How do I test to see if all 16 of my tuners (H3) are functional?

[docdaddy]

I've had cases where shows ended before they should have, when I know I only had a most 5 or 6 shows that overlapped. How do I test on my Hopper 3 and see if all 16 of my tuners are indeed working?

When I go to Menu - Settings - Diagnostics - Dish, Tuner 1 is showing signal strength of 61 (we live way up in NW Iowa) and locked on Sat 129, Spotbeam 16. If I change that to, say, Tuner 8 (keeping everything else the same, Sat 129) it shows Transponder 0 Sat 129 Not Locked and signal strength 0. Should that change on it's own? Do I need to set the Transponder to something? I moved to Network then back to Dish and it showed Tuner 2, Sat 129, Transponder 0, signal strength 62, but when I changed it to Tuner 1 it now shows Sat 12, Transponder 0, signal strength 0 (and of course, Not Locked)

Help!

 

[ncted]

Try recording 16 different things at once. Someone more knowledgeable can tell you which transponder(s) you should be testing with. I've have recordings cut short by a couple of minutes from time to time. This is usually due to incorrect guide data, or at least guide data that doesn't match what the broadcaster is actually doing. If you want to play it safe, have all your recordings start 5 minutes early and end 10 minutes late.

 

[docdaddy]

More, when I do the Send Status check, and Test Signal for 129, it shows results for 1 through 9 but then where it should show 10 - 16 it only shows ... for the tuners. Is this normal.

 

[JJinVista]

When I go to Menu - Settings - Diagnostics - Dish, Tuner 1 is showing signal strength of 61 (we live way up in NW Iowa) and locked on Sat 129, Spotbeam 16. If I change that to, say, Tuner 8 (keeping everything else the same, Sat 129) it shows Transponder 0 Sat 129 Not Locked and signal strength 0. Should that change on it's own? Do I need to set the Transponder to something? I moved to Network then back to Dish and it showed Tuner 2, Sat 129, Transponder 0, signal strength 62, but when I changed it to Tuner 1 it now shows Sat 12, Transponder 0, signal strength 0 (and of course, Not Locked)

Ah ha! Somebody getting the same screwy results that I am from the signal metering screen!

See my latest post on the thread "Hopper 3 has unreliable signal strength tool" (sorry, I'm not sure how to insert a hyperlink). This post may not help you find signal strengths for all your tuners, but it may help you rule out the signal metering screen as a reliable tool for doing so.

 

[Tampa8]

Ah ha! Somebody getting the same screwy results that I am from the signal metering screen!

See my latest post on the thread "Hopper 3 has unreliable signal strength tool" (sorry, I'm not sure how to insert a hyperlink). This post may not help you find signal strengths for all your tuners, but it may help you rule out the signal metering screen as a reliable tool for doing so.

Hopper 3 has unreliable signal strength tool

 

[JJinVista]

...it shows Transponder 0 Sat 129 Not Locked and signal strength 0.

Only certain ranges of Transponder values are valid for a given Satellite.
I believe a Transponder value of "0" is a placeholder inserted by the signal screen tool when the Satellite value changed, making the prior Transponder value invalid for that Satellite. Although you may not have directly changed the Satellite value (you mentioned that you changed the Tuner value) it's been my experience that this can indirectly change the Satellite value.

I would do 16 tests, 3 data entries per test setup. Even if you see some of these values already set, explicitly enter them each time:
- Enter Tuner 16, Transponder 21, Satellite 119
- then Tuner 15, Transponder 21, Satellite 119, ... on down to
- Tuner 1, Transponder 21, Satellite 119, in that order, as Tuner 1 seems to interfere with the signal meter function and accurate results may be difficult to obtain.
For each of the 16 tests, note the signal strength. I would think they should be equal, subject to minor cloud / weather fluctuations.

Make sure you're not recording on the H3 or actively tuned to / recording anything on other Joeys while you do this test. And re-enter the values each time, even though that still may be the value that's displayed on the screen. I believe there's a discrepency sometimes between the displayed and actual values.

 

[HipKat]

You guys think too much, some of you......

 

[eddie willers]

You guys think too much, some of you......

Yeah. I think I would wait for something to go wrong before I go poking the bear.