Seeking advice from VIP612 users

[FogNoggin]

I joined Dish about 4 months ago and am very happy with it on my one HDTV setup. I even love the widely scorned VIP612 I was given. It makes the Time Warner DVR I had look like a sad toy.

Lately, the box has been faltering a bit. I can't watch a recorded show without encountering a few hiccups in the recording. It's as if a several millisecond snippets of the show are missing. The recording plays fine, no dead airtime recorded, it simply didn't capture properly in one or two spots during the program. I've also witnessed this during live viewing.

The problem isn't so severe that I think the box is failing, I just wonder if there's some sort of maintenance I can perform. If it was a PC I'd be defragmenting the drive, etc.

Any helpful tips aside from rebooting the DVR or getting a different model?

 

[gdarwin]

Call into Dish and have them check your signal levels. You might need to have the dish peaked for maximum signal.

 

[FogNoggin]

My signals from all 3 birds in the eastern arc are very good. I check them frequently and I really don't think that's the issue.

 

[HIFI]

just a thought, but do you have any barrel connections that aren't high frequency? (blue center)

 

[TheKrell]

I think it defragments automatically. I have very rarely seen the same thing on my bedroom 612, as well as my 722. I think if you see it while watching a live program, then it must be an issue with the data stream coming down from the sats. Or it's overheating. Or the A/C power is wonky. Or you have a bad connector in the antenna cable. Or your LNB is going bad.

Did I leave out any possibilities?

 

[peano]

One more. The hard drive is failing. That would be my bet.

 

[boba]

I think it defragments automatically. I have very rarely seen the same thing on my bedroom 612, as well as my 722. I think if you see it while watching a live program, then it must be an issue with the data stream coming down from the sats. Or it's overheating. Or the A/C power is wonky. Or you have a bad connector in the antenna cable. Or your LNB is going bad.

Did I leave out any possibilities?

The big one poor DISH programming on the 612. I believe I see the same thing on my 612 for me most notable after skipping a bunch of commercials. Easiest cure just ignore it and watch the rest of the programming.

 

[Jonhern]

Had this same issue with six 612 receivers, we had 2, that came through my house, and the problem got worse with time. They checked everything, wires, replaced lnb, peaked dish, but problem kept happening. And the problem did not happen with the 211k we had setup as a dvr, so i knew it was the 612. Finally complained enough that they replaced one with a 722k but because of leased tuner limits they could not give me a second leased 722k. Hated the 612 so much that i just decided to take their offer of a free 222k, and just took the other 211k we had and made that into a dvr. Once the 722k was put in place the problem disappeared and has not come back. So yeah, its most likely the dvr, try to get it replaced with another model.

 

[loudmouse]

Okay, this is a weird shot in the dark. I've noticed on my 612 that if I leave the OTA tuner on a marginally tuned, low signal strength channel I get more recordings of sat. channels with hiccup problems. If I leave my OTA tuner on a strong signal station I rarely have glitches in my sat. channel recordings.
It's like if the OTA tuner cuts out it affects the sat. signal being recorded too.

 

[sam_gordon]

I have had the problem happen on my 612 also... but it's from OTA recordings... my sat recordings playback clean. About once during an hour show I'll get the same "hiccup" and miss about 2-3 words. It's not signal level... my OTA signals are 80-100. It happens on the lower level channels as well as the high one.

 

[mikfort51]

I have had the problem happen on my 612 also... but it's from OTA recordings... my sat recordings playback clean. About once during an hour show I'll get the same "hiccup" and miss about 2-3 words. It's not signal level... my OTA signals are 80-100. It happens on the lower level channels as well as the high one.

The same thing happens on my 622 on OTA recordings. I can skip back over the hiccup and it usually plays fine the second time.

 

[Tampa8]

Yep, very short missing moments on OTA, but almost never on SAT. I think Loudmouse may be correct. The rare time I have seen it on SAT I indeed left the OTA on a marginally receivable channel. Will have to play with that a little....

 

[lavarock]

I have problems with my 612 when I record an OTA station. Signal is about 88. If I watch live no problem. But if I pause then play back it has the audio dropouts and video scramble. Always have problems with OTA sations that have been recorded. The only time I have had problems with Sat stations is when I record programs that are over 1 -1.5 hours long. The first hour is OK but after 1 - 1.5 hours things go bad.

I talked to Dish and they are sending me a replacement 612. But now it appears that may not be a solution. I will post back when I get the replacement 612.

 

[TheKrell]

I record a lot of PBS in HD and SD on my bedroom 612 with no such playback problem. My daughter does likewise on her 612, but recording other OTA channels. I haven't heard a single complaint from her either, so I agree with your Dish CSR; that 612 probably has a bad disk.

 

[SRF23]

My 612 randomly reboots itself - makes some whirring noise like a helicopter. Really sucks but I cannot make it happen on command so I cannot prove to Dish it is bad. Only 5 more months in contract !

 

[Chris Leer]

ok SRF23 well because it's supposed to do that when it does do the updates at 3AM also If you did know that or not.

 

[SRF23]

oh gee my bad - I did not know that they did updates multiple times during prime-time television - 3AM would be a big improvement

 

[lavarock]

I have problems with my 612 when I record an OTA station. Signal is about 88. If I watch live no problem. But if I pause then play back it has the audio dropouts and video scramble. Always have problems with OTA sations that have been recorded. The only time I have had problems with Sat stations is when I record programs that are over 1 -1.5 hours long. The first hour is OK but after 1 - 1.5 hours things go bad.

I talked to Dish and they are sending me a replacement 612. But now it appears that may not be a solution. I will post back when I get the replacement 612.

I got my replacement 612. Same problem with the replacement as with the orginal. I called dish and they told me they have not had any complaints from other customers about the OTA problem on the 612. Dish is looking more into my problem but it looks like i will not get a 612 that will record from the OTA and may not be able to record football games or other programs that exceed 1.5 hours. Those that have problems with the 612 need to contact Dish as complaining on this forum only will not get dish to do anything about the problem.

 

[david_jr]

I got my replacement 612. Same problem with the replacement as with the orginal. I called dish and they told me they have not had any complaints from other customers about the OTA problem on the 612. Dish is looking more into my problem but it looks like i will not get a 612 that will record from the OTA and may not be able to record football games or other programs that exceed 1.5 hours. Those that have problems with the 612 need to contact Dish as complaining on this forum only will not get dish to do anything about the problem.

Have you used OTA with any other dish receivers with no trouble? I know I have problems occasionally if the OTA I'm watching is weak. With signals above 88 I wouldn't think you should have that problem. Try making sure the tuner is on a sat while your watching the recording. Sometimes if the tuner is on OTA instead of Sat while playing back recordings it does what you're describing. Try checking everything including all of your crimped connections. Sometimes it only takes something small to cause gremlins. If it only happened on one unit I would suspect the unit, but if it happens same thing with multiple units I would suspect some other gremlin at work.

 

[TheKrell]

I got my replacement 612. Same problem with the replacement as with the orginal.

I for one am surprised. I've recently recorded 2.5 hr satellite movies on my bedroom 612 without a problem. I record a variety of SD subchannels and HD main channels OTA, some of which have been 2 hrs as well, also without a problem. My complete and utter WAG is that one of your favorite broadcast TV stations, probably the one you are trying to record, is sending out illicit PSIP data which confuses both the 612's you have tried. My local stations aren't doing that, and so my two 612's aren't having this problem.