I feel like I'm being scammed

[medrep]

Great first post I know

OK I have a dish 811, legacy top 120 + legacy HD package (only 5 channels) and an OTA for HD locals. I'm also paying for SD locals thru dish for the second room.

Up to a year ago I got all HD locals fine then all the sudden the only HD locals I can get OTA are PBS and FOX.

So I see on Dishnetwork.com with my local package I should be getting the HD feeds as well, those channels don't even show in my "allchan" or "allsub" menu's. I call dish to have them "turn it on?" and they say I have to have a new MPEG4 VIP 211 at $6/mo and order the new HD package with 15 HD channels because my 811 won't display mpeg4 locals.

But a year ago I was getting all HD channels with my OTA connected thru the 811!! So doesn't that mean the 811 displays mpeg4??

Signed..raped and confused

 

[dfergie]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys... what is your location? could it be a local stations psip problem with the locals that you are not receiving?

 

[CJPC]

Well, your locals were provided OTA (with an antenna), which you got for free. Dish (for the fee) will give you a new mpeg4 capable receiver, to receive your locals over the SATELLITE, vs over the ANTENNA.

Im sure someone can clearify it better, Im tired!

 

[medrep]

Thanks for the replies..I'm in San Antonio.

When I stopped getting the HD channels I called local CBS and the engineer actually came to the house (i wasn't there) stood in the driveway and somehow measured signal strength. He called back and said it should be fine. He DID say a few years ago they moved the tower ( I think he said ABC/CBS/NBC all use this tower) and had to go to 1/2 signal strength until Mexico approved them to go back to full strength??

But the question is why can't dish just turn on the HD locals in my menu since I know I used to get them thru the 811 and I still today get FOX and PBS?

Thanks guys I'm glad I found this site!

 

[dfergie]

Your Welcome, I hope we can help you resolve this...

 

[kb7oeb]

You can't get dish provided HD locals with an 811.

If your local HD channels are not listed in the guide you should try doing a channel scan. Push menu, then 6 then 1 then 5 and then select scan digital. If it does not find any extra stations then you probably have a problem with your antenna.

But a year ago I was getting all HD channels with my OTA connected thru the 811!! So doesn't that mean the 811 displays mpeg4??

No. Channels you pick up from an over the air antenna are and will probably be for decades in mpeg2.

 

[Poke]

You might just go ahead and upgrade your 811 to 211 that way your all up to date.

 

[seek]

In order to receive the new voom and dish hd channels you must have a mpeg 4 compliant reciever i.e 211 or 622. You will also need a dish 1000 in order to pick up these channels from the 129 bird. If your in the select hd local areas you also would be eligible for a dish 1000+ set up. This would be 22 hd channels not including hbo or showtime and or your local hd channels.

 

[griz_fan]

But a year ago I was getting all HD channels with my OTA connected thru the 811!! So doesn't that mean the 811 displays mpeg4??

Nope... That just means the 811 can receive over-the-air HD, has nothing to do with MPEG4.

But the question is why can't dish just turn on the HD locals in my menu since I know I used to get them thru the 811 and I still today get FOX and PBS?

Simple; you never "got" the HD locals through your 811. Dish didn't provide you with the networks, OTA did (unless I'm really misunderstanding your original post). Your 811 simply provided guide data and a tuner. Your problem isn't with Dish, it is with your ability to receive HD over-the-air. That can be a problem with your antenna, or the OTA tuner configuration in the 811.

You can always upgrade to a new receiver, but if you're happy with the satellite programming you can currently get with your 811, why change? I'd concentrate on fixing why you can no longer get all of your local channels over-the-air. How 'bout providing us with a ZIP code to check things out on www.antennaweb.org (or, you can check yourself). For example, what if your local PBS and FOX broadcast digitally in VHF and the rest of your local OTA digital is UHF? That might suggest that the UHF functionality on your antenna has crapped out. Things like that.
Dish isn't out to "get" you (certainly not "rape" you :yikes). There is no grand conspiracy to get you to upgrade. Chances are, its a simple problem with a simple solution. If you concentrate on the right problem, you'll get the right solution.

 

[boba]

Try unplugging the 811 from AC power to reset the receiver. It may help it definitely won't hurt. Go into the menu and rescan for your local channels.

 

[Conjuror]

In addition to HD your 811 can also receive SD OTA channels. Can you see the missing HD channels in SD? If not or if picture is not very good then you may want to readjust your antenna.

 

[medrep]

No. Channels you pick up from an over the air antenna are and will probably be for decades in mpeg2.[/quote]

Hey thanks for all the great replies, I'll try power cycling the 811 and searching for the channels again. I think the comment above is the center of my questions:

So your saying that the OTA local broadcast is compressed MPEG2 but I don't understand how the SAME broadcast gets to dish and all the sudden it's compressed in MPEG4 and I need a new reciever to view it? I get that the 811 can't display MPEG4 I just dont get how the same broadcast got to MPEG4

If it's true I really need a 211 I don't mind getting one, I just needed to verify this wasn't a line from dish to get me pay more installation/lease fees and sign a new 18 month contract.

Thanks again for all your advice!

 

[Poke]

Well its always better to be on the newer receivers and I would think you could do a upgrade. Just a swap out of your 811 to a 211 so just send the a E-mail and they should be able to get you taken care of..

 

[medrep]

Well its always better to be on the newer receivers and I would think you could do a upgrade. Just a swap out of your 811 to a 211 so just send the a E-mail and they should be able to get you taken care of..

thank you but that still does not explain why i need to upgrade. how come when i get HD locals OTA its mpeg 2 but all the sudden if I want it thru dish the SAME FEED is all the sudden mpeg4. I'm sure my local affiliates dont send an mpeg2 feed OTA locally and an mpeg4 feed to dish??

or am i just not getting it?

 

[dgordo]

Because dish is getting the feeds from your local stations in mpeg2 and converting it to mpeg4 to redistribute the feed through the dish. They do this because mpeg4 uses less bandwith.

 

[Poke]

Well everyone should upgrade due to everything at some point will be MPEG4 and there will be somethings you will not be able to get untill you get on a MPEG4 receiver.

 

[mdonnelly]

...He DID say a few years ago they moved the tower ( I think he said ABC/CBS/NBC all use this tower)...

I think this is the root of your problem. Is the new tower in a different direction than the old one was, relative to your house? A few degrees can make a big difference in digital signal reception. Find out where the tower is, repoint your antenna, and try scanning for digitals again.

Assuming you're less than 20 miles from the tower (San Antonio is pretty flat terrain), you'll get a lot more local digital stations with the OTA antenna and an 811 than you will with a 211 without an OTA antenna.

 

[medrep]

Thanks again for all the responses. I have power cycled the 811, rescanned for channels, and confirmed direction of the OTA (the big 4 are all at 139-140). I don't think they moved the tower far I actually think he told me in yards. I also checked analog OTA channels and got 28 (vs 8 digital) but they were all grainy.

When I was getting all digital channels I had that big ass outdoor one in the attic. WHen they stopped I bought a little terk powered one that is outside and it worked for a few days then back to just FOX and PBS. The only thing I'm not sure is antennaweb.org said i need yellow and green OTA, not sure what I bought.

So with all this frustration I'm back at looking at locals thru dish. THANK YOU for explaining that dish reincodes the local signal to mpeg4, that was the piece I was missing. THe bottom line is with the metallic package, HD package, local package, and 211 lease (and I return an old 811) it onlly comes to $5 more a month and I get all the VOOM channels. I guess I just wont get local sports in HD but hey I'm not getting them now except FOX

You guys are great.

 

[lakebum431]

What local sports are you talking about? You will get anything that you previously got OTA assuming they are on the big 4 networks.

 

[medrep]

i thought i read in another thread here the cable companies own the local networks or something so basically i wouldnt get the cowboys games for example thru dish hd locals?