Reception in and out.

[UNCLEBENZ]

I have a HDTV Direct Tivo receiver. Just recently it has started giving me problems. I however am starting to believe that it is not the unit. I received a replacement from Directv and it still does it.

The problem: Every 15-25 seconds the screen will go blank (actually grey), the sound will go out for half a second or so, then re appear.

I have noticed that I can switch to the settings to check the signal, which shows 100 on both sat 1 and sat2. I will switch transponders, the signal will drop to a more believable 85-95 somewhere. I can then exit back to the program that I was watching and everything is fine for hours. As soon as I switch to another channel it will start again.

I am trying to figure out what's going on, Any ideas? Do I have a short somewhere? Did the direct TV guy not bury the cables deep enough? (I did just aerate my yard)

Thanks in advance!

J.

[UNCLEBENZ]

Damn, anyone here?

[Tazzer0069]

There are many reasons why this could be happening. First off check the most obvious.. line of sight. make sure that there is not a tree branch blocking the dish. Second, check your cable. If the cable is damaged, that would cause the signal to drop and come back at times.

[earthbound]

Periodic tree branch or other blockage may not show up at such a regular interval such as you describe. I would also think you would tend to pixelate out versus loosing completly. maybe look at the outputs
How are you hooked up to your display? do you go through a a/v reciever? does switching to another input/output change anything?

[squawk101]

I just installed an H20 HD receiver & 5 LNB dish. I presently have similar problems, but only on certain feeds, so I tend to believe its reception problem.

The channels I've exp'd the blank screen, which does occur in spurts, but not necessarily consistent, has been on HD channels of HBO, SHO & locals, of note, KABC-DT Los Angeles. I live in LA, & I'm not sure which channel is MPEG-4 & which is MPEG-2, as I receive both, @ ch's 7 & 87.

I check of my signal strength revealed, in my opinion, crapping signals from 119, where of 11 activated transponders several were close to 50 & the rest were either @ or barely above 60. Having my previous dual LNB receive signals in the 85-90 range, I find these signals unacceptable, a probable cause of my screens going blank. DirecTV installers are coming out Wednesday to either adjust & further secure the dish, or relocate it. Clearly, the first installer out did a poor job. He was 3-1/2 hours late, & just wanted to get in/get out.

Hope this info helps. I'll post here after I find out whether it was the signals rec'd from the dish. If not, then it could be a cabling or receiver issue, but I doubt, as I only experience the blanking out on certain channels . . . to the best of my recollection.

. . .
The problem: Every 15-25 seconds the screen will go blank (actually grey), the sound will go out for half a second or so, then re appear.

J.

[ebms1]

I just installed an H20 HD receiver & 5 LNB dish. I presently have similar problems, but only on certain feeds, so I tend to believe its reception problem.

The channels I've exp'd the blank screen, which does occur in spurts, but not necessarily consistent, has been on HD channels of HBO, SHO & locals, of note, KABC-DT Los Angeles. I live in LA, & I'm not sure which channel is MPEG-4 & which is MPEG-2, as I receive both, @ ch's 7 & 87.

I check of my signal strength revealed, in my opinion, crapping signals from 119, where of 11 activated transponders several were close to 50 & the rest were either @ or barely above 60. Having my previous dual LNB receive signals in the 85-90 range, I find these signals unacceptable, a probable cause of my screens going blank. DirecTV installers are coming out Wednesday to either adjust & further secure the dish, or relocate it. Clearly, the first installer out did a poor job. He was 3-1/2 hours late, & just wanted to get in/get out.

Hope this info helps. I'll post here after I find out whether it was the signals rec'd from the dish. If not, then it could be a cabling or receiver issue, but I doubt, as I only experience the blanking out on certain channels . . . to the best of my recollection.


i think you nailed your problem ... the threshold is around 50 or so on most recvs....

[jtonkin]

My buddy works for DTV and he says the new 5LNB dishes are a pain to position. There's about 5 different alignment screws. He also said that they've been having problems with local HD channel reception. We live in metro Detroit.

[squawk101]

i think you nailed your problem ... the threshold is around 50 or so on most recvs....

Update. Had so many problems with H20-600, crashing, UI with many glitches, etc. Finally DTV offered to replace. Now have H20-100 with no problems, however do get "blank screen" problem now & then. Apparently, it's a transmission, not a receiver issue.

As far as signals, learned that installers place device in back of H20 to attentuate signals coming from one of the satellites that has yet to go live -- forgot which one, but I believe at the 99 deg orbital. Anyway, this causes signal strength reading from all satellites to be less than what they truly are.

If I review signal strength readings off my old receiver, a Sony A-55, the reading are stronger, but w/respect to the sat @ 119, the are still relatively weak relative to signals rec'd off other sats. Bottom line, with a 5LNB dish, the dish cannot be oriented to receive maximum signal strength from each of the 5 sats. The dish is huge, & I presume the installers are orienting dish to receive optimal signal strength among all sat signals, including the 99, which has yet to go live . . . @ least on the West Coast.

Hope this helps.

[squawk101]

My buddy works for DTV and he says the new 5LNB dishes are a pain to position. There's about 5 different alignment screws. He also said that they've been having problems with local HD channel reception. We live in metro Detroit.

Yes, the installers, who were to my office about 7 or 8 times (yes that many b/c their operations is pitifully awful w/respect to DTV customers), told me they've had a lot a problems b/c the dish is so big & heavy. Told me that DTV was coming out with a lighter dish, that would not be as troublesome if mounted on a flat service.

Mine is mounted on a vertical service below my roof's eaves. On one of their many return visits that added a second stablizing bracket to steady the dish against any cross winds. (I live just below the crest of the Santa Monica Mtns north of UCLA). It gets windy here occasionally.

As far as local HD reception, I can't speak for Detroit, but here in LA there doesn't seem to be a problem. The audio sync problem has disappeared & was likely due to the POS H20-600 receiver I previously had. Notwithstanding, I have heard that DTV has had problems @ the transponder level with delivery of MPEG4 HD signals. Dunno where the problem is.

In LA we "supposedly" get both MPEG4 locals as well as MPE2 locals. My understanding is that Channels 2-13 are the MPEG2 transmissions, & that locals found in the 80-90 range are the MPEG4. Visually, I can't tell the difference, which could be attributed to DTV's narrowing the bandwidth on MPEG4 rather than delivering less compression . . . or perhaps both channels are really MPEG2 & they've pulled the MPEG4 b/c of problems. I have no basis to conclude this, but I just dunno.

All I do know is that my pic quality from OTA is light years better than from DBS, so I watch all OTA HD programming directly thru my HDTV's ATSC tuner. Also, when I do record off my Replay, I record the OTA signal that is fed into the H20's ATSC tuner. Not as good as the HDTV's tuner, but still less compressed than the DBS feed of local HD programming.

Unfortunately, us DTV HD subs need to chew on the bit for another year or so, until these guys launch those 2 Spaceways next year & can offer a whole slew of HD programming & hopefully @ less compression than the crap their pushing out today.

After 3 mos. of free HD programming, I dropped my HD package simply b/c it is not worth the extra $10/mo. Most of good HD programming is on the locals, & on HBO, which I get in HD as part of my HBO pkg. The only other HD programming I'm interested in is ESPN for an occasional, b-ball game, baseball, world cup soccer. But the rest of the package of HD.net, HDTheater, Discover Theater, Universal HD & TNT-HD simply does not offer compelling content that is worth the extra $10/mo. Hopefully, the list of offerings will increase later this year, but no guarantee. All I know, for what DTV now offers, I'd pay no more than $5 or $6/mo. The HD package, IMHO, is way over priced. Subs should really not have to pay a channel like ESPN for the same content. If a sub subscribes to ESPN-HD, then he really shouldn't be charged to receive standard ESPN. It's the same content. I'm willing to pay more for ESPN-HD than ESPN, but not pay for both. IMHO, that's a ripoff.

OK, end of rant. Later board.

[jtonkin]

I've been tempted to upgrade to HD but it just doesn't seem worth it yet. I already have an HD antenna and like you said before, all the good stuff is on local stations for free. My buddy keeps saying it's coming (all the channels in HD) but it doesn't look like that's happening til next year. Just have to put up with the crummy stretched out picture for one more year...:mad:

[squawk101]

I've been tempted to upgrade to HD but it just doesn't seem worth it yet. I already have an HD antenna and like you said before, all the good stuff is on local stations for free. My buddy keeps saying it's coming (all the channels in HD) but it doesn't look like that's happening til next year. Just have to put up with the crummy stretched out picture for one more year...:mad:

Sorry, don't understand u'r logic. To get OTA HD programming IMHO is sufficient to warrant purchase of a HDTV. Prices are not what they were 5 years ago. U can get a real good HDTV for under $2,000 today. I paid $1,500 from my Sharp AQUOS. U can get a decent HDTV for under a $1,000. If u get OTA signals then it's worth the plunge. It has NOTHING to do with what DTV offers today.

U don't need the H20 receiver to get HD. Just make sure u'r HDTV has its own ATSC tuner. I got the H20, but it didn't cost me a dime. In fact, DTV paid me $30 net to take the machine, but I had to pay $99 to have them install the 5 LNB dish. So, net-net, my cost to get HD from DTV cost me $70. Big deal. But b/c I dropped the HD package once the free 3 mo. period expired, the only HD programming I really get from DTV for my "dish investment" is HBO HD, & if I need to, I get switch my premium package from HBO to SHOW to get SHOW HD. The benefit is there are few shows we watch in HBO HD (Sopranos, Deadwood), but the bigger plus, IMHO, is my ability to record the latest movies from an HD feed. Playback on my Replay is not HD, but it's a helluva lot better than a recording off an SD feed.

U'r big investment is the HDTV, not purchase of receiver & installation from DTV. So, I don't understand the wait. The wait I have, really, is the release of their HD DVR, the HR20-250. Might be out in a few months. Wondering what the cost will be. Might or might not jump @ it . . . til the bigger wait -- the launch of the 2 Spaceways in 2007 & of a much large HD package of channels.

Service from my Replay doesn't cost me a dime. Have had the machine since 2000. Purchase lifetime service for $250. Once I get the HD DVR, not only do I have to pay DTV a ridiculous upfront fee . . . on a lease, I will likely have to pay another $5-6/mo for the service. Is it worth it? Well for me, the driver is the ability to record in HD. And if DTV's HD programming is scarce, why eat the cost now. I might wait, as I am satisfied with the recordings off my Replay. I figure if DTV squelches the quality of its HD video, a little degradation by my Replay which converts the digital to analog, then back to digital as the recording is written to the hard drive, I see no need to shove out a lot of cash . . . until DTV improves the pic quality of the HD feeds. Right now they suck & they know it. I'm sure many subs who have either the MPEG-2 capable onlyHR10-250 (HD DVR w/TiVo ) or a SD TiVo DVR are gonna hold back on the HD DVR until they start reducing the compression. JMO.

[jtonkin]

I already have an HD TV. Picked up a 55'' Hitachi LCD projection a couple months back for $1700. I was talking about watching the blown up analog signal :( . The HD antenna is nice but the package channels I mainly watch aren't in HD yet. That's what I'm waiting for. Spike, Comedy Central, G4, FSN, OLN (hockey), Scifi, and sometimes USA. You know, when a great episode of Texas Walker is on :gg .

[squawk101]

I already have an HD TV. Picked up a 55'' Hitachi LCD projection a couple months back for $1700. I was talking about watching the blown up analog signal :( . The HD antenna is nice but the package channels I mainly watch aren't in HD yet. That's what I'm waiting for. Spike, Comedy Central, G4, FSN, OLN (hockey), Scifi, and sometimes USA. You know, when a great episode of Texas Walker is on :gg .

I can see Fox Sports going HD for some of their programming, & eventually OLN & Scifi, but I wouldn't hold my breath for channels like Spike, USA & Comedy Central. The content has to be there before the channel.

I expect the next HD channels we'll see on DTV will be NGC, HGTV, Food Network, MTV & probably, hopefully Fox Sports. I can also see cable news channels such as MSNBC, FoxNew, CNN going HD to lure viewers & since these are stations where new content is always being generated. OLN & Speed also makes sense. Plus, whenever Rupert decides to renegotiate a deal with STARZ, we'll likely see STARZHD.

Seems u'r like me but w/respect to my decision to hold off on the HR20-250, which is gonna cost, I figure around $500 upfront, plus a $5-6/mo lease fee + $5-6/mo DVR service fee on top of the $10/mo HD pkg. So, to outlay $500 upfront, plus shove out another $20-22/mo just to receive & record a half-dozen HD channels, to me seems to be a less-than-compelling proposition to what I already have. Compare the above with my net-net $70 outlay for the H20 receiver & installation of the 5 LNB dish.

Way I see it, Rupe wants control of my TV, & the only way he's gonna get it is thru the DVR. Eventually, he'll drop the price. Plus, there's a lotta investment into the HD sats & programming. The programmers, as well as DTV, won't make a good ROI unless DTV can get subs to bite on the HD programming. To ask a sub to take another $20-22/mo. hit, IMHO, is a lot. It has to be compelling, & the upfront cost of $500, IMHO, is a non-starter t most.

I'm willing to bet that DTV will come up w/some creative way to push the HD-DVR into as many homes as it needs after the low-hanging fruit are pretty much plucked. My guess is we'll see deals on the HD-DVR a year after its finally released, following the launch & activation of the 2 Spaceways in 2007. Once these sats are up & running, DTV's has got an add'l resource from which to generate cash. They'll want good absorption for all that HD programming they've invested in. A good way to do that is by "discouting" its HD DVR. It will give Rupe the access into the home he wants to sell more services such as VOD over the Net, advertsing thru the DVR, interactivity, esell-thru, etc. The launch of the HD-DVR will only be the beginning of a new experience, not the end of your wait.

later, dude.