trouble with digital OTA locals - was a diplexing question, now having more issues

[crippe]

I have been having trouble with my 921 since I hooked up my OTA antenna this weekend. Can anyone tell me if they have noticed similar issues or if there is something I am doing wrong.

First, I guess I never realized that you can only use one OTA channel at a time. If you are recording one then you can't watch another. Guess that makes sense though b/c there is only one line from the antenna.

Anyway, I seemed to run into problems when recording off the OTA antenna and trying to watch something else coming in from the satellite. The receiver is really slow to respond to channel changes, viewing the guide, etc. And several times last night the receiver crashed when trying to record one thing and watch another. Is this something that can be caused by diplexing my antenna feed with my satellite feed or is this more just a limitation of the receiver and the processing power it takes to record one HD feed while watching another.

Then at a certain point last night after the unit had crashed a couple of times and i had to restart it (soft reboot and pulling the plug) I could no longer get any signal from any of my digital OTA channels. The weather was bad last night, and my outside antenna is not wonderful, but channels that usually come in at over 100 signal strength were at 0. I am now getting no signal for any of my digital OTA's. It is still raining today, but the weather was somewhat bad yesterday when I was watching FOX OTA with no problems. All I get on all of my digital OTA's is a message that says "Channel XX not found". I am able to get a weak signal from my one analog OTA channel. I am worried that somehow something blew inside the receiver and the digital OTA tuner is busted. Does this sound possible? Has this ever happened to anyone else? Could it just be the bad weather? I live in an urban area (oakland, CA), and usually get real strong signals from most of the digital OTAs, but as I said, my antenna isn't wonderful, but I should expect to get at least a weak signal during bad weather, shouldn't I?

thanks for any help!
dan

 

[wmhjr]

This is very common

The 921 seems to perform great - right up to the time where you start to use DVR functions for OTA content. My experiences are extremely similar to yours.

First, there is only one OTA tuner, so yes that's normal - and OK by me.
When I did try to to OTA recording, my receiver did sometimes slow down. It very frequently locked up - on a relatively consistent basis.

As for your OTA reception after the problem, that's not normal. I'd reset everything back, and go through the process of rescanning for OTA all over again. You should be getting a signal, regardless of the rain.

FWIW, there seems to be 3 camps with the 921. One group seems to have no problems, even when using OTA. Another group seems to have issues with OTA but are willing to overlook it. The final group of people just have too many problems with OTA. I'm in that group, which is why mine is going back today. I realize this is not scientific, however I would say the overwhelming majority of people (who use OTA) fall into the 2nd and 3rd groups.

I have been having trouble with my 921 since I hooked up my OTA antenna this weekend. Can anyone tell me if they have noticed similar issues or if there is something I am doing wrong.

First, I guess I never realized that you can only use one OTA channel at a time. If you are recording one then you can't watch another. Guess that makes sense though b/c there is only one line from the antenna.

Anyway, I seemed to run into problems when recording off the OTA antenna and trying to watch something else coming in from the satellite. The receiver is really slow to respond to channel changes, viewing the guide, etc. And several times last night the receiver crashed when trying to record one thing and watch another. Is this something that can be caused by diplexing my antenna feed with my satellite feed or is this more just a limitation of the receiver and the processing power it takes to record one HD feed while watching another.

Then at a certain point last night after the unit had crashed a couple of times and i had to restart it (soft reboot and pulling the plug) I could no longer get any signal from any of my digital OTA channels. The weather was bad last night, and my outside antenna is not wonderful, but channels that usually come in at over 100 signal strength were at 0. I am now getting no signal for any of my digital OTA's. It is still raining today, but the weather was somewhat bad yesterday when I was watching FOX OTA with no problems. All I get on all of my digital OTA's is a message that says "Channel XX not found". I am able to get a weak signal from my one analog OTA channel. I am worried that somehow something blew inside the receiver and the digital OTA tuner is busted. Does this sound possible? Has this ever happened to anyone else? Could it just be the bad weather? I live in an urban area (oakland, CA), and usually get real strong signals from most of the digital OTAs, but as I said, my antenna isn't wonderful, but I should expect to get at least a weak signal during bad weather, shouldn't I?

thanks for any help!
dan

 

[crippe]

ugh, this is terrible. I will try rescanning (again) tonight. I hope it works. if not i guess i will have to try to talk with dishNetwork support about getting me a new unit. I bought mine from Radio Shack though, not dish. I hope I can still get a new one instead of some refurbished one and before the superbowl too.

Are others who are returning theirs trying to get new ones, or are they just abandoning the 921 altogether and going for something else. If so, what other receiver is comparable?

 

[wmhjr]

Abandoned dish altogether.

Went with Cable, using SA8300HD DVRs, no up front cost, less cost per month, reliable equipment, and all locals in HD except Fox.

ugh, this is terrible. I will try rescanning (again) tonight. I hope it works. if not i guess i will have to try to talk with dishNetwork support about getting me a new unit. I bought mine from Radio Shack though, not dish. I hope I can still get a new one instead of some refurbished one and before the superbowl too.

Are others who are returning theirs trying to get new ones, or are they just abandoning the 921 altogether and going for something else. If so, what other receiver is comparable?

 

[crippe]

i went home and removed all locals and rescanned on my lunch break (how sad am I??) and it worked. PHEW!!

I'm sure this is not the end of my problems with the 921, but hopefully me and the box can come to some kind of agreement, like you get the superbowl in HD ok and i will not b*tch about how often you crash to everyone on satteliteguys.us ;-)

 

[crippe]

oh, and thanks for your help guys, I appreciate it!

 

[NightHawk]

A little patience is all it takes in dealing with the 921 and OTA.

 

[wmhjr]

Bullcrap

That's the most ridiculous comment I've heard yet. Let me say it again. There are some people who for some reason are having pretty good luck with the 921. There are lots of others who are using the device in exactly the same way, and who have found it to be a pretty big expensive paperweight with absolutely no reliability. Patience doesn't have a darn thing to do with it. I personally believe there has to be some variability in manufacturing such that either a voltage irregularity or some such problem causes glitches in the software. But, since you never know if you'll get a "good" unit or a "bad" unit, there's no way to insure that you'll ever get it fixes.

Let's be honest, OK? This person should never had the problem to begin with. Shouldn't have to wipe out all channels and rescan. Patience? Maybe you're OK with this kind of shenanigans with such an expensive hardware device that has already been discontinued, and hasn't had major issues resolved in a year. That's not patience. That's a lower standard of expected quality. Sorry about the rant, but when people insist on for some reason giving Charlie a pass for ever increasing poor performance, and then try to validate it with things like "patience" or "well, it's just like a PC - what do you expect" I begin to wonder about the future of the human gene pool. If you are one of the lucky ones who's had no issues, then OK. If not, then call it what it is.

At this point, I have had equal time to evaluate both the Dish 921, and the cable company provided SA8300HD. 921? Constant requirement to reboot, locks up, very poor SD PQ on my DLP. SA8300HD? Not a single lockup (on any of the 3 I now have), great SD *and Analog* PQ on my DLP. Do I wish the SA unit had some of the "advertised" features of the 921? Absolutely. Do I like the looks of the 921 UI better than the SA unit? You bet. At even the same exact cost (meaning not having to shell out $549) would I now trade my SA8300HD for the 921? Not on your life.

Every single recording I've scheduled - period - has recorded perfectly on the SA8300HD. It is REALLY unfortunate that there are very, very few people who can say that about the 921 if they are using OTA DVR functions.

A little patience is all it takes in dealing with the 921 and OTA.