Has DISH discontinued the OTA dongle?

[h2ouup2]

I read in another thread that Solid Signal said there would be no more OTA dongles produced.

Looking online, everyone is either out of stock, on back order, or you pay 10X the retail price for one. I rely on the OTA in my household.

When the weather gets bad, if I lose SAT signal, we can quickly tune to OTA and watch the weather. I realize I can change inputs and still get OTA, but I also like to record some sub stations of the OTA networks which DISH doesn't offer, but does have the programs in the EPG, for easy recording, and seeing what's one.

SO DIRT, or anyone who knows, will there be OTA dongles in the future?

 

[beetle02]

Dish Depot had this on their website on the OTA dongles.

"Currently out of stock, NO ETA as DISH is looking for a new manufacturer."

 

[Hall]

The definitive answer is:

Dish is looking for a new manufacturer

Dish is no longer producing the part

 

[ekilgus]

I hope Dish realizes how absurd it is not having these OTA dongles available.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They are working on it... trust me.

Wish I could say more.

 

[navychop]

So- I should sell mine now at an obscene profit and then buy the Next Thing, which will be improved in innumerable ways!

Could the Hopper series handle two OTA tuners? Especially the H3, recording 16+2+PTAT active?

 

[DWS44]

So- I should sell mine now...

Of course...because we all know it will be available SOON™

 

[CubsWin]

Could the Hopper series handle two OTA tuners? Especially the H3, recording 16+2+PTAT active?

That would be awesome!

 

[wb9vpg]

I've been waiting since I upgraded to a Hopper3 in July. Last week, I asked yet again. They said they could now confirm the order for these was placed on August 19. But there was no anticipated availability date yet. I never know if they really know what I'm talking about, so who knows. I found it disturbing that they removed the item from the web store instead of leaving it as 'out of stock'. They messed up my install order so bad they had to cancel it and start over again. I tried to tell them what I needed, but they said it was already taken care of... and that I didn't need a dongle because over the air was built into the Hopper3. I knew better,

 

[h2ouup2]

I ordered mine on Amazon for 19.95 and it works great (only not so much on the 4K Joey). Now they only have one, and it's 199.95 - NO Thank you!

 

[DWS44]

Sadly...the prices of the current model adapter will only escalate further based on the demand, until whatever replaces it comes along.

 

[odbrv]

I have 2 OTA Dongles that I have stopped using. I used them on my 2 original Hoppers and HWSs When I went to the H3, I lost over 1/2 of the ota stations and most of those were the stations I don't get on Dish like Me TV. So I connected the antenna directly to the TV to watch those channels the H3 could not get. I do miss the ability to record them. I am saving the dongles for the next Dish receiver hoping that it will do OTA better. I bet there are many other like me who don't use the OTA Dongle and might know how to sell them without a hassle.

 

[Tony S]

I have 2 OTA Dongles that I have stopped using. I used them on my 2 original Hoppers and HWSs When I went to the H3, I lost over 1/2 of the ota stations and most of those were the stations I don't get on Dish like Me TV. So I connected the antenna directly to the TV to watch those channels the H3 could not get. I do miss the ability to record them. I am saving the dongles for the next Dish receiver hoping that it will do OTA better. I bet there are many other like me who don't use the OTA Dongle and might know how to sell them without a hassle.

I had a similar experience. The tuner in my Panasonic TV (TC-P60ZT60) is much better than the Dish OTA adapter (with HWS). The tuner in my TV could receive a much lower signal and still produce a good stable picture, while the Dish OTA adapter would not receive the channel at all. Like you, I could receive about twice as many channels with my TV vs. using the Dish OTA adapter. I ended up just connecting the antenna directly to my TV because of the additional channels.

Also, my TV has a much better, more friendly way of scanning and adding OTA channels. It is no problem to scan/add channels that are coming from two different directions. Try doing that with the OTA adapter!

 

[Brussam]

We carry an OTA adapter but really don't use it. First choice is satellite. If it is one of those few times we can't get a satellite shot and drop back to using the OTA, it is connected to all the TVs. The only advantage the OTA adapter would be recording an OTA channel which is not worth our effort. But I keep it juts in case.

 

[ScottChez]

Funny commentary ON:
I sure hope they make a Six Million Dollar Man OTA Adapter,
-
"Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster"
-
The one on the Hopper 3 now can't record half the time or the recordings are bad, and LIVE is choppy . . . it crashed and burned like Steve did, it worked great on the Hopper 2 with sling though
Oh wait, the Six Million Dollar man is on Cozi TV and I need the OTA adapter to watch my local feed of it, so forget what I said. Funny commentary now off for the the day.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I know that many people don't really like my work around for ota recordings on the hopper 3 ,but it has and continues to work like a charm. The key is to have the hopper on the ota channel when you start the recordings and it will continue to record that channel and the shows without problems. I know this isn't convenient for most people, but it works for me on Saturday nights on Metv channel. I recorded almost all the evening Sci Fi shows on Metv from 6:00pm and into the early morning hours and it recorded with no problems. Hopefully the software will be updated in the next couple of weeks to fix this once and for all. If the software tester that reported the fix is on the way, is correct.

 

[Hall]

I used them on my 2 original Hoppers and HWSs When I went to the H3, I lost over 1/2 of the ota stations and most of those were the stations I don't get on Dish like Me TV. ... I am saving the dongles for the next Dish receiver hoping that it will do OTA better.

That's strange that you lose channels because the dongle is the tuner. It shouldn't vary based on which receiver it's connected to.

 

[h2ouup2]

I had the same problem. I had an antenna in the attic, and get GREAT reception on my OTA channels. However when I would run it through the OTA dongle, I didn't get them all. I changed to a smaller antenna, and now I get all the channels. I never figured out why I could get them all with a smaller antenna.

I use the OTA dongle because I like to record some shows on MeTV, and such, that DISH doesn't have. I am hoping the new OTA dongle will be much better, and a lot of this OTA mess will be fixed.

 

[navychop]

Signal might have been overpowering on the larger antenna.

 

[ScottChez]

I ran into this also, ended up splitting my coax 5 times to get some channels to work.
I think what is happening is the Software can no handle multipathing issues like the old Hopper could. I do have trees in the line of sight so I am sure I get some multipathing.
Trouble is I reduced the sign to get some channels now others do not work good, so I can't win. I never had this issue on the old Hopper, it just worked.

I had the same problem. I had an antenna in the attic, and get GREAT reception on my OTA channels. However when I would run it through the OTA dongle, I didn't get them all. I changed to a smaller antenna, and now I get all the channels. I never figured out why I could get them all with a smaller antenna.
.