Can I tell Dish to shove it and still get local OTA?

[Skip Laughlin]

I'm going to hang it up with Dish. Other than the usual complaints about their service in general and the 811 receiver in particular, I don't watch enough satellite TV to make it worth the monthly bill. I think it is costing me about $20/hour for what we watch.

I'm sure this has been discussed somewhere, but I can't find it. If I cancel, but leave the dish in place, pointed at the 119, will I still be able to receive local OTA? My Samsung DLP doesn't have a tuner, so I need to tune somehow. That's all I want to use the 811 for at present.

Or do I need to sell the 811 and purchase a stand-alone tuner?

Thanks in advance for your informed help.

Skip

 

[txcruiser]

Are you serious?

 

[rad]

When I cancelled E* my 811 still worked for OTA as long as it could still see a E* satellite (had Dish 500 so don't know if it needed 110 or 119). Had the OTA and the free 'barker' channels. Now it's been 8 months since then so something might have changed but that's how it worked back then.

 

[GaryPen]

Are you serious?

Why wouldn't he be serious? He wants to cancel Dish. Is he going to hell for it? Sheesh.

Yes, Skip. If the 811 gets a signal (I forget from which bird. But, if you have a Dish 500, it doesn't matter), you should be able to use the OTA tuner.

If you got the equipment as part of the FREE DISH promo, you'll need to fulfill your 12 month commitment first, to avoid an early termination fee.

If you got it through the DHA plan, you'll need to return it to avoid huge penalties. So, the OTA tuner bit would be moot.

 

[Skip Laughlin]

Thanks. I was one of the ones who called "Adam" at Dish HQ and got the 811 shipped. I paid for it. $199, I think. Nothing was ever said about a commitment for service in general or HD package specifically.

 

[GaryPen]

It sounds like you should be OK. Call 3 different CSR's, and ask them if you are still in any sort of commitment. (Never go by the answer of only 1 CSR.)

 

[navydavy]

No Dish but 811 for OTA

I believe you'll have to purchase your own OTA HD tuner. I'm not sure but I've noticed that without the Dish input signal the OTA stuff doesn't seem to work.

 

[rad]

I believe you'll have to purchase your own OTA HD tuner. I'm not sure but I've noticed that without the Dish input signal the OTA stuff doesn't seem to work.

That's what we've said, as long and the 811 can see a E* satellite then the OTA will work. You don't need to subscribe to E*, just that the 811 needs to see a signal.

 

[Tom Cahill]

If you look at the back of your receiver i think you will find that there is a sperate OTA connected to it.I don't believe that the dish is collecting your local OTA channels for you.Here is a link to the receivers specs and it does show a seperate ota input.
I also agee with contacting at least 3 CSR at dish to verify that you do own the receiver just to CYA.

http://www.dishnetwork.com/downloads/pdf/product_brochures/dish_811.pdf

 

[TuxCoder]

If you look at the back of your receiver i think you will find that there is a sperate OTA connected to it.I don't believe that the dish is collecting your local OTA channels for you.Here is a link to the receivers specs and it does show a seperate ota input.

Right, but if I'm understanding correctly, I think what the others are saying is that you would still indeed have to use the OTA connection on the 811. Just, the 811 won't want to function without seeing the signal from 119 and/or 110. I'm sure it really *could* function, but it doesn't want to. It needs to be reassured the satellites are still in the sky I guess.

 

[nippjas]

Right, but if I'm understanding correctly, I think what the others are saying is that you would still indeed have to use the OTA connection on the 811. Just, the 811 won't want to function without seeing the signal from 119 and/or 110. I'm sure it really *could* function, but it doesn't want to. It needs to be reassured the satellites are still in the sky I guess.

All of the below are correct. The 811's code is written so that the 8VSB (OTA) tuner is only active when it sees the PID data stream from E*, which is technically transmitted on all birds. So you could leave it at 110 or 119 and your OTA would still be active. Or a D300 at 61.5...etc....

On a side note...E* knows that people are doing this...811's for OTA only...I don't know their full stance on this...but I have heard rumors that eventually they will require the box to be subscribed for the 8VSB tuner to be active.

Just my 2 cents,
Jason

 

[Jstanuthrdishguy]

The manual I have for the 811 reads, you have to have an active subscription for the OTA to work. Is this not true at this point but in print now for their future plans?

 

[nippjas]

Yes this is future plans....I know several people using just OTA, but as all have said it requires visibility to an E* sat (PID Stream) to be active.

 

[KyDave]

Interesting.

It sure would seam like if you have the option set to NOT update software without permission that they couldn't change this.

But I could be wrong.

 

[nippjas]

Yes you could set it to ask permission before updating. I do this as I like to test the water a few days and see everyone else's experience of the firmware release. But, if a new release has gone "Widespread" into phase 3, every time you power up and or the EPG refreshes it will keep displaying a pop up window asking you if you want to upgrade...this gets old after awhile.

Now having said this....I really don't know if this would work since the PID data actually controls the Receiver...E* CAN force updates.

Just more to chew on...
Jason

 

[rrolsbe]

Ask for confirmation before firmware load defaults to yes

When the 811 is configured to ask before installing a new firmware version, it defaults to yes on power on. All it takes is a member of your family to confirm the yes default setting and you get the new firmware. If dish updates the firmware to NOT allow OTA reception without a subscription, we will need to be VERY careful. On the firmware front, what is the latest firmware version? Any good fixes in the latest version? Any problems? Have they fixed the dark screen problems introduced in one of the recents firmware updates?

Thanks Much In Advance
Ron

 

[Bulldog]

Yes you could set it to ask permission before updating. I do this as I like to test the water a few days and see everyone else's experience of the firmware release. But, if a new release has gone "Widespread" into phase 3, every time you power up and or the EPG refreshes it will keep displaying a pop up window asking you if you want to upgrade...this gets old after awhile.

Now having said this....I really don't know if this would work since the PID data actually controls the Receiver...E* CAN force updates.

Just more to chew on...
Jason

Might be Jason, but I am sure that the 811 would have to be OFF in order to download an update. If so, then leave it on all the time. I have seen folks wonder why they don't receive an update when they never turn the unit off. just my 2 cents.

 

[boba]

I have a 6000 not an 811 but I have a signal from 61.5 fed in to it so I can use the HD Demo channel and use it as an OTA tuner. I also have two Directv HD receivers and a Samsung OTA HDTV tuner and DISH is the worst OTA tuner of the lot.