811 OTA issue

[ralfyguy]

I've done a search and couldn't find a whole lot about the 811 OTA capability without the box being authorized. I subscribe to HD platinum and have a 622. But even when hooked up to the sat feed, the 811 tells me that the box is not authorized when I try to watch OTA on it. I got the OTA channel scan done successfully, but it won't let me watch it. I tried any combination possible on the remote, but it won't let me have a picture. Is there a trick how to get around that? I read a whole lot about people using the 811 for OTA without subscription, as long as it's hooked to a a sat feed, but I can't figure out how to get it to have a picture. I'm confused...

 

[bunkerbob]

Not sure if this is helpful in your situation, but I used to have an 811 and I could get it to tune OTA even when I lost satellite completely in a storm. In fact, it would tune OTA even with the satellite cable disconnected. The trick was to press the "menu" key to break out of the "acquiring satellite signal" mode, then choose "1 Program Guide", and choose a local channel. (same trick works for vip211 and vip622) Once tuned to a local channel, the sat box doesn't seem to look for the satellite again. I only did this for brief periods with an authorized receiver (just to check for tornado warnings during heavy rains), so I'm not sure if it does any good in the case of an unauthorized receiver.

 

[ralfyguy]

Not sure if this is helpful in your situation, but I used to have an 811 and I could get it to tune OTA even when I lost satellite completely in a storm. In fact, it would tune OTA even with the satellite cable disconnected. The trick was to press the "menu" key to break out of the "acquiring satellite signal" mode, then choose "1 Program Guide", and choose a local channel. (same trick works for vip211 and vip622) Once tuned to a local channel, the sat box doesn't seem to look for the satellite again. I only did this for brief periods with an authorized receiver (just to check for tornado warnings during heavy rains), so I'm not sure if it does any good in the case of an unauthorized receiver.

I tried all that too...