MPLS/STP Locals - Picture Problems

[Mike_H]

Anyone else with Minneapolis/St. Paul glitching this week? Dish lost the locals for about 30 minutes on monday and ever since they have been back I've noticed screen/audio glitches intermittantly on only the local channels. No problem on Discovery or TLC. But problems on WCCO, KMSP, KSTP, KTCA.

If you notice this, call dish at 1-800-333-DISH and let them know. I've called but they don't have any other issues in their database.

This is for the 110 bird, Spot Beam Transponder 8. I've got a 125 (max scale) signal. I've pulled the plugs to power cycle. I've pulled and re-inserted the smart cards, and I've run check switch. The problem persists on my 2800, 4900, and PVR501. My thought is it's on Dish's end, not mine.

 

[ken]

YES, I have had my Mpls locals breaking up for about a week now. The audio has also been breaking up. This appears to have started about the time 116 came out (big suprise). Another problem with 116 is that my PIP is screwed up when two timers fire, no prompt screen shows up and then the PIP goes black. Can not get the PIP to work again without rebooting. (Thanks DISH)

 

[Mr Tony]

The only channel I noticed it was wacky on was UPN29 (last nite during SmackDown)..The picture would freeze up, but the sound was fine. This was on my 301 & 5000. I watched FOX9 for the 9PM news, and there wasnt any issues.

I'll have to check tonight when I get home.

 

[Mike_H]

My 16 year old was watching UPN on our 2800 and the problems were very noticable. On the 501 and the 4900, the issue seems to be handled better. Whatever the issue is, it doesn't seem to last long enough for the receiver to error. Since it happens on all receivers, I don't think it's software version related.

This weekend I'll probably go out to the ground block and reseat all of the Coax connections, just to be sure. But since this seems isolated to the locals, I can't image a poor connection could be causing it on my side. Ya never know.

 

[ken]

I don't think its a hardware problem but it could be they are starting to compress the signals too much. My guess is they will squeeze all they can get out of the bandwidth they are using for our locals. I would be curious what kind of local signal the other cities on our spot beam are getting. Hey DISH listen up, we still have cable to fall back on.

 

[Mr Tony]

I don't think its a hardware problem but it could be they are starting to compress the signals too much. My guess is they will squeeze all they can get out of the bandwidth they are using for our locals. I would be curious what kind of local signal the other cities on our spot beam are getting. Hey DISH listen up, we still have cable to fall back on.

Ken
All the Mpls channels are on one spotbeam (TP 8 on 110..only channels on there)
KTCA 2
WCCO 4
KSTP 5
KMSP 9
KARE 11
KTCI 17
KMWB 23
WFTC 29
KSTC 45

Since the max channels per transponder is 12, they really arent squeezing anything yet. When they put Duluth up in January (praying they do ) on Dish500, there is only 5 channels they need to put up
KDLH CBS 3
KBJR NBC 6
WDSE PBS 8
WDIO ABC 10
KQDS FOX 21
No WB (Cable only) or UPN (Digital subchannel off ch 6)

So they probably will max out that transponder in January (they'll put 3 on one transponder and the other 2 on an another)

I havent seen any problems tonight...signal of 122 on it.

 

[ken]

Iceberg, do you know if they have been testing Duluth in the past week, could be the problem.

 

[Mr Tony]

I checked lyngsat.com, and the only things showing up on TP8 are the Mpls locals, so I don't think they are testing them.

Heck, Charlie has had Duluth on & off the list as "coming soon" for about 9 months now, so anything is possible

but I would hazard a guess as no, they arent testing Duluth.

 

[Mike_H]

Well, the phone call must have got movement as it was fine all through the Vikes Game today and my kids said it was fine during the early part of the day as well.

The channels are as good as they get as far as quality. I noticed no issues with motion, and the detail was the typical sufficient during the CBS broadcasted football game.

This continues my experience with Dish in that if you report a picture quality problem, they investigate and resolve if they can quickly

 

[ken]

Well, it may or may not have cleared up but last night my 721 started to crash again when back to back timers fired. If its not one thing its another.