No guide info for OTA

[paulthepwner]

I just got a 612 yesterday, and after scanning, all of the OTA stations come up in the guide, but there's no actual program info. I was under the impression that there should be...can anyone tell me what's going on?

[Kent Taylor]

I just got a 612 yesterday, and after scanning, all of the OTA stations come up in the guide, but there's no actual program info. I was under the impression that there should be...can anyone tell me what's going on?

Are you seeing the channels and the description is Digital Service? Do you subscribe to your local channels? If you don't subscribe to locals, this is normal. To get Guide information, you must subscribe to your locals. Even then, some sub channels may not have guide data.

[paulthepwner]

Are you seeing the channels and the description is Digital Service? Do you subscribe to your local channels? If you don't subscribe to locals, this is normal. To get Guide information, you must subscribe to your locals. Even then, some sub channels may not have guide data.

I have to pay money to get guide info?

That's insane. Every satellite system I've ever seen shows local channel info, even if it doesn't have them available.

I suppose there's nothing I can do about it unless I subscribe?

[bbomar]

I have to pay money to get guide info?

That's insane. Every satellite system I've ever seen shows local channel info, even if it doesn't have them available.

I suppose there's nothing I can do about it unless I subscribe?

Yes, you must subscribe to locals to get the guide data. However, if you susbscribe to locals in your DMA (in my case Nashville, TN) you will also get guide data for any stations outside your DMA that you can receive (Chattanooga, TN and Huntsville, AL in my case).

[CABill]

You probably should just subscribe to locals and get the Guide info. If I go to "DishBuilder" to sign up as a new sub, with TurboHD Silver and a single HD DVR w/o locals, the total is $38.97 ($32.99 + $5.98). If I add locals ($5/month), the total goes to $39.99 because it essentially drops the $5.98 DVR fee when it adds locals (DishDVR Advantage). Yea, it is $.98 more than you expected. Guide data alone is worth that, but you can also now record ABC, NBC, and CBS in HD at the same time. I'm assuming Baltimore has locals in HD via sat, I didn't check.

[paulthepwner]

You probably should just subscribe to locals and get the Guide info. If I go to "DishBuilder" to sign up as a new sub, with TurboHD Silver and a single HD DVR w/o locals, the total is $38.97 ($32.99 + $5.98). If I add locals ($5/month), the total goes to $39.99 because it essentially drops the $5.98 DVR fee when it adds locals (DishDVR Advantage). Yea, it is $.98 more than you expected. Guide data alone is worth that, but you can also now record ABC, NBC, and CBS in HD at the same time. I'm assuming Baltimore has locals in HD via sat, I didn't check.

Balty does have HD on sat...Didn't know that it dropped the DVR fee when I got locals, that certainly makes it worth it.

You don't have a link to a page that shows that it drops the fee do you? I'd like to see it in [their] writing before I pull the trigger.

I appreciate the info. I wonder, my antenna will pull York and Lancaster locals, if I subscribe to locals here, do you think it will pull info for them into the guide?

[CABill]

I'm in the Sacto DMA, and get guide data for SF stations (eventhough I can't always receive the stations themselves). Lots of people get EPG info for out of market OTAs, but some (OH DMAs comes to mind) don't. Closest I can come to a URL right now is where I went:
https://customersupport.dishnetwork.com/builddish/land.do
Enter and watch the price drop when you pick the DVR and go back up when you go back to no DVR. An extremely annoying "Wanna Chat" will appear constantly. Go ahead and give that a try. You can copy-paste the chat dialog. I'd really have to spend time searching the site as the TurboHD only package is new since I poked around last.

[kinglerch]

Interestingly, Dish refused to activate my locals simply for EPG data. I tried to have them add the locals to my bill, but they would only do it if I would add the required wing dish. I said I didn't need it since I pull all locals OTA, that I just wanted wanted the locals for EPG info...no dice.

So they are sending an installer out to add another dish I really don't want/need. Oh well... :icon_stup

[ChuckA]

It will be good to get the locals over sat as well as OTA because you have more tuner management options that way. You can for example, record two programs from local stations, 1 OTA and 1 sat.

[Ron Barry]

Heck you can record 3 locals. Two from Dish and one from OTA. Great option to have specially with the new season upon us.

[mercator1]

The Alabama football game is only available in HD over the air, so I bought a relatively inexpensive RCA antenna and ran the coax into my plasma. My local stations are MUCH crisper than the local feeds I get from Dish. WTF???

Could it be that, since my TV is capable of 1080p, I'm getting a better pic using the TV tuner than through the Dish 722, whose output is limited to 1080i?

[Ron Barry]

OTA will be better quality than your Dish HD locals though based on the posts here it can range anywhere from minimum to significant with most seeing minimal difference from what I have read here. For me.. I have OTA and Dish HD in my 722 and I see a slight difference between my OTA and my Dish HD locals.

[mercator1]

Currently, I'm running the coax directly to my TV, so I can't make use of the 722's recording capabilities on OTA. I'm wondering if running it through the PVR with its 1080i output will diminish the OTA quality.

[Ron Barry]

It should not. OTA is either 1080i and 720p and the Receiver just records the stream as is and plays it back. It should not dimenish quality. I would suggest splitting your OTA cable and run it into both your TV and your DVR.

[reddice]

My 612 becomes very unstable when I mess around with OTA stations. Adding them in the menu screen sometimes causes random reboots and changing channels from OTA to Satellite sometime causes a endless Aquiring Signal screen. Also it is not worth it if you live in NYC because digital reception in one word "sucks". I can pick up NJ waste stations like WFME further away easier that are not even in HD 480i. I use to be able to get channels 7, 9 and 11 good but now I can't get 9 or 11 and 7 breaks up. I would not trust recording anything OTA. I rather try to record something on Satellite during a storm. Even that would be more reliable. I just keep my antenna hooked up to my TV for OTA. I just wish Dish Network would carry channels 9 and 13 in HD since I can't get dit no more OTA.

And yes I tried this with two different antenna. The Terk HDTVi Indoor UHF/VHF HDTV antenna (http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=15920&i=209HDTVI&tp=3321&tab=review&rvm=ShowAllt) which I gave to my mother and the Radio Shack Indoor VHF/UHF/HDTV Antenna with RF Remote Control (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2131034&cp=2032057.2032187.2032189.2032204&parentPage=family) which I am currently using now.

[ImBack234]

I just wish Dish Network would carry channels 9 and 13 in HD
I sent them a email asking the same thing and I got back less then soon. :(

"Thank you for your email and bringing your concern to our attention.



DISH Network is committed to bring additional HD stations to our customers in 2008/2009. To achieve this, we are in negotiations with different stations as well as launching additional satellites this year to provide us additional bandwidth to broadcast more channels. Unfortunately, at this time we do not have specific dates when new HD channels will begin broadcasting.



Thanks,



Gregory Wall

DISH Network Corporation

Executive Communications

Phone: (720) 514-7866

Gregory.wall@echostar.com"

[oljim]

My 612 becomes very unstable when I mess around with OTA stations. Adding them in the menu screen sometimes causes random reboots and changing channels from OTA to Satellite sometime causes a endless Aquiring Signal screen. Also it is not worth it if you live in NYC because digital reception in one word "sucks". I can pick up NJ waste stations like WFME further away easier that are not even in HD 480i. I use to be able to get channels 7, 9 and 11 good but now I can't get 9 or 11 and 7 breaks up. I would not trust recording anything OTA. I rather try to record something on Satellite during a storm. Even that would be more reliable. I just keep my antenna hooked up to my TV for OTA. I just wish Dish Network would carry channels 9 and 13 in HD since I can't get dit no more OTA.

And yes I tried this with two different antenna. The Terk HDTVi Indoor UHF/VHF HDTV antenna (http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=15920&i=209HDTVI&tp=3321&tab=review&rvm=ShowAllt) which I gave to my mother and the Radio Shack Indoor VHF/UHF/HDTV Antenna with RF Remote Control (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2131034&cp=2032057.2032187.2032189.2032204&parentPage=family) which I am currently using now.

No wonder you have trouble with OTA, you use junk indoor antennas.

[reddice]

No wonder you have trouble with OTA, you use junk indoor antennas.

It seems like no matter which antenna I get it is junk. I was recommended those two antennas from various forums. If you lived in NYC you would realize that unless you use a outdoor antenna the reception just stinks.

[Allen Noland]

OTA will be better quality than your Dish HD locals though based on the posts here it can range anywhere from minimum to significant with most seeing minimal difference from what I have read here. For me.. I have OTA and Dish HD in my 722 and I see a slight difference between my OTA and my Dish HD locals.

Locals HD via Satellite will require significantly LESS hard drive space when recording. On the other hand, with OTA you get any sub-channels the station may be sending such as Weather+.

[oljim]

Then use an outdoor antenna, all my stations are 40 to 70 miles away. I would think if I can get stations that far away you should have no problem with an outdoor one

[kinglerch]

It will be good to get the locals over sat as well as OTA because you have more tuner management options that way. You can for example, record two programs from local stations, 1 OTA and 1 sat.

Does the 622 manage the recordings and (if two programs have the same time slot) choose the OTA and sat for you? Or do you have to know the recordings will conflict, and choose one from OTA and put the other one on sat manually?

[lujan]

Does the 622 manage the recordings and (if two programs have the same time slot) choose the OTA and sat for you? Or do you have to know the recordings will conflict, and choose one from OTA and put the other one on sat manually?

I do all my recordings manually and never have a conflict problem. I always keep in mind that you can only have one OTA recording and two satellite recordings for a total of three at any one time.

[kinglerch]

I just thought that since the 622 seems to recognize the OTA as the same channel as the sat version, that you could (somehow) choose the channel and not care which feed. Or at a minimum, if you had 3 locals recording at one time, the 622 could choose to get one of them OTA.

It's no big deal either way, but I just wanted to be sure which way I should do it. Sometimes, the way locals throw shows all over the place, it's hard to know in advance which ones are going to conflict.