Ask the Dish TSR's OTA Questions

[dfergie]

Heres one for the TSR's I live in SE NM & KBIM(a KRQE property) OTA guide info is "digital service" the other OTA I receive KOAT has the proper guide info... I also have Directv and those receivers receive the proper guide info...

Edit: split this off of another thread, we need a general thread for various questions.

 

[TonyT@DISH Network]

Heres one for the TSR's I live in SE NM & KBIM(a KRQE property) OTA guide info is "digital service" the other OTA I receive KOAT has the proper guide info... I also have Directv and those receivers receive the proper guide info...

I can certainly do my best on this one (and I will refrain from saying the"scripted line" of "We are a satellite TV provider, and have no control over OTA signal"). Has that channel ever had proper information, or has this always been the case?

 

[Bobby]

I can certainly do my best on this one (and I will refrain from saying the "scripted line" of "We are a satellite TV provider, and have no control over OTA signal". Has that channel ever had proper information, or has this always been the case?

:clap Now that is refreshing Tony.

 

[TheKrell]

Has that channel ever had proper information, or has this always been the case?

I'll throw you an inscrutable one from the Washington DC DMA. Our local Ion affiliate, WPXW, was showing up fine in our Dish guide until the digital transition, when it moved downtown and switched frequencies (to RF34). Now all 4 subchannels show "Digital Service". This is unfortunate because Ion in my area is HD, but only the national channel is carried by Dish, and it's SD. Also Dish doesn't carry the subchannels at all, and Qubo would be nice for my 6yo.

 

[TonyT@DISH Network]

I'll throw you an inscrutable one from the Washington DC DMA. Our local Ion affiliate, WPXW, was showing up fine in our Dish guide until the digital transition, when it moved downtown and switched frequencies (to RF34). Now all 4 subchannels show "Digital Service". This is unfortunate because Ion in my area is HD, but only the national channel is carried by Dish, and it's SD. Also Dish doesn't carry the subchannels at all, and Qubo would be nice for my 6yo.

This one I can certainly take a look at too. Do you subscribe to locals through DISH at all? If so, you mentioned they moved downtown and switched frequencies. What kind of antenna are you using to pick it up? Do you ever see the error about digital signal low (should be a yellow marker screen, rather then the blue ATT015, etc)? As far as the subchannels, I know that is something we would LOVE to carry, I am not sure the hold up (probably financial) or if they will ever be available. I will certainly send it up the chain though and see if I can get a response for that portion.

 

[TheKrell]

Thank you Tony. Yes, I subscribe to locals ever since I bought a 722 and had a tuner to play with. The signal I'm getting off my Winegard "batwing" antenna on the roof for channel 66 is in the high 90's all the time, and I have never seen either the yellow or blue popups.. I get excellent reception of this channel and can watch the content. It's just the guide that's missing.

 

[dfergie]

I can certainly do my best on this one (and I will refrain from saying the"scripted line" of "We are a satellite TV provider, and have no control over OTA signal"). Has that channel ever had proper information, or has this always been the case?

Not with my 622's since the digital changeover (didn't try to get it before) I do get the correct info from my Directv HR20 -700 & H20's Thanks!
.

 

[TonyT@DISH Network]

Alright. As far as the "official" response, you have heard it. I wanted to let you know that the internet was not kind to me as far as trying to figure out how the guide information was actually put in there (besides mentioning metadata and Tribune, which says they know all 22000 channels and have information on all of them). I will tell you though that I have access to demo equipment and tested a theory I had. Now, to make sure we are talking shop here, I was using a 222k with an MTA2OTA module connected to a Sharp television. I scanned the locals into both and noticed the same thing on both after activating the info banner with program info on the TV itself. (By the way, you will never guess what I used as an antenna.) Anyway, long story short, NEITHER showed me program information on certain channels and both showed me the same program information for the ones that would come up. I cannot comment on D* equipment and why it works, as I have not played with receivers since my days working at BB (two years as of now). I am not sure where the difference is, but I can only assume that there is one, seeing as how there was mention of the D* working, and the E* not (and now I am throwing out there the TV did not work either). For familiarities sake, DISH Network cannot guarantee it will have access to all program information. I cannot say that it is the same in your area, but hey, you can always give it a try and see what happens. The TV should have a setting to turn on banner information when changing channels (may be called something crazy, but will be in DTV setup most likely; FYI Sharp was in "Options" across top menu). I will play with my home TV and post more when I get it (as I have access to the same kind of antenna I used here.... LOL You still can't guess what it was I betcha).

And by the way, this thread has lead to several PM's. You guys are actually making me work (which is good, cause I like to earn the money they pay me, and it makes my time go by faster). Hopefully I can keep up with it, sorry if I can't. I have to experiment when it comes down to "how to make it work" type questions, as I may research an issue for a bit on various forums and websites, but eventually I have to have some "lab" time.

 

[tigerfan33]

Tony. I believe you are getting it now. You have thrown away the script and now sounding human.

 

[dfergie]

Thanks, I will try hooking straight into my Livingroom & spare Bedroom TV's tuners & see what they show for guide info...

 

[dfergie]

Btw, after Don reads & replys tonight I could change the name of this thread to something like "Ask the Dish TSR's" or someone start a new thread... : )

 

[dfergie]

Also I think I have a contact that used to work in Roswell (where KBIM comes out of) I think he still works for LIN, maybe for KRQE... will see if he can shed any light on my question if the tv's do not have any guide info.

 

[TonyT@DISH Network]

Sounds great DF. Renaming the thread to "ASK THE TSR's" sounds like a fantastic idea, BTW, or creating a new one. Thank you guys for bearing with us on the formality that we are still supposed to use (so if you see it be forgiving). You guys have really made me think this endeavor will succeed, and I have definitely learned a lot in the short time I have been here. Still playing catch-up with some of you, but honestly I have never been more excited about a forum, or even coming to work for that matter. LOL Oh yea, lastly.... Being Human does not compute. JP

 

[TheKrell]

Not sure I understand your recommendation, Tony. But if you are saying to check an OTA channel via a TV tuner for the program info, that indeed "works" but doesn't help much to make setting or playing back a recording very easy. WPXW generally shows about 2 days worth of PSIP data. There is none (as I said above) for the 4 WPXW OTA subchannels on any of my Dish receivers.

 

[osu1991]

As to the guide info missing. We had the same problem in Tulsa when a couple of our channels switched their RF frequencies in the changeover. We had guide info before the stations switched frequencies. An example was KQCW switched from a subchannel on virtual channel 6.2 to it's own channel on RF20.1 The guide data remained on the old subchannel but not on its actual channel. The guide info needed to be remapped to the new channel. I emailed dishquality and received replies that it would be sent to the engineers to address,on the 3 occassions we had this problem in Tulsa and within a week the guide info was matched to the new channel frequencies. We all know dish blocks or ignores the psip from the OTA channels, so they need to make the adjustments in their system to properly map the guide info from Tribune to the correct station.

And yes the varying audio levels is a PITA

 

[jerryez]

i

 

[jerryez]

I had the same problem with my local guide on one channel./ Here is what I did. Read the exact way Dish list the channel, then Go to local channel setup and select the channel that needs the guide data by checking the box in front of that channel. Then click on add channel and change the channel listing to read exactly the same as the way Dish lists the channel. Click add or save or what ever it says and then reboot the receiver to get new guide data. It worked for me.

 

[TheKrell]

Read the exact way Dish list the channel, then Go to local channel setup and select the channel that needs the guide data by checking the box in front of that channel. Then click on add channel and change the channel listing to read exactly the same as the way Dish lists the channel.

What is "exactly the same way as Dish lists the channel"? On the program guide? On my WPXW example, Dish satellite channel 66-0 is called "WPXW". This SD channel has guide data of course, and I'm pretty sure it's the national Ion feed, not anything actually coming from WPXW. The OTA channels 66-1, 2, and 3 are listed in the guide and in Local Channels setup as ION, qubo, and IONL. Am I supposed to change all these to WPXW? I can edit their names, but I can't add a channel that's already there. (Option is greyed out.)

 

[dfergie]

Hooked my antenna to my Living room Sony to see what info if any it gives for OTA... scanning

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

:clap Now that is refreshing Tony.

See told ya they were human.