DISH Rocks Again

[DISH_NC]

So, I went through the problems with my DISH 3900 to ViP211k upgrade last week and finally received the 211K yesterday and got around to activating it with the CSR today.

While activating it, I was commenting how the regular ViP211 was able to receive over 24 Digital channels on the OTA tuner from my Attic antenna but the same connection to my ViP622 only was lucky to get one channel and the signal strength was Poor.

She offered to replace the 622 right then and there and the replacement 622 will arrive Monday.

I must admit, DISH does come through for me.

I just wanted to post this given the fact that most posts on forums share the negative experiences and not the positives. 12 Years with DISH this summer and counting.....

 

[CowboyDren]

Don't hold your breath on the new 622. The OTA bits in the 622 & 722 are weak. I hear that the 722K is at least as good as the 211 if not better, and I'd bet that the 612 is in the same league. Very good to hear your good fortune, though!

 

[Rey]

i have found the ota tuners for the vip series to be better that the ones for directv HR series. but it's good to hear a positive story. hope all goes well friend. enjoy!

 

[Fiveft20in]

Don't hold your breath on the new 622. The OTA bits in the 622 & 722 are weak. I hear that the 722K is at least as good as the 211 if not better, and I'd bet that the 612 is in the same league. Very home to hear your good fortune, though!

I'm in a fringe area and the OTA is better on my 722 than it is on my Pioneer Elite Kuro.

 

[DISH_NC]

Don't hold your breath on the new 622. The OTA bits in the 622 & 722 are weak. I hear that the 722K is at least as good as the 211 if not better, and I'd bet that the 612 is in the same league. Very home to hear your good fortune, though!

Yeah - I am on my 4th ViP622 over the years.. It's been hit and miss on the OTA as well as HDMI - hopefully I won't take a step backwards on the HDMI with the Refurb that will surely arrive.

I'm sure DISH doesn't test the OTA when they refurb the units.

 

[jscud]

i have found the ota tuners for the vip series to be better that the ones for directv HR series. but it's good to hear a positive story. hope all goes well friend. enjoy!

Is the OTA tuner in the VIP211K any better than the one in the original VIP211?

John

 

[DISH_NC]

Having had both the ViP211 (for about a week) and now the 211K, the OTA Tuners appear to be about the same with respect to Sensitivity... The 211 found a total of 20 Digital channels (including all subchannels) and the 211K found 24. The additional Station (and it's subchannels) is a weak one anyways so I don't fault the receiver. My SONY TV's ATSC tuner didn't even receive as many channels as the 211 or 211K.

 

[zim2dive]

So, I went through the problems with my DISH 3900 to ViP211k upgrade last week and finally received the 211K yesterday and got around to activating it with the CSR today.

While activating it, I was commenting how the regular ViP211 was able to receive over 24 Digital channels on the OTA tuner from my Attic antenna but the same connection to my ViP622 only was lucky to get one channel and the signal strength was Poor..

I get ~20 CHs, most with good signal using a CM4228 in the attic, pointed at the towers down in Clayton. Ch 5 is currently flaky (as they are on low power), and Ch 4 PBS, since they come from the other direction.

so the 211 might be _better_, but I've had good enough results with my 622 and never found a reason to complain about its OTA ability.

 

[CowboyDren]

I have a pretty early-production 722 attached to a homebuilt clone of an Antennas Direct DB4 in the attic. According to TVFool.com, channels 34 and 42 are pretty close in distance and power output, but my 722 gets 100% signal from 34 most of the time, while 42 is pretty shaky at barely over 70%. If there's any wind at all, 42 will drop to 68% or lower, and the 722 puts up a message that the signal has been lost. More annoying than broken NBC OTA recordings (which is why I use the Sat HD feed) is that the "lost signal (OTA)" message gets wrongly interpreted as a "lost signal (129W)" message, interrupting WHATEVER I'm watching, live OR from the DVR.

Hopefully, when channel 42 shuts off the analog signal, the power will go up significantly, from 68.3/-22.5 to 75.1/-15.7, or am I reading the chart wrong? I'm not waiting for the FCC, though; I'm ordering a 722K as soon as I can. Plus, it comes with the spiffy 21.0 remote!

 

[navychop]

Don't hold your breath on the new 622. The OTA bits in the 622 & 722 are weak. I hear that the 722K is at least as good as the 211 if not better, and I'd bet that the 612 is in the same league. Very home to hear your good fortune, though!

That's not been my experience. Both my ViP622 and the two ViP722 units have all pulled in just as many, if not more channels, than every other ATSC tuner I have.

 

[CowboyDren]

I get the same channel count, but my ViewSonic TV's ATSC tuner is more stable on channels 42 and 18 than the 722 is. I wouldn't expect a computer monitor maker to spring for the best OTA chips on the market; I would expect somebody trying to sell me TV guide data and DVR service to.

 

[dennispap]

Good To Hear, not Home To Hear! Stupid T9 dictionary. ;-)

You can go back and edit your posts.

 

[CowboyDren]

You can go back and edit your posts.

Not on a mobile phone.

 

[bhelms]

...My SONY TV's ATSC tuner didn't even receive as many channels as the 211 or 211K.

I have just the opposite experience with my 211 and 622. Both of my Sony TV tuners are superior to either the 211 and 622 OTA tuners. I'm in a fringe area. On a day when I can't lock a particular channel on one of the receiver OTA tuners, there's a better chance that I will be able to lock it with either Sony tuner. The converse is never true in my situation...

 

[howie14]

My 211 picks up everything my Hitachi TV does, but the 211 tuner is a lot more likely to go to the "yellow message of death" if the antenna isn't precisely in the sweet spot for a given station.

The Hitachi is much more forgiving.

 

[DISH_NC]

Got the new 622 on Friday and after offloading all the remaining programs to the EHD and recording/writing down all the timers, activated the replacement 622 today.

Connected the OTA feed to the unit and it scanned 26 channels - 2 more than the 211K... The main ones are coming in with a solid 98-100 signal strength although like mentioned earlier, high winds tend to affect the digital signals greatly.

Overall, very happy now that I have 2 receiver that can get OTA....

 

[jdmacor]

My 211 picks up everything my Hitachi TV does, but the 211 tuner is a lot more likely to go to the "yellow message of death" if the antenna isn't precisely in the sweet spot for a given station.

The Hitachi is much more forgiving.

My own experience with trying to put up an OTA antenna has been frustrating; too often I am seeing the yellow message of death. I am trying a different antenna now, as I am less than 20 miles from the towers and shouldn't be having such a difficult time...

 

[DISH_NC]

I use a Channel Master 3022 (Channel Master CM 3022 Magnadyne UHF Antenna (CM3022) | CM3022 [Channel Master] | CM 3022 CM-3022 CM 4038 CM-4038 3022 CM-3022) mounted in the attic and fed down the Satellite Feed via Diplexer to the HD Receiver.

I got the antenna from a local TV station for free back in 2007 when they were giving away antennas to people with new HDTVs.

 

[KenSoren]

I agree that the 722 tuner isn't as good as the one in most sets. If you are looking for expertise and really good discussion on OTA antennas, etc, go here:

HD Over the Air (OTA) - SatelliteGuys.US