VIP722 locals HD channels problem

[mworks]

I get my local channels via antenna.
I have had several problems lately with the receiver locking up when watching those channels.

I can watch one local, then switch to another local and the picture will freeze and the receiver becomes unresponsive. I can't power it off, change channels or do anything. Then after about a minute of this , the receiver will power itself off, and reboot like it was just plugged in.

Other times I switch to locals and it keeps displaying the satellite channel I just switched from, even though the display says its on the local channel.

I have no problems with the receiver except on locals, all satellite and dvr functions work fine.

[ICBM99]

I'm not really a good person to answer (I don't get OTA signals), but doesn't the 722 have a signal strength meter for OTA? If its dropping reception it might lock up the ViP. Just trying to think of something that might help.

[Kent Taylor]

I'm not really a good person to answer (I don't get OTA signals), but doesn't the 722 have a signal strength meter for OTA? If its dropping reception it might lock up the ViP. Just trying to think of something that might help.

Dish software isn't really very good when it comes to recovering from error conditions (IMO). Losing the OTA signal may be causing the problem, as ICBM99 indicated. You might try rescanning your locals channels and checking the signal strength on each one to see if any are marginally lower than the others.

[mworks]

The signal strength is high on all the channels, 80-90 signal strength.

Its like the receiver completely dies sometimes when watching OTA.
I can switch to a channel and it displays for a few seconds then it stops letting me do anything. Can't even use the controls on the front of the receiver when it does this.

One time I actually had to unplug the receiver to get it back to working.

[PRIME1]

I have just recently started playing with OTA and as such routinely experience dropouts on my locals but the receiver (also a VIP722) has not locked up on me yet. I have a few channels that are in the 50 - 65 range so they drop quite often. I am experimenting with different antennas to see what I can get so it's a work in progress. :rolleyes:

[Lee Bailey]

Dish software isn't really very good when it comes to recovering from error conditions (IMO). Losing the OTA signal may be causing the problem, as ICBM99 indicated. You might try rescanning your locals channels and checking the signal strength on each one to see if any are marginally lower than the others.

You don't have to rescan them to view their signal strength. If you go to the Local Channels menu (MENU,6,9)where you scanned them initially, all you have to do is cursor to the channel list, the meter will show the strength in real time for the channel the cursor is on.

I also recommend using the antenna.org site to verify where your OTA antenna should be pointing.

[ICBM99]

I think his 722 problems are not related to signal strength. He said he was getting 80-90 on OTA.

mworks, I think you might have to call customer support. :( Did this start happening recently or has it been all along? If it was recently I wonder if a software update is causing the issue. Of course I don't remember when the last update was.

[Tedley444]

I am experiencing what I believe are lockups related to OTA reception problems. I have the same symptoms: 722 locks up occasionally when flipping through OTA channels. This is just my opinion, but just because the signal meter says 90 the moment of the lockup does not necessarily mean it didn't drop out momentarily (I think there is a lag between the actual signal and what the meter reads). On days when I'm experiencing frequent dropouts, the STB reboots itself or locks up forcing me to do a front panel reset.

On days I've disconnected the OTA antenna, I see no problems. This does not really prove the ota signal is the problem, but it gives a starting point. You might try disconnecting the antenna for one day and see if your reboots/lockouts stop.

[Ron Barry]

These problems can be tricky to troubleshoot. Might be a bad OTA unit in your box or can be something on a particular channel or stream that is causing the 722 to lock up. What I would suggest is try an narrow down the experience. Does it seem to occur on one particular channel or a group of channels. Check the OTA here and at AVSForums for your DMA and see if anybody else is reporting issues.

Check out your OTA wiring.. Does it go through some time of surge protection? if it does.. Try bypassing it and see if that get ride of the issue. Check your connections also. If you have a pre-amp, take that out of the loop and see if the locks up go away.

I have had OTA on my boxes for over 2 years. I have a marginal channel 13 that breaks up a lot and I have surfed there on a number of occasions without issue. With 80-90 strength I think low signal errors causing it to lock up would be pretty low on the list of possibilities.

What I would have high on my list of possibilities is.

1) External wiring (Connection issue, Pre-amp, or Surge Protector inline)
2) Something in a particular Stream given the 722 issues. We have seen issues like this before were the station has changed something in the PSIP stream and that has caused the 722 to lock up.
3) Bad OTA in your particular 722.

#1 can be troubleshooted by inspection of your connectors and checking for in-line surge protection and bypassing your pre-amp as a test.
#2 can be troubleshooted by monitoring to see if this is channel specific and contacting the local station.
#3 can be troubleshooted with a box swap.

Personally I would look at #1 and #2 first and try #3 last.. If none of those pan out... Then I would start to think possible a multi-pathing issue effecting the 722 since the 722 is more sensitive to multi-pathing and perhaps that is causing the lockup.