Off air antenna with dish dvr 622

[griz_fan]

I live north of Jackson TN and I have lost my distants. I'm taking advantage of the free antenna from DISH. I have a 625. Will I be able to plug the antenna into the 625 as you can with the 622?

I thought the antenna thing only worked on HD receivers that were able to decode the OTA digital signal. I'm about 99% certain that the 625 can only tune in Dish satellite signals, and only SD signals. The 622 has a built-in ATSC tuner, which allows it to tune OTA digital, but with the 625, you'll be out of luck.

 

[griz_fan]

We went out and bought an indoor antenna just to see what would happen. We were able to pick up 2 good stations and 2 with fuzz. We may need a better indoor antenna but this was just a try out! We tried to put it in the antenna of the satellite and didn't pick up anything. When we put it through the tv we received the channels. I am not sure what we are doing wrong. I read the one post that said it could be done. We will have to do some fiddling I guess.

If you are seeing "snow" or fuzz on the stations, you are not tuning in digital stations. Digital stations are all or nothing. Either you're getting a great picture, or it is breaking up before it disappears. It almost sounds like you were watching analog broadcasts.

So... On to the bad news, and yes, it does suck. First, since your 622 can only tune in DIGITAL broadcasts, that list of channels from antennweb.org narrows considerably. If you go back to antennaweb.org and enter your address again to see the results, you'll notice a radio button option to only show digital channels. When you do that, you are now down to only two choices:

yellow - uhf WYDC-DT 48.1 FOX CORNING NY 24° 1.7 50
red - vhf WETM-DT 18.1 NBC ELMIRA NY 115° 9.1 2

To complicate matters, one channel is UHF, but your NBC affiliate is VHF, virtual channel 18.1 and physical channel 2! Channel 2 is a nasty pain to tune in. The broadcast towers are also in different directions, but both are pretty close. Depending on where you live, the FOX tower may be too close.

In any event, there are a lot of elements working against you. An indoor antenna probably won't work well, especially for NBC. And, even after you get it all done, there are only 2 digital channels in your area, according to antennaweb.org.

Are there any other nearby towns with TV stations? Maybe you can tune in those digital channels with a larger outdoor antenna. Also, check out the AVS forums website. they have a section dedicated to local TV reception, maybe you can find others in your area with some more advice.

 

[navychop]

mlburks

Please reread my post #18.

The 625 is not an ATSC receiver: "it will feed the analog signal to your TV just like the TV had the antenna directly connected" - it will not tune the channels, it will pass them. There will be some degradation of the signal, but this is usually not significant. The advantage of putting the OTA antenna on the 625 (rear panel, input labeled "TV antenna/cable IN") is that you only need one line feeding your TV. "(Y)ou will NOT be able to record the analog OTA signals on the DVR, since the signal is analog, not digital- it only records satellite digital signals."

Are you connecting the 625 to the TV with coax, from the output labeled "TV CH 3-4 out?" Since you have a 625 and not a ViP622, I assume you are trying to receive analog (NTSC) OTA stations, not digital (ATSC) stations, and that you have an analog and not a digital TV. Please correct me if I misunderstand your plans. I have my 721 connected in this manner- antenna to 721 to NTSC OTA DVR to TV. Cuts down on cables and minimizes switching inputs.

I you want to record OTA to the 625, or convert ATSC signals to NTSC to watch on an old analog TV, you need a ViP622, not a 625.

 

[bhelms]

In my experience, the tuner in my TV (both analog and digital) is superior to the tuners in both my 622 (digital only) and 811. If you have a tuner in your TV, you might also find that it is better for OTA digital signals...

 

[oljim]

Why hook a ant to a 625, hook ant to TV, the 625 should not be hooked to tv with coax anyway. You should use a/v cable or S cable

 

[navychop]

Reduced number of cables. No need to switch between "TV in" "video 1" "aux in" etc on the TV set, which might not support those anyway- how old is the TV, does it have more than just coax in, etc. Lot's of things we don't know. Just trying to be generic, and many people prefer to just change channels than inputs. I know- but he's new at this.

 

[RockinRight]

In my experience, the tuner in my TV (both analog and digital) is superior to the tuners in both my 622 (digital only) and 811. If you have a tuner in your TV, you might also find that it is better for OTA digital signals...

May be true, but if you do it that way, no DVR of OTA locals. Plus, it's a pain to switch back and forth, I'd rather have everything right there under the same interface between local and satellite.

 

[bhelms]

Agreed - but there are digital channels that my Sony receives that I can't even get on the 622, and the ones that the 622 gets are more stable on the Sony. YMMV. In my case it's because I'm in a fringe area and on the wrong side of the ridge from most of the towers I'm trying to receive. I envy those that have a bunch of close, stable OTA stations and can connect everything through their 622! I don't want to split the OTA cable (yet) so I made it very easy to swap it between the two units...

 

[MLBurks]

My TV is a 32" CRT and my 625 is hooked up via the S cable. If I can hook up the antenna to the receiver so I can get it through one input instead of switching inputs that would be great. If not, that's life

 

[kayefpee]

Hi all! Maybe this isn't quite the right spot, but I do have a 622 and am just now experimenting with OTA signal. Yesterday an installer came out to my place and sure enough I can get one channel (with three sub channels) off a UHF from a tower 30 miles away in Marquette, MI. However, in the brief time I was testing I noticed I'm getting pillars (left and right bars) and letterbox for SD daytime television on my Sony 32" 4:3 CRT, which is supposed to compress scan lines for HD. I have HD programming from Dishnetwork and have my 622 configured to 4:3 #2 (for TVs that compress) and 480p; 720p and 1080i work with 4:3#1 (non-compressed), but my SD programming is stretched or squashed, and the menus are compressed into the letterbox size. When I have it set to 4:3 #2 and 480p, the menus are in the 4:3 space and everything, HD and SD, work fine.

My question, before I invest hundred$ into a UHF antenna, is this correctable or something that is typical, particularly for SD subchannel broadcasts? Guess I had better call the broadcaster. Funny, but the other two subchannels (NBC Weather and The Tube) don't have the same problem and show full screen in 4:3.

The installer guessed that the situation may change when the broadcaster transmits HD, at which time, the other two subchannels may go away. Any ideas, including "start a new thread"?

Oh by the way, no program guide, at least for the short time I had a signal.

 

[gdarwin]

How do you have the 622 connected to the Sony?

 

[kayefpee]

How do you have the 622 connected to the Sony?

They're connected by HDMI now. They were connected by component. It had the same problem and required settings with component as HDMI for SD and HD off-satellite viewing. I have not had a chance to test the pillar box problem with OTA setup with component yet.

I did save a recorded program from OTA (daytime, non-HD) which I have replayed repeatedly at different HD setups using the 622 because of the pillarbox and letterbox (i.e., both) problem. There is only one menu setup choice on my TV, Sony KV-32HS510 (32" 4:3); the TV's "16:9 Enhanced" mode is set to Auto (when it's set to On, it's overly compressed on HD).

 

[MLBurks]

mlburks

Please reread my post #18.

The 625 is not an ATSC receiver: "it will feed the analog signal to your TV just like the TV had the antenna directly connected" - it will not tune the channels, it will pass them. There will be some degradation of the signal, but this is usually not significant. The advantage of putting the OTA antenna on the 625 (rear panel, input labeled "TV antenna/cable IN") is that you only need one line feeding your TV. "(Y)ou will NOT be able to record the analog OTA signals on the DVR, since the signal is analog, not digital- it only records satellite digital signals."

You were right. They came and hooked the "roof antenna" straight onto the dish on my roof making my dish look like a sort of Batmobile. It plugs straight into my TV. So I have to hit the input button to see those channels. And in my case that means one channel with many ghosts dancing on the screen. So I go from the S-Video hook up with DISH channels (great quality) to the same quality I had back in the 80's dancing with TV ghosts on one leg with rabbit ears.

 

[Jordan420]

I have Dish network with a 622 dvr and I have lost my distance network channels and I am not in an area to get local channels through Dish. When I go to All American Direct or to DirectTv to see if I qualify to get distant networks from them they say that I can get the signal using an antenna so I wouldn't qualify. So I feel the antenna is my only choice. (I do not have cable offered in my area) I am not familiar with antennas and I wondered if anyone had suggestions what to look for or what are the best. I am not sure if an inside or outside is better. My other question is it looks like I hook the antenna up to the 622 dvr receiver. Can I use the dvr to record the off antenna channels that I pick up? I wondered if anyone has gone with this option. I am not sure if I trust Dish to hook up the free antenna that they are offering. Thanks for your feedback and help.

Have you gone over to AVS like I recommended in post #9?
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showpost.php?p=743419&postcount=9

Please do some research before you waste any more $$$