I live in Sacramento, CA. I upgraded to DISH Network HD service about a month ago and it's still not working right. All the cable was newly installed and the signal strength is good. I have two TV's (one HD, one SD) working off of the latest model HDTV DVR receiver. I have a third TV (SD) working off of a DishPro receiver. From the start, the audio has cut out, sometimes the voice doesn't match the mouth and the picture becomes pixelated or goes to a completely pink screen. This happens on any channel, live and while recording but only on the two TV's working off of the HD DVR receiver. Sometimes when the audio goes out, it will come back after about 15 seconds or if I switch the channel, the audio works and then I switch back and the audio works on the channel that the audio cut out on. At first I thought the problem was my brand new Sony 46" HDTV so I took it back and got a new one, but it's not the TV since it happens on my old SD TV also. Then DISH told me to try different HDMI cables but that didn't help. Then DISH sent me a new (rebuilt) receiver but that didn't help. Then the contract installers told me 3 out of 10 HD DVR receivers are bad and gave me a new receiver - THAT DIDN'T WORK EITHER!!!! I've waited years to finally purchase an HD TV and it's REALLY frustrating that DISH can't provide quality service. I'm going to ask for another receiver but this is getting totally ridiculous. Any suggestions?
BIG problem with DISH Service
- Thread starter geoman55
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A tech needs to go over your whole system and look for Low Frequency barrels and severely bent cables.... this is exactly the type of thing that can happen.
Unfortunately, replacing all your cabling is a lot of work, so it's usually the last thing a tech suggests... it's not that they're necessarily lazy... it's just that most of us have a pretty big workload and are already working 12+ hours a day.
Sucks for the customer and I'm not trying to justify it as being ok.... just stating reality here.
Ask for a free Service Call and have them notate on the Work Order when you call that "System Reinstall may be necessary"
Unfortunately, replacing all your cabling is a lot of work, so it's usually the last thing a tech suggests... it's not that they're necessarily lazy... it's just that most of us have a pretty big workload and are already working 12+ hours a day.
Sucks for the customer and I'm not trying to justify it as being ok.... just stating reality here.
Ask for a free Service Call and have them notate on the Work Order when you call that "System Reinstall may be necessary"
Same problem
We also live in the Sacramento area and are experiencing the same problems. We've had the same Dish service with the 2 tuner HD DVRS for the past year and nothing in our system (DVRs, Wiring, satelite direction) has changed, but over the past several months, we've been experiencing dropped audio in the same manner as descriped by the original poster.
In addition to dropped audio, we are now also experiencing severe pixelation of the picture, and during the season premiere of NBC's "The Office" in HD, the screen and audio went completely out for the majority of the program. All other channels were OK during this time. We spoke to 2 friends who have the same service and HD DVRs from DISH, and they had the same problem.
I have a hard time believing that each of my friends and this original poster all have wiring problems. Everyone locally I've spoken to has had these audio problems with Dish Network. I think there is something more serious going on with Dish's broadcasts. What is REALLY going on here?
For the record, these errors all all occuring during PERFECT California weather, and my signal strength indicators all show 100%.
We also live in the Sacramento area and are experiencing the same problems. We've had the same Dish service with the 2 tuner HD DVRS for the past year and nothing in our system (DVRs, Wiring, satelite direction) has changed, but over the past several months, we've been experiencing dropped audio in the same manner as descriped by the original poster.
In addition to dropped audio, we are now also experiencing severe pixelation of the picture, and during the season premiere of NBC's "The Office" in HD, the screen and audio went completely out for the majority of the program. All other channels were OK during this time. We spoke to 2 friends who have the same service and HD DVRs from DISH, and they had the same problem.
I have a hard time believing that each of my friends and this original poster all have wiring problems. Everyone locally I've spoken to has had these audio problems with Dish Network. I think there is something more serious going on with Dish's broadcasts. What is REALLY going on here?
For the record, these errors all all occuring during PERFECT California weather, and my signal strength indicators all show 100%.
are the cables are RG59 Cacles os RG 6 Cables? Are your system is Grounded? You problably need to check all this and also check for miss align dish, also do you turn yor receiver off every night? if you don't, you will need to start doing this, because a 3am dish sent what will call a hit to all recievers including hd, that way will bring the latest updated in your receiver software but also your programing get updated. Remember this HD Receiver don't work properly with RG59 cables because of the current voltage that travel to the cables. Make Sure also that the Cables are RG6 with a minimum of 2150mghz ratings. I strongly suggest a VEXTRA RG6 3000 mghz cable provided by your local Dish Network office, not a retailer or contractor.100%
Yes, the 100% is for the Over the Air signal. Good point on that one, but the signal strength indicator for the dish is also extremely high, in a new neighborhood where all the houses are taller than the trees (so definitely no obstruction).
I'm assuming the cables that are being mentioned are from the dish on the roof to the box, as the HDMI cables used are top of the line and I've never heard these cable nomenclatures before.
My system was installed by Sacramento Valley Satellite, which is a Dish Dealer, so I can't say for sure what cables they used, but I would expect that these guys (who do a ton of these installs) would be competent vs. some random contractor. Do you think not? How can I tell which cable has been used?
BTW, these cable questions do nothing to explain why every dish customer in town I've spoken to has had similar audio issues (mistimed audio+video, audio cutouts) unless you think that each of these people has installation problems. Is it just so unlikely that Dish's broadcasts or equipment is at fault?
Thanks for your input.
-J
Yes, the 100% is for the Over the Air signal. Good point on that one, but the signal strength indicator for the dish is also extremely high, in a new neighborhood where all the houses are taller than the trees (so definitely no obstruction).
I'm assuming the cables that are being mentioned are from the dish on the roof to the box, as the HDMI cables used are top of the line and I've never heard these cable nomenclatures before.
My system was installed by Sacramento Valley Satellite, which is a Dish Dealer, so I can't say for sure what cables they used, but I would expect that these guys (who do a ton of these installs) would be competent vs. some random contractor. Do you think not? How can I tell which cable has been used?
BTW, these cable questions do nothing to explain why every dish customer in town I've spoken to has had similar audio issues (mistimed audio+video, audio cutouts) unless you think that each of these people has installation problems. Is it just so unlikely that Dish's broadcasts or equipment is at fault?
Thanks for your input.
-J
OTA?
If it's OTA and you are getting 100% then there are also 2 possibilities to consider. That it may actually be overloading the input of the unit or there may be multi-path that is causing the problems.
If it's OTA and you are getting 100% then there are also 2 possibilities to consider. That it may actually be overloading the input of the unit or there may be multi-path that is causing the problems.
With OTA you could have three problems:
1. Multipath - how close to the towers are you? Go to TVFool.com and run a scan to see what you are looking at for tower distance and angles.
2. Overload - Dish OTA doesn't like it. Not one bit. Adjust your antenna to reduce the signal. Weird, huh?!
3. Transmission source - they could be creating the problem with their transmission equipment - Dish doesn't like their signal. Others have said they have this issue espcially with FOX.
1. Multipath - how close to the towers are you? Go to TVFool.com and run a scan to see what you are looking at for tower distance and angles.
2. Overload - Dish OTA doesn't like it. Not one bit. Adjust your antenna to reduce the signal. Weird, huh?!
3. Transmission source - they could be creating the problem with their transmission equipment - Dish doesn't like their signal. Others have said they have this issue espcially with FOX.
This is why I asked if the recordings / channels that are acting up are the Dish channels or the OTA channels? Are you saying BOTH sources are having the same problem?
I would say that both sources are having the same problems, but I think it is maybe a little worse on the dish signals, vs. the OTA. But I would say that yes, both have the same problem. So adjusting the OTA for less strength would be good? Unfortunately, I can't reach it on the top of my high pitch roof...
Here's an interesting thing that seems lost in this so far. I just spoke to a Direct TV subscriber today about the season premiere of The Office, and he said he also no reception for that show. So maybe there was something from NBC on that one. But MY problem also shows up on ABC and yesterday on CBS.
Here's an interesting thing that seems lost in this so far. I just spoke to a Direct TV subscriber today about the season premiere of The Office, and he said he also no reception for that show. So maybe there was something from NBC on that one. But MY problem also shows up on ABC and yesterday on CBS.
Ok, if both sources are having the same problem, the local station is creating the problem that Dish equipment is unable to handle correctly. Call those stations and tell them you are having those problems with their signal on your equipment and send an email to dishquality (at) echostar (dot) com also.
Unplug the OTA antenna from the receiver and connect directly to your HDTV if it
has an ATSC tuner. If you have the same problem it is either your antenna or the
station.
I think this is the case (trouble with the local station) , as I found a few Direct TV users who also had no signal for the season premiere of NBC's "the Office".
So we call the local station and fire off an email to dish...
What do we do if the local station just says, 'whatever'? I'm not sure people know enough about how all this operates to actually flood the local station with timely calls when the broadcast is bad...
So we call the local station and fire off an email to dish...
What do we do if the local station just says, 'whatever'? I'm not sure people know enough about how all this operates to actually flood the local station with timely calls when the broadcast is bad...
The pink screen has nothing to do with your antenna. I don't even have an OTA and I got the same thing through Dish locals.... A lot of this stuff has to do with broadcasters and Dish changing equipment around for the digital conversion.
The OP's problem sounds unrelated to yours.
Low Frequency barrels are connectors that join two pieces of coax together.... they're the metal part sticking out of the cable jacks in your house. A lot of techs unfortunately do not change them out for our high quality ones that are designed to handler the higher frequency ranges that satellite signal uses. This will work for a while, but will always eventually start causing problems or stop working altogether.
Think of it like a funnel you use to pour oil into your car. You can only pour so much oil into the funnel at once before it starts to overflow... unless you get a funnel that has a wider neck at the bottom. Now you can pour faster since more oil will exit the funnel at a faster rate.
Look at your wall plates where the receivers are attached to the wall and look in the center of that metal barrel. It should be blue. If it is clear, or white, you have low frequency barrels. There are probably other barrels in your system, but if they didn't change out those wall plate barrels (or the whole wall plate) that is usually an indication that they didn't bother changing out ANY barrels in your system, and is a very likely cause of some of your issues.
The local NBC affiliate announced that "The Office" and "ER" on Thursday night had broadcast problems so they rebroadcast them both Sunday night. However, I'm still having the audio and pixilation problems every day on different channels. I'll call the contract installer (L.C. Communications) and tell them about all the possible solutions in the above replies to my original posting. Hopefully, they can figure out the problem. It's good to know we are not the only DISH Customers in Sacramento experiencing these problems.
The color of the inside of barrels isn't always as clear as you are indicating. The clear ones are a problem in all cases. It is a hard plastic and not a foam insulation. Now here is the rub there are some white units that will work fine due to the fact that they are an air filled foam the same as the blue ones that you mention. But in case one is in doubt of a white one chunk it they are cheap. The color blue for the HI-freq units is a recent addition to make it easier to tell the difference.
Here's an interesting note for all those on the west coast with ABC problems. Apparently, there is a problem with the primetime west coast feed and it affects OTA and signal providers.
Problems with ABC HD picture quality on the West Coast? - Page 2 - AVS Forum
Problems with ABC HD picture quality on the West Coast? - Page 2 - AVS Forum
Ohhhhh man.... good luck. You said the "L" word.
In Sacramento area you might get a DNS technician... the area is serviced by two DNS offices as well as contractors.
