GaryPen said:
The point that people seem to be forgetting is that everyone who has posted, who also owns another OTA DTV receiver, says they only have these problems with the 811.
I think that is significant. But that's just me.
Nope.. not forgetting that from my end. As for everyone with another OTA receiver working were the 811 does not, I am sure there are people that have the 811 and it works as good as the OTA receiver it replaced. That would be my guess.
I also feel that like you do that there still is issues with OTA and the 811 based on the reports. I also feel based on the reports that you can overcome some of the issues by adding a attenuator an possible a pre-amp and maybe doing some antenna tweaking. The 6000 was much more forgiven than the 811 but also when it had signal I had a lot more drop out and Picture Corruption. The 811 made me fine tune things more but is given me a more solid signal. Maybe I could have achieved it with the 6000 but it basically took anything so I never was forced to fine tune.
The 811 definitely is more sensitive to multi-pathing than the 6000 and other OTA STBs. I am also convinced there is a bug on the multi-pathing side. However, The point I am trying to make is that you may get around the 811s sensitivity with some external OTA adjustments. As I see it, I would like as much OTA as possible and if I can put some adjustment onto the input I have better chance of tuning things into to maximum by the quality of the signal going in. Or I can not do anything to my existing system because it works with another STB and just wait for dish to fix the problem or adjust down the sensitivity to accept a lower quality signal.
There is a whole forum on AVS that discuss antenna and getting HDTV in your area. After reading a lot of threads, I got the impression that certain antennas work in certain areas better than others. I also learned that an attenuator is a great cheap addition to provide tuning. Also learned that a pre-amp does not always help.
These are some of the things I learned over there and it helped me improved my signal quality a lot when I had my 6000. It also allowed me to tune in on my 811 to the point I have solid channels on most HDTV out here. I know mileage will vary, but it is something to try while you wait for a fix.
If you have not already done this one might be surprised at the results. I have seen people on this forum be quick to say, it is not my antenna because the other OTA STB works fine. Well that might be the case, but we all know that 811 is more sensitive and picky than the 6000 so some minor adjustments on the input might make the 811 happy and in the end you get your HDTV. OTA HDTV varies all over the country and each house is different, tweaking might be necessary and have the tools to do it helps a not. My signal without the Pre-amp and attenuator sucked on the 6000 and I am sure would not have worked with the 811.
I am not saying that it is everyone antenna, I don't have enough info and knowledge to even make that statement. I still think there is some OTA 811 software work to be done. I am saying that there are some techniques and things that can be done on the antenna side to improve your signal and to the point the 811 likes it and the end result is you get to watch your HD.
If your antenna has no adjustment other than hoping on the roof and moving it then my suggestion is get an attenuator and possible a preamp and give it a try. There is also other ways with mulitiple antennas to get minimize multi-pathing. Then again you can wait for Dish to fix the software so that it works in your configuration or switch to VOOM or D*. Given Dish's track record on bug fixes in a timely fashion, I personally would make sure there is nothing I can do on the input side to improve the signal quality. Hope this did not sound condescending it was not meant to be. Just an opinion based on what I did to improve my HD signal quality and take it as that.
