Is there anyone having problems with OTA mapping?

[Sean Mota]

If this is the case, please post what OTA channels you are not getting. This will be useful information to see how many are still having problems with the OTA mapping.

 

[johnpete]

I live in Tucson Arizona. Channels 4, 6 and 9 are not on the program guide.

Channels 40 and 58 are on the program guide but not signal.

Channels 11, 13 and 18 are fine.

John

 

[jabroni]

I live in Tucson Arizona. Channels 4, 6 and 9 are not on the program guide.

Channels 40 and 58 are on the program guide but not signal.

Channels 11, 13 and 18 are fine.

John

Eight digital channels? Sheesh am I jealous and wondering, why must I live in a cow town? Columbus, Ohio that is. Mooo

 

[johnpete]

It gets better.

I live in Douglas which is 120 miles from Tucson (with some big mountains in between) and I'm getting two of the three rock solid.

Nobody believes I am picking up the off air signal.

John

 

[Acerone]

For me it's like this: Elk Grove, CA 95758

3 NBC Good
6 PBS Good
10 ABC Good
13 CBS Good
40 Fox Good
31 UPN Missing
58 WB "Wrong channel" Getting NBC on here

 

[Dan Berndt]

Fort Worth, TX 76137

4 FOX good
5 NBC good
8 ABC missing
11 CBS good
13 PBS good
21 UPN good
38 WB good

All lower tier subchannels and alternative channels (ei. 13-1 use to also come in as 14-1) that I use to get with my e86 are missing.

 

[Dan Berndt]

This message just posted on VOOM Yahoo group;

Received an email from Peter at Voom to "factory reset" my box. And
voila! I get most of the OTA channels. Big thanks to Voom.

The funny thing is it seems like they are _manually_ adding stations
to their database... I can't imagine how frustrating it would be and
what a stupid decision was it to not include scanning...

Hong.

 

[Sean Mota]

"Factory reset" means rebooting the receiver. It looks like he got the correct mapping because VOOM added the correct mapping to their database based on his zip code on VOOM.

 

[Dan Berndt]

I talked to an engineer at WFAA, my missing ABC Channel 8. I told him that the signal strenght was so weak that my VOOM reciever would not pick it up but my old e86 did. The guy told me that the WFAA digital signal was a VHF signal while all the others in the area were UHF.

He said that the VOOM antenna might be a UHF only antenna and that could be why I could not pick up WFAA. I called the VOOM CSR, told him what the engineer said and asked him if the VOOM antenna was a UHF only antenna. The CSR said that he thought it was a combo UHF-VHF antenna and that he thought the problem was on the OTA mapping problem VOOM was working on.

I told the CSR that I was going to pull the VOOM Stealth antenna out and put my old Terk 55 in that I know works on VHF. I also told him that if the Terk works I was going to call VOOM back and tell them they need to provide combo antennas.

Before I change out my antennas, Does anyone know if the Stealth is a combo antenna?

 

[Sean Mota]

It is a combo UHF/VHF antenna. The CSR is correct you are having a mapping problem. Did you send the e-mail to wilt. SEE thread that catalogs problems (sticky). He's email is there. He'll pass on the information to the people that are working on the mapping much faster than the CSR at VOOM.

 

[Sean Mota]

So here is my mapping:

2-1 CBS
4-1 NBC
5-1 FOX
5-2 UPN
7-1 ABC
7-2 ABC ----> Added today
11-1 WPIX (WB)
13-1 WNET [can not pick up from my location]
13-2 WNET [can not pick up from my location]
21-1 WLIW
21-2 WLIW
25-1 WNYE -----> not transmitting
25-2 WNYE -----> not transmitting
25-3 WNYE -----> not transmitting
49-1 WEDW
49-2 WEDW
49-3 WEDW
49-4 WEDW
50-1 WNJN
50-2 WNJN
50-3 WNJN
50-4 WNJN
50-5 WNJN
55-1 WLNY
67-1 WFTY

Missing 40-1 Univision and 53-01 Telefutura

 

[Sean Mota]

This message just posted on VOOM Yahoo group;

Received an email from Peter at Voom to "factory reset" my box. And
voila! I get most of the OTA channels. Big thanks to Voom.

The funny thing is it seems like they are _manually_ adding stations
to their database... I can't imagine how frustrating it would be and
what a stupid decision was it to not include scanning...

Hong.

It looks like the "reset factory" is not merely rebooting but it resets everything default settings. This means any settings that you changed in the setting options menu will be lost. Favorite list will be lost as well.

Cause of the problem
Before Voom, I already had a DirecTV HD receiver with a roof-top
antenna that works well. The Voom receiver just didn't have the right
guide information (0-4, 0-8, 0-10, that's it) and didn't show any
local channels.

Now, I see about 16~17 local ATSC channels. The guide also has
programming information.

To "factory reset" your box, this is the instruction I got.

Press the following buttons on the remote control unit:
a. VoOm
b. Green Button (To access Options and Settings screen)
c. Select "System Settings" menu option
d. Select option 8 "Installation Settings"
e. Press "9 8 8" on the remote control unit.
f. The "System Configuration" menu will have the following options:
(1) Manual Tune
(2) SD Audio & Video Test
(3) HD Audio & Video Test
(4) Modem Setup & Test
(5) Authorization Reset
(6) Factory Reset
(7) Audio Test Mode

The Factory Reset causes the set-top box to clear most non-volatile
memory and take the set-top box back to a factory initialized state.
Upon completion of the reset, the set-top box returns to the System
Configuration menu (may take 10 - 15 minutes to reacquire guide data)

Response from Wilt on whether to use this or not to fix the OTA problems

Right now, no, I don't recommend it.
It seems to fix a very certain set of issues where some box either had the wrong map entirely or, as you can see from the posting below, had those bogus channel numbers, 0-x, 0-y, etc.
I don't know of any benefit to anyone else by doing this reset. It's disruptive, reverts any settings you've put in and takes time to come back to normal again.
We've been, as you can see from a number of the posts, hacking away at this stuff, but I can tell you there is no one silver bullet right now.
Wilt

 

[Sean Mota]

It has been reported by a few people that the "factory reset" procedure has been successful to get the local mapping. Most of the story I heard showed that before doing the "factory reset", each individual had sent their information to Wilt (if they did not see the correct mapping) and after a few days if the PG did not show the locals then the "factory reset" procedure was done and VOILA! the locals showed up on the PG.

Note: do this at your own risk. I take no responsibility if something goes wrong. I have not done this because I did not need to do it. My locals all showed up in the guide after contacting Wilt. The procedure is outline in the previous post.

Warning: After doing the "factory reset", the box will go to all default settings. So you might lose any customization you have made in the "Setting Menu" and any favorite list that you have created.

 

[Sean Mota]

So, all in all. The factory reset procedure outline above should solve the OTA problem completely or most of it.

The pre-condition to do this procedure is to ensure that your mapping was updated by Wilt's team. If you send an e-mail to Wilt describing your mapping problem (See Sticky Thread: Voom Box Version V00.05.08. Bugs/Problems/Feature Request), wait a few days and then do the factory reset procedure.

After doing the procedure the STB might default to 720p and you might have to manually change the resolution to 1080i (using the red button). You might have to do a manual reboot of the STB as well after doing the factory reset. To reboot just hold the power button for 5 seconds and let go.

Again when you do the factory reset all customization will be lost including the favorite list.

So from now on there should less OTA mapping problems...


P.S. I have outlined the procedure in the sticky thread: Read Me First - Voom Summary.

 

[rudolpht]

And do a front box power reset after the box comes back after the factory reset

 

[tytxy]

After doing "facctory reset", all local channels are shown correctly on my PG. But SBC, UPN and WB have no signal, although OAT signals are 45 for power and 75 for quality.

 

[Sean Mota]

tytxy,

You need to independently verify that you can get UPN & WB. Do you have another STB or know someone in your area that can get these two stations. If that is so then there is a problem. Are you using the stealth antenna that VOOM provided. There is a limitation range on the antenna and if you happen to reside far away from the transmitter you may be out of luck to get them. What do you think?

 

[tytxy]

tytxy,

You need to independently verify that you can get UPN & WB. Do you have another STB or know someone in your area that can get these two stations. If that is so then there is a problem.

That is my problem: I do no have another STB and, being in a new house within a newly developed area, I do not know if my neighbors have UPN or WB.
However, I did see CBS and Fox in the first two days after the installation. Local mapping was not right then (no local channel was shown in PG "All channels"), I could only find CBS and Fox in other sub-menu and watched "CSI" and "24" in HD.
Now, I have done "factory reset" and got rid of diplexers. PG is correct, OTA signal seems to be ok. But no signal.

Are you using the stealth antenna that VOOM provided. There is a limitation range on the antenna and if you happen to reside far away from the transmitter you may be out of luck to get them. What do you think?

Yes I am using the stealth. The installer told me that the transmitter is in the west, a little bit more than ten mile from us. He put the antenna towards to the south and claimed that direction is no important. Is that a problem?

 

[rudolpht]

Did you do a front panel reset after the factory reset. Did you send your zipcode with the issues to Wilt? The reset business doesn't help if the "boys" back at the ranch haven't corrected the problems.

Tim

 

[Sean Mota]

So, I just got my last two channels in the mapping working. Channel 41-1 and channel 68-1. That's it folks! All my OTA channels are mapping. All with good reception...That is all the OTA channels that are active in my area.