Continuing and really annoying HD issues

[mcullison]

Tech stuff first:
722 DVR
Program package: America's Everything, HD250, Dish Platinum

Here's the problem(s)

Basically, what happened three years ago with DirecTV that caused me to switch to Dish is now happening with Dish. It started with the baseball playoffs on TBS HD (exactly what happened w/ DirecTV). Basically, I was unable to watch the playoff games on TBS HD. All I got was blurred digital artifacts. Now and then the game would pop in, but it wouldn't last long.

I called Dish and they sent a tech out to look at the dish and so forth--he never came in the house. Said the alignment was a little off but was fixed. There was also a possible issue with an oak tree nearby, which I took care of, cutting off a lot of branches to make a big hole for the dish. Why they didn't just move the dish five or ten feet to obviate the tree issue is beyond me, but that's what happened.

The fix sort of worked, but by then the games were on Fox as well as TBS. But I found I had the same problems with my Fox HD local--and other local HDs. It comes and goes. Some nights I'll be able to record my shows without much breakup, but other nights I'm left with shows that are basically unwatchable.

The odd thing is the digital artifacts I'm seeing. More than once I turned on a channel and saw frames from another channel or another show. Really weird. Which led me to wonder if there's not something wrong with the memory buffer in the DVR.

I managed to limp through the World Series, but there were times I had to watch it in SD, which is like not watching it at all. And I'm seeing the problem crop up occasionally on channels (ESPN HD, Foxnews HD) that never showed any trouble at all.

Truth be told, if a reasonable cable alternative were available I'd take it. But I live in the boonies and the local cable company is small and offers very little HD programming.

Any ideas?

 

[skyviewmark]

Sounds to me like more tree cutting is needed.. Cutting a few branches doesn't alway do the trick.. All it takes is the wind to blow a branch in front of the dish view to cause the artifacting.. As to moving the dish to another location, who knows.. Most good tech will put it where it will work the best.. Sometimes the trees are just too much.. By the way, the Dish looks in a different direction than most people expect it too.. And has to see 3 satellites which needs a pretty good size hole..

 

[mcullison]

Seems a no brainer that it would be easier to move the dish than to keep cutting the tree. I took a really large whack at it just where the tech said to, but that's it. It's a 25' oak tree and I'm not about to cut it down. There's plenty of room along that side of the house to move the dish. I think the problem is with one particular bird, because the problem is mostly limited to local HDs and others like TBS HD, MLB Network, etc. I believe they're all on the same bird.

 

[ZachS@DISH]

Seems a no brainer that it would be easier to move the dish than to keep cutting the tree. I took a really large whack at it just where the tech said to, but that's it. It's a 25' oak tree and I'm not about to cut it down. There's plenty of room along that side of the house to move the dish. I think the problem is with one particular bird, because the problem is mostly limited to local HDs and others like TBS HD, MLB Network, etc. I believe they're all on the same bird.

If you want to PM me your account number we can go about setting up for someone to come move the DISH.

 

[JimK2]

How is the signal strength on the TBS Transponder 18 on the 129 satellite.
I had low signal strength on 129 and would have problems ervery night when
the coastal fog moved in. I had to move to 2 dishes setup because of trees
seperated the dishes about 20 feet and get ~55 on 129 now.


Tune to channel 139 then press menu > 6 > 1 > 1
It will work ~14-20 but there no margin for rain fog smog
and for a safety margin from rain fade should have signal strength 30-50

 

[mcullison]

Okay, I checked channel 139 (which is artifacting very badly right now) and got a signal strength of 23-25. It said locked but no name acquired, whatever that means.

 

[skyviewmark]

I wish you luck.. Sometimes a lazy tech will not search for the best spot to put a dish.. But due to the need to see all 3 sats, sometime you just can't always get them all in if you have lots of trees.. Moving your Dish may solve the problem. Or it may just move the problem to a different bird.. As a tech doing this since the 80's I never would have left your house without either putting it in a spot that worked, or explaining to you what the problems were with the trees and giving you the option to accept that you would have problems.. Please let us know how this turns out for you..

 

[mcullison]

Dish fixed my signal strength and other problems and I didn't even have to cut down my oak tree.

First, they gave me a brand new dish and moved it from its old location out into the yard and mounted it on a pole. It now has a clear view of the horizon.

But that turned out to be the least of the troubles. The tech was getting SD signals in the 60-70 range and 40-50 HD signals out at the dish. But when we checked signal strength on the receiver (VIP722), the SDs were in the 40s and the HDs in the 20s, which is where they were when the tree was supposedly blocking the dish.

He's already installed new feed line and a new switch and triplexes, so he was pretty sure the problem was the 722. He unhooked the feed like before it hit the triplexes and the readings were as solid as they were at the dish. So the 722 was doing something bad. He didn't have one with him, but promised to come back the next day with a 722K. So early Sunday afternoon he came back with the new receiver and I'm back in HD heaven. SD signals between 60-70 and HD from 40-50.

So thanks to ZachS from Dish and all of you. Technology is a joy when it works, but a real bummer when it doesn't. I went an entire weekend without Internet service and spotty HDTV. Now both are working and life is good.

Now if I can only get my external hard drive to work with the new receiver it'll be hunky dory.

 

[Tampa8]

Should just take a call to a CSR (but highly recommend to continue to use the DIRT team here) and they will give your account the hit to allow the receiver to use the EHD.

I had a 508 receiver many years ago that was found to be the problem when I couldn't get the 119 satellite. Everything else was looked at, replaced, etc.... till there was nothing else to check but the receiver. It would see any other sat, but for some reason not 119.

 

[the mack]

you should not need to contact dish to get the HDD working on the 722k....I just plugged in the external drive and let the 722k format it and was good to go.....

what drive are you trying to use?