PTAT Bugs, Problems, Dislikes ...
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Ok so I think I might have found part of the problem I am having with PTAT. Flint MI locals come off 61.5 transponder 3. They all come in fine and I have had no signal issues but when I go to point dish in the settings 61.5 transponder 3 shows 0 signal on all three tuners on both of my hoppers. I'm thinking that since point dish thinks I don't get a signal from the transponder that carries my locals in HD my hoppers think I don't get them and they don't fire.
Like I said. My signal is fine. I just set recordings for 3 of my HD locals so I could make sure all 3 tuners are getting them and all 3 recorded and looked normal when played back. I don't know if this is the cause of my problem but it seems like it could be.
Also, my installer took out my old EA 3 LNB Dish and replaced it with the 2 LNB EA dish because he said I didn't need 77 and he could peak 61.5 and 72.7 better this way. I watched him switch out the dish but when I do point Dish it shows signals on some transponders on 61.5, 72.7 and 77. If I understand this correctly I should no longer be seeing 77 right?
Can anyone with the newer 2 LNB EA Dish and a hopper confirm that their check switch or point Dish is no longer showing a signal from 77?
Like I said. My signal is fine. I just set recordings for 3 of my HD locals so I could make sure all 3 tuners are getting them and all 3 recorded and looked normal when played back. I don't know if this is the cause of my problem but it seems like it could be.
Also, my installer took out my old EA 3 LNB Dish and replaced it with the 2 LNB EA dish because he said I didn't need 77 and he could peak 61.5 and 72.7 better this way. I watched him switch out the dish but when I do point Dish it shows signals on some transponders on 61.5, 72.7 and 77. If I understand this correctly I should no longer be seeing 77 right?
Can anyone with the newer 2 LNB EA Dish and a hopper confirm that their check switch or point Dish is no longer showing a signal from 77?
I guess I can't edit this anymore because it was posted to long ago? I took a closer look at my dish this morning. I did watch him replace my Dish but it looks like he replaced it with another 3 LNB EA Dish. I see 2 eyes close to each other and 1 a little farther away. I also see 3 cables coming out of the Dish. Please disregard everything I said about the 2 LNB EA Dish.
I have also PM'd Matt about this.
PTAT Picture Quality???
Not exactly sure the tech behind the PTAT, well how there able to squeeze 5 Channels of programming and still give me all my tuners.
There must be some sort of compression that's killing the quality of the HD??? Seems like some channels have an issue NBC especially, for me. A few recordings on NBC even freeze up on me.
Anyone else have these issues with the PTAT recordings?
Not exactly sure the tech behind the PTAT, well how there able to squeeze 5 Channels of programming and still give me all my tuners.
There must be some sort of compression that's killing the quality of the HD??? Seems like some channels have an issue NBC especially, for me. A few recordings on NBC even freeze up on me.
Anyone else have these issues with the PTAT recordings?
It is 4 channels using one tuner by dumping the entire transponder. Reality is that all your local HDs are saved, but you are only able to access the Big 4.
There should be no degradation of quality or hiccups during playback. Your problem is elsewhere.
There should be no degradation of quality or hiccups during playback. Your problem is elsewhere.
For those of you that can't get PTAT to record properly what is your signal reading for the transponder your HD locals are on? Mine shows as 0 even though all my HD locals come in fine and I have no signal problems.
I believe this is what is preventing PTAT from working on my Hoppers. I think that my hopper thinks I don't have a signal on my local HD transponder so it doesn't fire.
To see the signal level for your HD local transponder tune to one of your HD locals then push menu - settings - diagnostics - point dish. It should automatically test the transponder for the channel you were watching.
I believe this is what is preventing PTAT from working on my Hoppers. I think that my hopper thinks I don't have a signal on my local HD transponder so it doesn't fire.
To see the signal level for your HD local transponder tune to one of your HD locals then push menu - settings - diagnostics - point dish. It should automatically test the transponder for the channel you were watching.
Update: PTAT did not record on either of my hoppers again last night.
I ran a check switch yesterday and it comes up with all green check marks and looks like everything is good. However, when I click details it shows an error. It says "error: removed duplicate 61.5 satellite on port 4".
Does this mean my installer incorrectly connected 61.5 to the input for a wing dish on port 4 as well as the port it was supposed to be connected to? Could this possibly be causing my PTAT problems? And finally, could I simply disconnect port 4 or do I have to cover the open port with something? I have never connected or disconnected anything from a satellite dish but this seems like it would be easy enough for me to fix myself without needing a tech visit.
Edit: I'm not sure I want to mess with this because it looks like I would have to take the LNB off the dish to get access to the cable input. I don't want to accidentally mess up my alignment. If you guys think this could be the problem I will probably just wait until I am able to have an tech visit.
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I have replaced LNBs on multiple occasions without messing up my alignment. If you have an Eastern Arc dish, I see no need for a wing dish at all (unless it's for 118).
I don't have a wing dish. My check switch details just says error: removed duplicate 61.5 satellite on port 4. I have the EA 1000.4 dish. There are only 3 cables coming from my Dish to the duo node. Does this mean the diagnostic is just incorrect? I don't see how it would be possible to have 61.5 on both ports without a wing dish.
Maybe my LNB is bad but that seems weird because I am able to watch and record my HD locals on all 3 tuners and I haven't had a single signal problem since my hopper install. All individual timers and live TV has worked flawlessly so far on both hoppers but PTAT has only recorded 1 out of the 4 days I have had the hoppers.
It recorded on both hoppers my 2nd day after install but didn't work the first and hasn't worked since. I have done multiple hard and soft resets. PTAT doesn't show in my scheduled recordings except for the one day it actually worked.
After it didn't work again last night I deleted all timers on one of my hoppers, turned off PTAT, restored to factory defaults, and did a hard reset. When It was done I turned PTAT back on but didn't restore any other timers. We'll see if it records tonight but it was not listed in my scheduled recordings this morning so I have my doubts.
Maybe my LNB is bad but that seems weird because I am able to watch and record my HD locals on all 3 tuners and I haven't had a single signal problem since my hopper install. All individual timers and live TV has worked flawlessly so far on both hoppers but PTAT has only recorded 1 out of the 4 days I have had the hoppers.
It recorded on both hoppers my 2nd day after install but didn't work the first and hasn't worked since. I have done multiple hard and soft resets. PTAT doesn't show in my scheduled recordings except for the one day it actually worked.
After it didn't work again last night I deleted all timers on one of my hoppers, turned off PTAT, restored to factory defaults, and did a hard reset. When It was done I turned PTAT back on but didn't restore any other timers. We'll see if it records tonight but it was not listed in my scheduled recordings this morning so I have my doubts.
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I have a friend coming out to switch out my LNB for me first thing tomorrow morning. We will see if this solves my problem.
Did you actually try to watch and/or FF through the buffer, or did you just look at the program tile to see how long it was? I set a 60 minute buffer for a 60 minute show. At first, I didn't think it worked either, because the recording tile only shows a 60 minute program. However, if you fast forward through the 60 minute program, the program continues for another 60 minutes!
And the REALLY weird thing was, the bar graph across the bottom, as it's fast-forwarding, shows its progress through thte recording as if it's only 60 minutes long. But when it got to the end of Brian Williams, the bar graph reset its position at the beginning, and started showing the FF progress through the 2nd hour.
I set a timer and a 60 minute buffer for Rock Center with Brian Williams, which is the last show during PTAT on NBC. The recording on my partition showed only a 1 hour program. No icon for the program following (local news and the first thirty minutes of that chin that took over the Tonight Show),
So check those extended timers that go past PTAT...they DO work, but sure don't look lilke they do!
So I got my new LNB installed at about 7:30 this morning before I went to work and my signals are still coming in good including my HD locals. I gave it a couple hours and came home during my lunch break to check on it. I'm sad to say that I don't think the new LNB fixed my problem. PTAT is still enabled on both hoppers and I did a hard reset on one of them but PTAT still doesn't show in my scheduled recordings and the PT logos still don't show up on my guide for the PTAT shows. This has me thinking that PTAT won't record again for me tonight but I guess I won't know for sure until 7:55.
I'm hoping that it will work tomorrow after everything shuts itself down, reboots, and downloads new guide information at 1:00am tonight.
Did it ever start working for you?
For everyone else that sent me a PM and it is still not working (or not disabling, etc), would you please send me another PM?
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