[bcpc]

Have to know if it's me or them, seattle washington area. for over 2 months now, maybe longer, every single day, through out the day, morning or night, random times, the pictures just (skips or freezes) for just a slight second, very slight but noticable. could be 30 seconds apart or up to 5 minutes apart, but every day, any type of weather. anybody in this area, how is your reception, if you say great, then I will start looking into my stuff.

thanks bob

 

[carl6]

I notice that, especially on local channels. Again, sometimes it's very infrequent, sometimes more often. It is a side-effect of overcompressing the signal.

Carl

 

[boba]

Have to know if it's me or them, seattle washington area. for over 2 months now, maybe longer, every single day, through out the day, morning or night, random times, the pictures just (skips or freezes) for just a slight second, very slight but noticable. could be 30 seconds apart or up to 5 minutes apart, but every day, any type of weather. anybody in this area, how is your reception, if you say great, then I will start looking into my stuff.

thanks bob

The same signal is being sent to Florida as is being sent to Washington for the national channels. If there were problems on those I would expect more comments on the forums. Your locals are on a spotbeam and will be only in a small area of the country. You don't say which channels are being affected if it is the nationals look for a problem in your equipment. What are your signal strengths on the affected channels?

 

[AnonomissX]

Your locals, as far as I can tell, are off the same satellite (sat A or the 101) as the national channels. However, need to know:

1)What channels are affected? just local, or local and national?
2)What hardware/receiver are you using? is is a standard box? DVR? HD? HDDVR?
3)What have you tried on your own to fix the problem? rebooted? disconnected/reconnected the cables? any screw in connections at the wall? Checked your signal?

Good luck!

 

[Seabow]

I've been having that problem for a couple of years now, although it doesn't happen quite that often. At one time it was happening every few minutes, but now I only notice it once or twice a day. At first, I thought it was a problem with either my dish or Tivo box, so I thought the problem would go away when I got my AT9 and HR20. But the problem is still there.

 

[LDLemu4U]

Have you checked your signal? Check all transponders and they should all be above 65 signal strenght.

 

[tombet]

I'm in the Seattle area, and up until last week I would have said no regular picture issues. I've been a subscriber for years.

But in last several days, I get a lot of pixelation - and the great majority of time its just late night/very early morning phenomenon. Is it possible there is some difference of signal or testing going on in the wee hours ?

 

[carl6]

I notice that, especially on local channels. Again, sometimes it's very infrequent, sometimes more often. It is a side-effect of overcompressing the signal.

Carl

The problem seems to be getting worse - although I'm usually a couple of days behind real time when I watch something, I just watched programming recorded on Dec 25 and 26, and had MUCH WORSE pixelation and blocking than I have ever seen before in the Seattle market.

Carl

 

[tombet]

Carl -
My picture is ok again since Thurs (12-29). No more pixelation. However, I am getting a few audio dropouts right now watching Seahawks on Fox 13 HD.

 

[travelswiss]

I've never experienced any pixilation or rain faid until November of this year, and now I experience it with normal, but on the heavy side, Seattle rain...

 

[harsh]

But in last several days, I get a lot of pixelation - and the great majority of time its just late night/very early morning phenomenon.

Symptoms like this are usually related to wet connections or a compromised LNB assembly. The cooler overnight temperatures bring increased levels of condensation.

 

[tombet]

Symptoms like this are usually related to wet connections or a compromised LNB assembly. The cooler overnight temperatures bring increased levels of condensation.

Harsh-
Thanks for the tip - I think you are spot on. I actually had D** tech (actually Ironwood) come out a few days ago, and they said that one connector on the cable had a spot of rust. They clipped the cable, put on a new connector, and it seemed ok, and their BirdDog meter showed a good signal. While the weather was ok, it did seem ok. But they never went outside.

After heavy rain today, it was worse then ever. (And it was not raining any more - just from prior days rain.) I called D** again, and they made me go thru a bunch of steps like swapping tuner 1 & 2 cables , etc (all things I did before, but they wouldn't schedule someone until I went thru the hoops.) So now they again have someone coming, but not until Monday even though they didn't fix the problem the first time. And I do pay the $6/monthly protection plan - I thought when I signed up they claimed next day service for that, but they claim not.

(btw, I got a kick out of the guy telling me the filters on the back of the HR20 are absolutely essential to get locals in HD. While I was on the phone with him, I disconnected the filters and told him I was getting the BCS game in HD on my local Fox channel 13. He told me that was impossible, and I must be mistaken and just watching in SD. <g>. )

It seems pretty hit and miss whether I will get a really solid tech or not. In the event I dont get a thorough guy, any suggestions for what I can tell or show him to get him to actually go outside and check all the connections for good water seal, all the way back to the dish on the roof ? The last guy never stepped outside the house, and was here maybe 15 mins (10 of which was the HR20 rebooting.)

 

[harsh]

It seems pretty hit and miss whether I will get a really solid tech or not. In the event I dont get a thorough guy, any suggestions for what I can tell or show him to get him to actually go outside and check all the connections for good water seal, all the way back to the dish on the roof ?

Remember that it may not be just the cable. If the LNB is fogged, you'll have problems too. I'm not sure if you can tell that an LNB is fouled without taking it apart. Replacing it may be the only way to check.

 

[tombet]

Remember that it may not be just the cable. If the LNB is fogged, you'll have problems too. I'm not sure if you can tell that an LNB is fouled without taking it apart. Replacing it may be the only way to check.

Thanks. My worry is that because its intermittent, and apparently weather related, it will work fine when the guy comes and he'll just close his ticket and go on. Then after the next rain storm, it will again be bad. I wish there were some way I could demonstrate the problem at will even in good weather, or at least be sure that a less than stellar tech will still hear or see enough to really follow up.

 

[JLucPicard]

If it's a matter of a wet connection or moisture getting inside the LNB, you may be able to duplicate by throwing a bucket or two of water on it. Won't imitate the effect of rain necessarily, but it may do enough to diagnose things.

 

[harsh]

Then after the next rain storm, it will again be bad.

In Seattle, the next rain storm will be in what, February? I wasn't aware that it stopped raining this time of year.

 

[harsh]

If it's a matter of a wet connection or moisture getting inside the LNB, you may be able to duplicate by throwing a bucket or two of water on it.

Much like finding a leak in a car, sometimes you have to put a sprinkler on the LNB to make it frag. I believe someone once posted pictures on DBSTalk.com of their dish getting "hosed".

 

[ChromaTick]

I have never in my life had any issues with rain fade or weather issues.

However, for about 5 days now I've been experiencing these same issues. Horrible random/intermittent pixelation ONLY on my local HD feeds.

Is it possible there is something wrong with the feeds themselves? Can this be caused by a dish being mis-aligned? We've had heavy winds so maybe my dish is slightly askew.

Again, I've had my HR20s for a few months with no issues like this until the last week.