any chance for a new dual tuner ota dongle?

[dweber]

BUT apparently I"m the only person in the world that has reported this problem so until more people report it, it will have a rather low engineering priority. If you are effected by the OTA guide no longer working call it in otherwise it will never get fixed.

I have two Hopper3 receivers and a Joey3 and the Guide for the OTA channels is working fine on all of my boxes. To pin down what is different from my boxes which have the following:

1) Software Version U536
2) Hardware NHBD (Living Room) and NHBH (Family Room)
3) Western Ark
4) I subscribe to locals
5) Using dual OTA tuner from AirTv

It always amazes me why some customers have problems such as no YouTube or OTA not working while others have no problems. It has got to be frustrating to the Dish engineers. To solve the problem you need to figure out what is different about the affected boxes.

What I have noticed is that occasionally I will lose audio when watching an OTA channel. Tuning to a different channel and tuning back to the original channel fixes the sound.



Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Niv]

I do not subscribe to locals so I only have OTA guide. Is your guide showing the dish local and then the OTA locals. Example, 05, 05.01, 05.02 . . . My guide would be just 05.01, 05.02 . . . I am using the same dual OTA tuner from AirTV.

 

[TheKrell]

4) I subscribe to locals

I too am using the AirTV dual tuner on a H3 and I too have a fully populated guide on WETA when I sub to locals. But that's $12 more/mo so I don't. My OTA stations mostly retained their guide data except for WETA HD 26.1. The subchannels still have their data. This is weird. DIsh admits this is weird. This has been going on since we originally had the opportunity to drop locals and go OTA only, so it has been how long?

 

[dweber]

Yes my Guide shows my 49 OTA local channels from Dayton and Columbus Ohio plus the satellite local channels. Of course a few of the subchannels do not have Guide data. I have attached a picture showing the Guide.


Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[pattykay]

OK, my 48 hour time period has elapsed with no improvement to OTA guide situation. I called back in and got sent up to a specialist who ran diagnostics and hymed and hawed about how Dish didn't own OTA guide. I asked if they dropped support for OTA which they haven't and had a policy changed as of Wednesday which it hasn't. She took a report to send up to the engineers. BUT apparently I"m the only person in the world that has reported this problem so until more people report it, it will have a rather low engineering priority. If you are effected by the OTA guide no longer working call it in otherwise it will never get fixed. It is very strange that the guide info shows up for the current hour, hour and a half and then there is no information available after that on the main .01 feed. Yet there is programing information available for all the sub channels, it is only the .01 that goes away.

I have had that issue on a ViP222k using the MT2 OTA module for quite awhile. So, it sounds like maybe your Hopper 3 got hit by whatever bug affected my receiver. Or, as TheKrell indicated, maybe it is only certain channels that are affected (apparently including the ones in your market) so it is not a national problem. There have been a lot of uplink reports lately with Dish making changes to the OTA guide mapping. Some of that could be clean-up from the separate guide data streams Dish had uplinked for OTA channels in the event that the satellite-delivered versions were removed due to a dispute. Then, when a long-term agreement is reached to carry the stations, Dish removes the separate OTA guide data stream and changes the mapping to point back to the guide data for the satellite-delivered local. It is also possible that Dish is experimenting with some other kind of change to the way the guide data for OTA channels gets delivered to the receivers, and that may be what screwed up your guide.

 

[Niv]

(apparently including the ones in your market)

Up until the software update U536 all the channels in my market were working just fine. Tuesday, complete channel listing, Wedensday screwed channel listings. One of the interesting things (if you can call it that) is that all the sub channels have complete listing while the main .01 stream is the one missing the data. If I wanted to watch endless episodes of Gilligan's Island I can easily schedule them any time, any day. For the current hour to hour and a half, complete guide data is in the .01 stream to be followed my No information available. So it's getting the data, it's just not putting it into the .01 stream of the guide. On the pict the timers in the No information available space are manual timers that I have set up.

 

[pattykay]

Up until the software update U536 all the channels in my market were working just fine. Tuesday, complete channel listing, Wedensday screwed channel listings. One of the interesting things (if you can call it that) is that all the sub channels have complete listing while the main .01 stream is the one missing the data. If I wanted to watch endless episodes of Gilligan's Island I can easily schedule them any time, any day. For the current hour to hour and a half, complete guide data is in the .01 stream to be followed my No information available. So it's getting the data, it's just not putting it into the .01 stream of the guide. On the pict the timers in the No information available space are manual timers that I have set up.

Guide information for the current program and next program are handled differently from the rest of the Guide. This is the data stream that is provided for the Browse banner on older model receivers, that only lists the current and next program. (I realize that the Mini Guide on newer receivers goes out farther than that, but that does not change the way that the Browse banner data is handled for all receivers.) When I see this issue with "No information available" on my ViP222k, I have the full guide information for the current and next program, regardless of the length of the programs, followed by "No information available" for the rest of the guide for that channel. It is interesting that in both of our cases, this issue only affects OTA guide data for stations that Dish actually carries as part of the satellite-delivered locals. If I remember correctly, when Dish was having their dispute with Univision, guide data for 061-01 (my local Univision affiliate) was not affected, since Dish was providing a separate guide data stream for that channel, rather than linking it to the guide for the (blacked-out) satellite-delivered 061-00. So, it is not necessarily all -01 guide data that is affected, although it is rare that Dish would provide any guide data for a -01 channel that they do not carry, usually only doing so in the event of a dispute like I said. So, all of this would seem to point to a problem with the way the guide data for OTA channels is being mapped. Any channel with its own separate guide data stream (due to Dish not carrying the channel) works fine, while guide data is screwed up (other than the current and next program) for any OTA channel that gets its guide mapped from the guide for the satellite-delivered equivalent. For what it is worth, I do subscribe to locals on the ViP222k, and it is connected to Eastern Arc.

 

[Niv]

So I guess the sub channel guide information is handled differently than the .01 stream?

 

[pattykay]

So I guess the sub channel guide information is handled differently than the .01 stream?

Yes, that is correct, due to Dish not actually carrying the subchannels, so there is no satellite-delivered local channel guide data stream to link to the OTA subchannel in the guide. Each subchannel that has guide data has its own independent guide data stream, rather than being mapped down from the guide data for another channel.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Wait - I would need an external hard drive instead of using my Hopper 3 hard drive?

Yes, you would ,but you can access the Air tv app on a roku or fire tv stick or if your tv is a smart tv and you can add apps to it. If you ever move to Sling tv you can add the Air tv channels in to your sling guide and use it like you do the dual tuner for DISH receivers. Except the Air tv has full guide information for both networks and sub channels too. Best part there is no fee for the guide data.

*Let me clarify I am talking about a stand alone Air TV box with 4 tuners. Not talking about the Air tv dual tuner that you can presently use with the Hopper . This box allows you to connect it to your router and get those channels on any device inside your network or away that has the Air Tv app on it. In many ways it will operate like my 4 tuner Tablo dvr that I have been using since last summer ,except no monthly or life time fee like Tablo.

www.airtv.net

 

[reubenray]

Yes, you would ,but you can access the Air tv app on a roku or fire tv stick or if your tv is a smart tv and you can add apps to it. If you ever move to Sling tv you can add the Air tv channels in to your sling guide and use it like you do the dual tuner for DISH receivers. Except the Air tv has full guide information for both networks and sub channels too. Best part there is no fee for the guide data.

*Let me clarify I am talking about a stand alone Air TV box with 4 tuners. Not talking about the Air tv dual tuner that you can presently use with the Hopper . This box allows you to connect it to your router and get those channels on any device inside your network or away that has the Air Tv app on it. In many ways it will operate like my 4 tuner Tablo dvr that I have been using since last summer ,except no monthly or life time fee like Tablo.

www.airtv.net

I cannot find an "Air TV box with 4 tuners" on their website.

 

[Bobby]

I cannot find an "Air TV box with 4 tuners" on their website.

That's because it isn't here yet...

 

[Niv]

OK, my OTA guide has come back. Thank god, it was a real pain in the posterior to set up manual timers.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I cannot find an "Air TV box with 4 tuners" on their website.

It won't be available till November. I saw the announcement several weeks ago on different cord cutter website emails. DISH/Air tv doesn't put announced products on their sites till the receiver is ready and they hit the market.

 

[JeffN9]

For the 3rd time now my local CBS affiliate WISC OTA ch. 3.1 decided to lock up and wouldn't record anything. It shows in the guide with the red record light but that's it. In the schedule it shows not applicable for recording started and stopped times. When I try to tune to the channel I get the error message below. The only thing that fixes it is by doing a OTA channel re-scan. Changing from U535 to U536 did not make a difference either way. None of my other OTA channels have had any problems.

Is it my AirTV dual tuner dongle or my H3 or a software glitch or the station doing something, or or or?? The signal strength is normally 100%. Don't know why it dropped to 95. Right after I took the picture it went back to 100.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

It won't be available till November. I saw the announcement several weeks ago on different cord cutter website emails.

And they got their news from here from our Team Summit coverage.

I wouldn't expect it in November. I don't even believe they have any working demo units yet. The AirTV were kind of surprised they announced it at Summit as they haven't even built on yet. (It was still early in the project.)

 

[pattykay]

For the 3rd time now my local CBS affiliate WISC OTA ch. 3.1 decided to lock up and wouldn't record anything. It shows in the guide with the red record light but that's it. In the schedule it shows not applicable for recording started and stopped times. When I try to tune to the channel I get the error message below. The only thing that fixes it is by doing a OTA channel re-scan. Changing from U535 to U536 did not make a difference either way. None of my other OTA channels have had any problems. View attachment 139340 Is it my AirTV dual tuner dongle or my H3 or a software glitch or the station doing something, or or or?? The signal strength is normally 100%. Don't know why it dropped to 95. Right after I took the picture it went back to 100.

At least the message you get is more useful than what shows up on my Wally. Whenever this happens to me, I get the "satellite signal lost" Error 002 in the picture below:

Notice that the channel number shown is 005-01, which is an OTA channel, but the message says the satellite signal has been lost. I would love to see Dish implement the OTA 739 message from your picture (or any other similar type of message) on the Wally, as at least it would indicate an OTA problem, instead of incorrectly saying that the problem is with the satellite signal. I have never seen the 739 message on the Wally.

 

[JeffN9]

The 739 message maybe slightly more descriptive but it doesn't really give you much to go on. When you click on the troubleshooting button it only gives the standard reasons why the signal may be blocked/obstructed. But with a signal of 95 to 100 that's obviously not the problem. The fact that it's only occurred on the one channel(and it's sub) makes me wonder if it is some sort of software glitch. If I switch to the tv tuner while this is going on the same channel comes in perfectly which kinda rules out the antenna.

 

[pattykay]

Guide information for the current program and next program are handled differently from the rest of the Guide. This is the data stream that is provided for the Browse banner on older model receivers, that only lists the current and next program. (I realize that the Mini Guide on newer receivers goes out farther than that, but that does not change the way that the Browse banner data is handled for all receivers.) When I see this issue with "No information available" on my ViP222k, I have the full guide information for the current and next program, regardless of the length of the programs, followed by "No information available" for the rest of the guide for that channel. It is interesting that in both of our cases, this issue only affects OTA guide data for stations that Dish actually carries as part of the satellite-delivered locals. If I remember correctly, when Dish was having their dispute with Univision, guide data for 061-01 (my local Univision affiliate) was not affected, since Dish was providing a separate guide data stream for that channel, rather than linking it to the guide for the (blacked-out) satellite-delivered 061-00. So, it is not necessarily all -01 guide data that is affected, although it is rare that Dish would provide any guide data for a -01 channel that they do not carry, usually only doing so in the event of a dispute like I said. So, all of this would seem to point to a problem with the way the guide data for OTA channels is being mapped. Any channel with its own separate guide data stream (due to Dish not carrying the channel) works fine, while guide data is screwed up (other than the current and next program) for any OTA channel that gets its guide mapped from the guide for the satellite-delivered equivalent. For what it is worth, I do subscribe to locals on the ViP222k, and it is connected to Eastern Arc.

When I posted this, I was going from memory, which was faulty since I had not used the ViP222k for awhile. I just checked it today and refreshed my memory of what I had been seeing, and it turns out that I actually have the opposite problem of what I described before. The OTA guide for channels that are actually carried by Dish works fine, which means that the mapping is working correctly for those channels. Channels that never had any OTA guide information say "Digital Service" in a single block all the way across, as would be expected. However, it is the subchannels (which Dish does not carry, but does provide guide data for) that are screwed up. For the current program (a one-hour block) it just says "Digital Service" and then after that it just says "No Info Available" in half-hour blocks for the rest of the guide. I even forced a guide update by scrolling all the way to the right in the guide and selecting the option from the pop-up to download the guide, right before I checked the guide for the OTA channels, to make sure that I had a fresh guide download, and this is the result that I got. So, in my case, it is the OTA guide data that has its own independent stream, not the guide data that is re-mapped from a satellite channel, that has been screwed up for months, since I am assuming that it never got fixed after the last time I noticed this problem.

 

[ralfyguy]

Which is better, the LARK OTA Tuner or the AirTV?