Wife's having problems with ROOT NW

[yahknow1]

So the wife's an avid fan of the Seattle Mariners. Last year we set a SEEK timer to record any and all Mariners games and it worked flawlessly. Now this year had been fine up until last week sometime. One of her games(from the HD channel) recorded nothing but a banner saying something like: "We didn't have a subscription to this channel in HD and to Tune into the SD channel to watch"! Well, this went over like a fart in church with the wife. So we deleted the SEEK timer and tried to set two DVR timers; one on the HD channel and the other on the SD. This way we'd get one or the other. It didn't work though, I think because the DVR is set to prefer HD when there's both? We did override a couple to force the SD to record and when the wife discovered how bad SD looked, she got pissed all over again. I've spent a couple hours with DISH and they just pointed me to the game finder page of the web site (which didn't even list the live game that we know should have been there?)

Does anyone know of a solution to this other than the $120 MLB season ticket?

Thanks for any and all help

 

[Bobby]

I just played with this a bit using the SF Giants as my team, I am in the Bay Area. I set a seek timer for all new games. When I looked at my schedule I noticed that some games were defaulting to MLB channels which I don't sub to. Those channels show unavailable in my area. The game is available to me, both HD and SD, on the ATTPT channel. That channel is in the same channelset as RTNW. So, it would seem that the guide selection isn't working right with SEEK. What I would do, although it can be a PITA, is once a week go to the game time on the channels that the games are being played and set the recording in the guide. You don't need to sub to MLB...

 

[yahknow1]

I just played with this a bit using the SF Giants as my team, I am in the Bay Area. I set a seek timer for all new games. When I looked at my schedule I noticed that some games were defaulting to MLB channels which I don't sub to. Those channels show unavailable in my area. The game is available to me, both HD and SD, on the ATTPT channel. That channel is in the same channelset as RTNW. So, it would seem that the guide selection isn't working right with SEEK. What I would do, although it can be a PITA, is once a week go to the game time on the channels that the games are being played and set the recording in the guide. You don't need to sub to MLB...

Yeah that's pretty much what were doing now. Thanks for trying!

 

[PeggyD]

Since Dish has gone to full-time RSNs I have not had issues with RTNW until last night. I do not record the games unless it's a replay of a particularly good game (& those are very rare with the Mariners!). Last night, in the bottom of the 13th inning, just as it looked like the batter hit into an inning/game-ending double play, I got an error message that the program was unavailable. Changing channels & going back to 426 still gave the message, so I turned it off & went to sleep figuring they had lost. Big surprise to find out this morning that they actually came back & won.

 

[yahknow1]

PeggyD Ha! very rare.. funny

So here's another problem we ran into: We have the timer for the games set to record 60 minutes past the end. While watching the game last night, (I think it was played last week and she's just getting around to watching it?) the recording ended at the 11th inning. So we have set the timer to run 90 minutes past the ending. What if the game goes past this? Is this the only thing that can be done to try and ensure we get the entire game?

 

[zippyfrog]

Since Dish has gone to full-time RSNs .

This is the issue - Dish hasn't gone to full time HD RSN's...they have gone to 2/3rds time HD RSN's. Once Dish moved the RSN's to be in HD more than just the game, there is a hard cutoff on all the main RSN's HD feeds at 3am ET, 2am CT, 1am MT, midnight PT. The HD RSN goes "Off-Air" and comes back on at 11am ET, 10am CT, 9am MT, 8am PT. The one positive thing that was nice about the old system when it was game-time only HD was that the game would stay on as long as it was live, even if it went past the off air time slots.

So my guess is right before you went to bed, that message was due to the hard cut-off of the HD channel.

I have written to Dish about this and I have gotten two responses: 1) they re-use the bandwidth from the HD RSN's for other things during the overnight hours when the paid programming is on and 2) they are only contracted to have the channels in HD 16 hours per day, which is why they have to have the hard cut off.

This has happened more than once since Dish has moved to this 2/3rds time HD RSN's. When the Cubs or Sox play a game on the west coast that goes longer than the 4 hours 50 minutes window, the game gets cutoff and I have to turn to the SD channel. I don't stay up for west coast games usually, but if I want to record it I have to record on the SD channel to ensure the complete game.

 

[Tampa8]

Yes it was because of the hard cutoff. And it needs to stop. The very few times a game is still going needs to be accommodated.

 

[Juan]

Why do we need a hd rsn at 8am on west coast?..they could just adjust the start time a bit..maybe a couple hours or. So

 

[yahknow1]

This is the issue - Dish hasn't gone to full time HD RSN's...they have gone to 2/3rds time HD RSN's. Once Dish moved the RSN's to be in HD more than just the game, there is a hard cutoff on all the main RSN's HD feeds at 3am ET, 2am CT, 1am MT, midnight PT. The HD RSN goes "Off-Air" and comes back on at 11am ET, 10am CT, 9am MT, 8am PT. The one positive thing that was nice about the old system when it was game-time only HD was that the game would stay on as long as it was live, even if it went past the off air time slots.

So my guess is right before you went to bed, that message was due to the hard cut-off of the HD channel.

I have written to Dish about this and I have gotten two responses: 1) they re-use the bandwidth from the HD RSN's for other things during the overnight hours when the paid programming is on and 2) they are only contracted to have the channels in HD 16 hours per day, which is why they have to have the hard cut off.

This has happened more than once since Dish has moved to this 2/3rds time HD RSN's. When the Cubs or Sox play a game on the west coast that goes longer than the 4 hours 50 minutes window, the game gets cutoff and I have to turn to the SD channel. I don't stay up for west coast games usually, but if I want to record it I have to record on the SD channel to ensure the complete game.

Yes it was because of the hard cutoff. And it needs to stop. The very few times a game is still going needs to be accommodated.

1) For the game that stopped in the 11th inning: are you guys saying the reason the game stopped wasn't because it went over 60 minutes past the timer?
AND
2) Any guesses as to why her original problem happened - Where the whole game on the HD channel displayed the message " Tune to the SD channel to watch this game" - I've told this explanation to the wife and she doesn't believe that her show is recording during the 12am-8am PDT window. She thinks all her timers are capturing the LIVE game?. In fact, she turned to ROOT the next day during her recording, said the same message was being displayed and AGAIN she tuned to SD side and there it was?

 

[zippyfrog]

Why do we need a hd rsn at 8am on west coast?..they could just adjust the start time a bit..maybe a couple hours or. So

I agree completely. Here in Chicago, we would benefit by a 3am-11am "off-air" time if Dish really is only contracted for 16 hours. But the live games need to stay on to their conclusion. 11am is when CSN Chicago starts it's daily programming on most days, and paid programming starts at 3am. So it would be logical to move the off-air by an hour.

 

[zippyfrog]

1) For the game that stopped in the 11th inning: are you guys saying the reason the game stopped wasn't because it went over 60 minutes past the timer?
AND
2) Any guesses as to why her original problem happened - Where the whole game on the HD channel displayed the message " Tune to the SD channel to watch this game" - I've told this explanation to the wife and she doesn't believe that her show is recording during the 12am-8am PDT window. She thinks all her timers are capturing the LIVE game?. In fact, she turned to ROOT the next day during her recording, said the same message was being displayed and AGAIN she tuned to SD side and there it was?

1) Correct, it isn't the timer - it's the fact the channel is taken off-air. 2 nights ago, the game started at 7:11 pacific time, and the game was 4 hours 59 minutes long. So the last 10 minutes of the game were cutoff because Root Sports Northwest gets the hard cutoff at midnight pacific time. Anyone who was watching the game live would have needed to go to the SD channel to see the conclusion. Even if the timer were extended further, it wouldn't have made a difference because the channel goes off-air. If it is a timer issue, the recording just stops - you wouldn't get any messages.

2) Not sure on your second scenario. The only time I have experienced something like that is when I have set a timer in advance on a game on an alternate sports channel, and the game I wanted was changed to a different alternate channel but I didn't adjust my timer. But that was an issue on my end. Sorry I can't help with that second situation.

 

[Tampa8]

1) .....

2) Not sure on your second scenario. The only time I have experienced something like that is when I have set a timer in advance on a game on an alternate sports channel, and the game I wanted was changed to a different alternate channel but I didn't adjust my timer. But that was an issue on my end. Sorry I can't help with that second situation.

In the past the reason was the timer started before the HD channel was turned on for the game if even by a minute. When the HD channel was turned on that was not reflected in the timer recording and you got the message for the entire recording.
But now I have no ready answer why they are getting that message if it is recording off an actual RSN channel, not an Alternate. If it is an alternate the reason I stated is likely the reason why.

 

[Bobby]

1)
2) Any guesses as to why her original problem happened - Where the whole game on the HD channel displayed the message " Tune to the SD channel to watch this game" - I've told this explanation to the wife and she doesn't believe that her show is recording during the 12am-8am PDT window. She thinks all her timers are capturing the LIVE game?. In fact, she turned to ROOT the next day during her recording, said the same message was being displayed and AGAIN she tuned to SD side and there it was?

I believe this is because the timer went to a MLB EI channel. You see that message when you tune to one of those channels and don't subscribe to the MLB package. I note that, this morning, all of the MLB channels are now gone from the guide. I set up SF Giants again and I don't have any timers set to a MLB EI channel for the entire guide period. I think Dish has figured this one out. You might try to set that Seek timer again. Then go through your schedule and look to see if all the games are set and that none of them are on a MLB EI channel.

 

[pattykay]

I agree with Bobby. I think the problem was because of the MLB EI free preview. Normally, those channels are hidden when they are not subscribed (and not in preview) so this should not be a problem except for the few weeks during the season when there is a free preview.

 

[Bobby]

I agree with Bobby. I think the problem was because of the MLB EI free preview. Normally, those channels are hidden when they are not subscribed (and not in preview) so this should not be a problem except for the few weeks during the season when there is a free preview.

and the week or so it takes them to remove them from the guide...

 

[yahknow1]

Ok, well I'll try to relay this back to the wife...One of these days we'll both know all the ins-and-outs. Thanks all for your input!

 

[yahknow1]

Oh hey one more question: Does DirectTV have the same problem with the RSN's? Are they bound to the same 16 hour contract or is it better over there?

 

[zippyfrog]

Oh hey one more question: Does DirectTV have the same problem with the RSN's? Are they bound to the same 16 hour contract or is it better over there?

I believe DirecTv has them in HD 24/7 so they don't run into the same issue.

 

[PeggyD]

This is the issue - Dish hasn't gone to full time HD RSN's...they have gone to 2/3rds time HD RSN's. Once Dish moved the RSN's to be in HD more than just the game, there is a hard cutoff on all the main RSN's HD feeds at 3am ET, 2am CT, 1am MT, midnight PT. The HD RSN goes "Off-Air" and comes back on at 11am ET, 10am CT, 9am MT, 8am PT. The one positive thing that was nice about the old system when it was game-time only HD was that the game would stay on as long as it was live, even if it went past the off air time slots.

So my guess is right before you went to bed, that message was due to the hard cut-off of the HD channel.

I have written to Dish about this and I have gotten two responses: 1) they re-use the bandwidth from the HD RSN's for other things during the overnight hours when the paid programming is on and 2) they are only contracted to have the channels in HD 16 hours per day, which is why they have to have the hard cut off.

This has happened more than once since Dish has moved to this 2/3rds time HD RSN's. When the Cubs or Sox play a game on the west coast that goes longer than the 4 hours 50 minutes window, the game gets cutoff and I have to turn to the SD channel. I don't stay up for west coast games usually, but if I want to record it I have to record on the SD channel to ensure the complete game.

Well, Root Sports NW has been full-time for quite some time & that is the channel the OP was asking about.

 

[Bobby]

Well, Root Sports NW has been full-time for quite some time & that is the channel the OP was asking about.

Root Sports NW is not full time on the HD channel. As with the rest of those channels, it goes off air at midnight PDT. Now the OP was talking about a SEEK timer and that the Mariners games were on RTNW. We have pretty well figured out that the seek timer was selecting MLB EI instead of RTNW. that is where the issue arose.