AT9/Ice Storm, and 0x119

[jaywdetroit]

I've posted in the past how impressed I was with the AT9 during rain storms. Well now I want to add that after a day and a half of ice, the HR20 (0x119) and the AT9 performed nearly flawlessly. I am not sure if this is a testament to the dish, the HR20 or both.

0x119 has been solid for me. I've set up a couple Series Links, and done some MPEG4 recording and watching and everything is working nicely. The guide is much smoother and the trick play (thats what I am going to keep calling it) works much better.

I will note that there is an obvious difference in quality between HD Mpeg2 and HD Mpeg4 trick play functions. Specifically: I noticed that the 30 second skip seems more "natural" and flows easier with MPEG2 HD...

...However: I had set up a series link for 24 a week or two ago and it recorded that. I was cruising through the commercials without a problem and often times after hitting the 30 second skip 6x, I landed right perfectly at the beginning of the next segment.

This build IS much more solid than 10B. I didn't get a chance to play around with 0x115 as much.

Take a night (or two or three) off and reward yourselves coders.

(you need your rest - I hear DLBs might be a mountain climb- lol) :engel08:

[mtnagel]

We had rain all weekend and I never noticed any issues because of it.

[Coffey77]

I've posted in the past how impressed I was with the AT9 during rain storms. Well now I want to add that after a day and a half of ice, the HR20 (0x119) and the AT9 performed nearly flawlessly. I am not sure if this is a testament to the dish, the HR20 or both.

4+ inches of snow and ice here too and watching Eskimo's in HD as I type. I'm working with 0x115 because I missed the window - darn Bears game...:D

[litzdog911]

Agreed. No problems with 0x119. We've had some nasty snow here in Seattle, too.

[clay_w]

I've posted in the past how impressed I was with the AT9 during rain storms. Well now I want to add that after a day and a half of ice, the HR20 (0x119) and the AT9 performed nearly flawlessly. I am not sure if this is a testament to the dish, the HR20 or both.

0x119 has been solid for me. I've set up a couple Series Links, and done some MPEG4 recording and watching and everything is working nicely. The guide is much smoother and the trick play (thats what I am going to keep calling it) works much better.

I will note that there is an obvious difference in quality between HD Mpeg2 and HD Mpeg4 trick play functions. Specifically: I noticed that the 30 second skip seems more "natural" and flows easier with MPEG2 HD...

...However: I had set up a series link for 24 a week or two ago and it recorded that. I was cruising through the commercials without a problem and often times after hitting the 30 second skip 6x, I landed right perfectly at the beginning of the next segment.

This build IS much more solid than 10B. I didn't get a chance to play around with 0x115 as much.

Take a night (or two or three) off and reward yourselves coders.

(you need your rest - I hear DLBs might be a mountain climb- lol) :engel08:

I also live in the Detroit area and the signal has stayed pretty strong for me too so far.

Out of curiosity, did you have any audio/video problems when you watched 24?

On Sunday (pre-0x119) on the OTA recording of 24 I had several audio cut outs.

With yesterdays OTA recording (0x119) it was better but there still was a few small hiccups.

Just wondering if you experienced the same.

[veryoldschool]

I will note that there is an obvious difference in quality between HD Mpeg2 and HD Mpeg4 trick play functions. Specifically: I noticed that the 30 second skip seems more "natural" and flows easier with MPEG2 HD... :engel08:
I think this is because there is more compression with MPEG-4, where with MPEG-2 takes less processing [to view]. When you "skip" [more like slip] MPEG-2 is looking at a bigger file for the 30 sec [and so can display a smother picture as it does].

[jaywdetroit]

I also live in the Detroit area and the signal has stayed pretty strong for me too so far.

Out of curiosity, did you have any audio/video problems when you watched 24?

On Sunday (pre-0x119) on the OTA recording of 24 I had several audio cut outs.

With yesterdays OTA recording (0x119) it was better but there still was a few small hiccups.

Just wondering if you experienced the same.

No - No problems that I can recall. I was having problems earlier in the day on Fox2 during the evening newscast - this would be why I stated it was "nearly" flawless. The newscast was the only time I had trouble, and in fact, that was on all my MPEG4 stations.

[clay_w]

No - No problems that I can recall. I was having problems earlier in the day on Fox2 during the evening newscast - this would be why I stated it was "nearly" flawless. The newscast was the only time I had trouble, and in fact, that was on all my MPEG4 stations.

I have been using the OTA channels for most of my recordings (knowing that bad weather usually does not knock out my OTA stations) but maybe I will give the MPEG4 stations a try. Thanks.

[BobV]

The AT9 for me is a major improvement over the 3lnb dish.
No more rain fade.weeee!!!!!:grin:

[untouchable]

Never one issue with mine either...I'm one of the lucky ones who has not yet lost power...no freeze frame, no loss of signal or anything...there is still ice cycles hanging from the LNB's on the dish as well...no problems yet...hopefully no problems tomorrow either..

[RAD]

I've had a couple of times where heavy rain cause a LOS for a few minutes. Today in Austin it's been mostly ice all day and so far not a single problem on the AT-9. But I do not have a view of the front of the dish where it's positioned so I have no idea if it has any ice build up or not, but if it doesn't it's the only thing around here that doesn't have ice on it.

Update, On 1/17 there was enough ice buildup that the transponders on 110 were really low, lost channels 70, 71 and 78 until later in the day when it started to melt off a bit. No problems with the three MPEG4/KA LIL HD channels the entire time.

[KSteiner]

I had some Ice issues this past weekend. I have the AT-9. St. Louis got 1/2 inch of ice and it was on my dish and LNB's. I had a lot of signal loss. I eventually had to thaw the ice to get my signal back. The only channels I could get, where my local HD MPEG-4 ones. All other showed searching for satellite signal.

[Chris Blount]

Believe it or not, we are having ice problems down here in Texas. AT-9 is completely covered with ice but still working fine!

[Spanky_Partain]

Solid in Austin as well. At least a 1/2" on the dish.

[Groundhog45]

I'm here in Austin also. After 4 days of rain and freezing rain, I've started getting lots of signal loss on maybe one third of the channels. I suspect it may be water in a connection more than the inch of ice on the dish and LNBs. I'll check further tomorrow when it gets warmer and the ice melts. Before this, no problems or rain fade on the AT9 since I got it installed in September. :D

GH

[RCinFLA]

Has anybody been able to compare the Ka transmitted locals compared to Ku transmitted locals? I believe all the HD locals are on Ka.

I would expect a worse rain/ice fade margin on the Ka satellites.

[veryoldschool]

Has anybody been able to compare the Ka transmitted locals compared to Ku transmitted locals? I believe all the HD locals are on Ka.
I would expect a worse rain/ice fade margin on the Ka satellites.
No Ka signals yet. Still waiting for the SATs to go on-line.

[RAD]

Has anybody been able to compare the Ka transmitted locals compared to Ku transmitted locals? I believe all the HD locals are on Ka.

I would expect a worse rain/ice fade margin on the Ka satellites.

No problem with the KA signal for our locals while I did have a problem with one transponder on 110.

[veryoldschool]

No problem with the KA signal for our locals while I did have a problem with one transponder on 110.
I think you may be mixing MPEG-4 local channels with future Ka signals. Without the BBC conversion I don't believe anybody is receiving Ka signals yet.

[RAD]

I think you may be mixing MPEG-4 local channels with future Ka signals. Without the BBC conversion I don't believe anybody is receiving Ka signals yet.
The HD LIL's from SW1 and SW2 (103 and 99) are MPEG4 and KA band. So you you have your HD locals via D* then it's via MPEG4 and KA.

[veryoldschool]

The HD LIL's from SW1 and SW2 (103 and 99) are MPEG4 and KA band. So you you have your HD locals via D* then it's via MPEG4 and KA.
Always learning. So the "new SATs" will have transponders @ different frequencies requiring the BBCs?

[RAD]

Always learning. So the "new SATs" will have transponders @ different frequencies requiring the BBCs?

That's my understanding.

[veryoldschool]

That's my understanding.
Since "I don't know", it would seem to me that when they use the new transponders @ different frequencies, this would be when they actually move into the Ka band. While we are getting signals from 99 & 103, since they are in a range that doesn't require an additional conversion, I would lean more towards them still being in the Ku band. Without my spectrum analyzer, I'm still just guessing.:)

[hdtvfan0001]

I've posted in the past how impressed I was with the AT9 during rain storms. Well now I want to add that after a day and a half of ice, the HR20 (0x119) and the AT9 performed nearly flawlessly. I am not sure if this is a testament to the dish, the HR20 or both.

0x119 has been solid for me.
Ditto, Ditto, Ditto, and Ditto. :)

[RAD]

Since "I don't know", it would seem to me that when they use the new transponders @ different frequencies, this would be when they actually move into the Ka band. While we are getting signals from 99 & 103, since they are in a range that doesn't require an additional conversion, I would lean more towards them still being in the Ku band. Without my spectrum analyzer, I'm still just guessing.:)

Everything that I've seen says that the two Spaceway's have only KA band transponders on them, no KU.

http://www.answers.com/topic/spaceway-1
http://www.boeing.com/special/sea-launch/past_spaceway.htm
http://spaceflightnow.com/sealaunch/spaceway1/status.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FGI/is_4_16/ai_n13803354/pg_4

[chrisfowler99]

No problems with the ice and the Slimline either.

[Groundhog45]

I'm here in Austin also. After 4 days of rain and freezing rain, I've started getting lots of signal loss on maybe one third of the channels. I suspect it may be water in a connection more than the inch of ice on the dish and LNBs. I'll check further tomorrow when it gets warmer and the ice melts. Before this, no problems or rain fade on the AT9 since I got it installed in September. :D

GH

As a followup, after the ice melted today everything was working just fine again. I must have had some buildup on the dish or one of the LNBs that was just in the wrong place or somehow deflected the signal. The dish isn't easily accessible for me to check when everything is icy. I can't see the front from the ground since it "looks' over the roof toward the front of the house from the back. :( I'm just glad it's working. I noticed that one of my neighbors had a ladder propped up on the side of his house today by his dish that wasn't there yesterday. He said that he lost all signal on his 3 LNB dish and it all came back after the ice melted.

GH

[lwilli201]

No reception problem here in Missouri. A lot of ice but no problem. I will have some rain fade when we get one of our famous thunder storms, but that is about it.