OTA question

[drock85]

Hi,
I was wondering do you have to have dish locals to get guide information from your ota channels? I was planning on getting a 622 in feb. and I was going to drop my locals from dish and just use the antenna I have. If I drop the locals how do you record the ota if you don't have guide information?

 

[gdarwin]

You have to set manual timers

 

[redline65]

I have an 811 and don't subscribe to locals, and the OTA guide info shows up. Not sure if the 622 does or not.

 

[Reefer123]

I think the 811 is the only one that does as far as HD receivers go.

 

[radhog]

I think the 811 is the only one that does as far as HD receivers go.

I was told the 622 would show OTA on the guide

 

[drock85]

Oh ok. So it what does it show if you don't have dishes locals? Does it at least show if the station is abc or cbs? I know my tv ota tuner has guide information it even shows you whats coming up in the next few hours. Are you saying it won't even show that?

 

[old corps]

Oh ok. So it what does it show if you don't have dishes locals? Does it at least show if the station is abc or cbs? I know my tv ota tuner has guide information it even shows you whats coming up in the next few hours. Are you saying it won't even show that?

Unfortunately, that is correct. It will give the local station # (i.e. 4/7/12) and the call letters (i.e. WERT) and that's it. Oh, it will also say "LOCAL PROGRAMMING"--at least that's what I get on my 921 and I'm pretty sure the 622 will be the same in that respect. Sucks! Seems to me that if they aren't able to deliver HD locals to a HD subscriber they could at least provide the guide info.

 

[drock85]

I found this on the dish tech site.

Why does the program guide display "Local Programming" or "No Information" for Off Air Analog Channels?
Why does the program guide display "Local Programming" , "No Information" or "Digital Service" for Off Air Digital Channels?
A subscription to a DISH Network local package must be active on the account in order to receive programming information for off air analog and digital local channels on models 211/411, 921 and 942.

For models 5000 and JVC IRR a subscription to a DISH Network local DMA package is not required in order to view the program guide information for off air analog channels.
For models 811 and 6000u a subscription to a DISH Network local DMA package is not required in order to view the program guide information for off air analog and digital channels.

http://tech.dishnetwork.com/departmental_content/TechPortal/content/tech/techmischdtvfaq.shtml

Wonder why some of the receivers don't require the dish locals?
I hope the 622 doesn't require the dish locals.

 

[jgantert]

Looks like they updated their FAQ for the 622...

Why does the program guide display "Local Programming" or "No Information" for Off Air Analog Channels?
Why does the program guide display "Local Programming" , "No Information" or "Digital Service" for Off Air Digital Channels?
A subscription to a DISH Network local package must be active on the account in order to receive programming information for off air analog and digital local channels on models 211/411, 622, 921 and 942.

 

[DucTape]

Wonder how well it works on the new units, I know on my 921 I subscribe but the guide info rarely works anyway.

 

[psuodu]

I can verify that the 622 does not get the local information if you don't have their local package. My wife was just complaining about that. We had our install yesterday (took the place of an 811 which did provide local information). I am in the Washington DC area and the local channel information on the 811 for digital channels was pretty accurate.

Channel information is definitely missed, but not enough to pay for local channels when I pick up both DC and Baltimore locals OTA.

 

[navychop]

I have a ViP622 and an OTA antenna, so I do not subscribe to the Dish LiL. I can verify that the guide data for your local channels, under these circumstances, will say "digital service."

Last night I recorded ER using the manual timers. The method is explained in the manual. You can do it once, or weekly, etc. I've set it to record ER & DH every week. I'll never have to set it again. It'll only miss if they broadcast at a different time. AHHHH, no more commercials at all! LOVE that 30 second skip button!!!

It appears you could also press the record button and select "record thru end of event" or whatever the exact words are. It appears it would then record until 1 a.m. the next day, the end point of the program "digital service." Haven't tried it, though.

 

[rmr_in_dfw]

This issue is one of the reasons I don't want to upgrade from my 811. Although not necessary, the guide info is nice, and I don't want to pay for locals I'm not even going to use. Of course, I assume an 811 firmware update will disable this feature in a few months in an effort to encourage me to upgrade to the vip series receivers.

 

[mdonnelly]

Of course, if you do sub to locals, you'll get the digital stations (big 4 networks) from Dish on the 622/222, when they're uplinked. That should be the top 40+ markets by the end of 2006.

I keep my locals here for the 311 in my son's room, and having guide info on the 211 is a handy side effect.

If Dish hasn't disabled the local EPG on the 811s by now, I doubt that they will. The 811 will be a footnote in receiver history soon enough, since no new HD is in MPEG-2, and Dish isn't activating the old HD pack for subs who buy an 811 somewhere.

 

[waltinvt]

It amazes me why people keep bringing this up.

Ideally Dish would love you to not bother with OTA at all and subscribe to all Dish programming. They want to be able to make $$$ on anything you watch and they don't make a dime on OTA - in fact decent OTA HD is the biggest reason customers started dropping LiLs. So having that OTA tuner has actually cost Dish $$$.

If they could get away with not even including a digital OTA tuner, that's what they'd do. At some point that's probably what they will do, when they have all the HD LiLs. At that point SD & HD distants will be a thing of the past too.

 

[navychop]

I've read elsewhere that D* is moving to drop OTA tuners in future STBs. Heard anything about that?

 

[garys]

I've read elsewhere that D* is moving to drop OTA tuners in future STBs. Heard anything about that?

D* or E*?

(D* = Direct, E* = Dish)

 

[navychop]

D*