the problems. I know there has been some reports about the darkness, but I only noticed a slight difference between component and s-video.

Here is my hardware/cabling setup and the items I've found, all of which were emailed to Dish Technical support. Did I miss anything? Does anyone know how I can resolve any of my problems?

Here is my hardware configuration:
TV – Sony KP-53HS10 (53” 4:3 screen)
811 connections to Sony:
1. Component video (Y/Pb/Pr) cable between the 811 component output and Video5 component input on the Sony, and RCA audio cable between L/R audio2 output on the 811 to the L/R audio input of Video5 on the Sony.
2. Also have a S-video cable that goes from the S-video port on the 811 to the S-Video input on Video4 of the Sony and an RCA cable from the L/R Audio1 output on the 811 to the L/R audio input of Video4 on the Sony.
OTA Antenna – Channel-Master Stealthtenna (Model 3010) with optional amplifier board available (Model 3038).

Here is a detailed list of items and questions I have encountered so far:

1. - OTA CHANNEL PROGRAMMING INTO THE 811 ISSUE #1. When programming the local analog OTA channels into the 811, in the ‘Add ATV’ screen, you only have the ‘ABC, CBS, & NBC’ affiliations. It would be nice to have “FOX, UPN, WB, & PBX’ also. This function is not available in the ‘Add DTV’ option.

2. – OTA CHANNEL PROGRAMMING INTO THE 811 ISSUE #2. When manually adding DTV channels via the ‘Local channel setup’, I select the ‘Add DTV’ option. When I enter the local digital numbers into the ‘Transmit Channel’ box, the ‘Channel number’ box at the bottom of the screen automatically populates with its analog corresponding number for all of my digital channels except one. My digital channel 26 would not link/map to analog channel 45. After selecting ‘Save’, I was taken to the screen where you can label the channel with the stations call letters. Once this was done and saved, I was taken back to the channel list screen. All of the digital channels I just entered would display in the list with their local analog number and channel letters that were entered, all except the one channel that wouldn’t link/map to its analog channel number during setup. Once I completed the entering of all of my digital (DTV) channels, I saved everything and I brought up the guide. All of my local channels would be displayed in yellow, showing their linked/mapped analog channel number. Please note here that I have tried both the scan method and the manual method to add my local channels to the guide and I am having the same problem either way. Why doesn’t the lone channel that won’t link/map to the analog number link/map like the rest of the digital channels?

2a. – OTA CHANNEL PROGRAMMING INTO THE 811 ISSUE #2a. After adding the local channels to the guide, if you select one of digital local channels to watch, i.e. 03-01, but then return to the guide, the linked digital channel number is gone. If you scroll through the guide you will find the real digital number there, i.e. 24 KTVK that was entered during setup. This happens to all of my digital channels except two. The local CBS and NBC stations will retain analog channel numbers in the guide. Why isn’t this happening to all of the local channels? I would like to be able to map and retain the re-mapping of the digital channels to the analog channel numbers because those are the channel numbers my wife is more familiar with. If this isn’t possible, a little consistency would be nice. Have all of the digital channels either display their digital channel number or have them all show their linked/mapped analog number.

3. – CHANNEL RECALL. When watching either of the channels that do retain their local analog numbers in the guide (the CBS (5) & NBC (12) channels) after viewing them, if I press the ‘Return’ button on the remote, it doesn’t go back to the channel I was watching before going to either of these channels. This function works fine with all of the other local channels and satellite channels.

4. - PROGRAM GUIDE ISSUES #1. If you have the ‘Partial guide with video’ option turned on, when you go to bring up the ‘Guide’, it takes between 30 and 60 seconds for the video to appear in the window. The message ‘Retrieving program information from satellite’ message will appear first.

5. - PROGRAM GUIDE ISSUES #2. After viewing OTA channels a long period of time (this varies, but it has happened to me on a few occasions of only 5 minutes), when you try to bring up the ‘Guide’, you will get ‘Acquiring the satellite signal’ message. It takes up to 2 minutes before you get the menu. After the menu does pop up, if you have the ‘Partial guide with video’ option turned on, you are missing the video in the menu for another 30 – 60 seconds. The message ‘Retrieving program information from satellite’ message is displayed for 20 – 30 seconds before the video appears.

6. - PROGRAM GUIDE ISSUES #3. After bringing up the ‘Guide’ information, if you move more then 4 hours ahead in the guide, you get the ‘Retrieving program information from satellite’ message and another 30 – 60 second wait. I thought the guide was suppose to have up to 2 days of information (guess I got spoiled with the 7 days my 501 has).

7. – ZOOM FEATURE PROBLEM/QUESTION. I noticed that when using the partial or full ZOOM option, part of the bottom and top of the video gets chopped off. Is this a problem with the ZOOM feature or is this normal?

7. – CALLER-ID. In the manual, the Caller-ID shows as a pop-up box that is in the center of the screen. The implemented Caller-ID screen is a small box that pops up at the bottom of the screen. Is this the final version of Caller-ID? Will the Caller-ID function ever have the ability to log the calls so you can go back and look at missed calls?

8. – SD/HD REMOTE BUTTON. When will this feature be turned on so I don’t have to have both the component video (Y/Pb/Pr) cables and the S-video with RCA audio cables hooked up at the same time? Currently the only way to get a full screen of video when viewing SD video is to have the S-video or RCA video with RCA audio cables from the 811 into another video port on the TV, and then switch to that port. Electronically challenged people like my wife have a problem with things like this.
 
811 fix

It sounds like you are having a few problems.
Here are a few fixes.
Go to the add DTV section and punch one of your locked digital channel numbers. Look at the signal strength. It should be in the upper 80's to the 90's. If it is not then you have to rotate the antenna slowly until you have maximum signal. The stealth antenna through personal observation is not very good for HD reception. I find the 8 BAY hd antenna to be a pretty good one but stay away from the TERK brand and the types of antennas that mount on the dish.
Make sure that you line run from the dish is not diplexed. Home run that sucker. Make sure that you check the range identifier for the antenna that you are buying. Also make sure that if your house is 20 miles from the towers that you get an antenna that is good for twice that distance. Also stay away from the batwing antennas. I have found that they do not produce a very good HD signal strength.
Check your signal strength for your receiver as well. Press menu, 6,1,1 and go to satellite 119 transponder 19 and see if your signal is 89 or higher. A weak signal strength will cause guide problems to occur.
If you continue having the 2 days of programming not showing up on the guide then press and hold the power button on the front of the receiver for 15 seconds and release. This will cause the receiver to reboot itself and you guide. (Satremedy)
 
Dish told me that you have to turn off the 811 when not in use to get the guide downloaded. Otherwise you will always get the downloading guide info screen. I use my 811 with my TiVo, so it is never turned off. The TiVo has a better guide anyway, so I just never use the 811 guide, since I never turn the 811 off.
 
#7 Caller ID is a pop box in midle of screen when you are in a menu function or the guide. When watching TV it is just the small display at bottom of screen just like ALL other STB's. (you really don't want it interupting your programing, do you?)

#8 The HD/SD button is not needded on the 811 because the 811 has all outputs live at all times. The button is for HD receivers that can only output EITHER HD or SD at one time so they need to be switched to the proper output. SD if watching on an SD set or HD if watching on an HD set. The HD/SD button has nothing to do with the type of programing you're watching.
 

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