WWYD?

[sam_gordon]

I have a ViP 612 (not interested in Hopper, Wally, Joey, Koala, or Kangeroo). I have a repeating timer to record Family Guy on Cartoon Network every night from 11p-12a. I watch the shows the next night while going to sleep.

About a week ago, I start watching an episode and get pop ups with "Part of the recording is missing... " OK, no big deal, delete that one and watch the 2nd. Works fine. The same thing happened a couple nights ago, then again last night.

I don't THINK we had any storms going through (I don't remember any) that would cause a loss of signal. Assuming we didn't have storms, what do you think is happening? Failing HD? I still have to pull power on it, will possibly do that tonight.

I don't have the support contract (but can add it). What's my next step?

 

[navychop]

Congratulations on keeping the antique alive.

You may end up feeding the dingo. I don’t think they have ViP612 units to swap out. Nor would they likely be reliable.


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[lucky86]

I would set a timer for another show and see what happens. On a 612, my gut tells me your hard drive is starting to go.

 

[navychop]

Why do you still have to pull power on it? What does that fix?

It could also be storms at the uplink end, but those are rare, much less frequent than what you are experiencing


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[primestar31]

Bad or flaky/drifting lnb. I had that happen years ago, when I had my 722k. Does a VIP 612 have an OTA tuner? I don't know if it does. If so, AND you lose signal on that, it can cause the satellite channel to lose signal. Real odd, but that happened to me also on a 622, and my 722k.

So check either of those scenarios. IF it's a drifting LNB, it'll show that in the diags screen. IF it's the OTA thing, temp disconnect your external OTA antenna, and delete the OTA channels for a few day test. IF it doesn't act up after that, it's likely one of those channels has an issue with weak signal levels.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Why don’t you try to watch a live broadcast and see what actually happens.

 

[sam_gordon]

I would set a timer for another show and see what happens. On a 612, my gut tells me your hard drive is starting to go.

I watch an OTA recorded show with no issue, and I watched Walking Dead with no issue.

Why do you still have to pull power on it? What does that fix?

A) It doesn't hurt.
B) I know if/when I call in, they'll have me do it anyway.

Bad or flaky/drifting lnb. I had that happen years ago, when I had my 722k. Does a VIP 612 have an OTA tuner? I don't know if it does. If so, AND you lose signal on that, it can cause the satellite channel to lose signal. Real odd, but that happened to me also on a 622, and my 722k.

So check either of those scenarios. IF it's a drifting LNB, it'll show that in the diags screen. IF it's the OTA thing, temp disconnect your external OTA antenna, and delete the OTA channels for a few day test. IF it doesn't act up after that, it's likely one of those channels has an issue with weak signal levels.

It does have an OTA tuner. Where do I look for drift in the LNB?

Why don’t you try to watch a live broadcast and see what actually happens.

Because I'd rather be asleep!

 

[primestar31]

Push the "System Info" button. If the lnb is drifting, it should say it on that screen, along with a bunch of other stuff.

 

[Tampa8]

A few things come to mind.
DISH at least recently still will replace your 612 if it needs to be, they will for existing customers they just are no longer installing them for new installs.

I'm not so certain it is a DVR/Hard drive issue. You should see the behavior more often or at least for some other recordings.

Is it possible anything like a tree branch or something is just barely blocking a satellite?

Pulling the plug is different (at least on a VIP) then doing a reset. Pulling the plug is a "hard" reset and would usually prompt a guide reset also.

What does the meter show for strength for that channel in the Point DISH setting? Could be low indicating either the dish being a little out of alignment or back to a partial blockage?

One other thing, are any of your locals on OTA having signal issues? If you can remember each night make sure the last OTA channel is a strong one and that last two channels you tune to are satellite channels not OTA see if that makes a difference.

 

[sam_gordon]

OK, some more details...

No indication of a drifting LNB on the system info screen.
I watched about 10 minutes of another show on Cartoon Network and had no breakup (except when first tuning in).
Should be no trees in LOS when accounting for the angle. Dish is about 20' up from the ground, nearest tree is ~50 yards away and probably only slightly taller than the dish.

Signal strength for the transponder in question (129 tr. 17): 22-30

Sounds low, doesn't it. I grabbed some other transponder readings:
Tr: Signal strength
14: 28-30
16: 28-30
17: 22-30
18: 0 (possibly didn't wait long enough to kick in)
19: 40-43
20: 52-57
21: 55-57

I checked the same transponders on my 211k:
14: 20-24
16: 35-38
17: 59
18: 51
19: 58-59
20: 57
21; 61

Signal path is LNB out of the dish (2x) to diplexer to add OTA antenna, to the individual room, then diplexer to feed the receivers.

I guess the next step would be to to swap the feeds coming from the LNB, but I think I've done that before when I was trying to track down a problem with the 211.

ETA: The line runs between the diplexers is ~twice as long to the 211 as it is to the 612 if that makes a difference.

 

[osumike]

OK, some more details...

No indication of a drifting LNB on the system info screen.
I watched about 10 minutes of another show on Cartoon Network and had no breakup (except when first tuning in).
Should be no trees in LOS when accounting for the angle. Dish is about 20' up from the ground, nearest tree is ~50 yards away and probably only slightly taller than the dish.

Signal strength for the transponder in question (129 tr. 17): 22-30

Sounds low, doesn't it. I grabbed some other transponder readings:
Tr: Signal strength
14: 28-30
16: 28-30
17: 22-30
18: 0 (possibly didn't wait long enough to kick in)
19: 40-43
20: 52-57
21: 55-57

I checked the same transponders on my 211k:
14: 20-24
16: 35-38
17: 59
18: 51
19: 58-59
20: 57
21; 61

Signal path is LNB out of the dish (2x) to diplexer to add OTA antenna, to the individual room, then diplexer to feed the receivers.

I guess the next step would be to to swap the feeds coming from the LNB, but I think I've done that before when I was trying to track down a problem with the 211.

ETA: The line runs between the diplexers is ~twice as long to the 211 as it is to the 612 if that makes a difference.

Just pressing the system info button on the front of the receiver won't show you the actual details of what was asked. On the remote, press menu, 6,1,3 and let it run thru the system check. If it says "error, select details," then you can check the details and see if it says lnb drift detected..

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[sam_gordon]

Just pressing the system info button on the front of the receiver won't show you the actual details of what was asked. On the remote, press menu, 6,1,3 and let it run thru the system check. If it says "error, select details," then you can check the details and see if it says lnb drift detected..

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using the SatelliteGuys app!

No errors on those screens either. I did see where it had a 0 for tr 15 on 129 on Tuner 0.