New Carbon UI on Hopper w/ Sling: OTA Mess !!!

mario315

SatelliteGuys Guru
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Pub Member / Supporter
Mar 20, 2008
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Florida
I finally upgraded this week to the Hopper w/ Sling from the Hopper 2000.... The DISH techs onsite downloaded the new Carbon UI to all my new receivers (2 Hoppers w/ Sling, 4 Joeys 2.0) .... I did not want the Hopper 3 after reading here about all the OTA issues it was having with the Joeys....

However, the OTA issues on the new Carbon UI are also serious, whereas I had no OTA issues under the old UI...

1) If you try to do a new OTA scan and the first OTA channel (originally scanned) listed is "not locked", the receiver will shut down and re-boot.... Has happened over 10 times in a row !!!...
Only when the first OTA channel is "locked" will the receiver then proceed to scan again.... Confirmed it on the 2 Hoppers w/ Sling, so it's not a receiver issue, it must be a software issue with the new carbon UI, right ?

2) The "info" screen on OTA channels is missing the OTA antenna's "Signal Strength" meter reading..... The only way to know your signal strength now is to go back into the OTA menu section, look for the OTA channel in the long list of scanned channels, and select it there.... But, again, if the first channel on that list is "not locked", the receiver will shut down and re-boot over and over again.... So now it's almost impossible to know your antenna strength numbers unless you put yourself through this agony...

3) The OTA scanned channels inside the menu's scanned list has a programming mistake..... The channels will appear out of order because instead of starting at channel 02, 03, 04, etc., it starts at Channel 10.... So if you have a local channel 2 it will get inserted in-between 10 and 30; Channel 4, between 30 and 50; Channel 6, between 50 and 70, and so on....It has nothing to do with their RF frequencies, it's their virtual numbers that are out of order....

4) And, hard to believe, but DISH in this new UI got rid altogether of the RF frequency input option, as we had available for years, and which they had been promising, in the original Hopper UI, as "this feature coming soon." HA !!!

Can others here confirm my conclusions above ? Or did I get some things wrong ??? Thanks !!!
 
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Wow, I never had a older version of the Hopper series as the H3 is my first one and I cannot believe how much they crippled the H3 OTA setup compared to the older ones. I was already astounded how little was left compared to my 722.
BUT one thing is much better on the H3 OTA vs 722, and that is reception. Far superior over the 722. At least where I live.
 
Lots of known bugs in OTA implementation of the H3 and apparently, in the HWS with the carbon interface. Please contact a DIRT member and add your experiences to the "Known Issues" list. More voices lends credibility to the issues and information valuable to them seeking solution.
 
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# 1 Never had that happen.

# 3 has always been that way (in the old UI too).

# 4 I'm not sure Dish has really been "promising" the enable the option for manually adding OTA channels. Saying "Not available yet" or whatever wording they used wasn't a "promise" to me.
 
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Good luck trying to record OTA channels too!
I haven't tried this extensively nor specifically tested it, but I know I've recorded a couple of things. What I did notice was that there didn't appear to be an indication in the guide that it was recording. It did nonetheless though.
 
The channel order is off putting but it appears to display channels by their virtual or PSIP number but list them by their RF frequency position but starting with UHF. So my list starts with the channel (49) that broadcasts at 14 ten proceeds through them all through the channel that broadcasts at 51 and then shows my VHF channels. Odd but you get used to it.

I do not have the problem you describe with certain chaels being "unlocked" and that causing a reboot.

I would love to see them restore the option to ad channels---especially since there are a few out of market signals that are occasionally strong enough to view. It would be nice to not have to rescan to see if they are available.
 
I haven't tried this extensively nor specifically tested it, but I know I've recorded a couple of things. What I did notice was that there didn't appear to be an indication in the guide that it was recording. It did nonetheless though.

They actually record fine from what I have found, and you can watch live w/out issue. The recordings are horrible to try and watch right however, with breakups and audio drops about every 5 seconds.
 
WOW.........hope they force this UI until it is fixed. I have 2 HWS & have waited to upgrade to H3 due to these types of problems

The OTA recordings work fine on the HWS with the new UI. It's only the H3 that's having problems. Hopefully your wait will be over soon. :)
 
I'm positive others have indicated the same thing happening to them, but another shortcoming with OTA on the H2 is the inability to add or delete channels from the scanned list. It simply doesn't save any changes that you make (the "Save" button does nothing).
 
Good luck trying to record OTA channels too!

Can't you DVR or watch your local stations off of the satellite? I installed my Hopper 3 about 1 month ago and never
installed the Dish OTA adapter I had purchased at the same time. Both my TVs are still connected to my outside TV antenna
but the Hopper 3 is only connected to my dish no OTA adapter.

My 722K and 211K both worked great with the antenna and their OTA adapters.
 
Not all locals are on satellite. But we are mixing up two receivers here.
 
Most local stations have at least (1) add'l sub-channel. In my market, and I think this typical for most, Dish carries no sub-channels. Well, they did in fact add one of them just recently but it seemed to be related to a contract negotiation...

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk
 
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Can't you DVR or watch your local stations off of the satellite? I installed my Hopper 3 about 1 month ago and never
installed the Dish OTA adapter I had purchased at the same time. Both my TVs are still connected to my outside TV antenna
but the Hopper 3 is only connected to my dish no OTA adapter.

My 722K and 211K both worked great with the antenna and their OTA adapters.

I can, but Dish's locals do not look that good. Right now, on my H3, I record both the OTA and Sat versions, so if the OTA is wonky I can watch the other.
 
I'm positive others have indicated the same thing happening to them, but another shortcoming with OTA on the H2 is the inability to add or delete channels from the scanned list. It simply doesn't save any changes that you make (the "Save" button does nothing).
I was having that problem too. To get it to save the channels, after you do a scan you must check/select all of the channels and then hit save. On the old ui after you scanned you would then hit save and it saved them all. Now with the Carbon after you do a scan you must check all of the channels and then hit save. Took me a few times to figure it out.
 
# 1 Never had that happen.

# 3 has always been that way (in the old UI too).

# 4 I'm not sure Dish has really been "promising" the enable the option for manually adding OTA channels. Saying "Not available yet" or whatever wording they used wasn't a "promise" to me.

In the old UI when you tried to add an OTA channel the language in the DISH screen was "Feature Coming Soon"...... So, yes, to me, and to almost everyone else, that would be considered a "promise".....
 
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