Recording Issues

[HotRod19579]

Over the past couple of days I have been having problems that I have never had before:

1. I have noticed that some of the DishPass programs had not recorded.

2. Last night I had Big Brother set to record on CBSHD (LA). It only recorded 13 minutes, reason unknown.

3. Tonight it was supposed to record Brat Camp off of a OTA channel. I noticed about 5 minutes after it was set to record that it didn't start. I tuned to the channel, hit the record button, told it to stop at end of event but it did not start recording. I tried this several times an no luck getting it to record.

4. I then switched to a satellite channel and from that point on I couldn't tune to any OTA channels. When using Chnl+ and Chnl- it would stop at the satellite channel preceding the OTA channel. When I tried to select the OTA from the guide, it would just go back to the last satellite channel I was watching. I checked the signal strength of all OTA channels and they were at 100+.

5. I rebooted, after the boot the red light came on and the menu reflected it was recording my OTA channel. After about 5 minutes I went in to watch the recording while it was recording and it was recording the Dish Instructional channel although it said it was recording my OTA channel. I then went into the guide and selected the OTA channel but it still went to the Dish Instructional channel (said it was on the OTA channel).

6. I hit the "Stop" button and it immediately went to the OTA channel.

7. I hit the "record" button to record the program and it stated "you have chosen to manually stop this recording" and won't let me record.

8. I select another OTA channel, hit record, and it states "your request will stop the TV recording and switch to live mode TV...(error 312)". I select yes and it tunes to the channel, reflects the select channel is recording (in the info area) but no red light.

9. Switching back and forth between OTA channels gives the same symptoms but nothing is recording.

I don't know how to get any OTA channels to record, going to try another hard boot. Any advise? Anyone seen this?

[HotRod19579]

I rebooted again.
Went to OTA channel and hit record button. Red light comes on, the "My recordings" screen reflects that nothing is recording. Hit the stop button, red light stays on.
It lets me select another OTA channel and all indicators are that nothing is recording but red light is on.

Now I have the opposite symptoms of what I had before. Before the software told me that something was recording but the red light was not on. Now the red light says something is recording but the software says nothing is recording.

Hit the record button again, now the software and the red light says it is recording. Hit the stop button and everything stops.

Now everything appears to be working.

[Mark Lamutt]

Yowzers...that's the first I've heard of problems like that with the 942. Single user mode or dual user mode? Have you checked to make sure your Daily Schedule looks normal, and is being updated (ie you can move into the future in your DS?)

[HotRod19579]

Yes, the daily schedule was up to date and I am in single user mode. Another observation that I made before the scenario below started was that I had 2 Dishpass events scheduled to record at the same time, both for OTA channels. According to the indicator in the guide they were both going to record and they were both going to record according to the list which shows by day what is going to record. Of course both did not record, only one.

I made this observation about 1 hour before the events in my original post took place.

[Mark Lamutt]

So, are things working again for you now, or is this still happening?

[HotRod19579]

I am not having the problems that I was having but I think I know what triggered the problem. I had some OTA programs scheduled to record on KNVA in Austin. KNVA for some reason is no longer being picked up. I see a signal strength in the 90's but the 942 is not picking up the channel.

When I started having the problem the programs that I had set to record was on KNVA.

[HotRod19579]

Mark,
The last post I did related to an OTA problem you moved to another forum and suggested I go to AVSforum. I did and I learned that nobody else is having problems with KNVA (chnl 49). I had some strange problems again tonight. Below is what I seen. Does this appear to be a hardware issue? Should I call dish?

1. I have always received KNVA 49-1 OTA until about a week ago. When I went to AVSForum I was told that they were receiving KNVA on 49-2 (not using a 942). I tuned to 49-2 but the 942 took me to TVGC channel 102.

2. I tried to Chnl+ and Chnl- but nothing, it just stayed there.

3. I tried to select other OTA channels from the guide but it just stayed on TVGC.

4. I could, from the guide, select other satellite channels.

5. Can't select or chnl+ or - to OTA, stays on same channel.

6. Went to the digital add screen and OTA channel 21 (as well as others) shows locked and strong signal or 90 but I can't tune it in.

7. Unable to get any OTA so rebooted by holding the power button.

8. After reboot getting locals (except 49).

9. Tried 49-1 and got error 739, the offair signal has been lost. Signal acquisition is in progress. Please wait.

10. Now I try other OTAs and get error 004 - A problem....run check switch. I am able to tune to satellite channels.

11. Run check switch.

12. After the check switch it went to downloading guide. Green progress bar showed complete. I waited another 20 minutes and it still stated downloading even though the progress bar showed completed. I hit the stop button.

13. Got the "attention 015" screen, acquiring satellite signal. Went to test 4 or 5 and hung for 15 minutes.

14. Rebooting, this time I pulled the smart card.

15. After reboot everything works. When I try to go to 49-1 I still get error 739 but I am able to pull up the guide and select any other channel. I also tried to select 49-2 which is what seemed to trigger all of my problems tonight and I get error 739 but I can recover by going to the guide and selecting any other channel.

There is something go on (as you can see) and it appears to be triggered by the one OTA channel. This OTA channel is one that I used to receive until about a week ago.
Where do I go from here? Do the Dish reps know enough to understand the problems and provide assistance?

[Mark Lamutt]

OK, first how did you pull a smartcard to reboot, when the 942 doesn't have a smartcard? (step 14)

Secondly, if up until a week ago the station was on the -1 subchannel, and now others are picking them up on the -2 subchannel, that means that there is something very wrong at the station level that is causing the 942 to not be able to tune to the channel. You should first try deleting the channel from your local channels screen, and then adding it back, or rescanning. If that doesn't work, you'll have to wait until the station gets it fixed.

[HotRod19579]

Wow, my 942 has always had a smart card in it. I observed that when I remove it, the 942 doesn't boot, reinserting it causes the boot. After your comment I removed the smart card, rebooted and as you stated it does not need the smart card.

I have always received the station on subchannel -1. I was told by a person at avsforum that he was receiving the station on subchannel -2 (he is using something other than a 942). That is when I tried to tune to 49-2 (actually 54-2) and my problems described earlier started.

When I tried to delete the channel and re-add, it will not add back in. On the add channel screen it always shows signal strength between 88 and 92 but it won't lock. It won't add the channel back to the list. Scanning doesn't find it either.

On more issue observed this morning, for the first time. The 942 was powered off and I had the screen which says to press select to power on. Normally when that screen is up it moves around in a screen save mode. It wasn't moving and I couldn't hit any keys (select or power toggle) to get it to power up. Using the discrete power off also had no affects. I had to reboot to get it to power up.

[Mark Lamutt]

That is definitely a PSIP table problem at your local station. I'm having a similar problem with one of my Denver stations. They had a piece of equipment break on them more than a month ago, and ever since then, I can't get them added back on any of my HD receivers.

[Jon Spackman]

I had a similar problem with my 942 when i hooked it up last week. I scanned the channels and got everything the 921 would get except ABC 7-1. So i tried to add it manually, it showed like 85signal but would not lock. So i let it go and just used the box for about 2 days and tried again and it scanned in fine. I dont know if ABC LA had problems last week or not, but it is fine for me now.....

My point is to try the station a few times in the next few days even better at different times of day if possible, and see if it works then.

Jon