VIP OTA Tuner comparisons

[jscud]

Overall the OTA tuner in my 411 receiver out performs the OTA tuner in my VIP222. Just going on the signal strength comparisons, station to station in some cases there are differences of up to 4 numbers between the two. But it is not consistent. Although a few stations come in stronger on the VIP222, but the majority of the stations have better numbers on the 411. In viewing, overall there are less general drop-outs on the 411 leading to the yellow screen of death. BTW, just to make sure it was not a difference in OTA line input I swapped locations of the receivers and found the results to be the same no matter where they were located.

AFAIK the tuners in both of these receivers are electronically identical. If this is so, it makes me wonder. How much of the OTA tuner performance (or lack of it) is due to schematic design and how much is due to internal peaking of the components? If it is the later, that would mean that the performance of your receiver is due more to who assembled and tested it than who designed it.

 

[boba]

So do you have a question or is this just a statement of little interest to anybody else?

 

[TheKrell]

Not only do I find jscud's comment interesting, but also I think it's probably correct. The old "can" tuners used to have numerous holes for tunable components. I don't see these (?) in current Dish receivers, but that doesn't mean the components aren't there and didn't come off the assembly line on Monday morning. I have two new 612's with nearby S/Ns, but they act differently on OTA channels despite the fact that they are on the same antenna.

 

[Bobby]

They may be on the same antenna, but they are not on the same wire, usually. Did you roll receivers like jscud to see if the reception numbers didn't change?

 

[TheKrell]

They may be on the same antenna, but they are not on the same wire, usually. Did you roll receivers like jscud to see if the reception numbers didn't change?

No, they are not on the same wire as you guessed. And I didn't roll them either. One was apparently wiped out by a station 2.5 miles away, and could scan in zero channels until I nulled out that station (as best I could) via antenna rotation. The other had no trouble scanning stations.

Do you really believe there is zero variability among canned tuners these days?

 

[jscud]

The old "can" tuners used to have numerous holes for tunable components. I don't see these (?) in current Dish receivers, but that doesn't mean the components aren't there and didn't come off the assembly line on Monday morning.

Exactly. Back to the days of vacuum tube TVs, when we would actually repair instead of replace, a good signal generator and scope could do wonders to improve performance. With more sensitive jobs like the tuner, we pulled it from the TV and sent it out to PTS, a Tuner Service in Trenton NJ. It was cleaned (and lubricated), tuned and peaked. I can't see that being done today with the absence of variable and serviceable components.