OTA Guide Info
- Thread starter Hawkeyee
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Yes, it does give you a guide for the OTA stations you receive. Unfortunately not all stations are broadcasting the program material so the OTA guide in the 811 usually shows no information. You say you're getting an 811 so I will assume you are subscribing to Dish now. IF you do and you get your locals on Dish then the 811 allows you to mix your locals with the OTA guide and you can then see what is on the Dish provided version of your locals. It kinda sorta works but not correctly. 
Mike
Mike
What Dish provides with the 811 is it allows you to place the Guide information for the locals next ot the OTA channels so you can see them. This was added with the last release. A later release will have the Guide info contained within the OTA channel itself. The current mechanism was a quick fix (i.e. Hack) with a more robust fix (i.e. elegent solution) coming.
Not sure about the time frame. Hopefully July is correct.
Not sure about the time frame. Hopefully July is correct.
mike1002 said:
Mike - Which 811 do you have?
Hawkeye - The 811 that everyone else has does not have OTA guide info. It is rumored to be in the works for sometime this summer. But, I wouldn't set my clock by their software update promises.
If you pay the $5-6/month for satellite locals, you can set the guide so they sit next to the OTA channels. But, the OTA channels themselves all say "Local Digital Programming" with no 30 minute blocks. So, you can't even use the VCR timers to record OTA, unless you set them manually. (Oh yeah. The VCR timers don't work if you power off the 811. Another fabulous feature.)
Of course, you can record from the satellite locals, but they look so grainy and fuzzy compared to OTA, due to over-compression, that you'll prefer using OTA, even for non-HD viewing/recording.
Finally, many local OTA digital stations air different programming than their analog counterparts, so the Dish local guide info won't even help you in those instances. (That is the case with at least two stations in my area, KQED-HD 9.1 and KRON-HD 4.1.)
811
I have no idea what 811 I am getting. They are installing Dish tomorrow for the first time, I just know with my Direct TV and voom receivers, I always had the OTA guide info of what was on. I also did not even subsribe for the locals had no need with the ota.
I have no idea what 811 I am getting. They are installing Dish tomorrow for the first time, I just know with my Direct TV and voom receivers, I always had the OTA guide info of what was on. I also did not even subsribe for the locals had no need with the ota.
Hawkeye - There's only one 811. (I was being a smartass with Mike.) And, that one 811 does not have OTA guide info for your OTA channels.
Thanks Wee Java Dude. That is what I was trying (apparently not with much success) to say. There IS a Guide (of not much use at this point in time) but when laid next to the Dish provided locals can give you an idea of what is on at that time. No one said anything about timers working. I don't use the timers on a receiver anyway that's what my 508 is for. The point I was making was that there IS a guide and at 'some time in the future' it will work. And yes, I know that some channels don't line up with the locals guides. For example the PBS-HD channel is totally different from the local PBS channel.
Thats what gets daunting in some of these forums. When you say something you have to think of all the ways someone can find fault with what you say. I will retire back to lurker's mode now.
Thats what gets daunting in some of these forums. When you say something you have to think of all the ways someone can find fault with what you say. I will retire back to lurker's mode now.
mike1002 said:Thanks Wee Java Dude. That is what I was trying (apparently not with much success) to say. There IS a Guide (of not much use at this point in time) but when laid next to the Dish provided locals can give you an idea of what is on at that time. No one said anything about timers working. I don't use the timers on a receiver anyway that's what my 508 is for. The point I was making was that there IS a guide and at 'some time in the future' it will work. And yes, I know that some channels don't line up with the locals guides. For example the PBS-HD channel is totally different from the local PBS channel.
Thats what gets daunting in some of these forums. When you say something you have to think of all the ways someone can find fault with what you say. I will retire back to lurker's mode now.
Don't worry Mike.. The OTA EPG LOCAL GUIDE MAPPING issue is a real hot button for Gary.
Since I hardly ever use the 811 anymore, there are no "hot buttons". However, lack of OTA guide info is important and a big disappointment, as are about 3 other 811 bugs/deficiencies.
Remember, the guy originally asked if the 811 had OTA program guide info like that of his DirecTV and Voom receivers. The correct answer to that specific question is "as of now, no, it does not". The workaround described by Mike and WJD is a weak substitute at best. (Like saying fat-free sugar-free frozen yogurt is as good as real ice cream.)
Doesn't anybody else find it somewhat annoying that Dish hasn't been able to impliment it, even though DirecTV has been doing it for years, and newborn Voom can do it?
Hopefully, Dish will finally have it up and running this summer.
Remember, the guy originally asked if the 811 had OTA program guide info like that of his DirecTV and Voom receivers. The correct answer to that specific question is "as of now, no, it does not". The workaround described by Mike and WJD is a weak substitute at best. (Like saying fat-free sugar-free frozen yogurt is as good as real ice cream.)
Doesn't anybody else find it somewhat annoying that Dish hasn't been able to impliment it, even though DirecTV has been doing it for years, and newborn Voom can do it?
Hopefully, Dish will finally have it up and running this summer.
SatinKzo said:
It was mentioned on the Last Technical Chat as coming down the pipe. If you are looking for an official road map, I don't think you will find one. I have never seen a road map for any Sat/Cable company in terms of software fixes.
bjohn said:
Well my guess is even with the Local Guide OTA migration enhancement you will not get guide information if you don't subscribe to locals. Just a guess, but my understanding is that there will be some form of mapping that will occur. Not sure if this will be a manual process or automatic, but it will require local data to map to. Do you have local data displayed on your EPG somewhere?
Since I have not seen this feature this is pure speculation on how I would expect it to work. I could totally be off base here, but my gut reaction would be you have to have locals on Dish for this to work.
GaryPen said:
That is why I called it a Hack and my dig was a playful poke because I know this is on the top of your list.
See I do have a sense of humor. Rather sucky one but one non the less. Humor usually does not transfer well on typed media though.
It's actually not at the top. The "acquiring signal", "downloading guide info", and "disappearing captions" are probably above it. However, it does come before "OTA channel recall" not working.
BTW, I have a headache. Nothing is funny today.
BTW, I have a headache. Nothing is funny today.
GaryPen said:
Well I am glad you got your bug priorities straight.
Sorry to hear about the headache. Are you still seeing the download guide info other than when you hit an acquiring signal first? I only get the download guide info when I get the acquiring signal first. I have not seen a downloading guide info alone since the last update. As to the acquiring signal issue. This one has me rather perplexed. It was thought that it only happens when sitting on an OTA channel for a long time but I have seen it when on a Dish network channel and I believe also at times when I am channel surfing. This one would be at the top of my list.
That and the darkness issues.
I get the "downloading info" after it does its "acquiring signal", the same as you. But, I also get it if I go to the guide after not having gone to the guide in a while. (This is common for me, as I sometimes go a couple of days without using the 811.)
However, I have only gotten the "acquiring signal", when going to the guide directly from an OTA channel. Also, IIRC, I have to have been in OTA mode for at least 20-30 minutes first.
I also have the guide-related bug wherein the guide goes nuts and begins the download again, if I scroll down immediately after a download. Have you seen that on yours? (Scrolling up is OK.)
However, I have only gotten the "acquiring signal", when going to the guide directly from an OTA channel. Also, IIRC, I have to have been in OTA mode for at least 20-30 minutes first.
I also have the guide-related bug wherein the guide goes nuts and begins the download again, if I scroll down immediately after a download. Have you seen that on yours? (Scrolling up is OK.)
Do you leave your 811 unplugged or plugged in and connect to the Dish? Maybe the guide info is trigged with use and if you were using it on a daily basis this would not happen. For me I have only seen it after the acquiring signal. (Longest running bug on the 6000/811)GaryPen said:
Hmm I will have to pay more attention to this one to see if what I believe is true really is. I could have sworn in a few cases it was not related to camping on an OTA for a while. This seems to be exactly how I remember the 6000 behaving for me. The 811 has been rock solid for me since the last update. No more soft reboots.GaryPen said:
Never seen this. I did before the last update where it went in a infinite loop. 266 seems to have fixed that one for me. Thank goodness it was very annoying and required soft reboot. However, I never got the acquiring signal issue so it makes me feel that this bug made the other one go away.GaryPen said:
Possibility.
