Dumping cable to go with dish...

[stanger89]

I think unless you have a multilanguage package, you can get everthing with a single Dish1000 (ie 3 slots).

If you want to use the 34, you might have to get a couple LNBFs to replace the Twin.

[briands]

Originally Posted by insomniac

Any time. If you cant find the files, I may have them stashed somewhere from when I used to use them.

Had my dish installation today and I need HELP... the WAF is dropping like a rock... Unrelated to the new install, my Wiz.bin appearantly took a crap... nothing like 700Gb of shows in My Videos...

Now to what you might help with... I have assigned the 4 boxes to addresses 1-4 and have confirmed that the remotes do indeed work.

I am having problems teaching the remote codes... I found the recommendation to not use service mode, so I disabled that, but I am getting all kinds of screwy things during learning. It says "...hold 0 until told to let go" after ~20 seconds, I let go an viola... "It's OK to let go now" On some numbers, after an eternity, I get an error " there was a problem try again". On some of these, I get a positive response before I can even press the button again. On top of that, I had several that gave positive results without pressing a button...

[briands]

OK... got the USBUIRT thing worked out... found "how to test and relearn IR codes" in the setup. That worked MUCH better than the first time.

It's very late so I am going to bed.

[briands]

This IR think is a little sketchy... ended up with several files with dish message boxes on the screen. I wish the boxes had a channel display on the front so you could see what they were doing. I guess I should get one of these.

Couple lineup questions...
let me start with my configuration...
1000 dish through DP34 multiswitch to
(3) 311 SD boxes - Svid to 500(2) and 250 capture card
(1) 211 HD box - Svid to 150 capture card (component to HD display)

The OTA antenna through an amplified splitter to the 211 and all of the capture cards (including the ATSC110).

So for the lineups... (we'll start with the easiest)
OTA
ATSC110 - Antenna - Louisville Digital (1)
For each capture card tuner - Antenna - Louisville Analog (4)
Dish
211 - Dish Louisville - Louisville , Extended Basic
311 - Dish Louisville - Louisville , Extended Basic
So for this lineup (Dish Louisville - Louisville , Extended Basic) how do I have the HD channels in for the 311 and not in for the 211s?

Next questions are about the DISH sattelites and reception...
When I do a check switch on each box, three of them (211 and 2 of the 311)come back with the same result
110.....119....Conn
All........All.......X
Twin...Twin...DUAL

The other 311 shows only
110
ALL
TWIN

Seems really odd.
What channels are on what sattelites? Shouldn't I have 3 showing up?
Signal strengths are in the low 60s on all. Seems low on the scale.

Any good recomended reading?

Thanks!

[briands]

I have a service appt for Sunday morning to get DIsh 129 on line, but I'd still like to get the lineup thing straightened out.

If I tune to ESPN HD, it is ONLY available on the 211 HD box. I have that tuner card assigned to the Dish Louisville channel lineup and ESPNHD (9424) is enabled in that lineup. The 311 boxes are all three on Dishnetwork - USA lineup and ESPNHD is disabled in that lineup. When I select it from the guide, it attempts to tune it with one of the 311 boxes

[briands]

Well, I think I got the lineup thing straight. Just had to restart the service.

[millers_35]

I am as well thinking about switching to dish network from cable. I am trying to figure out what all I need. So far I have come to the conclusion that I need. (4) 311 recievers (not doing hd), (2) PVR-500 (using s-video), I am assuming according to what I understood from insomniac's post (1) USBUIRT to control all 4 IRD's?

The two things im still confused about is the multiswitch, I have used DTV in the past I never had to use a switch, I just always had 1 run of coax to each reciever (not how Dish works?) or the dish may be limited by the number is LNB hookups I'm not sure??

Also dont really know what Dish I need to be looking at, would it be the 1000? I plan on getting the "America's Top 180 Package"

Thanks for any feedback!!

Miller

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by millers_35

The two things im still confused about is the multiswitch, I have used DTV in the past I never had to use a switch, I just always had 1 run of coax to each reciever (not how Dish works?) or the dish may be limited by the number is LNB hookups I'm not sure??

You have one coax to each box, the complication come from the dish having three LNBs (or at least two), so you need a switch to break those two LNB feeds into 4 IRD feeds.

With simpler setups, the LNBs have a two output switch built in, so you can run directly from the dish to the boxes. But beyond two IRDs, you need a multiswitch.

Also dont really know what Dish I need to be looking at, would it be the 1000? I plan on getting the "America's Top 180 Package"

I know with the HD pack, you get a Dish1000, I'm not sure what they install with a non-HD pack. Possibly a Dish500. It doesn't really matter, they'll get you the right one.

[briands]

Originally Posted by millers_35

I am as well thinking about switching to dish network from cable. I am trying to figure out what all I need. So far I have come to the conclusion that I need. (4) 311 recievers (not doing hd), (2) PVR-500 (using s-video), I am assuming according to what I understood from insomniac's post (1) USBUIRT to control all 4 IRD's?

The two things im still confused about is the multiswitch, I have used DTV in the past I never had to use a switch, I just always had 1 run of coax to each reciever (not how Dish works?) or the dish may be limited by the number is LNB hookups I'm not sure??

Also dont really know what Dish I need to be looking at, would it be the 1000? I plan on getting the "America's Top 180 Package"

Thanks for any feedback!!

Miller

Yeah, what Stanger said. They will get you the right dish and switch for the boxes they install. And if they install the dish right (meaning not blocked by your neighbors house and terminate the cables so there are no shield whiskers) they will all receive all channels that you subscribe to.
I was a little nervous about setting up the USBUIRT, but it only takes a few seconds to change each receiver to a unique codeset and then learning the codes for the numbers from each remote, or copying the files from someone who has already done it. If you choose to use 1-4, I have them and can send them to you.

That being said, I may not be as satisfied as I expected...

[insomniac]

Really? with what? Just curious...

Originally Posted by briands

That being said, I may not be as satisfied as I expected...

[briands]

The repair tech showed up yesterday and identified right away that the 129 sat was blocked entirely by my neighbor’s roof and the others were likely shielded as well resulting in the low signal strength. So after completely reinstalling the dish to a higher location on the side of the house, VIOLA... we had 129!!! Unfortunately, the troublesome 311 box was still only seeing 110. After swapping another box in with the same problem, he noticed there was a whisker of shield wire touching the coax conductor. Re-dressed the end and ... still the same thing. Checking the other end of the wire, found the same problem.

So yesterday by noon, I had all four boxes receiving signal from all satellites with strength over 100 or so

Then the rain came... WTF... is it really this bad? It wasn't even that heavy of rain. Any suggestions? I am going to recheck all of the cable ends, maybe there are more sketchy terminations there.

The real motivation to switch to dish was the HD lineup and the fact that with the R5000 I can use Sage for all of their HD content, but if that light rain was enough to cause an outage, I don't think it's gonna fly.

Lastly (for now) I have ended up with a lot of recordings of Dish dialog boxes, or the screen saver . Anyone else seeing this? Is there a way to alter the channel change to include other codes instead of just the channel numbers? I see that even if there is a pop up on the receiver, pressing guide, then channel number and then select twice, the station will be tuned. This seemed to work with any of the popups or menus that I have tried (setup menu, PPV confirmation, unavailable add it now, I think it even worked from standby). Maybe now that all of the channels are coming in (as long as it's not raining) I might not have so many worthless recordings, but it seems that if the channel change is sent while there is no reception, it can result in a dialog box...

[insomniac]

Whoa! First off, I have to say that i havent ever seen rain degredation. If the dish is pointed correctly, it takes quite a bit of rain to cause any signal issues. I would say that you still have an outside cable issue that water is disrupting. Secondly, the 301's, 2700, and 3900 that I have, do not have the screen saver. You may want to call dish and find out how to disable them.

If i had all these issues on implementation, I would probably tell dish where to put their dish!

If you do throw in the towel after further troubleshooting, follow this thread:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...ht=stealth+QAM

It seems that we are close to cable HD tuning!

Originally Posted by briands

The repair tech showed up yesterday and identified right away that the 129 sat was blocked entirely by my neighbor’s roof and the others were likely shielded as well resulting in the low signal strength. So after completely reinstalling the dish to a higher location on the side of the house, VIOLA... we had 129!!! Unfortunately, the troublesome 311 box was still only seeing 110. After swapping another box in with the same problem, he noticed there was a whisker of shield wire touching the coax conductor. Re-dressed the end and ... still the same thing. Checking the other end of the wire, found the same problem.

So yesterday by noon, I had all four boxes receiving signal from all satellites with strength over 100 or so

Then the rain came... WTF... is it really this bad? It wasn't even that heavy of rain. Any suggestions? I am going to recheck all of the cable ends, maybe there are more sketchy terminations there.

The real motivation to switch to dish was the HD lineup and the fact that with the R5000 I can use Sage for all of their HD content, but if that light rain was enough to cause an outage, I don't think it's gonna fly.

Lastly (for now) I have ended up with a lot of recordings of Dish dialog boxes, or the screen saver . Anyone else seeing this? Is there a way to alter the channel change to include other codes instead of just the channel numbers? I see that even if there is a pop up on the receiver, pressing guide, then channel number and then select twice, the station will be tuned. This seemed to work with any of the popups or menus that I have tried (setup menu, PPV confirmation, unavailable add it now, I think it even worked from standby). Maybe now that all of the channels are coming in (as long as it's not raining) I might not have so many worthless recordings, but it seems that if the channel change is sent while there is no reception, it can result in a dialog box...

[blade]

Originally Posted by insomniac

Whoa! First off, I have to say that i havent ever seen rain degredation. If the dish is pointed correctly, it takes quite a bit of rain to cause any signal issues. I would say that you still have an outside cable issue that water is disrupting. Secondly, the 301's, 2700, and 3900 that I have, do not have the screen saver. You may want to call dish and find out how to disable them.

I have seen rain degredation with DTV everytime there was a hard rain. I ditched it when I moved and that was around 7 years ago. It's been so long I don't recall the exact number on the signal strength, but I remember it was very high and there was a 30 acre field on the side the dish pointed so there was absolutely no obstructions. The PQ was much better than what I get now with analog cable though.

The equipment may be better now than it used to be, but everyone I knew that had DTV had problems with heavy rain causing signal degredation. It was something the retailers even warned customers about. I don't know if the area you're located in plays a role or not since some people claim to not have the problem.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by briands

the screen saver . Anyone else seeing this?

Go into setup and disable the inactivity timeout and nightly updates, and that will take care of your screensaver issue.

[briands]

Originally Posted by insomniac

Whoa! First off, I have to say that i havent ever seen rain degredation. If the dish is pointed correctly, it takes quite a bit of rain to cause any signal issues. I would say that you still have an outside cable issue that water is disrupting. Secondly, the 301's, 2700, and 3900 that I have, do not have the screen saver. You may want to call dish and find out how to disable them.

If i had all these issues on implementation, I would probably tell dish where to put their dish!

If you do throw in the towel after further troubleshooting, follow this thread:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...ht=stealth+QAM

It seems that we are close to cable HD tuning!

Well, it's still raining today so I won't be climbing on the ladder this evening. On several checks this evening, the signal seems to be holding.

From the manual
RAIN AND SNOW FADE

Heavy rain, snow, or dense cloud cover can
reduce the satellite signal, which may interrupt
your programming service. Your service will
return after the weather condition has passed.
Aiming the satellite dish to get the strongest
signal during installation, will help prevent rain
and snow from interrupting the signal.

I thought I had gotten the update and timeout settings on all of the boxes. The tech may have reset them when he was diagnosing. I can not find the timeout setting on the 211... anyone know where it is in the menu?

Also realized that the installation is not grounded at all The original installers didn't do it, neither did the repair tech... Guess I'll do that myself this weekend while I am reterminating all of the cables and tightening all of the connectors.

BTW, I noticed that the r5000 Dish211s are on sale for $700.

[hemicuda]

With a bit of tinkering you could use an old PrimeStar dish w/ DTV. I've heard of major storms not affecting those setups as the dish is about 2-3x the area of the stock unit. I have no idea if it'll work on DishNet.

[SHS]

I wish Jon would work on newer ver USB-UIRT that has 4 port kind like the one below or maybe jeff should take crack at this but there seem be no windows drivers
http://www.digitalconnection.com/pro...ote/ir500p.asp
http://www.commandir.com/mini/

[DArthur]

Here we go:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/archive/...p/t-58465.html

"I do the same thing leave my 211 on all the time so heres what you need to have disabled. to stop the screen saver from coming on.

And you are correct if the receiver auto updates in the early morning you get the screen saver and have to rehit power to turn the receiver back on no way around it unless you do the steps below.

Menu 6-1-6 disable updates (but your receiver will only update if you turn it off for the night)

Menu 8-7 and disable standby

That sould do the trick for you"

Lifesaver!

Darryl

[briands]

Originally Posted by DArthur

Here we go:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/archive/...p/t-58465.html

"I do the same thing leave my 211 on all the time so heres what you need to have disabled. to stop the screen saver from coming on.

And you are correct if the receiver auto updates in the early morning you get the screen saver and have to rehit power to turn the receiver back on no way around it unless you do the steps below.

Menu 6-1-6 disable updates (but your receiver will only update if you turn it off for the night)

Menu 8-7 and disable standby

That sould do the trick for you"

Lifesaver!

Darryl

Thanks! Guess I just missed it before.

[briands]

Anyone recording off the svideo on their dish 211 receiver? The recordings seem to cropped to 4:3... Is there a setting for this?