Help us fix problem with 4-1 (DISH)

[Timcredible]

Can everyone list their receiver make/model that works or doesn't work with 4-1 ota? I think this will help wcmh fix the problem. They are under the impression that only dish receivers are affected, but I saw a post from someone that said otherwise. Thanks.

My receivers are dish 211s and they have the problem with 4-1.

[MeHDTV]

Dish622
Dish211
Direc SIR-ts160
Direc SIR-TS360
Direc DTC-210

[Robbiee19]

2 D* H20s They work great.

[festivus]

My Dish vip 622 hd dvr is not working well with 4.1. Breakups every 30 secs or so.

[Scott]

My DirecTV HR10-250 and H10 are working OK.

[nakedeye]

my hr10-250 is hit or miss

[gruxx]

I've tivo'd Conan in HD on my HR10-250 from 4-1 every weeknight since june.

I've only noticed two hiccups ever. And the sync has been perfect since NBC4ENG fixed it, what? mid september?

This week's Conan was just like the last few weeks. Crystal clear, audio sync'd, and no dropouts. It's the only NBC show I watch regularly in HD. (When will Scrubs be in HD!!??!)

But Scrubs was fine also on the 4-1 DT channel the last two weeks.
And what I saw of the boys/saints sunday night was also clear, perfect, awesome.

This is unlike the multiple hiccups I see on 28-1 with the v6.3a DD problem with FOX. My wife hates watching House because of the 10sec drops about 6 times during the show. (Can't wait to get 6.3b tonight!)

So, my receiver does have some issues. D* and tivo have supposedly gotten a DD fix out yesterday. But NBC still looks good. I have no idea what you guys are talking about -- Sorry.

[nakedeye]

This sounds more and more likely that this is a multipath issue. now i wonder if there has been some sort of a change to make multipath more prelevant

[DBX]

US Digital OTA box (WalMart)
Audio drop-outs. Short in duration

HDTV - Not ready for Prime Time
As if I believe that all of the bugs will be worked out by 2/2009.

[festivus]

Everyone with Dish Receivers still having the same issue with the signal drops? I am. I watched the office in SD on Thurs night through my satellite locals. Just not the same.

[jchiso]

4-1 (and 4-2) work without flaws on all of my DirecTV receivers;

(2) RCA DTC-100
(2) Hughes HTL-HD
Samsung SIR-TS360
Samsung SIR-TS160
DirecTV H10

As well as PCI capture cards:
DVico Fusion HDTV-3 Gold
KWorld ATSC-110

[zelig2]

I've got the Dish ViP622 and still have problems. The problems lessened when I turned off the amplifier on my antenna but now I don't really get UPN/CW at all. Also all my signals went down into the 70s for their strength. Even with the amplifier turned off I still get staggering and studdering every 4 to 10 seconds. Quite annoying. When the amplifier is on I can't get anything.

[rossl]

I'm not getting dropouts on 4.1 on any of my 3 OTA receivers.

The one with a recent LG chip works fine, as does the Sony. I don't know what chip the Sony uses but it's not as good at multipath as the LG.

The MyHD PCI card is not getting dropouts either.

[MeHDTV]

The DirecTV receivers are working fine now. The Dish receivers still breakup. We don't watch channel 4 much anymore, too much of a hasle switching to the Diec boxes for OTA.

[festivus]

Last night I watched 15-20 min of the wcmh local news without a significant drop. Only a couple of split second glitches. When the network news came on I had a two second drop a minute into it so I switched to the satellite feed.

The drops seem to be less frequent now but are still happening.

[opie]

I am having problems on my 622 in Newark. I watched a little bit on my 6000 and it seemed to be working ok.

[nakedeye]

i am still thinking that there has just bad multipath for some reason right now..

[zelig2]

bad multipath that mainly dish people don't do well with? It seems like there isn't a good signal for Dish users at this point.

[nakedeye]

could have something to do with the wuality of the ota chip in the dish tunners.

perhaps they are older?

[Timcredible]

can't see how it's multipath - i have a winegard ss-2000 on my roof - that antenna is supposed to be great for multipath. and the problem only started when they changed equipment, and it's happening to all dish receivers. if it were multipath, you would think some locations would be ok.

[MeHDTV]

Exactly! If it came in fine for years why would multi-path be an issue with so many at exactly the same time as the change in equipment?

[Dbailey]

i have both a directv htl-hd and sathd300 and their were breakups last night, signal was strong and never dropped out, however the signal did breakup last night during Deal or No Deal.

[Timcredible]

Looks like Debra has found the problem, below is a quote from her latest email:


We may have found what's causing the decoding issue with some receivers. We are losing color burst lock at irregular intervals. We've tested five different receivers including the 622. We've been through several monitoring points, but haven't yet found the root cause. We're waiting on two different RF experts to analyze our bitstream. We expect their opinions tomorrow.

[nakedeye]

cool.

my point with multipath is not just related to only the phenominom. i think a minor change such as above could send out a bit more unstable of a signal, causing some multipath issues normaly not a problem...

[zelig2]

Fantastic news. I had to ditch my last episode of My Name is Earl because the signal loss problems.

[festivus]

If Dish Network could provide HD locals like they do in other cities this wouldn't be an issue.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=68854&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=827337

Columbus always seems to get overlooked. I would love to be able to ditch my antenna.

[zelig2]

Having them over satellite would also help out with the problem that they only have one OTA tuner. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do in January when Heroes, 24 & Two and a Half Men are all on at the same time in HD.

[Timcredible]

Debra wrote today and said they replaced some equipment that they found to be causing the errors in the stream, and that their test dish 622 now works. i haven't been home to test - has anyone else tried wcmhdt today?

[Timcredible]

i just tried it, and no change - the signal is still garbage.

[Clint]

On Dec1st WCMH-HD made changes to their digital (Ch14) transmitter. Since then most if not all Dish Network patrons have not been able to receive reliable signals with dish Vip-622 receivers. I have compiled a list of over a dozen Dish customers who have an email relationship with WCMH concerning this problem. I have communicated via email with all of them and provided them with a link to this forum. I hope to see them here soon.

I welcome any comments, any news good or bad, concerning this issue.

It is my understanding that WCMH is working very hard to resolve this issue. I would welcome an official conformation of this from WCMH.

Thanks
Clint

[Clint]

Most recent transmitter tweaks didn't help with my dish 622.

[jrobins121]

I had reported that to Debra that both my DISH 622 and my Sanyo 27" LCD that is not connected to a dish receiver were having signal issues. Their most current fix seems to have corrected the problem with my Sanyo but, as you all know, the 622 is still unwatchable.

[Clint]

I have discovered that there is already a thread concerning the WCMH/DishNet OTA issue. Go to Help us fix this problem.

[Scott]

Merged threads.

[Clint]

I am using a very high gain directional antenna on a rotor. I have found that if I rotate the antenna 90 Degrees +/- 5 from a direct shot to WCMH DT I can reduce the dropouts on my Dish 622 to a few flecks of pixelation every minute or so. Every other direction the signal is unwatchable. When pointed in this magical direction I get a signal reading of 89 as opposed to 98 when looking directly at the WCMH tower. Even so reception is not 100% and the remaining dropouts are still annoying.

I have no idea what this means. It is just data that I hope will find it's way to a WCMH engineer.

This problem is a real mystery. Multipath should only affect viewers who are in just the right (wrong) place were a reflection is out of phase and distorts the primary signal. This problem affects many viewers over a large area. And why mostly Dish Network patrons?

Not everyone has a high gain antenna on a rotor, nor should this be necessary.

Hang in there WCMH, we're depending on you.

[festivus]

Yeah, I noticed the same thing. I rotated my antenna slightly off a direct line to the tower. Instead of 170 degrees I'm now pointing to about 175 degrees. I still get the other stations just fine and I get pixelation every 20-30 secs but no real drops. Still kinda unwatchable. Too distracting.

[festivus]

I'm entertaining family later this afternoon and was hoping to have the 5:00 NBC NFL game on in HD. Well, I guess that's not happening.:( No unless I choose to deal with a "Lost Signal" screen every 30 secs or so. I'm not sure what's worse, a blurry SD picture or a constantly breaking up HD picture. Let's hope that Debra and company can get this figured out quickly.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and of course Happy Festivus :) to everyone out there!

[zelig2]

I don't even bother turning to NBC at the moment. It's just painful to watch.

[jrobins121]

Do you think we can hope for the New Years Day bowl games on NBC in HD? I also am avoiding watching NBC right now. It's tough going back to SD once you've become accustomed to HD.

[Clint]

I'm just hoping for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

[Clint]

Today at 10:30 AM I checked the WCMH Digital signal. I noticed two things. The signal level had reduced from 91 to 81 on my Dish 622. Also, to my delight, the signal was 100% stable with no dropouts. After about 45 minutes the signal returned level 91 for about five minutes and the 622 drop out problems returned. Then the signal dropped back 81 and flawless reception resumed.

I sent an email to Debra at WCMH and she confirmed that a vendor field engineer was at WCMH and working on the digital transmitter. Late this afternoon the transmitter was up to full power and the 622 breakup was severe. I was very disappointed. As I write this I'm watching the WCMH News at Six and the signal level is back down and the Dish 622 reception is flawless.

It looks like serious troubleshooting is in progress at WCMH and they have configured the transmitter to a workable configuration for tonight's prime time viewing.

I have invited Debra to start a thread here at HDColumbus or join this thread. For anyone who doesn't know, Debra is Debra Grivois, Director,Engineering & Operations at WCMH.

[nakedeye]

did shuan leave?

[jrobins121]

I don't normally watch re-runs but couldn't pass up ER in HD last night since, for the first time in a month, there were no problems with audio or video drop outs. Thanks to Debra and her team for sticking with it until the problem was resolved.

[festivus]

Are we sure that the issue has been resolved? According to Clint, the signal strength looks to be fluctuationg and the DISH 622 reception looks to be inversely related to it. I haven't watched wcmh ota recently but his assessment seems accurate. When I had a signal strength of about 75 (before 12/1/06) I had zero issues. When the signal went up over 90 I started having the breakups.

If I remember to do so, I'll check my wcmh ota reception over the weekend. I'm located north of Powell, probably not as close to the transmitter as most of you.

[jrobins121]

Looks like I spoke too soon. I just got a response from Debra stating that they went back to their old equipment yesterday so that the vendor would see that there is a problem with the new stuff. They are going back to the new equipment today and continuing the troubleshooting.

[festivus]

Oh well, at least NBC isn't carrying any bowl games. Having to watch something like the Rose Bowl in SD would have been brutal.

[gkx10]

In answer to the earlier question about Shaun leaving...
he is off on sick leave.
Debra says she is in contact with him every day, and will be glad to forward cards and letters to him.
Address them to Shaun and inclose in an evelope addressed to Debra.

Send them to :

Debra Grivois
WCMH-TV/DT
3165 Olentangy River Road
Columbus Ohio

[festivus]

Get well Shaun!!

And tonight, my signal level is down around 81 and I'm having no issues. At least in the minute or so that I left it on 4.1. Checked it at 10:18 PM.

[nakedeye]

Ahh yes I do remeber shaun having a bit of trouble recently, but I had seen him on here not too long ago, so I assumed everything was going well.


Good Luck Shaun!

[Timcredible]

i just saw these posts this morning, and tried 4-1 and it's off the air completely (at least, my receiver is showing 0% constantly). since others saw the channel work yesterday, i'll just assume that they're working on it this morning. funny, i haven't turned to nbc in over a week (and we used to watch the news on nbc every night, not anymore, used to abc now).

[Timcredible]

yeah, they were just working on stuff - the signal is back to normal and is working fine on my vip211 now.

[zelig2]

SNL looked fine for me this evening. I watched for about 10 minutes or so without any breaking up. Good news for when the shows starts back up.

[festivus]

Yep, I think that all is well with my WCMH signal now too. Signal strength is lower but strong enough. Makes you wonder what the issue was.

Got an NFL game on NBC tonight. Not that I'll watch all of it but it will be nice to have it in HD anyway. Now I need to cancel all of my SD dvr recording schedules and make sure that I left all of the OTA schedules.

Great job by WCMH tracking this one down and fixing it. WBNS seems very responsive as well. Imagine if this had happened with WSYX or with WTTE. We would still be tracking down the right person with whom to correspond.

[Timcredible]

Great job by WCMH tracking this one down and fixing it.

well.... they just put their old equipment back in. however, i want to give them a big thumbs up for listening to us, taking us seriously, working hard on it, and once they realized it would take more time to figure it out, they make the good decision to put the old equipment back in so we could watch the channel. and yeah, let me second the notion about how much nicer wcmh and wbns are than sinclair bozos.

[Gimpy McFarlan]

My WCMH video signal has been pretty solid during their experimentation to fix the Dish issue however I've encountered a new issue recently with audio.

The last couple days there have been times when the audio slowly starts to break up until it eventually goes away completely. From beginning of breakup to complete audio loss is 10-30 sec. Then after 20-40 seconds of silence later the audio suddenly comes back. Sometimes their is a brief video hiccup when the audio returns but this is not always the case.

I'm still using the H10-250 D* receiver. This is not happening on any other OTA or Sat channel. Its is not happening very often, but when it does it happens in spurts. I've watch multi hour football games w/o it happening but it happened 3 times during the Today show this morning. This might be a 6.3a software issue but it is weird that it is only happening on WCMH OTA. Anyone else out the using the H10 seeing this?

[jrobins121]

I didn't notice any signal issues over the 3 day holiday weekend. However today (Tuesday) the picture is breaking up again. Not as bad as before but still breaking up just the same. Has anybody heard of any progress solving the problem?

[festivus]

Haven't heard a peep and have not watched any nbc lately.

[jrobins121]

Is anyone other than me still having problems with their 4.1 OTA signal? I'm still having picture stability issues but have e-mailed another forum member who tells me he hasn't had any problems since last Friday. Just wondering if I'm alone in still having trouble.

[Gimpy McFarlan]

Is anyone other than me still having problems with their 4.1 OTA signal? I'm still having picture stability issues but have e-mailed another forum member who tells me he hasn't had any problems since last Friday. Just wondering if I'm alone in still having trouble.

I tried 4.1 last night and it was completely unwatchable. Signal was dropping continuouslt and picture/video was so bad I could not tell what was on. :confused:

[Timcredible]

i watched las vegas last night and had 0 problems. if you're still having issues, contact wcmh (debra) and give her your receiver model number, signal strength, etc. and let her know what kind of issues you're having. debra is very nice to work with. i'm surprised that there are issues since they just put the original equipment back.

[jdcbomb]

for the last few weeks, i have been unable to receive any programming guide information for WCMH 4-1

all other channels, including WOSU, properly send over updated information...but 4-1 continues to display "No Programming Information Available"

my receiver: LG HDTV receiver with DVD player (forget the model number)

any ideas?

[zelig2]

This evening I recorded and watched Earl and the Office. Earl was fine but the Office was not doing well. I had to stop watching it due to the signal breaking up so much. Did something change again?

[festivus]

I recorded and watched both the office and earl. Both were flawless for me.

[Clint]

WCMH off the air CH14 has been not viewable on my dish network DVR all day today today (Thur Feb22). I have checked with two other Dish patrons and they are also having this problem. Last December they developed this problem while installing a new exciter. They finally gave up and went back to the original equipment. Back then the signal was very erratic. Now it doesn't lock up at all.

[Dbailey]

i am seeing 14.3 and 14.4 channels on my directv hd receivers (sat-hd3000) and hughes htl-hd...

[Clint]

I have just had an email exchange with Debra at WCMH. They were updating software today and ran into problems. At 6:30 PM today they are up and running and all is well.

Those of you who have complained that the program information header has not been working will be happy to see that this function is now restored. That was one of the reasons for todays software update.

For whatever reason, Dish Network receivers are far more sensitive to any imperfections in over the air broadcasts then other ATSC tuners.

I must say that I am very pleased with the way WCMH (Debra) responds to viewer concerns.

[jdcbomb]

i agree...wcmh actually seems to be responsive in regards to issues that we have...while all the other channels seems to believe we do not exist.

however, wbns is preparing to roll out HDTV broadcasts for local newscasts in a couple weeks...any ideas when wcmh will do the same?

[tmtlmllr]

I know that this thread seems to be older but I have always had problems with WCMH. I have 942 receiver and it is always horrible. My wife jokes that I like their programing better but I watch other channels because of the HD. It is true, I can't stand to watch WCMH with break ups ever 20-30 seconds. This thread just seems to die......no more information. It seems to me like the problem was never fixed and it is 7 months later. What is going on? Will this ever be fixed or are Dish Network people just out of luck forever with WCMH?

[tmtlmllr]

Clint was nice enough to let me know that the problem was fixed and that is why the thread dies off. It looks like my problem is a that I need a software update.

Thanks Clint!

tmtlmllr

[yottabit]

Clint was nice enough to let me know that the problem was fixed and that is why the thread dies off. It looks like my problem is a that I need a software update.

Thanks Clint!

tmtlmllr

So I also have a 942 and 4-1 NBC reception is really bad... it breaks up every 10 seconds for a while and then gets so bad that I get the "signal lost" message every 2 seconds... signal bounces from 94 to 0....

No other locals have a problem... I can even pick up 53-1 CW in Chillicothe... all the way from Delaware... and with no rain-fade!

I'm using an medium-sized Channel Master yagi mounted 2 stories high in open air... I'm on 8 acres with no neighbors close. Reception is better here without my preamp than it was in Hilliard with my preamp... just moved up here a month ago or so after having my service on "Dish Pause" for a year... didn't have any problems with 4-1 a year or more ago when I was in Hilliard...

I'm running software L289 on my 942 receiver... any ideas?

[yottabit]

So tmtlmllr tells me WCMH was never received correctly on his 942... same problems I am having, but he upgraded to a ViP622 and the problem didn't show up on that receiver.

So I was interested in upgrading to the ViP622 for the $50 Dish'n It Up promotion, but I was alarmed to read in the fine print all of the extra fees! With the 942 I only paid a one-time $300 lease fee, and $5.98/mo. DVR fee. However, with the ViP622 it looks like I will have to pay a $6/mo. HD equipment rental fee, plus $5.98/mo. DVR fee, plus $6.00 HD Enabling fee if I don't subscribe to any HD packages!

So with my 942 I paid one-time $300 fee, and no matter which package I subscribe to I have only the standard programming fee per month plus the $5.98/mo. DVR fee. But with the ViP622 I will be paying an upgrade fee of $50, and since I will not be subscribing to any HD packages, I will be paying an additional $12.00/mo., or $144/yr., on top of the programming package I choose!

This is completely ridiculous. I want a software update to fix the NBC WCMH OTA DRV reception on my 942, or I want a ViP622 receiver without all of the extra new charges, or else I will consider switching to DirecTV. Actually, I just went to DirecTV's website and woah are they more expensive. I guess I'll stay with Dish even though they seemingly want to rip me off now...

I just sent an e-mail to their CSR telling them I want them to fix the software on the 942, or I want a ViP622 for the same deal I have now...

I've also e-mailed Debra at WCMH to see if she has any ideas... I'm going to have to get my VOOM receiver or my AccessDTV PCI card out of the closet again just to watch WCMH OTA DTV.. and won't have any easy recording capabilities... bah. At least if I use my AccessDTV card, the bitstream is recorded onto my hard disk without all the DRM crap laced in as required with the new cards, so I can archive the programs by re-coding to MPEG-4 to save space... but then again I rarely want to save any OTA programming long-term anyway.

The only thing I watch on NBC right now is The Office... it just sucks that I have to watch the mega-compressed satellite feed instead of the OTA HDTV... I rarely watch "live" TV so having my VOOM receiver hooked up probably won't help me much... I'll have to rely on my AccessDTV card instead, which always had crash-happy software... and I'm going off on a tangent here, but it really was a shame that the company that produced the AccessDTV card almost immediately ceased operations... it was an excellent design, and included full pause & record DVR functionality plus 5.1 audio back in 2000 or 2001 when it came out... I was the only person I knew at the time watching the very beginnings of the OTA DTV feeds... oh and the problems we had with audio/video sync, too.. heheh. But it was great to see the quality... And the PBS sub-channels when they went live... those were the times. Now it seems the satellite feeds are getting worse and worse in picture quality... way too much compression, and now some of the locals are doing more sub-channels 24/7 which is making their HDTV programs' picture quality suffer tremendously...

I wonder if the eventual (if ever) satellite feed of the locals in HD will be better than the OTA quality...? I also wonder if Dish is "simul-casting" in MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 now for the ViP622 receivers... if so I would imagine the ViP622 picture quality would be far better on the satellite feeds...

[JTravers]

So will 942 owners ever have their problems resolved, or are we doomed to suffer through breakups every 10 seconds?

[yottabit]

Around four months ago now I e-mailed channel 4's Debra in engineering and had a few e-mail correspondences with her. Then after 3 months of no contact and no resolution, I e-mailed her and copied ceo@dishnetwork.com but haven't received for around a month...

Needless to say, I'm pissed...

I encourage everyone in Columbus with a 942 to e-mail Debra at WCMH, dgrivois@wcmh.com, and also ceo@dishnetwork.com. I refuse to upgrade to the ViP receivers since they will not waive the bogus "HD enabling fee." I paid good money for my 942.

By the way, here's the last correspondence I had with Debra from WCMH:
Hi, Jacob,
I'll check with our engineers. I'll let you know if they have any
ideas.

Without your preamp, you are not overdriving your receiver which was
part of the issue with some DISH receivers. DISH sent a software
upgrade to its receivers several months ago. You might try contacting
technical support to see if DISH has an upgrade for your receiver.

Thanks for letting me know about your reception troubles. We'll
definitely get our heads together to try to help you out.

Deb
-----Original Message-----
From: McDonald, Jacob M. [mailto:jacob@JacobMcDonald.net]
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 8:26 PM
To: Grivois, Debra J.
Subject: OTA DTV Reception with Dish Receiver

Hi Debra,

I had to "pause" my Dish service for about a year and was using cable in the interim. I'm now in my new house and have my Dish service
reactivated, only to find I have constant problems with the picture
breaking up on the WCMH OTA DTV signal.

I found the HDColumbus.net website, and found a post started in Dec of
last year about an equipment change at WCMH that was causing problems
for all Dish OTA DTV receivers.

I have the 942, predecessor to the ViP622, and am having a lot of
problems only with WCMH. The picture breaks up every 10 seconds for a
while and then gets so bad that I get the "signal lost" message every 2
seconds... signal bounces from 94 to 0....

I don't have any problems with any other channels... even The CW in
Chillicothe... from way up northwest of Delaware! I actually have better reception now on all Columbus channels here, without my preamp, than I
did in Hilliard with my preamp! I'm using a medium-sized Channel Master
yagi that's two stories high outdoors in a rural area without
obstructions. I'm no longer needing to use my Channel Master 7777
preamp, and all stations are showing a signal meter from 91 to 100 (even The CW in Chillicothe is at 100)... sure wish they gave a signal quality meter and a power level in dB! ;o)

I did see someone post that you guys had found the problem, and then I
saw everyone's problems seemed to have disappeared... has something
changed that would cause the problem to resurface?

I have an old VOOM receiver and an ATSC tuner for my computer that I
will get back out soon and test with... I haven't used them in many
years since I got my 942 from Dish once VOOM went under...

Thanks a lot for any advice you can give... if you would like any more
information, please feel free to contact me by e-mail or on my mobile,
xxx-xxx-xxxx.

Cheers,

Jacob

And the last e-mail I sent:
CC: Dish Network Support
To: Deb, WCMH Columbus Engineer

Hi Deb,

Any updates on this issue? I have the latest software (L289) for my model 942 receiver, and others in Columbus (and Dallas, it seems) with the same receiver have reported DTV reception problems with the NBC affiliates. I know some time last year both Columbus and Dallas had to tweak their transmission settings and it fixed the problem, but now it seems the problems are back...?

I am receiving ATSC channel 14 at 93% signal strength, but the picture and audio break up constantly until within 10-15 seconds the receiver displays a message that the OTA signal has been lost. I am picking up all other Columbus stations between 95-100%, and even pick up WWHO from Chillicothe at 97%.

I am not using any amplifiers. My Channel Master 5' VHF/UHF/FM yagi antenna is outside on top of my garage at approximately two stories high. I am on 7 acres of land without many buildings in the vicinity. From my location northwest of Delaware my antenna is aimed at 173 degrees, directly toward the Columbus broadcasting towers for WCMH, WSYX, WBNS, and WTTE. As I mentioned earlier, I can also pick up WWHO even though they're at 184 degrees (and in Chillicothe!), as well as WOSU (144 degrees), both at 98% signal strength.

I hope you can figure something out to solve the problem. I can't stand watching the over-compressed rebroadcast WCMH feed over the satellite, and am also missing some great shows in HD...

Thanks again,

Jacob

:(

[yottabit]

Since it has been a month without reply, and apparently I'm not the last soul in the Columbus market stuck with a 942 that can't receive WCMH, I felt the need to follow up one last time:
Others in Columbus with 942 receivers are reporting the same problems I reported four months ago. Any updates? WCMH?? Dish??

Dish: I paid good money for the 942. If you can't work out this problem that the new ViP series of receivers don't seem to have, I will switch to a competitor so fast you'll swear my money vaporizes... This is the last straw... I'm getting sick and tired of the fuzzy low-res over-compressed MPEG-2 signal you're sending. Either switch all streams to MPEG-4, or stop giving away MPEG-2 bandwidth to other streams... almost all of my channels look horrible now. I love the Dish DVR interface, but at some point if the picture quality is horrible and I'm unable to use the receiver for a local broadcast channel, I'm going to have to call it quits.

J.M. McDonald
Dish Account# xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[yottabit]

Well, this last round of complaining (and perhaps playing the "money card") finally got Dish's attention and I was contacted and offered a new ViP722 without having to pay the monthly "HD Enabling" fee. Finally!

I would recommend to anyone else in our market with the same 942 problem that you persevere in contacting Dish. Obviously contacting WCMH doesn't accomplish anything (and I didn't think there could possibly be an affiliate in Columbus as bad as Sinclair!! ;) ).

I did ask the Dish CSR whether it was plain silly that the 942 would have a problem with a local broadcast that the ViP does not...

Good luck!

[yottabit]

Okay, last bit of info... last response from Dish indicated they have engineering working on the 942 problem too... so keep checking your software version (I think L289 is still current) to see if they push down a new build, and then try WCMH OTA again. Also I guess periodically check in case they are able to successfully contact WCMH and tell them how to fix their broadcasting problem again...

[yottabit]

Okay, maybe one last update? I finally received an update from WCMH engineering:
Dear Jacob:

I apologize as I must have missed you in my group update several months
back. DISH Network engineers and our transmitter vendor were able to
resolve the problem with DISH 622 and 211 receivers. DISH pushed the
software fix to its customers. I would hope that DISH could do the same
with its 942 receivers.

A number of DISH customers with the 942 receiver have complained on
various forums. Some channels in their area come in fine, while one or
two do not.

I'll contact DISH engineering directly to see if someone will give me
some insight. I will also reach out to our sister stations and our
vendor.

BTW, WCMH and our vendor didn't change anything to resolve the issue
with the earlier DISH receivers. Our equipment is operating properly
and within regulations.


Deb

So the plot thickens... well hopefully Dish really is looking into the OTA decoding differences between the 942 and the ViP receivers...

[Ronald Long]

No problems with 4-1 or 4-2 and OTA outside on tower, pointed at WBNS/WCMH tower. Location near Lane Avenue Shopping Center. Receiver Dell 42in plasma. Also Fusion PCI card in XP PC. I think the OTA antenna provided with satellite dishes is inadequate depending on location.

[JTravers]

Well, this last round of complaining (and perhaps playing the "money card") finally got Dish's attention and I was contacted and offered a new ViP722 without having to pay the monthly "HD Enabling" fee. Finally!


Great news. Congratulations!

Were you given the 722 without having to pay any fees at all -- lease fees, etc.???

And you didn't contact anyone at Dish after that email? They simply got in contact with you?

That's fantastic. I may have to shoot off an email to see if I get the same kind of response.

BTW, do you subscribe to any Dish HD content, or are you usings the 722 exclusively for OTA HD? I have the old $10 HD pack + OTA HD. Probably wouldn't want to upgrade to the new, more expensive HD pack and want to make sure I won't be hit with any fees if I decide to drop Dish HD altogether and simply go with OTA HD.

Thanks for the updates!

[JTravers]

A couple more things.

Do you own the 722, or is it a lease (did you originally own or lease the 942)?

With the new HD Essentials package, it probably makes sense for me to try to swap my 942 for a 722. The old $10 HD package I am grandfathered into has far, far fewer channels and costs the same $10.

As I currently own my 942, the only sticking points are whether I will own the 722 and whether I can get the HD enabling fee waived in case I decide to drop Dish HD in the future.

Thanks for your help.