WeeJavaDude said:
I agree that it could be either of those things. I'l try your suggestions. Although, when the antenna guy installed my pre amp he tweaked it for the best analog picture.
OTA 49% is not a problem with 811!
- Thread starter JoeSp
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 36
- Views 7K
I agree that it could be either of those things. I'l try your suggestions. Although, when the antenna guy installed my pre amp he tweaked it for the best analog picture.
I live near Minneapolis and have the 49% problem on my digital cbs and kmsp. Cbs use to come in after about 2-5 seconds but lately just bounces up in the 80's for a second then back down to 49%. I was messing around with this for a while last night and after the error screen popped up I hit the "view tv" button to get back to the signal strenghth meter. Once it came up to just a blank screen with my signal meter @ 49%, I hit the "Info" button. and just left the info screen up about 5 seconds. I then hit the info button until the info screen was gone and presto, my signal was @ 85% and I had a nice picture of CSI Miami. I did this approximately 10 times. If I didn't do the combo above, I would just get the error screen popping up every 5 seconds as the signal strength bounced around. My kmsp digital station (9.1) has always just been a blank screen and my signal was @ 85% (no error message ever pops up). I tried the above trick, and presto, the picture popped up....
Interesting comment on the OTA signal. With my 6000, if I go to a OTA ditigal signal, the meter reads 0%. I discovered if I switch over to a HD channel, say HBO-HD and then hit the recall button back the OTA DTV channel..presto! the meter jumps to 60-70% and locks.
I have to "jump start" the signal to get the OTA signal. That is only with the 6000 w/ OTA tuner. My Mits integrated tuner uses cheap rabbit ears, if I just turn or adjust the antennas, the signal locks. Just an interesting comment on the OTA signal. Not sure if the 811 will work with this "jump start" trick but just a comment regarding OTA signals.
--shich
I have to "jump start" the signal to get the OTA signal. That is only with the 6000 w/ OTA tuner. My Mits integrated tuner uses cheap rabbit ears, if I just turn or adjust the antennas, the signal locks. Just an interesting comment on the OTA signal. Not sure if the 811 will work with this "jump start" trick but just a comment regarding OTA signals.
--shich
Same 811 OTA problem
Here is the deal. After further troubleshooting and blaming everything else but the 811 receiver, I have concluded it is the new 811 receiver giving me problems. I am trying to get local OTA channels. I bought Terk TV-55 antenna. I installed it on top of my roof. I am only 5 miles from the Antenna farm. The only problem is local affiliates are broadcasting channels from two different antenna farms. One farm is at 56 degree compass orientation and other is at 97 degree compass orientation. Weird thing is, I pick up all channels except CBS and WB. This is the part where I got more confused.
I pick up NBC at 80% which is being broadcasted from same antenna farm as WB. I get 49% signal strength on WB. I pick up ABC at 80% which is being broadcasted from same antenna farm as CBS. I get 49% signal strenght on CBS. When I search automatically for digital stations, my 811 does find CBS and WB but it gets stuck at 49%.
Hope I made sense. I have been going crazy trying to solve this one.
Any suggestions, clarifications?
Here is the deal. After further troubleshooting and blaming everything else but the 811 receiver, I have concluded it is the new 811 receiver giving me problems. I am trying to get local OTA channels. I bought Terk TV-55 antenna. I installed it on top of my roof. I am only 5 miles from the Antenna farm. The only problem is local affiliates are broadcasting channels from two different antenna farms. One farm is at 56 degree compass orientation and other is at 97 degree compass orientation. Weird thing is, I pick up all channels except CBS and WB. This is the part where I got more confused.
I pick up NBC at 80% which is being broadcasted from same antenna farm as WB. I get 49% signal strength on WB. I pick up ABC at 80% which is being broadcasted from same antenna farm as CBS. I get 49% signal strenght on CBS. When I search automatically for digital stations, my 811 does find CBS and WB but it gets stuck at 49%.
Hope I made sense. I have been going crazy trying to solve this one.
Any suggestions, clarifications?
Can you get OTA UHF channel from the same location? Do you see double images? Wonder if you are running into a multipathing issue.
For what it is worth,
IMO the 49% is a multipath issue. I have one channel that repeatedly hits at 49% then goes to the channel not found screen. Some times it will say 70% then drop. Sometimes it will start at 70 then jump to above 79 and lock.
With repeated switching between the ofending channel and another will eventually get a lock.
All this leads me to think that the 811 becomes confused over which signal to lock on.
The other night another station was down for repairs. When I switched to that channel it registered 0% untill the box kicked to the no signal screen.
OTA is a tricky business and requires just the right antenna for he situation. Generally the least directional with a wider beam is best when closer to the towers. The farther away the more directional works better.
http://www.antennasdirect.com/
IMO the 49% is a multipath issue. I have one channel that repeatedly hits at 49% then goes to the channel not found screen. Some times it will say 70% then drop. Sometimes it will start at 70 then jump to above 79 and lock.
With repeated switching between the ofending channel and another will eventually get a lock.
All this leads me to think that the 811 becomes confused over which signal to lock on.
The other night another station was down for repairs. When I switched to that channel it registered 0% untill the box kicked to the no signal screen.
OTA is a tricky business and requires just the right antenna for he situation. Generally the least directional with a wider beam is best when closer to the towers. The farther away the more directional works better.
http://www.antennasdirect.com/
Kevinw said:
But when I roll my 6000 in behind the 811, it gets all the channels just fine. It isn't the antenna, it could be multipath. However, that proves that the 6000 can handle it better at this time
Nicko23 said:
Guys! I just tried what Nicko23 said and it worked! Bang I just watched King of Queens in HD! This works! and proves, in my mind that it IS an 811 issue. Has anyone else tried this? Great find Nick!
If the software update fixes this issue then great, but if not then this is a great work around.
That is a sad commentary that we have to come up with these "tricks" to get the equipment to work. I feel for the wifes that have to go through these hoops to watch TV. Can you say "DOG HOUSE"
here's a thought Dish, how about when I switch to an OTA channel, the signal comes in, locks, and I enjoy my show. Then, when it's over I can easily switch over to a satellite channel and what that show.
Or...maybe is that asking to much???? hmm....damn it is!!!!
oh well.
Maybe we need another forum that just has "tricks" to get these components to work.
--shich
here's a thought Dish, how about when I switch to an OTA channel, the signal comes in, locks, and I enjoy my show. Then, when it's over I can easily switch over to a satellite channel and what that show.
Or...maybe is that asking to much???? hmm....damn it is!!!!
oh well.
Maybe we need another forum that just has "tricks" to get these components to work.
--shich
Yea, Thanks Nicko23 for posting this trick! I can get all my digital locals except PBS which bounces around from 49% to 85% then back down to 49% with no lock. I just tried this trick 5 minutes ago and have a 85% lock on PBS! This is great now I can watch all the great shows PBS has to offer. So to anyone else on the fence about this, IT WORKS!! Thanks Again, Bill 
How does it feel to have paid to be an 811 Beta tester for E*??
So much for the flakey chip set theory that was earlier postulated. Once a particulary OTA channel is down converted the I.F. strip in the receiver processes the I.F. signal identically for all stations. There was one theory that the PSIP data was responsible for the acqusition problems of some OTA channels with good signal strength. I initally bought off on that but now with this convoluted 811 "fix" that Nick023 discovered, I now doubt this is a PSIP issue; especially since many have advised that their 6000 does not have the same initial acquisition problems on the channels the 811 does. The fact that the Nick023 fix, (which doesn't always work for me) makes a difference seems to point fingers back at the 811 software. Others have postulated that it's a multipath issue. However, I doubt that too since in my particular case I've never seen it on analog channels and the terrain is flat with nothing large enough to cause multipath around the St Louis metro east.
So much for the flakey chip set theory that was earlier postulated. Once a particulary OTA channel is down converted the I.F. strip in the receiver processes the I.F. signal identically for all stations. There was one theory that the PSIP data was responsible for the acqusition problems of some OTA channels with good signal strength. I initally bought off on that but now with this convoluted 811 "fix" that Nick023 discovered, I now doubt this is a PSIP issue; especially since many have advised that their 6000 does not have the same initial acquisition problems on the channels the 811 does. The fact that the Nick023 fix, (which doesn't always work for me) makes a difference seems to point fingers back at the 811 software. Others have postulated that it's a multipath issue. However, I doubt that too since in my particular case I've never seen it on analog channels and the terrain is flat with nothing large enough to cause multipath around the St Louis metro east.
signal quality
Although the 811 may have the dreaded "49% problem" from where we live its not a problem at all. All OTA stations come in really strong 90% +
another issue you can run into with any OTA digital tuner is the fact that some tv stations use low quality encoders. These encoders are the little wonders that actually convert the composite video signal to digital and add in audio carriers. Digital TV here in the USA is still in an infant stage of evolution.
Some stations actually transmit signals that are full of errors in the data stream. Some OTA receivers can deal with the errors and some cannot.
If a high quality clean signal is sent it has some headroom for degradation through multipath (signal reflections from buildings and mountains) and normal interference and even harmonics of other transmissions on its way to our antennas, it has some room to degrade and the OTA receiver can put the pieces back together (forward error correction) or FEC.
This is what separates OTA tuners from men and boys. The ability for the cpu and software to compensate for the errors.
An OTA tuner that does not perform well in one area will be wonderful in another. I have experienced this with a couple of installations.
Although the 811 may have the dreaded "49% problem" from where we live its not a problem at all. All OTA stations come in really strong 90% +
another issue you can run into with any OTA digital tuner is the fact that some tv stations use low quality encoders. These encoders are the little wonders that actually convert the composite video signal to digital and add in audio carriers. Digital TV here in the USA is still in an infant stage of evolution.
Some stations actually transmit signals that are full of errors in the data stream. Some OTA receivers can deal with the errors and some cannot.
If a high quality clean signal is sent it has some headroom for degradation through multipath (signal reflections from buildings and mountains) and normal interference and even harmonics of other transmissions on its way to our antennas, it has some room to degrade and the OTA receiver can put the pieces back together (forward error correction) or FEC.
This is what separates OTA tuners from men and boys. The ability for the cpu and software to compensate for the errors.
An OTA tuner that does not perform well in one area will be wonderful in another. I have experienced this with a couple of installations.
