anyone else having signal dropouts tonight?

[Jim S.]

I've been getting dropouts every few minutes on HGTV HD on Eastern Arc. The picture will break up, sometimes it'll switch to the SD channel, then sometimes I'll get the "complete signal loss" screen. But every time I go to the signal meter, the strength is good and steady! I was having the same problem last night to a lesser degree, and I think a night or two prior to that to a much lesser degree. There's nothing blocking the dish, there's no heavy weather in this area (tonight anyway, there was a few nights ago), and I don't see any heavy weather around Dish's uplink center. Also, each night, it's only happened late at night, not earlier. So I'm at a loss to figure out what's causing it.

 

[Jim S.]

Still happening this morning, except it was going through periods of behaving fine, or some channels going out but not others.

So, while I was at work, my girlfriend got fed up with it and called Dish. She says that at first she got a recorded message saying that they were having problems with certain channels. But she talked to an agent anyway, and they told her that there was a compatibility issue with certain DVRs due to some changes they made recently! Supposedly they're working on it.

It seems awfully strange to me that nobody is complaining of any such issue here (although this last Hopper software update introduced other bugs, such as the Joey compatibility issue.) Also, the impression she got from the agent was that the compatibility issue was hardware-based, because we just Wednesday night activated a new Hopper to replace one with a bad hard drive. (I did notice at the time that activating the new Hopper took MUCH longer and MANY more reboots than the original one did! I now wonder if there was any connection between that and the alleged signal incompatibility issue.) Also, the problem started, as far as I can remember, the night BEFORE I got the new Hopper, although we were having sleet that night so I thought maybe the weather was the cause then. (But on the other hand, I think my new Hopper is the same variation as the old one -- the software version on both ends in "NDGD", whereas I've seen other people on here say that theirs ends with different strings.)

 

[Jim S.]

Well, it's still going on, and the recorded message at Dish, whatever it was, is no longer there. Also, about every other time I turn on the Hopper it's downloading guide data, and none of my shows recorded since I hooked it up have any icons. Meanwhile, not a single person here has said a bloody word about any such problem! If it wasn't for what my GF says she heard on the phone yesterday, I'd say they sent me a bad Hopper.

Of course, there's also the possibility that there's some problem that's only affecting a tiny fraction of receivers for some inexplicable reason. You know, just like the green and purple pixel issue that nobody but me had, until finally about two other people out of the entire board population finally said they had it too.

 

[ChadT41]

I'm on WA, and no issues.

 

[rogerpl]

same here, real bad , unwatchable

 

[stardust3]

Started a thread a few days ago for something similar....http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/joeys-pixelating-bad-on-sd-sports.344535/#post-3577880.

Bad pixelation, like it was a signal related issue. It's not my system but 1 I was working on. Sd 140 espn was horrible, completely un-watchable.

All hardware has been replaced, at this point imo it's dish's problem...software or other...who knows. Have had a few other calls with drop outs as well.

I've basically stopped recommending the hopper/joey setups. Imo they're more trouble than their worth for my time & pay. If it were my system it would have already been gone. I can see some minor glitches that get fixed in a timely manner, but this is ridiculous.

 

[Jim S.]

same here, real bad , unwatchable

What receiver, and what software version?

Mine is a Hopper with Sling, S515 NDGD.

 

[Jim S.]

When it's breaking up really bad, the HWS won't even go into standby mode properly! Either it leaves the audio running underneath the screensaver, or just goes to a black screen.

Unreal!

I'm paying $108 per month for this crap, and not one word from Dish about it! It's like the purple pixels issue all over again, except you could WATCH shows with that going on. You sure can't now!

 

[osumike]

Jim, on your dish remote, press menu, then go to settings, diagnostics, system status.. Let the system status get to 100% in box A. When it does, does it say, status:good? Also, can you check to make sure there are positively no open ports in your system? Look for the splitter for the joeys and make sure all ports at being used, or terminated. Check the wall plate behind the hopper that the cable is connected to, is the center of the part where the cable screws onto blue in the center? If not it definitely needs to be replaced.

Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

 

[inazsully]

We watched the recording of The Mentalist tonight or should I say we tried to watch it. Constant sound drop as well as severe pixilation. Tried something else recorded in the same time frame on a different prime time channel and it was fine. Too bad because it was the series final of The Mentalist.

 

[KAB]

Watched Mentalist as well. Not the slightest problem on WA. Might have been a problem with your local station's feed,

 

[inazsully]

Good to know. Has anybody in the Phoenix area had this problem with The Mentalist? I'll FF towards the end and see if the problem persists throughout. Probably should check out the next show following Mentalist too.

 

[ChadT41]

I did not experience it in this weeks episode, but the last two weeks, on Sunday I have been getting the entire PTAT block recorded black screens and not offer autohop.

 

[ChadT41]

Also, am in Mesa. So yes to Phoenix area.