AirTV Dual Tuner Adapter - UPDATED Review

[MrDRC]

I’m 24 hours in and it’s a mixed bag of mostly FAILS.

- My local FOX affiliate is being broadcast on VHF 6.2. It often freezes, pixilates, audio drop outs and it’s crashed the Hopper twice so far. Sometimes if I just leave it and the picture returns but most of the time I need to change the channel. When I return the picture is fine but it inevitably starts again. In order to test this I ran my antenna directly to my 5 year old Samsung LED and it tuned 6.1 perfectly with no freezing, pixilation or audio drop outs. There’s something wrong with the tuner or the Hopper software because this is a FAIL.

-My local PBS does not tune via the adapter. Again, I tested it by going directly to the TV and it tuned fine along with the accompanying sub channels. It’s being broadcast on 10.1 locally and the sub channels are 10.2 and 10.3. This is another FAIL.

- One group of channels in the 44.1-44.6 group is unwatchable. Once again, straight to the TV and while it’s watchable there is some audio drop outs. Only a partial FAIL.

- Other than the FOX mess and PBS the rest of my locals tune fine with the adapter. The 44 group of channels I won’t be watching anyway.

- I put a high quality splitter(-3.5dB) in after my antenna with one going to the adapter and the other to the TV. It works fine for my local FOX and PBS (rarely watch) but completely FAILS in wifey approval rating because of the remote control gymnastics. I have to change the input with the TV remote, change my audio source with my AVR remote then back to the TV remote to tune FOX then the AVR remote to control volume. Juggling 3 remotes is not going to go over well with wifey so I may have to stick with the locals through DISH even after spending money on the adapter and new OTA antenna. I do get the local channel I lost with the dispute but this is a poor solution and I’m likely stuck still paying for locals.

Hopefully a solution can be figured out as to why the adapter doesn’t tune all the available channels and why one is so bad. Never thought the standard ATSC tuner in a TV would work better than a Hopper or a piece of Dish equipment. FAIL

EDIT: Just realized if I did drop locals I would lose the ability to DVR my local FOX station. Another point of FAIL for dropping locals

 

[lparsons21]

Tuner strength and location seem to go hand in hand. In my case my TV couldn’t get all the local stations, in fact both my Sony X900E and Samsung TVs didn’t. They would get most, but even on some they got, it was flakey.

OTOH, on my AirTV Anywhere 4 tuner OTA DVR I get all the channels with no real issues with any of them.

And reading in a few forums discussing it, it is a mixed bag with as many seeing the AirTV as stronger as those whose TVs are stronger.

 

[sktrus]

The happy wife, the happy family. Believe me. Been married 31 years. My wife likes using just one remote, too. It looks like airtv tuner doesn't work for everybody. Especially recording part.

 

[primestar31]

I have the slightly older model AirTv 2-tuner, and I find it underwhelming. I finally just disconnected it a couple weeks ago. It just doesn't fit my needs at all as any sort of primary source. The Sling app to run it needs MUCH enhancement.

 

[MrDRC]

Tuner strength and location seem to go hand in hand. In my case my TV couldn’t get all the local stations, in fact both my Sony X900E and Samsung TVs didn’t. They would get most, but even on some they got, it was flakey.

OTOH, on my AirTV Anywhere 4 tuner OTA DVR I get all the channels with no real issues with any of them.

And reading in a few forums discussing it, it is a mixed bag with as many seeing the AirTV as stronger as those whose TVs are stronger.

Yes, as with everything OTA..as it has been for years, it’s usually a mixed bag of results because so much depends on combinations of antenna, tuner, signal, location, broadcasting towers strength, multi-path, etc etc. Almost nothing is “for sure” and “always”.

I just noticed that my Samsung has a signal strength meter in the guide. Funny enough 6.1, the offending channel in the Hopper, has very low strength even though it comes in fine on the TV. The sub channels signals are much much higher.

Another interesting thing is PBS signal is off the charts yet the adapter doesn’t see it. Crazy stuff.

Cheers all

EDIT: Just saw the signal meter in the Hopper and the meter shows the offending channel at 90. Weird

 

[KaptainRandom]

Suggesting...

It is known that the dish/airtv ota does not have a strong tuner.

You are splitting your antenea between
Your tv with a strong tuner and
AirTv with a not strong tuner.

Maybe try antenea direct to airtv without split?
Perhaps it might be just enough addition signal to the airtv to overcome to airtv weeker tuner.

Sent from my SM-G986U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[NYDutch]

I get one more station clearly directly to the TV than I get with the AirTV adapter, and the AirTV adapter gets one more station clearly than the Dish single tuner adapter got.

 

[MrDRC]

Suggesting...

It is known that the dish/airtv ota does not have a strong tuner.

You are splitting your antenea between
Your tv with a strong tuner and
AirTv with a not strong tuner.

Maybe try antenea direct to airtv without split?
Perhaps it might be just enough addition signal to the airtv to overcome to airtv weeker tuner.

Sent from my SM-G986U using the SatelliteGuys app!

That was the first thing I did. Direct connect antenna to adapter. The splitter was my compromise to get the offending channel on my TV while keeping the good OTA channels on the Hopper.

Funny enough with the splitter there is zero loss. I’ve been A/B’ing all evening and most of my stations are reported as 100% in the Dish OTA app. Lowest is 89 and none change regardless of connection. I’ve got a pretty good line of sight to the towers, great signal.

Somethings up with either the Hopper or adapter or both. I’m getting 100% PBS signal to the TV yet adapter can’t see it. That’s not right.

 

[dweber]

I live northwest of Columbus, Ohio and get 49 channels from the Columbus and Dayton Ohio markets. I have a channel master Extreme 8 bay multidirectional UHF antenna with a preamp and a rotor. In the past I had the antenna pointed toward Dayton and received Dayton station signals at 100% and would receive Columbus stations at 60-70%. I was less concerned about the OTA Columbus locals since I subscribe to Dish Columbus locals.
With the removal of WCMH Channel 4 due to the Nexstar dispute I have been watching OTA channel 4.1. I noticed that the Dish would pixelate a couple times per hour. I figured this was possibly due to low signal strength since it was 60%.
I rotated my antenna to Columbus so that the Columbus signals were all 100% while the Dayton channels were reduced to 50-60%. Since then I have not observed any pixelating problems while watching Columbus channel 4.1.
I mention this because pixelating of the Dish OTA channels could be caused by a low signal strength.
You can always display the OTA signal strength by pressing Info and then Recall on the Dish remote.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[HobbyTalk]

If you are getting a 100% signal reading on channels it could be the signal is too strong. This is not an uncommon issue even before everything going digital. The Dish rtuner may be more sensitive to strong signals.

 

[pattykay]

Somethings up with either the Hopper or adapter or both. I’m getting 100% PBS signal to the TV yet adapter can’t see it. That’s not right.

How many times did you try scanning the channels with the Hopper? I often have to scan my OTA channels multiple times in a row before I can get the scan to find all of the available channels. My method is that I keep repeating the scan until I get the same results three times in a row. (Yes, I am obsessive-compulsive.) At that point, I figure that it has found all of the channels it is going to find. If I don't get a consistent result, then I keep scanning again.

 

[MrDRC]

You can always display the OTA signal strength by pressing Info and then Recall on the Dish remote.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

GREAT tip, thanks!

How many times did you try scanning the channels with the Hopper? I often have to scan my OTA channels multiple times in a row before I can get the scan to find all of the available channels. My method is that I keep repeating the scan until I get the same results three times in a row. (Yes, I am obsessive-compulsive.) At that point, I figure that it has found all of the channels it is going to find. If I don't get a consistent result, then I keep scanning again.

Another great tip. I’m rescanning and moving antenna around and getting different results. Thinking now this is more of an antenna placement issue. My signal Is super strong on most channels and might be flooding the tuner? Who knows but the results are getting better as I’m moving the antenna. Finally have PBS dialed in. Still working on FOX

 

[Altitudinous]

You can always display the OTA signal strength by pressing Info and then Recall on the Dish remote.

That is a great piece of information. Is this documented anywhere? I looked through the H3 manual and the OTA dual tuner manual, and I didn't see it. Nice realtime info to help adjust the antenna. Thanks.

 

[brice52]

That is a great piece of information. Is this documented anywhere? I looked through the H3 manual and the OTA dual tuner manual, and I didn't see it. Nice realtime info to help adjust the antenna. Thanks.

it surely is

 

[PortlandChris]

Three years ago in a FOX dispute DISH installed - for free - the Televes DigiNova Boss antenna for free. It works really well. It worked well when plugged into the Hopper or straight into the TV, as it is right now.

I quit DISH a few months ago and I still have antenna, and it still works. I had DISH for 15 years and I was up in arms about missing football and I was going to leave right then. So they offered me this and did it all for free.

ASK and don't take no for an option. Be prepared to quit. Now, as a practical matter if you are under contract you are not leaving. If you live in rural America they may think you are not going anyway. But if you are in a metro area with various options they'll take you seriously. But be prepared to walk. I have a feeling that with this massive outage that they'll have lots of people clammering

 

[cosmo_kramer]

You can always display the OTA signal strength by pressing Info and then Recall on the Dish remote.

Thanks for that info. What other easter eggs are out there?

 

[Bobby]

Thanks for that info. What other easter eggs are out there?

If you do the same thing, Info, Recall, on a satellite channel you will see which satellite that channel resides on.

 

[Altitudinous]

May we have some more eggs, please?

 

[pattykay]

May we have some more eggs, please?

If you do the same thing (Info, Recall) on the Diagnostics screen, it will take you back to the Setup Wizard. This is handy if you are wanting to force a software download. However, don't do it unless you are willing to lose all of your custom settings and start over. (Timers and existing recordings will remain intact, though.)