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The official "ask veryoldschool" thread

136K views 823 replies 136 participants last post by  jpray72 
#1 ·
Folks,

As many of you know we have a great asset in "veryoldschool", or VOS for short. He's forgotten more about RF and connectivity than many of us will ever learn.

I'd like to start by thanking him for his immense service to this forum, and I'd like to start an official thread for the many questions you all have for him about connected home, whole home viewing, or anything DIRECTV related.

Please keep to topic and if you have a question, please read on to see if it's been answered.

Thanks!
 
#652 ·
MadMac said:
Referred over here by another user....

SO complained of issues with the H21-200 in her sewing room. Just had a look, initially came up with "no guide data for the past 48 hours". Ran diagnostics and got the error code 49-181 with the following text: "Primary Tuner Connection Problem. No SWM channels are available. The receiver is unable to register tuners for Live TV or Recordings because there are too many receivers connected to the coax network" plus the usual blurb about calling and quoting the above code. This box is presently working but channel change is very slow - she complained this morning that it wouldn't go away from Channel 2. Setup is a Slimline 5 with non-SWM LNB connected to an SWM-16 with an 8-way splitter on each output, 5 tuners on each splitter. Son mentioned some issues on his DVR (same splitter) and we've been seeing "freezing" on another DVR's recordings on that splitter tonight (box replaced about a month ago for a different issue). The H21-200 with the initial problem sees playlists from all three DVRs on the system. Swapped with another H21-200, got error code 49-826 with same text as the previous error. No sign of any issues on any tuner off the other splitter. Bad splitter?
Splitters rarely "go bad".
Are there any open or unused ports on this 8-way splitter?
 
#657 ·
VOS, a question please. I currently have a HR34 with 1-c31, 1-c41, and 3 h25's along with a CCK. I want to switch out the HR34 for a HR44 and self install it. Do I still need the CCK or can I disconnect it and use the wireless in the HR44? I have tried to research this so I apoligize if I have missed the answer somewhere. Also, any other advise before I attempt this? Thank you
 
#658 ·
tdixon7559 said:
VOS, a question please. I currently have a HR34 with 1-c31, 1-c41, and 3 h25's along with a CCK. I want to switch out the HR34 for a HR44 and self install it. Do I still need the CCK or can I disconnect it and use the wireless in the HR44? I have tried to research this so I apoligize if I have missed the answer somewhere. Also, any other advise before I attempt this? Thank you
You may want to keep the CCK, but of course you can use the 44 WiFi instead.
I've had some issues with my 44's WiFi feeding other DVRs for OnDemand, so I'm using a CCK.
YMMV
 
#660 ·
Hey VOS, quick question (hopefully)... I have a summer home with no internet, am I able to setup whole home DVR with just a router and no internet supplied to it? Or is there a different way? Thanks Matt
 
#664 ·
Brief note - appears to be heat-related. Further investigations to follow.....


Cancel that theory.

Yesterday: was having issues on the opposite splitter (intermittent 771). Directed a fan at the SWM-16, got it to a viewable state. By 9 PM, all was well. At 4:50 AM today, with the outside temperature 58, intermittent 771 on my main TV (off the side with the initial problem). I'm going to try changing the power inserter this evening, then swap in an SWM-8 I have to see if that does anything. I hate intermittents :)
 
#665 ·
Question: If I do put the SWM-8 in, could it still have 10 tuners connected so long as no more than 8 are operating? If I have to do that, I'd like to do so with a minimum of disruption to the existing setup. My thought was to split the one output of the SWM-8 between the two 8-way splitters.
 
#667 ·
dennisj00 said:
Nope, the first 8 wins - they all operate. . . why don't you temporarily leave off 1 dvr or set 2 of them to 1 tuner.
Thanks for the advice.

Having re-examined this tonight, I'm back to heat. Intermittent 771s all over, which disappeared within 5 minutes of getting fans blowing on the SWM-16. All working normally as I type. I'm going to get it out of the attic - plans are being formulated :evilgrin:
 
#668 ·
MadMac said:
Cancel that theory.

Yesterday: was having issues on the opposite splitter (intermittent 771). Directed a fan at the SWM-16, got it to a viewable state. By 9 PM, all was well. At 4:50 AM today, with the outside temperature 58, intermittent 771 on my main TV (off the side with the initial problem). I'm going to try changing the power inserter this evening, then swap in an SWM-8 I have to see if that does anything. I hate intermittents :)
MadMac said:
Having re-examined this tonight, I'm back to heat. Intermittent 771s all over, which disappeared within 5 minutes of getting fans blowing on the SWM-16. All working normally as I type. I'm going to get it out of the attic - plans are being formulated :evilgrin:
You got everything working early evening by putting a fan on the SWM16, but then at 5AM with the outside temp 58, the problem was back. Any idea what the temp was in your attic at 9PM and 5AM?
 
#669 ·
trh said:
You got everything working early evening by putting a fan on the SWM16, but then at 5AM with the outside temp 58, the problem was back. Any idea what the temp was in your attic at 9PM and 5AM?
No idea - hot at 9 PM, but not unbearably so. 5 AM - didn't go up there. Last night, it took two hours of fan to get total normality. Tonight - a few minutes. Difference was that today, the AC was on in the house. Yesterday, it wasn't. Thinking is that it got the ambient temperature down to where a few minutes of fan got things back to normal. My intention is to get the SWM-16 down into the house, albeit in a cupboard, and see how that goes. On that topic - is there a limit as to how far the power inserter can be from the SWM-16? I'd be looking at 20-25' if I leave it where it is.
 
#670 ·
Your AC shouldn't make a noticeable difference in the attic temp. Especially at 5am when your outside temp was 58. Unless you have an air conditioned attic. :)

I don't know about distances between SWM and PI, but my SWM is on the outside a good 50' from the PI and I haven't had any issues in two years.
 
#673 ·
Your AC shouldn't make a noticeable difference in the attic temp. Especially at 5am when your outside temp was 58. Unless you have an air conditioned attic. :)

I don't know about distances between SWM and PI, but my SWM is on the outside a good 50' from the PI and I haven't had any issues in two years.


Thanks for the info re the PI distance. Plan is to leave that where it is, get the SWM moved (no outlet where it's going) and tackle moving the PI separately at a later date.

The whole thing about yesterday morning is still a bit puzzling. Like you say, the attic doesn't have AC :)
 
#675 ·
MadMac - I have the same issues and my SWiM 16 is on the second story, outside, facing south where it gets full 105 degree sun for most of the day. I never had these issues until about 3 months ago and it was not hot then.

Everyone's advice to me has been either a bad coax at my receiver or at my PI.

Just food for thought.
 
#676 ·
Supramom2000 said:
MadMac - I have the same issues and my SWiM 16 is on the second story, outside, facing south where it gets full 105 degree sun for most of the day. I never had these issues until about 3 months ago and it was not hot then.
Mine was in the attic - I started to notice the odd glitch a few weeks back, getting progressively worse. As I've mentioned, very random in terms of where and when it would appear - it could be perfectly OK on one TV and unwatchable on another at the same time, but appeared initially to be heat-related. I moved it out of there yesterday and the issues were back today. As I mentioned, I swapped in an SWM-8 temporarily, service is OK right now. I think what happened is that my attic fan has stopped working and the heat has damaged the SWM.
 
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