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?
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?
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