Missing TNT HD / possible multiswitch problem?

[Gus_Smedstad]

The Symptoms:

Recently I upgraded from a single LNB, round dish to a HD elliptical dish with 3 horns, each of which I presume is a single LNB. Since then, reception has been somewhat spotty, with drop-outs that I've not experienced before.

Most recently, I lost TNT HD (245) entirely. TNT SD shows up, as do several other HD channels, but TNT HD gives a 771 "Searching for Satelllite" message. I've got a technician coming out tomorrow between 12 and 4.

The Half Baked Theory:

When the installer saw that I only had 4 interior cables, 2 to the HD DVR, 1 to a HD receiver, and 1 to a SD receiver, he said he wouldn't install a multiswitch. Instead he installed a simple grounding block, and connected the 4 coax lines from the dish individually to single interior lines. At the time I said I thought I needed a multiswitch anyway, and he insisted it wasn't required.

I've done some reading (dangerous, I know), and I gather that the existing setup means that each tuner can only see one satellite, either 101 or 119, but not both. The HD DVR has two inputs, but while it's possible that the inputs are pointing to 101 and 119 respectively, they're still independent tuners and can't exactly share the information.

Which would explain why I'm getting TNT SD but not HD. Sort of. The HD channel is probably on 119 but not 101. Which doesn't exactly explain why I was able to receive it at one time, but can't now. Which is why the theory is only half-baked.

The Dilemma:

If having a multiswitch is important with a multi-LNB dish regardless of how many receivers you have, how do I convince the tech that he's supposed to install it? Obviously the installer decided he didn't have to, and that could happen again. I don't want to shell out $300 or more for an item that should have been included in the installation.

- Gus

 

[rad]

From what you said of your config all you need is the four lines, the LNB on the dish has a built in multiswitch to handle 4 tuners.

You don't say what recently was but a few weeks ago D* made MPEG4 copies of the old MPEG2 HD channels, like TNT-HD, see if you can still see it on ch75 (MPEG2). Check your readings for sat 99(c) on your HD DVR, you should have readings on the active transponders of at least 70's with upper 80's/lower 90's being the best. If they're too low you'll probably need a dish realignment to pick up the new 99(c) satellite which recently went into service.

 

[Gus_Smedstad]

Many thanks for the information!

I upgraded on August 5th, a week ago. I didn't notice that TNT-HD wasn't coming in until yesterday. The confusing bit about this is that I thought had watched The Closer in HD, but that's inconsistent with an August 5th installation. I checked and I can indeed see 75, the MPEG2 version of TNT-HD. I checked signal strength on sat 99(c), and the transponders were all 0 or mid-20's. So it sounds like the installer didn't align the dish very well. Or possibly that it's a little loose and has shifted.

- Gus