My DISH 921 Set-up Experience (short) plus questions

[leefarber]

(KNOCK WOOD) Everything seems to be working properly. Haven't tried any timers yet, but I can say installation was pretty easy considering the 921 was replacing a 721. Some notes/questions I wanted to present to the forum:

- I am watching everything through the DVI output, with the box set to 1080i ONLY and 16x9. I'm pretty pleased with the results, but if anyone thinks I'm making a huge mistake, please let me know.

- I noticed that when I go into the POINT DISH screen, there is a long delay (about 30 secs.) before I get a signal reading. And sometimes, I don't get the accompanying audio tone. Hmm...

- I'm trying to pull in whatever Los Angeles digital locals I can from my apartment (19 miles from the tower). It seems to be pretty hit-or-miss, with NBC coming in best, and CBS not coming in at all (ironic considering I live LITERALLY NEXT DOOR to CBS Television City). I'm using a Zenith Silver Sensor indoor antenna. Is there anything I can do to boost reception? Is there a different INDOOR antenna I should try? Maybe a powered antenna?

I'll post some more of my experiences as they occur, but so far, so good.

Lee

[leefarber]

I'm going to go ahead and answer a few of my own questions (after one night's experience with the 921), in the hope that helps some others out there:

- Watching all programming through the DVI input is far superior to the S-Video cable. I compared several programs, and the most noticeable difference was during the credits scroll at the end of a film on Starz. The S-Video input made the tiny letters of the credits look fuzzy, but on the DVI input they were MUCH clearer. Looks like my TV will remain permanently on the HD input (via DVI).

- Still having the same problems with the POINT DISH screen taking a while to register, and I find that the tone is absent when I enter the screen from an HD or OTA channel, but is fine when coming from a regular Dish channel.

- I went out and bought a Radio Shack 15-1880 amplified antenna, and the result is FAR superior to what I was getting from the Silver Sensor. I'm able to pull in CBS, NBC, ABC, KTLA, FOX, and WB. Yay! Seeing the Tonight Show in HD was a revelation.

My only problem is that even though I'm able to pull those channels in pretty well (at least 90%), after a while, some of the channels go away ("Lost Lock'), and come back intermittently. It's frustrating, since I seem to get such a good reading on the Point Dish screen, but a while later, I'll lose the channels. What gives?

Also, I had two timer experiences thus far. Recording "School of Rock" on Showtime HD went flawlessly. I tried to record the "Tonight Show" on OTA NBC by setting a timer for a program that ran at the same time on a different channel, then edited the timer so it recorded 004-01. It recorded fine, but in the DVR Program List, it shows up as having recorded "Praise The Lord" on channel 260! (And no, this was not the program I initially set for prior to editing timer).

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Lee

[rbyers]

I tried to record the "Tonight Show" on OTA NBC by setting a timer for a program that ran at the same time on a different channel, then edited the timer so it recorded 004-01. It recorded fine, but in the DVR Program List, it shows up as having recorded "Praise The Lord" on channel 260! (And no, this was not the program I initially set for prior to editing timer).

Lee

This is a well known "problem". You've actually recorded Ch 4 ok, but - for some reason known - the box reports the recorded program as coming from a 2xx station. This is annoying, but I live with it. At least it records the program correctly.

[bbomar]

This is a well known "problem". You've actually recorded Ch 4 ok, but - for some reason known - the box reports the recorded program as coming from a 2xx station. This is annoying, but I live with it. At least it records the program correctly.

I also have observed the delay on point dish. I just live with it.
Digital TV is very sensitive to multipath (ghosting). Try your antenna
with an analog TV and see if you have a ghosting problem. If so,
try to minimize it. Of course, reducing ghosting on an analog transmitter
may or may not help the digital, particularly if they are broadcasting analog
and digital from digital locations. For UHF a bow tie antenna with metal
mesh at the back is best to reduce multipath.

[seadoo]

Here is what I wound up doing on OTA reception. Went to Antennaweb.org to locate my locals. Wound up buying an RCA power table top antenna at Walmart ($30, same one at CC was $65, go figure). Was able to pull in NBC, CBS, ABC, UPN, WB when oriented in their direction and FOX when oriented in its direction. That was a pain so I bought a second antenna to aim at FOX and then used a combiner to combine both signals for flawless reception on all channels.