Hey DISH! Why won't my CBS OTA's load?

[SandFarmer]

I've had OTA hooked up for years mainly for situations like the CBS/DISH kurfuffle. But tonight I go to watch my CBS OTA recordings and once in the folder the blue dots just cycle and the 3 recording won't show to be selected.

WHY DISH??? I'm so tired of their games.

WAIT A MINUTE! But that's only on one HwS. The other has all the programming info listed in the OTA, recorded it and can be played. Why on one HwS and not the other? A lot of other differences since the CGUI.

PLUS all OTA recordings break up during playback. Isn't that a CGUI bug.

AND now that I have watched several OTA programs through the box, I'm seeing that the PQ is far better than DISH direct.

 

[Voyager6]

Have you tried rebooting the HWS? I've had issues with playback and a reboot usually fixes it.

 

[DWS44]

AND now that I have watched several OTA programs through the box, I'm seeing that the PQ is far better than DISH direct

PQ has almost always better via OTA than the Dish sat-provided channels. Look at it this way...watching OTA, you are getting exactly what the station is sending out. Watching via sat, Dish is getting the same signal you would be, then compressing the signal again to deliver it via satellite. The PQ loss isn't as bad these days as it used to be, but you can still see a difference.

 

[Bobby]

Do you have OTA adapters on both HWSs?

 

[KAB]

PQ has almost always better via OTA than the Dish sat-provided channels. Look at it this way...watching OTA, you are getting exactly what the station is sending out. Watching via sat, Dish is getting the same signal you would be, then compressing the signal again to deliver it via satellite. The PQ loss isn't as bad these days as it used to be, but you can still see a difference.

That could be debated. Stations with multiple sub-channels choke up bandwidth, and over compress to stuff 'em all in. I see absolutely no difference between OTA and sat with our locals. And SandFarmer, as suggested, re-boot. I have had the same problem with non CBS OTA recordings in the past.

 

[Hall]

PLUS all OTA recordings break up during playback. Isn't that a CGUI bug.

Your Hopper with Sling units are still on the old software ? Doesn't matter as the OTA issue appears to be a much "deeper" issue so whatever interface your units have has no bearing.

 

[Hall]

That could be debated. Stations with multiple sub-channels choke up bandwidth, and over compress to stuff 'em all in.

That will vary by location and how Dish receives the TV station's channels. In some markets, they do use an antenna just like regular folks do so those would be choked as they're sharing the same ~19 Mb/s bandwidth. If Dish receives the channels via 'fiber', those will be (or can be) "full" bandwidth each, before they're squeezed into that ~19 Mb/s feed.

 

[sam_gordon]

That will vary by location and how Dish receives the TV station's channels. In some markets, they do use an antenna just like regular folks do so those would be choked as they're sharing the same ~19 Mb/s bandwidth. If Dish receives the channels via 'fiber', those will be (or can be) "full" bandwidth each, before they're squeezed into that ~19 Mb/s feed.

Even if Dish gets the stations via fiber, it should still fall within the ~19Mb/s bandwidth. The fiber feeds should be getting the output of a station's encoder which is what compresses the signal. Before it's compressed, HD-SDI signals are ~1.5Gb.

 

[Hall]

I was told that the fiber feed is much higher bandwidth. Not the "raw" data (the ~1.5gb data as you say) as they compress it before it goes out via fiber, just not to the same constraint as OTA. I could have misunderstood though too.

 

[SandFarmer]

Have you tried rebooting the HWS? I've had issues with playback and a reboot usually fixes it.

Yes, thank you, I always reboot right after an update or "episode". One works halfway decent and the other is a dog.

 

[SandFarmer]

Do you have OTA adapters on both HWSs?

Yes, had them in hand a week before the installer came to do the big overhaul and install the 2 HwS's.

 

[SandFarmer]

That could be debated. Stations with multiple sub-channels choke up bandwidth, and over compress to stuff 'em all in. I see absolutely no difference between OTA and sat with our locals. And SandFarmer, as suggested, re-boot. I have had the same problem with non CBS OTA recordings in the past.

I have noticed that OTA PQ has been way better from day one of them offering OTA through their boxes. And have told DISH so many times.

I rebooted long ago after an update, which I always do after an update, started causing OTA programming to start breaking up last June.

 

[SandFarmer]

Your Hopper with Sling units are still on the old software ? Doesn't matter as the OTA issue appears to be a much "deeper" issue so whatever interface your units have has no bearing.

?

 

[SandFarmer]

UPDATE: When I shut it down my HwS and went to bed at 5:30am the guide on "my the slow glitchy" HwS still had "KCNC removed by CBS 4" on both channel lines. Now just checking at 3:47pm that only appears on the DISH channel and the OTA is as the other HwS is with programming listed. I did not touch a thing, other than a Power Cycle the other day when I first realized the problem. So one headache out of the way.

Thank you all for replying with help. We'll have to see what next pops up?

 

[sam_gordon]

I was told that the fiber feed is much higher bandwidth. Not the "raw" data (the ~1.5gb data as you say) as they compress it before it goes out via fiber, just not to the same constraint as OTA. I could have misunderstood though too.

Fiber can handle much higher bandwidth. Most of what flows around a broadcast facility is the 1.5gb data (over coax. There's now a push to start moving signals over IP, but that's still in its infancy). Before it goes to the transmitter, the individual signals (main and subchannels) go through an encoder to get it to the 19mb. That then either goes straight to the transmitter or over fiber/microwave to the transmitter. I'm sure it's technically possible for stations to have a second compressed signal to hand off to cable/sat cos, but why? If Dish is going to compress the signal down to 3mb (just guessing) anyway, why spend the money on the gear to give them a 500mb (again, just guessing at a number) signal?

I would assume those locations where the OTA signal and Dish signal are the same quality means the OTA signal is being so compressed to fit in other sub channels, Dish doesn't need to compress it any more. Oversimplifying, but it makes sense in my head.

 

[SandFarmer]

Then tonight over regular dish this popped up: "A problem was encountered when opening the file for this DVR event. Please note error code: 04." But then there were 2 identical recordings: one that would play and one that wouldn't.