OTA Channel Problem, Dish 811

[lnyoung]

On my NBC OTA channel (1 of 4 OTA channels), I am seeing a picture, picture goes black, then picture comes back. This pattern cycles every 3 - 5 seconds. I have good signal strength (86% +). This is the only OTA channel this occurs on. The picture is continuous in the program guide. Software version 269 has been working fine.

This channel first started broadcasting yesterday (Aug 11) and I have been working with the station lead engineer to resolve the problem. They do not want to announce to the public the availability of their signal for the Olympic games, if there is a problem. All of their test equipment shows good and none of the other testers reports a problem (about 10 others).

Called Dish and got a 2nd level tech. He had me rescan the channels, but no improvement. He implied this was weird, normally when they see this problem it affects all OTA channels and they replace the receiver. They put a note in my file, but were unwilling to do more unless they get more complaints.

Anyone else seen a similar problem? Any suggestions? Does this need to be added to 269 bug list?

 

[lnyoung]

Followup On Problem

Continued working with the OTA channel lead engineer on the problem. When they turned the PSIP data off the problem went away. He has been able to duplicate the problem with a Motorola set top box (his guess is it uses the same chip as the Dish 811).

He is working with Harris (the PSIP manufacturer) to try and figure out whether the problem is with the PSIP generator or with the decoder that Dish is using in the 811.

I will give updates as we continue to troubleshoot the problem.