[tkrandall]

Does anyone know if they are working to add a software update to the HR24, HR23, etc that will add the OTA feature that the HR34 has, i.e. the ability to scan and detect additional OTA channels (not on the database) during setup and display them in the guide (no guide data) so they can be tuned?

 

[denpri]

Does anyone know if they are working to add a software update to the HR24, HR23, etc that will add the OTA feature that the HR34 has, i.e. the ability to scan and detect additional OTA channels (not on the database) during setup and display them in the guide (no guide data) so they can be tuned?

I'm not aware of any effort to add this feature to non-HR34 units but I'd certainly like to see it added! I've already recorded several OTA sub-channel programs on the HR34 in order to simply watch them on a TV connected to a HR24 even though the HR24 has its own AM21N.

I realize the HR34 has SOME different/added hardware compared to a HR24 but I would think (hope?) DirecTV could use the HR34 OTA software module(s) to control AM21(N) OTA functionality on the other HRXX devices. OTOH, I guess it's possible the HR34 hardware is so fundamentally different that software written for it cannot be "ported" to the other HRXX devices.

 

[RunnerFL]

Does anyone know if they are working to add a software update to the HR24, HR23, etc that will add the OTA feature that the HR34 has, i.e. the ability to scan and detect additional OTA channels (not on the database) during setup and display them in the guide (no guide data) so they can be tuned?

I wouldn't hold my breath...

 

[CCarncross]

Its more likely that the code used in the HR2x models with an AM21 will end up in the HR34 soon enough removing the ability to receive OTA channels not in the D* database for a particular zip code.

 

[huskerhead]

Sorry for being late to the party but are you saying the 34 actually scans for channels as opposed to adding only what is in the data base? Because there are at least 5 channels I'm missing with my 34 and AM20 that I can pick up with my TV.

 

[RunnerFL]

Sorry for being late to the party but are you saying the 34 actually scans for channels as opposed to adding only what is in the data base? Because there are at least 5 channels I'm missing with my 34 and AM20 that I can pick up with my TV.

When you setup the AM21 on an HR34 it not only grabs what channels are in the database but also does a scan. The caveat is that any channels not in the database, even if they are found in a scan, will not have guide data.

 

[denpri]

And it also deletes OTA channels that may be in the Guide data but can't be received at your particular location.

 

[huskerhead]

Cool, thanks.

 

[allenn]

......The caveat is that any channels not in the database, even if they are found in a scan, will not have guide data.

I would like to see this on my two HR24-AM21s. I could live without the guide data. Atlanta, GA has 100+ sub channels which are only viewable via the TV tuner.

 

[RunnerFL]

I would like to see this on my two HR24-AM21s. I could live without the guide data. Atlanta, GA has 100+ sub channels which are only viewable via the TV tuner.

A lot of people would like to see this. You shouldn't wait for it to happen though.

 

[Stuart Sweet]

You should not expect any change in the way the HR2x and AM21 interact with each other.

 

[CCarncross]

I would like to see this on my two HR24-AM21s. I could live without the guide data. Atlanta, GA has 100+ sub channels which are only viewable via the TV tuner.

How many main channels are receivable via OTA in the Atlanta areas? THere must be like 30 stations at least if there are that many sub-channels. Anymore than a couple sub-channels makes all the sub-channels so pathetically poor PQ-wise I would never watch them.

 

[Barry in Conyers]

How many main channels are receivable via OTA in the Atlanta areas? THere must be like 30 stations at least if there are that many sub-channels. Anymore than a couple sub-channels makes all the sub-channels so pathetically poor PQ-wise I would never watch them.

Depends on where you are and who you believe. I am about 20 miles ESE of downtown Atlanta. Antennaweb says I can get 12 "-1" stations. Tvfool.com lists 29 "-1" stations, but some of them are pretty far South of me. A TV scan using an attic mounted antenna (aimed NNW) finds 13 "-1" stations and 44 sub-channels. A more central location or an antenna rotator might get several more main stations.

Some of the sub-channels are pretty good, some are OK, some are pretty bad, some are religious, some are non-English, some are part time, etc.

 

[allenn]

How many main channels are receivable via OTA in the Atlanta areas? THere must be like 30 stations at least if there are that many sub-channels. Anymore than a couple sub-channels makes all the sub-channels so pathetically poor PQ-wise I would never watch them.

I apologize for the overstatement of Atlanta digital channels. The actual number is 85, see the following link:
http://www.atlantadigitaltv.com/3.html I live about 26 miles due north of Atlanta. I have an attic mounted RS VU90 antenna.

Many of the sub-channels are from TBS (Ted Turner's old channel 17). Most have great PQ. It would be great if the AM21 would make them available. We can only hope D* makes the change in the future. Best wishes!

 

[CCarncross]

So probably 10 or 15 actually have anything worth a darn watching? Sounds like at least half of them are probably total crap....

 

[Barry in Conyers]

So probably 10 or 15 actually have anything worth a darn watching? Sounds like at least half of them are probably total crap....

Not sure that even 10 or 15 are consistently worth watching, but you know what they say about one man's junk being another man's treasure.

It would be nice to have the option of recording sub-channels using an AM-21, but I am not going to upgrade to an HR-34 to make use of the the AM-21's OTA scanning capabilities. Maybe when the HR-34 software matures, but not now. In the long run, an HTPC or OTA DVR may make more sense.

 

[gcd0865]

And it also deletes OTA channels that may be in the Guide data but can't be received at your particular location.

Does it really automatically do this? Was hoping to upgrade to an HR34 (to go along with my current AM21N), and then enter in two zip codes for two adjacent cities/markets while allowing it to scan with the antenna aimed toward our new neighboring Canadian digital HD stations that would also pick up our Detroit locals in the same scan. Figured that would provide the stations and guide data for the two adjacent cities/markets entered in by zip codes. I wouldn't really need guide data for the Detroit locals, since it's there for at least the major networks from the satellite-provided versions of those stations, and no guide data would ever be available for the Canadian stations anyway.

The stations from the two adjacent markets entered in by zip code would mostly not be receivable with the antenna aimed the other way. If the scanning would delete those stations, there goes that idea, unless it just deletes them from your "Favorites" listing, such that you can manually reinsert them.

Only other way I've heard to possibly catch all stations in a single scan is to connect multiple antennas aimed in different directions simultaneously (such as through a 2, 3 or 4-way splitter in reverse), knowing that most stations would not be watchable due to multipath distortion, but hoping that the signals from most/all stations will at least be detected by the tuner during the scan. Scanning late on a good tropo night would help as well, I suppose.

 

[RunnerFL]

Does it really automatically do this?

Yes.

 

[denpri]

Only other way I've heard to possibly catch all stations in a single scan is to connect multiple antennas aimed in different directions simultaneously (such as through a 2, 3 or 4-way splitter in reverse), knowing that most stations would not be watchable due to multipath distortion, but hoping that the signals from most/all stations will at least be detected by the tuner during the scan. Scanning late on a good tropo night would help as well, I suppose.

Sounds like a lot of work! Based on my experience with a HR34/AM21(N) combination, I think it would work BUT, as you noted, the "one time only" concept of scanning with the HR34 can be problematic in a weak signal area.

 

[gcd0865]

I could combine my attic and outside antennas I have on a simple switch right now without much work, which would capture quite a few, but still not all, of the stations in a single scan.

Was hoping that the HR34/AM21N scanning capability would get me at least reasonably close to what I'd like to do. Two of our major local stations are carried only in SD by DirecTV, but the antenna gets them in HD. We now get 4 nearby Canadian HD stations via antenna, with a 5th to be added later this year. Plus, I get stations from 2 adjacent cities via antenna. With the AM21N limited to only 2 zip code entries and no additive scanning or manual addition capability, I can only switch over to my main tv's tuner for many of these stations (and of course can't record them).

I wanted to share the HR34 outputs, either by the upcoming small tunerless RVU remote client boxes (if they ended up sharing OTA AM21N stations), or by just splitting the HR34's HDMI and/or component video outputs, so that an existing bedroom tv (currently on rabbit ears) and a future basement game room tv could view the same OTA stations as my main tv.

Oh well. I know I'm in a rather small minority with this type of situation, just wishing that the design were not so restrictive. Although, there are a fair number of U.S. customers within range of Canadian stations (many carried by cable competitors) if you consider all the border cities (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor, Vancouver). And people living in-between multiple major cities do sometimes receive more than 2 cities' worth of stations via antenna (especially in the east and midwest).