OTA & 811...need some help

[Mr Tony]

Just got me a 811 for OTA HD and have a few questions. Now I never had OTA digital/HD until about 15 minutes ago so be nice

I have a simple Rat Shack outdoor antenna (the VU75..the smallest one they have) and I scanned in 10 digital channels (all the ones available in Minneapolis)

most are between 83-85%, CBS (4) is at 91%. Whats amazing is Pax is 90 degrees to the left of the rest of the towers and I get that at 76%

I mentioned in the OTA that I have a huge UHF only antenna (all of our digital is on UHF). Now is 85% good or if I slap that big monster up can I get 100%?

Also, will the guide download for the digital channels or will it just say "digital channel?"

Last question..I don't have a HDTV (yet) so some of the pictures are "squished". Like its stretched for a 27" TV when I have a 32" so it looks smaller. Is that normal? The program I watched was SD (the news)

I'm just happy that I have "The Tube" back. I had it on FTA when it was on KU and they moved it to C-Band so having it on an antenna is sweet

 

[dfergie]

try the page up/ page down buttons for aspect ratio ( I never change mine as I stay on HD setting) might have to push the * button first..

 

[pdxsam]

If you're getting that decent a signal on the RS antenna (I have one works great) I wouldn't make more work for myself by trying the UHF. the 811 is a decent OTA receiver as long as the reception stays above about 75. AT least that was my experience.

The guide data comes off of locals... so if you're subbed to locals you get guide data except for PBS.

HD channels will be letterboxed on the tv.. if that's what you mean by squished. SD will be 4x3 squished.

Try playing with the format... stretch zoom etc to see if you can full screen it.

 

[teachsac]

Hey,

If the receiver isn't active, I don't believe it will download the EPG. Most of the time mine never downloaded any of the EPG anyways.

85 is a pretty solid signal. I have a little indoor hooked up to my 411 and get around 80 and never have any dropouts. I'm just too lazy to run another line down two stories from the attic.

The Tube is awesome. They just added it here in Sacramento on the 1st of June.

 

[Mr Tony]

Well I learned something new...dont turn the unit off with a digital channel on because the guide screws up. I did a reset (power button on front) and it did download the guide for most of the channels

Tube rocks

 

[Mr Tony]

If you're getting that decent a signal on the RS antenna (I have one works great) I wouldn't make more work for myself by trying the UHF. the 811 is a decent OTA receiver as long as the reception stays above about 75. AT least that was my experience.

cool. The only one that is low is PAX and thats because its 90 degrees the other direction from the rest

The guide data comes off of locals... so if you're subbed to locals you get guide data except for PBS.

no sub on it at all but I do get some guide info (after the reset)

HD channels will be letterboxed on the tv.. if that's what you mean by squished. SD will be 4x3 squished.

ok. Letterbox., But my WB looks like that even with SD
SD looks fine

 

[osu1991]

I believe the 811 will pull guide data whether you are subbed or not.

 

[kb7oeb]

I get local guide data on my 811 without a LIL sub. I don't think the 811 can see the satellite signal when you are tuned to a digital OTA.

 

[Mr Tony]

I get local guide data on my 811 without a LIL sub. I don't think the 811 can see the satellite signal when you are tuned to a digital OTA.

OK that might make some sence. When I have a channel on for say 1/2 hour or so and then flip to a Satellite channel (101, 213, 262 are the only things in it that I can see w/o a sub) and hit guide I get "no info" on everything and the guide I guess freezes (I cant move it). Hit cancel and its fine.

Is this normal for the sat guide to disappear when I am on a OTA channel?

 

[noremac]

Is this normal for the sat guide to disappear when I am on a OTA channel?

It's "normal" behavior for the 811, unfortunately.

Another curious thing the 811 does when tuned to OTA is that its internal clock has to "coast" without input from the sat signal. Mine ws very inaccurate when doing this. After an hour or two of OTA viewing, the clock display would be off by several minutes!

 

[Mr Tony]

eh, the person I got the receiver from was on East COast time so its off by an hour anyways

That sucks the guide does that. How long after you bring back a sat signal does the guide fill in...or is a reset (hold power button on unit for 5 seconds) the only way?

 

[Foxbat]

Iceberg, living with a 6000 and now the 811, you learn to tune it a satellite channel and turn it off when not in use so the EPG gets updated. The latest firmware has made the EPG pretty stable; it used to be pretty bad, losing the EPG any time you watched OTA for more than an a couple of hours or so.

Regarding noremac's comments regarding the clock, there was one firmware version that actually fixed the clock so it wouldn't drift watching OTA, but it broke so many other things that I think Dish decided people could live with a slow clock while watching OTA.

You could call Dish to activate the 811 on your account, then take it off after the clock is tied to Central. Technically, you're not downgrading programming, so it shouldn't cost you $5

 

[Mr Tony]

Iceberg, living with a 6000 and now the 811, you learn to tune it a satellite channel and turn it off when not in use so the EPG gets updated. The latest firmware has made the EPG pretty stable; it used to be pretty bad, losing the EPG any time you watched OTA for more than an a couple of hours or so.

Thanks for the info. Thats what I have been doing. Turning it to 101 and shutting it off

You could call Dish to activate the 811 on your account, then take it off after the clock is tied to Central. Technically, you're not downgrading programming, so it shouldn't cost you $5

right now I'm not a sub (former sub but might come back)

 

[kb7oeb]

What firmware do you have? There was a post a while back that OTA was disabled on unsubbed units a couple revisions ago.

 

[Mr Tony]

current

P380