Lost OTA -1 from the big 4

[fluffybear]

I just walked in and flipped on the TV and noticed that my -1 OTA channels from the big 4 (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC) are all missing from my guide. I have -1 OTA channels for all the major indies & PBS stations in the Atlanta market just none from the Big 4!

For the record, the digital sub channels on those stations (i.e 2-2, 11-2, etc.) are all showing up okay and can be tuned to without any problem.

[Scott in FL]

Have you tried resetting your receiver? Not sure if you have a converter box, tv with ATSC tuner, or what. but the first thing I would do is perform a reset. When in doubt, unplug for 15 seconds and plug it back in again (what the Dutch call a "Belgian boot").

Good luck!

[fluffybear]

Have you tried resetting your receiver? Not sure if you have a converter box, tv with ATSC tuner, or what. but the first thing I would do is perform a reset. When in doubt, unplug for 15 seconds and plug it back in again (what the Dutch call a "Belgian boot").

Good luck!

One of the first things I tried :D

[dettxw]

I just walked in and flipped on the TV and noticed that my -1 OTA channels from the big 4 (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC) are all missing from my guide. I have -1 OTA channels for all the major indies & PBS stations in the Atlanta market just none from the Big 4!

For the record, the digital sub channels on those stations (i.e 2-2, 11-2, etc.) are all showing up okay and can be tuned to without any problem.Is that happening with all of your HR20-700 units?

Do they still tune the stations?

My bet is that the guide problem will fix itself.

[fluffybear]

Is that happening with all of your HR20-700 units?

Do they still tune the stations?

My bet is that the guide problem will fix itself.

Doing it on all receivers!

No, trying to access the stations directly doesn't appear to work.

[dettxw]

You might try resetting up the OTA, inputting your primary zip into one of the HR20-700s again, but I'd be surprised if that did anything. Sounds like you are simply not getting guide info, and that inhibits the HR20-700 tuning of the stations. The don't scan for channels, just tune what they are told is available in your area.
For what it's worth the guide here is intact and OTA working just fine on my HR20-700s, so not a system-wide problem.

Anyone else in Atlanta having a similar problem?

Are your LiL channels available?

[fluffybear]

Oddly enough, they just reappeared.

Go figure!

[dettxw]

Oddly enough, they just reappeared.

Go figure!Is that happening with all of your HR20-700 units?

Do they still tune the stations?

My bet is that the guide problem will fix itself.:D

[Jim5506]

Possible a station problem.

[fluffybear]

Possible a station problem.

I would agree except this problem only affected the big 4 and did not effect any of their sub channels.

[n3ntj]

Possible a station problem.

How on earth could the stations affect the -1 OTA setup of your IRD? I would guess it was a D* issue and apparently has been fixed.

[Scott in FL]

I would agree except this problem only affected the big 4 and did not effect any of their sub channels.

I've thought about this a bit more, and it might be similar to how some Direct-to-Home satellite services provide their EPG (Electronic Program Guide). I'm sure Direct TV and Dish use their own service, but in Europe where you can have different channels uplinked to different satellites by different uplink providers, the EPG is sometimes provided by a separate service. This is not the case with Sky, but is with some of the European services on Astra and Hotbird. You send your program info to the service weeks in advance, they put in in the correct format, and send the data back to the uplinker to be transmitted to the satellite along with the program material itself. This data combines with all the other channel's data, and make up the EPG.

I wonder if terrestrial digital tv stations in the States use a similar system. It could be that the big 4 all subscribe to the same EPG service, and that service was having problems at the time.

Just a thought.