Ota Guide Status

[Seadoo]

I see very little discussion about the OTA GUIDE STATUS. Have I missed something on this status or has everyone just given up?

 

[iceshark]

Mine OTA guide works fine. Dont know what the problem is. I subscribe to Dish locals Maybe thats why I have no problems? I get the guide for both dish locals 9*** channels and 2-69 Ota channels in digital. Just not for Analog 2-69

 

[glenn z]

I've pretty much given up. I dropped my programming to AT60 from AT180 and will switch to D* when the HDTivo drops in price.

I've sent complaints and haven't received any comments so they obviously aren't that concerned about keeping me as a customer.

 

[dturturro]

What guide info are you missing? Do you get guide info for the corresponding satellite channels? If not, you will not receive the OTA guide either.

 

[glenn z]

What guide info are you missing? Do you get guide info for the corresponding satellite channels? If not, you will not receive the OTA guide either.

On my 811 I get local guide info for my OTA channels (other than NBC). On my 921 I get nothing for the local OTA channels. I refuse to pay for locals since I get them all for free with great reception.

 

[dturturro]

On my 811 I get local guide info for my OTA channels (other than NBC). On my 921 I get nothing for the local OTA channels. I refuse to pay for locals since I get them all for free with great reception.

You shouldn't have to pay for them. But you will need a dish pointed at the sat that carries the locals for the guide to work properly. My D500was out of alignment but I still got guide info for the OTAs broadcast from 61.5 (which was still pointed properly).

 

[Bradtothebone]

With the 921, you MUST subscribe to DISH locals to get OTA guide info (unlike 811). This is what the original question referred to. Scott, I hope you'll have a long talk with Charlie about this at CES!

Brad

 

[SimpleSimon]

You shouldn't have to pay for them. But you will need a dish pointed at the sat that carries the locals for the guide to work properly. My D500was out of alignment but I still got guide info for the OTAs broadcast from 61.5 (which was still pointed properly).

Note that the 9-day guide (for DVRs only) exists on only one bird - 110.

44-hour guide is everywhere.

 

[jnardone]

Hi:
I am new here. Does the OTA guide on the SAT cover every channel that my box would pick up. I am in NJ and I have big antenna on a rotor so I can get NYC, Philly, NJ, and LI channels. Currently I have VOOM and they sent my box a special "map" so it would download the guide for the channels that were not in my DMA. It works well - I can see all kinds of programs that I want to record in HD!
Joseph

 

[SimpleSimon]

No. E* is still trying to find their @$$ with both hands when it comes to OTA guides.

All you can get is whatever locals you are paying to subscribe to (as said in post #7). Don't expect any improvement.

 

[LosingPatience]

And don't forget, the OTA guide on the 921 does not recognize the digital sub-channels, so the "guide" for them is the same as the "master" channel.

For instance, my local CBS HD station, 22.1, also carries UPN on 22.3. But the 921, technological marvel that it is, shows the CBS schedule for 22.3.

And, of course, our local, non-network-affiliate stations, all show "No Info Available".

 

[wmhjr]

No problems here

I had to manually change a few things on my OTA configuration on the 921. However, after doing so I have absolutely no problem at all. My OTA works great.

 

[dturturro]

I had to manually change a few things on my OTA configuration on the 921. However, after doing so I have absolutely no problem at all. My OTA works great.

Manual changes? Do share please.

 

[wmhjr]

Only that I initially did the DTV scan on the 921 and picked up a bunch of digital signals. I mapped those offline to what they were supposed to be. Then, I deleted the non-relevant ones. I then looked for the ones I was missing, found the correct frequency, and manually added those channels. Now all of them appear in my channel guide, in the right spot. They all *seem* to have the proper info in the channel guide.

I now have only one issue - really unrelated to the channel guide. Last night I was getting sporadic drops in reception on my OTAs through the 921. The 921 handled the first couple OK, showing some pixalation and sometimes a brief black screen. However, after a couple of those, it then pretty much just locked up and needed to be rebooted to get it back. This happened several times last night.

Winds were high here last night, and I don't have my antenna configuration optimized yet, so I'm not sure what was going on. I need to do a bunch more research. I called Dish (waited on hold LONG time) and got very little satisfaction. I don't expect them to solve the reception issue, but having the 921 lock up is completely unacceptable. This could have some major impact down the line.

 

[Seadoo]

Only that I initially did the DTV scan on the 921 and picked up a bunch of digital signals. I mapped those offline to what they were supposed to be. Then, I deleted the non-relevant ones. I then looked for the ones I was missing, found the correct frequency, and manually added those channels. Now all of them appear in my channel guide, in the right spot. They all *seem* to have the proper info in the channel guide.

I now have only one issue - really unrelated to the channel guide. Last night I was getting sporadic drops in reception on my OTAs through the 921. The 921 handled the first couple OK, showing some pixalation and sometimes a brief black screen. However, after a couple of those, it then pretty much just locked up and needed to be rebooted to get it back. This happened several times last night.

Winds were high here last night, and I don't have my antenna configuration optimized yet, so I'm not sure what was going on. I need to do a bunch more research. I called Dish (waited on hold LONG time) and got very little satisfaction. I don't expect them to solve the reception issue, but having the 921 lock up is completely unacceptable. This could have some major impact down the line.

I was asking about the channel guide that tells you what is on each channel and I think you are talking about the list of channels.

 

[wmhjr]

An unfortunate update!

Well, I take it all back. My 921 is frankly now a completely unreliable doorstop when it comes to OTA. For a while it seemed to be working OK. However, over the last several days it's degraded to the point where I can't take a chance on using it because it locks up my entire system so frequently. To be specific:

1) Sometimes when simply just tuning to an OTA station, it wigs out and goes to a black screen that I can only get out of by rebooting the unit.

2) Sometimes when trying to record OTA HD via the 921, the red light indicating recording is on, however the picture is locked up with a static image. Then, there's nothing I could do but physically unplug the unit in order to get it back.

3) The OTA guide simply doesn't reflect scheduled HD recording. For example, I set it to record something on channel 2-1, which is listed just above channel 2 on the Guide. However, if I then go back to the guide even just a few minutes later, it shows that the recording is scheduled for channel 2 and not 2-1. If I highlight the scheduled recording and go to edit it, it does show that it's scheduled for 2-1 and not 2. However, I really don't know which screen is right and where it will record. That, of course, is because the damn unit locked up before the recording started (again).

I called Dishnet (and after being on hold FOREVER!) they had no clue, and claimed that the 921 had very few problems at all. Guess they never heard from anyone on these forums. I'm now on hold for them again (been on hold now for 44 minutes so far here on Sunday night at 10:40pm).

So, bottom line is that I'm now having even more issues than others. I'm calling Adelphia Cable tomorrow to see what they'll offer me. I'm not paying these costs for a completely unreliable system, and thus far they've not given me any assurance that these problems will ever be fixed. Since Dish has so little network HD content, that means that my HD set would be pretty much worthless. I didn't pay this to have a completely unreliable unit. My Toshiba DLP has an integrated tuner which works great - it just doesn't allow me to record anything. Don't need Dish for that!