over-the-air channels not in TV2 program guide

[fxedit]

Q1. In Los Angeles I have a Dish HD VIP 722 DVR. I get over-the-air channels on TV1 which appear with a yellow graphic background in the program guide. The over-the-air channels do not appear on the TV2 program guide. What do I need to do to get them on TV2? (TV2 is SD.)

Q2. I also have a Dish DTV-Pal (on a 3rd TV), using the same over-the-air antenna feed as the 722. The DTV-Pal receives over-the-air channel 18-05 perfectly with signal strength of 90. On the 722 channel 18-05 is always digital strength 0 (zero) "signal has been lost." Why can't I get 18-05 on the 722? Thank you!

 

[jscud]

Q1. In Los Angeles I have a Dish HD VIP 722 DVR. I get over-the-air channels on TV1 which appear with a yellow graphic background in the program guide. The over-the-air channels do not appear on the TV2 program guide. What do I need to do to get them on TV2? (TV2 is SD.)

Q2. I also have a Dish DTV-Pal (on a 3rd TV), using the same over-the-air antenna feed as the 722. The DTV-Pal receives over-the-air channel 18-05 perfectly with signal strength of 90. On the 722 channel 18-05 is always digital strength 0 (zero) "signal has been lost." Why can't I get 18-05 on the 722? Thank you!

Q1 The 722 can not receive OTA on TV2 unless you are in Single Tuner Mode. You would have to have a 722k to receive OTA on TV2 while still in Dual Tuner Mode. And yes, TV2 is only SD with any VIP receiver.

Q2 The DTV-Pal has a better OTA tuner than any of the VIP receivers. I have the same problem with my VIP222. BTW, I understand the 'k' model receivers (722k) are even worse with OTA. It would be great if E* had an enhanced OTA tuner module option as they do with the DTVPal.

John

 

[old corps]

+2:up

Agree on both points!

Ed

 

[bobl]

I just got a 722K to replace one of my 622's. I've only had it a few days but my experience is that the OTA tuners in the 722K are at least as good as the one in the 622. I'm very suprised as I had read that they weren't quite as good and I was kind of worried about that.

My situation in the San Francisco Bay Area is that I'm relatively close (15 miles) from most of the transmitters but I have severe multipath issues as there are obstructions (other units in my condominium complex) between me and the transmitters. Also, I'm using an antenna indoors (the Winegard SquareShooter which is designed for outdoor mounting) pointed out a bedroom window as I can't mount anything outside facing north since I don't have any exclusive use property on that side of the building. My Dish antenna is mounted on my balcony facing southwest.

Maybe after using the 722K for a while longer my impressions will change but so far it's OTA performance is actually a little better than the 622's. It's not what I expected or what others seem to be reporting but I'm not complaining.

 

[bebop]

Q1) I don't know how much you need to see the OTA guide on TV2, but here are some thoughts:

• You can do what jscud said about running it in single mode. (You have to go to the receiver each time and hit the mode button to change it, and you have to view the same thing on both TV's).
• You can leave it in dual mode and record on the OTA tuner and then go to TV2 and start playing the recording and even go up to live tv. (You have to plan ahead and schedule the recording and still don't see the guide data, but it's easy to actually view a show live or recorded).

Q2) I can't tell if you are splitting your signal from your antenna feed, so that you don't have to disconnect wires when you change from your DTVPal to your OTA on the ViP722, but if you are, try running it directly to the ViP722 and see what happens. If you are going directly, then I guess it's that much crappier of a tuner (assuming nothing changed except a connection from one piece of equipment to the other). If you do have the antenna feed split, and want to keep it that way - you could swap the coax lines at the output of the splitter and see if it gets better. But I'd only do that after going directly from the antenna to the ViP722 with a good signal. What's your setup for the antenna and what have you tried?