Bad pixellation on Rave

[GGE]

Hi,

New member here, looking forward to participating in these forums. I just recently subscribed to Dish Silver HD; I have a 622 DVR. I'm having a problem with frequent and very bad pixellation on Rave; it's the only channel I have seen this on so far, and it bothers me because I really like many of the shows on Rave. My signal strength on Sat 129 is in the low to mid 70s. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Mike D-CO5]

Switch to 61.5 sat instead of the 129 sat and that will help make the pixelation go bye. Get another side sat dish and unplug the lnb for 129 and use the lnb on the extra sat dish for 61.5 assuming you have a dish 1000 sat dish. I did the same and I no longer have signal strengths that vary wildly on the 129 sat. If you don't have any hd locals then it shouldn't matter if you switch to 61.5. I get strengths in the 90s to 100s on the 61.5 sat and I am in southeast Texas about 90 miles from Houston. You should have comparable signal strengths.

[Brad B]

It's really bad here on the west coast. I've never been able to watch anything on 129 without it pixing out on me. The tech who came out said that I'm screwed until Dish can come out with something better for us on the coast. Can barely get 68 on 129 here.

[klang]

Switch to 61.5 sat instead of the 129 sat and that will help make the pixelation go bye. Get another side sat dish and unplug the lnb for 129 and use the lnb on the extra sat dish for 61.5 assuming you have a dish 1000 sat dish. I did the same and I no longer have signal strengths that vary wildly on the 129 sat. If you don't have any hd locals then it shouldn't matter if you switch to 61.5. I get strengths in the 90s to 100s on the 61.5 sat and I am in southeast Texas about 90 miles from Houston. You should have comparable signal strengths.

Mike, what size dish do you have pointing at 61.5? Also is your LNB dishpro or legacy? When my 622 was installed they replaced the LNB's with dishpro and upgraded my switch to the 44. Ever since then, I have only been getting 50 or less signal strength on my 61.5 dish which is I think the 300 size. Most channels on 61.5 pixilate too much to watch. I have had a service call open for a month now trying to get this fixed (another long story :mad: ). Finally got a guy to actually show up last Monday and he couldn't get the signal any stronger. Said they needed to order a 500 dish to replace the 300. Of course they haven't called me back on that yet.

[zdman]

I just had a dish 1000 installed and I have the same problem. I live in TX and would think I should be getting a pretty good signal. It sounds like, from what Mike is saying, I need to have them come and pull out the dish 1000 and put in a two dish system. Am I understanding this correctly? Also, what signal strength should I be seeing on the various satellite? I noticed on one that I was getting about 100 out of 125, not sure if that is good or bad.

[whatchel1]

Mike, what size dish do you have pointing at 61.5? Also is your LNB dishpro or legacy? When my 622 was installed they replaced the LNB's with dishpro and upgraded my switch to the 44. Ever since then, I have only been getting 50 or less signal strength on my 61.5 dish which is I think the 300 size. Most channels on 61.5 pixilate too much to watch. I have had a service call open for a month now trying to get this fixed (another long story :mad: ). Finally got a guy to actually show up last Monday and he couldn't get the signal any stronger. Said they needed to order a 500 dish to replace the 300. Of course they haven't called me back on that yet.

The D 500 will not get U anymore signal strength than the 300. The diff between the 2 is that a D 500 is built to pick up 2 sats. It is a little large and shaped a little bit diff to get the 2 sats. The only way the 500 could increase the gain of the sat signal would be to have a different mounting bracket to place the Lnb at a diff mounting position to illuminate a larger area of the dish. As far as I know that would be a special mounting bracket that I have not seen made available. I think the problem is that the installer isn't as familiar w/ the 300 as the 500 and so it is pointed a little off the main beam. The other possibility is that there are trees in the way keeping the signal strength down. 1 last possibilty is that the LNB has some type of problem and isn't passing enuff signal.

[klang]

The D 500 will not get U anymore signal strength than the 300. The diff between the 2 is that a D 500 is built to pick up 2 sats. It is a little large and shaped a little bit diff to get the 2 sats. The only way the 500 could increase the gain of the sat signal would be to have a different mounting bracket to place the Lnb at a diff mounting position to illuminate a larger area of the dish. As far as I know that would be a special mounting bracket that I have not seen made available. I think the problem is that the installer isn't as familiar w/ the 300 as the 500 and so it is pointed a little off the main beam. The other possibility is that there are trees in the way keeping the signal strength down. 1 last possibilty is that the LNB has some type of problem and isn't passing enuff signal.

Thanks, the 300 vs. 500 deal didn't make sense to me. No trees in the way at all. I suspect the LNB might be the issue as well but the yahoos they keep sending out to my house don't seem to have a clue about how to track down a problem. :(

[Mike D-CO5]

Mike, what size dish do you have pointing at 61.5? Also is your LNB dishpro or legacy? When my 622 was installed they replaced the LNB's with dishpro and upgraded my switch to the 44. Ever since then, I have only been getting 50 or less signal strength on my 61.5 dish which is I think the 300 size. Most channels on 61.5 pixilate too much to watch. I have had a service call open for a month now trying to get this fixed (another long story :mad: ). Finally got a guy to actually show up last Monday and he couldn't get the signal any stronger. Said they needed to order a 500 dish to replace the 300. Of course they haven't called me back on that yet.

I use a dish 500 with a dishpro lnb with a single lnb holder instead of the dish 500 holder of two lnbs. IT centers the sat in the middle of the dish 500 and I get strengths in the 90s and 100s . I reset the elevation of the dish to 36 when the sat meter on the tv screen said it should be 40. I used the sat meter I bought from the dishdepot.com to peak the dish for the best signal strength.

[Mike D-CO5]

I just had a dish 1000 installed and I have the same problem. I live in TX and would think I should be getting a pretty good signal. It sounds like, from what Mike is saying, I need to have them come and pull out the dish 1000 and put in a two dish system. Am I understanding this correctly? Also, what signal strength should I be seeing on the various satellite? I noticed on one that I was getting about 100 out of 125, not sure if that is good or bad.


Yes a two dish system is what I am using . Two dish 500s one for 61.5 and one for 110/119 . YOu could use the dish 1000 peaked for just the 110/119 sats and plug a side sat dish 500 into the dishpro plus twin lnb for 61.5. I use a single lnb holder on the end of the arm instead of the dish 500 which holds two or a twin. This centers the sat signal in the middle of the dish which gives the sat a better signal strength. When I used a dish 500 with the dish 500 lnb holders I got signals in the 60s and low 70s for the 61.5 sat. I used a sat meter as I posted above to peak the signal strength on the elevation. I get good strengths in the mid 90s on some transponders and in the 100s on the rest. The lowest I get is 88 on one transponder. Anything above 70 is supposed to be a good signal according to Dish. I perfer signals in the 90s and the 100s to prevent rain fade.

[GGE]

Sorry to be such a newb, but do I need a compass to get an idea of where the 61.5 sat is? I'm worried that trees will prevent my switching to that one. If I'm stuck with the 129 sat, how can I tell if the installer maximized my signal strengths or just stopped when he thought it was good enough? Thanks for all the help.

[Matthewmon]

i think i saw the first pixelation i've had on my tv last night when i watched Blow that i DVRed from Starz HD. the faces and stuff were hazy and wavy sometimes?

[Grandude]

Sorry to be such a newb, but do I need a compass to get an idea of where the 61.5 sat is? I'm worried that trees will prevent my switching to that one. If I'm stuck with the 129 sat, how can I tell if the installer maximized my signal strengths or just stopped when he thought it was good enough? Thanks for all the help.
Yes, you will need a compass to find 61.5. http://www.hollsco.com/Products/SatCalc/index.asp is a good site to find the actual coordinates for the satellite from your location. You may have to find out what your latitude and longitude is to use that sites computer.

I always maximize my signal by just twisting the dish up and down and left and right without loosening the bolts. If I get some improvement I then loosen the bolts and move the dish. Good idea is to mark where it is now with a felt tip pin. You will need to have someone watch the TV and have the menu screen up for pointing the dish. Some use phones to relay any change and some just shout if close enough.

I just move a small tv outside where I can see it along with a dish receiver. I wouldn't recommend moving the 622 for this purpose but rather use one without a hard drive.

A third method would be to buy an inexpensive satellite meter and connect it in-line with the cable from 129 while doing your tweaking. You may have to make up or buy a couple of RG6 jumpers for this.

[Presence]

I have also noticed spots of errors on RaveHD lately. They seem to be getting worse over the last month. Initially I hardly saw them at all.

The thing is they only occur on Rave, no other HD channel seems to be affected.

[ssmith10pn]

Sorry to be such a newb, but do I need a compass to get an idea of where the 61.5 sat is? I'm worried that trees will prevent my switching to that one. If I'm stuck with the 129 sat, how can I tell if the installer maximized my signal strengths or just stopped when he thought it was good enough? Thanks for all the help.

Don't know were you are in Ok but I picked Tulsa and the angles were:
Az 126.5 and elevation of 34.7

[Jim5506]

I am thinking of adding either a Dish 300 or 500 to my 1000 to get 61.5.

If I go with the 300, will a legacy LNB work with the DPP44 switch? If not which LNB should I use with a Dish 300?

I have a DP Twin LNB from my original Dish 500 install (I replaced it with a quad that was taken when they put in the 1000). I could use it with a Dish 500.

Which way would be better 300 with a Legacy LNB or 500 with DP Twin?

[whatchel1]

I am thinking of adding either a Dish 300 or 500 to my 1000 to get 61.5.

If I go with the 300, will a legacy LNB work with the DPP44 switch? If not which LNB should I use with a Dish 300?

I have a DP Twin LNB from my original Dish 500 install (I replaced it with a quad that was taken when they put in the 1000). I could use it with a Dish 500.

Which way would be better 300 with a Legacy LNB or 500 with DP Twin?

If you have dish plus pro you can't mix in legacy models w/it. They all have to be DPP units. You need to stay w/ all PP units. If you are getting rid of 129 for 61.5 then take the DP unit for 129 off and put it on the dish 300. Then U should be good to go. Do you have the locals off 148 on a diff dish like I do? My set up is 3 dish 500's 1 for 61.5, 1 for 148. (these have a single LNB on them), and last 1 on 110/119. If you need a dual LNB collar for the dish 500 I have a spare. Will let U have it for cheap.