Could not get some channels on HD ota using voom dsr550

[tienquang2]

Hi guys and gals,

I have 2 Voom dsr550 recs. From Los Angeles, California - using the same Terk TV42 antenna, I could not get channel 44 (kxla) on both of my receivers. However I could not get channel 13 on one of the receiver. The other was able to pick it up. I don't know how to manually tune to pick up the channels I am suppose to get. Can someone help me with this?

Thanks...

 

[Ilya]

Welcome, tienquang2!

If you don't have that channel 13 in the list, try a new channel scan.
If you do have it in the list, check the signal strength/quality readings.

 

[tienquang2]

No 13 on one receiver, 44 on both receivers

Hi,
Thanks for responding. I have channel 13 on one of the receiver only. But it would not get any signal. I do have channel 44 (kxla) on both receivers and none of the receivers get pick up channel 44. Is there any thing else I can do?

Thanks...

 

[Cawag00]

Trying to set the record straight about OTA Voom Motorola DSR550 STBs for free HD

Hi Here's a post I put on another site. You can find channels as per below item #4. Hope this is helpful to others too.

Trying to set the record straight about OTA Voom Motorola DSR550 STBs for free HD

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Hi- this may be common knowledge to anyone who already has a VOOM Motorola DSR550 Set top box, but as I just recently bought mine from ebay and had a lot of questions, I thought I'd post them as answers. If this is off topic, sorry I am new.

I've found that the DSR 550 unit works fine for receiving at least 15 over the air stations in the Boston area (10 miles from city center) just using the cheap old tv style rabbit ears. In other words, at least some of those boxes for sale on ebay for $100 or less and WILL work as HDTV OTA tuners! Here's what's important to know:

1. The unit must have a card with it to operate (I believe it must be the original card but have no way to verify this).

2. The unit supposedly had to be activated. Mine was clearly used and was activated. I'd think twice before buying an unactivated model, but if it has a card maybe that's good enough?

3. It has RGB Component out for 1080i and DVI-D. I note that DVI-D is a different plug from DVI-I and only works with native (Digital) displays, like plasma and LCD. This means most VGA monitors are out (so much for your $25 yard sale 21"monitor turning into HDTV on the cheap!)

4. My box came from a former subscriber on the west coast. At first I thought the channels were locked by VOOM, but hitting the green setup button twice menu choices 7 - 1 - 4 get you to the station setup area.

5. My box came 'parental locked' and at first it appeared the seller had the wrong codes. It makes you wait 3 seconds between every three failed attempts at the 4 digit parental lock. That's certainly enough seconds for the parents to come home to stop the kids hacking into the naughty stations! My advice is to set your box to 0000 to provide protection from little fingers accidentally performing 'activation' from the setup menu which, I hear, kills the box.

I also have an RCA ATSC 21 full time OTA HD tuner which does output to DVI-I (analog) and is usable with my old VGA monitor for a poor mans HD TV setup. That, and the fact there's no NTSC 'SD' tuner in the voom are it's only drawbacks.

My questions: Has anyone compared the 1080i output through the Voom box's component versus the DVI-D? Here's the really silly question - is there any way to mod this box to get Free to air satellite reception?

Good luck all
Carl
Boston

Hi guys and gals,

I have 2 Voom dsr550 recs. From Los Angeles, California - using the same Terk TV42 antenna, I could not get channel 44 (kxla) on both of my receivers. However I could not get channel 13 on one of the receiver. The other was able to pick it up. I don't know how to manually tune to pick up the channels I am suppose to get. Can someone help me with this?

Thanks...

 

[lilyarbie]

Some things to add in response to your answers.....

1. The card must be the original authentic card that says "property of Cablevision" and it is made by NDS. Any other card I know of will not simply authorize the receiver for activation.

2. Yes, the receiver does have to be in an "active" state in order to decode your digital local channels from OTA.

3. It's hard to compare based on two different HD monitors I have, but I have a widescreen LCD monitor that I use for one of my computers. It's a 19-inch widescreen monitor. I tried it one time for HD back when Voom was still around, and HD News looked spectacular on this baby. The other television I've got is a 52" Pioneer CRT rear projection television. It only has two options for high definition connection:component and a D-Sub 15 plug-in which is for sending RGBHV (VGA plug in layman's terms). Since the receiver doesn't have the capability of outputting in DVI-I, I can never use this input.

4.The only time the locals were ever locked in was the time prior to local scanning was implemented into the software which was months ago. The channel maps on the receivers are no longer useful and were based on information for the program guide that was sent by satellite. Note: These receivers do have the capability of displaying PSIP information sent out from television stations in the channel guide. This feature was never turned on, but there are people out there trying to get this functioning, so people can see information on what they're watching.

5. None of the regular setup menus will kill the box. In order to kill the box, you have to go to a secret setup menu that was meant only to be used by the original Voom installers. Besides that, it takes different steps to get to the hidden menu and it you also have to punch in a specific 3-digit code to get into the menu. So, I doubt your average kid would be smart enough to get into this.

The fact that the receiver doesn't have NTSC analog decoding for OTA analog channels is not really a big deal to me. Any television will have this capability built-in. Besides that, digital will be the only way of receiving your local channels within a year or two when the FCC decision is finalized towards shutting down analog broadcasting for television stations and only broadcasting using digital RF signals. Another thing to consider is that these receivers have the capability to decode ATSC HD channels for OTA reception. It would cost you $200 or more at a retailer to get a receiver with this feature alone.

I have been interested in the fact that these receivers might have the capability of doing Free-To-Air for either DVB or DC2(Digicypher-2). I know that Ulta-tryon is trying to figure out a way to simulate a hit to receivers for those that are deactivated or have never been activated. He's also talked of enabling PSIP data for the program guide. A couple of guys and I have been in discussion of forming a new website called the "Voom Receiver Project", and I've been in touch with a guy I know of who is looking specifically into the receiver hardware for any details he can find out.

Here's the link to Ultatryon's website: http://www.ultatryon.com/
He's got a comment page on his main page or a forum that you can post in, which is more convenient.