Help me understand - 942 and dolby digital

[barryb]

I am aware there is an issue with losing dolby digital at times. I am trying to figure out exactly what is happening, why, and how to fix. Sometimes when recording a program and I am watching another program that has 5.1 it comes in as two channel. I have used the swap button to switch tuners in the past and then been able to watch program with 5.1. Last night this did not seem to work. I tried several times pressing the swap button, but no luck. I changed channels several times. continued to try swap and finally the 5.1 came in on the program I needed. I checked several other 5.1 channels and all were good. I use my 942 in single user mode.

I have always been able to keep changing channels and using swap button to eventually solve this issue, but I really want to understand exactly what happens when 5.1 is lost, and how to easily get it back. Otherwise I love the 942, great piece of equipment. I believe I read that a future software update would resolve this issue. Can anyone confirm this and have any update on estimated time frame?
Thanks,
Barry

 

[MRUSS]

If my recorded program is only 2 channel, I can stop it and go switch tuners,come back and restart and boom 5.1dd.

I can't tell you why or when it will be fixed, if ever. This seems to work for me.

 

[edgarj]

Thanks, super walk-around

Should have known that it was in this vein as I just began experiencing this BS today and used the PIP feature for the first time in a while just before the issue popped up. I'm getting totally fed up with the arcane solutions to the MANY issues with the 942. I'm starting to feel guilty for checking this forum instead of calling them constantly (30+ calls, 10+ hours on the phone, 5 service calls requiring 5 afternoons of rare vacation time wasted). Total economic loss is equal to years of subscriber fees, but like Comcast internet, my balls are firmly cupped due to the transiently unique quality of their product. I must stop, as ewch miniscule comment on this forum has turned into a unibomber-esque manifesto lately for me.

JBE
Portland, OR

 

[edgarj]

Thanks, super walk-around

Should have known that it was in this vein as I just began experiencing this BS today and used the PIP feature for the first time in a while just before the issue popped up. I'm getting totally fed up with the arcane solutions to the MANY issues with the 942. I'm starting to feel guilty for checking this forum instead of calling them constantly (30+ calls, 10+ hours on the phone, 5 service calls requiring 5 afternoons of rare vacation time wasted). Total economic loss is equal to years of subscriber fees, but like Comcast internet, my balls are firmly cupped due to the transiently unique quality of their product. I must stop, as each miniscule comment on this forum has turned into a unibomber-esque manifesto lately for me.

JBE
Portland, OR

 

[THUNDERJETT922]

Should have known that it was in this vein as I just began experiencing this BS today and used the PIP feature for the first time in a while just before the issue popped up. I'm getting totally fed up with the arcane solutions to the MANY issues with the 942. I'm starting to feel guilty for checking this forum instead of calling them constantly (30+ calls, 10+ hours on the phone, 5 service calls requiring 5 afternoons of rare vacation time wasted). Total economic loss is equal to years of subscriber fees, but like Comcast internet, my balls are firmly cupped due to the transiently unique quality of their product. I must stop, as each miniscule comment on this forum has turned into a unibomber-esque manifesto lately for me.

JBE
Portland, OR

GO SMOKE SOMETHING , IT WILL BE OK ITS JUST TV LIFE WILL GO ON

 

[MikeD-C05]

Should have known that it was in this vein as I just began experiencing this BS today and used the PIP feature for the first time in a while just before the issue popped up. I'm getting totally fed up with the arcane solutions to the MANY issues with the 942. I'm starting to feel guilty for checking this forum instead of calling them constantly (30+ calls, 10+ hours on the phone, 5 service calls requiring 5 afternoons of rare vacation time wasted). Total economic loss is equal to years of subscriber fees, but like Comcast internet, my balls are firmly cupped due to the transiently unique quality of their product. I must stop, as each miniscule comment on this forum has turned into a unibomber-esque manifesto lately for me.

JBE
Portland, OR

Why don't you use the 942 in dual mode instead of single mode? Then you will never get off the main tuner and lose your dolby digital sound. At least untill Dish does a software update to fix this problem. I haven't noticed many problems with the 942 as compared to the 921.

I had a multi-switch problem which caused me to turn off auto updates and for a while I wasn't getting any guide data updates at all without a switch check, but today it is working again and updating at least 8 1/2 days out . Which I think was related to a multi switch problem caused by a bad diplexor .

The dolby digital thing is annoying but if you keep it in dual mode it will never lose the sound again on your main tv. Over all this receiver has been rock solid compared to most new Dish receivers at the start.

 

[barryb]

What if anything would I lose by changing to dual mode? Would I still have all the same recording options? Would I be able to record one program while wathing another?
Thanks,
Barry

 

[MikeD-C05]

You can watch in dual mode either a satellite channel or an ota channel. You can record to tuner 2 using record plus . Enable this option and you can have all your recordings go to the tv 2 tuner. IF two satellite recordings at the same time then you could still watch the ota stations , but only on tv1. Tv2 doesn't allow you to see the ota stations in dual mode. You won't be able to use the pip function or the swap function for the second satellite tuner. But other wise it would operate just fine.


I have one of my 942s in dual mode and the main tv 942 in single mode. I perfer the single mode for my main tv because I can watch in the computer room behind the living room and watch while I am on the computer. I don't suffer from the dolby digital problem very often because I don't use the pip or the swap function.

Hopefully they will fix this with a software update soon.