New 722 Can't Find OTA's

[Offroad]

Had an 811 to 722 Upgrade Today and now I have OTA issues.

On the 811: I got NBC, PBS, FOX and CBS local HD Digitals just fine. Signal strengths were NBC and PBS in the low 90's and FOX and CBS in the 80's. No dropouts on any of them.

On the 722: A scan will normally find only NBC with signal strength about 61 but seems solid enough. Occasionally a scan will find FOX but never PBS or CBS. FOX is unwatchable due to dropouts.

All cabling is the same as what the 811 had. I have a large UHF/VHF antenna in the attic. Its probably about 10 years old but in perfect shape. All cable thats hooked to it is good quality RG6, it is split out to multiple locations.

Whats going on with my OTA HD? I need to fix this quickly since being able to record OTA HD was my main reason to upgrade.

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Unrelated to the OTA problems, but how are these Dish signal levels?

The installer replaced my old DP-500 with a 1000.2 dish and after the latest software load here are my signal readings:

Satellite - Transponder - Strength
129 --- 30 --- 47
119 --- 11 --- 72
110 --- 11 --- 59

Are these numbers acceptable, good or great?

Other transponders show different readings, which should I be using on each satellite to get a reading?

Thanks for any and all advice especially on the OTA issue.

[ssmith10pn]

Its probably about 10 years old but in perfect shape. All cable thats hooked to it is good quality RG6, it is split out to multiple locations.

How about a line amp?
When you split the signal you cut the DB level drastically.
I know it worked with the 811 but maybe a stronger signal will work for the 722.

[stringray13]

If you are getting the message about signal strength meter has been modified or whatever on the ping screen, those numbers are fine. If not, they are kinda bleh.

[ClarkBar]

Offroad: My 722 auto-scanned distant (62 miles) Digital stations fine. Like on my 622, I get 95-100 signal strengths - with ant. on a tower. The new meter readings for Point Dish refer only to satellite signals. The OTA signals strengths still indicate up to 100% on the meter. I used to get dropouts of OTA around 60 until I put up a new antenna and pre-amp.

I listed all TPs sig strengths on 110, 119, 129 on my ViP 622 before and after the software change that lowered the signals strength readings. Your readings look good, assuming you have the new software that changes meter sensitivity to make it more "consistent." Any signal in Point Dish with a Green bar is okay. As I recall, you have to drop down below 17 to be close to getting the Red Bar (unacceptable). On the Point Dish scale, 10 is in Red, which means for sure "Houston you have a problem."

FYI: On the new meter, the strongest signal I get is 110/20 at 79. That is the Dallas SD LIL Spotbeam. The average of all TPs seems to be 40-57. I have a separate wing antenna for 129. The highest reading is 51 on 129/30 - ESPn2, NFL, etc.

[Offroad]

To try and fix the OTA issue, I picked up an amp from BB today and will try it tonight, click here (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7152485&type=product&id=1110266394487) for specs on it.

Its called a "Digital Bidirectional RF Amplifier" and is supposed to give a 10db gain from 54-1000mhz. Does this sound like it will work ok to boost the digital OTA signals from my attic antenna to the 722 or is there another type I should get?

Should I place it just off the antenna or right before the 722?

Also, when the installer upgraded my DP-500 dish to the 1000.2 he did not bring in another RG6 cable, instead he used a splitter just before the 722 on the cable from the Dish to feed both inputs. He said this works fine and only reduces my Satellite signal about 8%. Is this correct or for best performance should another cable be run in from the 1000.2 for a direct run to each tuner on the 722?

Thanks.

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OTA Issue Solved

During preparation for the 722 install, I had changed out one RG6 cable since it was a bit short from my surge protector to the receiver. While rechecking all connectors with a magnifying glass I found a bit of shield shorting out one connector. After replacing that connector, the 722 found all my locals and has signal strengths of 97-100% on all of them. This is with no amp and my normal splitters installed.

[mw1597]

I'm not a big fan of RCA. I would look for a ultra low noise Pre-amplifier. This would go at the antenna and you could use your existing splitter to feed your devices. Also depending on where you live most DTV ota broadcasts are on the UHF band. If you don't need vhf just get a uhf preamp. Something like Channel Master CM 7775.
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?main_cat=3&CAT=&PROD=ANC7775
You might just try turning your antenna and see if that helps.

[Offroad]

OT to this thread, I removed the DVI cable my 811 used and I'm currently using the 722 with a high quality set of component cables borrowed from my DVD Player.

My monitor is a Sony 57" Rear Projection CRT that does 1080i and is about four years old. It has two Component inputs and one DVI input. If I remember correctly it upscales everything it receives to 1080i.

Is there any reason in terms of picture quality to use a Component cable over an HDMI to DVI version? I'll be using a 12-15ft cable assembly if that makes any difference.

Not sure about the 622/722 yet, but my 811 didn't display SD as well on the DVI cable as it did on Composite or S-Video so I may be using another cable for SD on the 722 also.

[mw1597]

I would go with component. Your tv is analog so there would be fewer conversions with using analog (component). Also some folks have had reliability issues with the vip622 hdmi.