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thewolfman
join:2003-04-03
Niagara Falls, NY

thewolfman to slras

Member

to slras

Re: [DISH] Dish Network All HD Channels pixelizing and losing au

There is an issue with the satellite that gives us our HD locals. Transponder 13 on satellite 61.5 is where we get our locals. Intertech digital, the local dish service provider, told me that the satellite has either been moved, or it has slipped it's position. People north on Niagara Falls, where I am, are getting signal strength of 12 on TP 13.

I had intertech out twice in one week due to low signal strength on TP 13, finally, the field service manager for intertech told me about the satellite issue.

Last week, my locals were horrible, almost unwatchable, just as you describe. Over the weekend, they cleared up. Call Dish and bitch about the low signal strength on transponder 13, they won't fix it until enough people bitch about it.

By the way, you are lucky you get a signal of 38 on TP 13, I only get 26!! My locals go out for EVERY cloud! My signal strength for TP 14 is over 60, and TP 21 is almost 60, it's just TP 13 that is low.
slras
join:2006-04-10
Buffalo, NY

slras

Member

Thewolfman, There is an issue with the satellite that gives us our HD locals. Transponder 13 on satellite 61.5 is where we get our locals, and that the satellite has either been moved, or it has slipped it's position. People north on Niagara Falls were getting signal strength of 12 on TP 13.

That is literally what the technician from Intertech told me.

He also told me that they have been discussing when they have their employee meetings that they wish Dish Network would tell their customers that they are having these problems but instead, they tell the customer they need a service call to check the alignment and connections, etc. But then when the tech gets here there is nothing he can do because it isn't a problem on the customer's end.

It was odd though because after I called DN again to tell them that someone else in the area was experiencing the exact same problems and they also called DN to report it. (when they told me they hadn't any reports from any one in our area) the next morning, everything was fine but they still insisted on sending a tech out.

Which ended up being a waste of time but fortunately, we happen to be DVR'ing things in HD when we were having the sound and pixelization problems so I had something to show the tech, but of course, it wouldn't show the signal strength from the time it was happening.

thewolfman
join:2003-04-03
Niagara Falls, NY

thewolfman

Member

In my opinion, the low signal strength and the audio/pixelization issue aren't related. The audio/pixelization issue is gone, but TP 13 signal strength isn't stronger.

I have heard that most HD will be moved off of 61.5 to the sat @72 around the end of this year. Perhaps that will fix our issue.

I called dish, advanced tech support and the women insisted on sending someone out to repeak the dish after a tech was here the previous day. The tech had repeaked the dish the previous day and dish STILL sent out a tech. Intertech digital is caught in the middle going on service calls to which there is no solution.

I'm just glad the audio/pixel issue is gone.

Now I just want to be able to watch the Sabres.........................
slras
join:2006-04-10
Buffalo, NY

slras

Member

If they switch to the 72 orbital location it will mean another dish to be installed and I don't know if our landlord will be happy with another dish on the house or deck. He's pretty reasonable, but when you have a lot of dishes on the back of the house it's not pretty lol.

When we had DirecTV, I don't know if the previous tenants had a professional install or it was a self install, but they put the 3 LNB dish on the corner of our deck and the neighbors garage roof would block out the signal if we got more than 2 inches of snow and that was another reason I switched to Dish Network as we lost our signal for over 12 hours. I had to take a broom and brush off as much snow as I could reach with a broom and it was just barely enough to get some signal. Then during that time, we could only watch our local with a DTA converter box, but had to reposition the antenna to get some stations and then we would lose the ones we were able to get.

My LCD HDTV has a built-in Analog/Digital tuner and I can actually pick up WNGS 67-1, -2, -3 better than I can WGRZ 2-1, -2, -3. Also, I can pick up low power analog stations on channel 15 (which I believe is the low power analog religious channel for Digital 26-1), 25 CBLF, 36 CITS and 41 CIII, but they are snowy and don't always come in so I don't watch them very often.

These are the actual stations and not the digital channels. i.e. If I go to channel 41 it comes in, but if I scan for channels it won't pick up 25-1 36-1 and 41-1 I think I can sometimes pick up Bridges TV too, but never catch it during station identification but the programming seems to be Islamic.

thewolfman
join:2003-04-03
Niagara Falls, NY

thewolfman

Member

What dish do you have now??

I have the Eastern arc(EA) dish installed. The EA is one dish that looks at three orbital locations, 61.5, 72 & 77 degree's. It was a no-cost to me installation from dish.
slras
join:2006-04-10
Buffalo, NY

slras

Member

We have two DISH 500's The 110 and 119 which points towards the Southwest and the other actually has the dual LNB casing, but only the 61.5 and if you are on the ground looking up at the dish, it's on the right side of the casing on the LNB mounting arm and pointing to the Southeast. But if you are facing the same way the dish is, it would be on the left or East side of the LNB mounting arm of the dish.

So, I don't know if we would need a new dish or the "Super Dish" I've seen pictures of it before and it uses the dual LNB casing and then there is a bracket that mounts to the dish to pick up the 3rd satellite.

thewolfman
join:2003-04-03
Niagara Falls, NY

thewolfman

Member

There are HD channels that you can't view right now. You need the 1000.4 dish to view all available HD channels.

The single dish would replace both dishes you currently have, and would "look" at 61.5, 72, and 77. Call dish and ask for the Eastern arc upgrade.
slras
join:2006-04-10
Buffalo, NY

slras

Member

I just got off the phone with DN and they told me that the 1000.4 dish is for people who can't pick up the 110 and 119. They told me that they have no plans to upgrade or switch the HD and Local Channels from the 61.5 and that I don't need the new dish. (it would seem to me that people would be able to pick up the 110 and 119 much easier being they are higher in the horizon than the 61.5. Unless there were trees, mountains or building blocking the 110 and 119.)

I also specifically asked about the Eastern arc upgrade and they told me that our region doesn't need it.

Every time I call DN, I get a different story. At least here, I can find more information than DN wants to let their customers know about. (Even Intertech is more informative than DN is)

DN told me that if they ever plan on doing an upgrade, they would let customers know way in advance so they could have the dish installed and be set to go.

thewolfman
join:2003-04-03
Niagara Falls, NY

thewolfman

Member

I would call intertech digital. There are HD channels that you are paying for, but cannot see.

The phone number is 888-948-3474. Dish is telling you something that isn't true.

I'm only trying to help and give you the correct information.
slras
join:2006-04-10
Buffalo, NY

slras

Member

I realize that and I thank you for the information. Dish Network is the last to let customers know that something is wrong and the last to admit that the problem is on their end and not the consumers end.

We don't watch sports so I've manually gone in and blocked all the sports channels, then when they got rid of MSG they added some of the previously blocked sports channels with HD ones and I had to go in and block them. It's just easier when going through the guide to not have to go through channels we won't watch The Adult channels are also blocked.

This is the package we subscribe to:
America's Top 250
DVR Service
HD 250 Free
Superstation WPIX
Superstation WWOR
Service Plan (15/0)

Aside from the channels we get in HD, and the sports channels, I'd be curious to see what channels we are missing. We don't subscribe to any premium packages and actually a couple of our locals aren't in HD. WNED-17 WNYB-26 WNYO-49 and WPXJ-51/ION are only in SD, but with the Digital Converter box and the Digital/Analog tuner built in to our HDTV.

We get WNED and WNYB and WNYO in HD, but we can't pick up WPXJ no matter where we position the antenna. Also we get WNGS-67-1, -2 -3, (but it doesn't indicate HD but instead all 3 show DT) with the converter box or built in tuner on the HDTV but DN says they aren't going to give us it as a local.

I also subscribe to two A-la-carte channels. WPIX and WWOR but DN says they can't give them to us in HD because they aren't a local station for us but yet, they give us TBS and WGN America in HD.

I put the guide to show only HD Channels.

This is the channels we get in HD. The ones in Boldface are available, but we would have to subscribe to that package) So, what we get are VOD's 1. Then our locals 2, 4, 7, 23, 29. Then 101, 105, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 118, 119, 120, 122, 124, 129, 136, 138, 139, 160, 162, 166, 168, 170, 176, 182, 183, 184, 186, 187, 193, 194, 200, 205, 206, 208, 209, 214, 215, 239, 298 340, 361, 368, 371, 373, 374, 385 386, 394

Then 500's PPV's that are in HD.

Then they go into the 5000's and 9000's where our locals and other HD channels are also located. 5180, 5181, 5182, 5183, 5184, 5710, 9416, 9419, 9420, 9421, 9423, 9427 9429, 9431, 9432, 9435 9436, 9437, 9438, 9439, 9440, 9441 9443, 9444, 9446, 9456 9457, 9458, 9460 9481,9462, 9463, 9465, 9469 9470, 9471, 9475, 9476, 9477, 9480, 9481 9484, 9485, 9487, 9498, 9489, 9490, 9491, 9492, 9493, 9499, 9505, 9506, 9507, 9510, 9511, 9513 9531.

I know there are sports channels and adult channels in between these but they are blocked so I didn't list them.

As I mentioned earlier, when I called DN again about the pixelizing and told them that someone else was experiencing the same problem, and when I initially called them they told me no one else was reporting any problems. All of a sudden the next day it was all fixed.

The worst part in all of this is when I call DN I am usually speaking to someone at their home and sometimes it's someone overseas or something so basically when they tell you they need to check the information and ask if they can put you on hold for a couple minutes, all they are doing is looking up the answers on the computer. They're not actually at Dish Network.

It's the same with DirecTV. I've actually heard kids in the background playing video games when I've called. Or I've heard people talking like they were at the dinner table or something.

I'll call Intertech tomorrow.

Thanks again

thewolfman
join:2003-04-03
Niagara Falls, NY

thewolfman

Member

Well, this link will take you to a listing of what programming is on 61.5, 72, and 77, »www.satelliteguys.us/the ··· ndex.php. Go to the link, click subscription list, place a check mark in 61.5, 72, and 77 and click generate.

Compare what you have to what is on the list. I know that AMC HD, Epix1 HD, Epix 2 HD, are only available with 61.5, 72, and 77. There are seven total, If I remember correctly.

Hope this helps. It may be that these channels don't interest you at all, if they don't, no reason to get a new dish.
slras
join:2006-04-10
Buffalo, NY

slras

Member

Thanks once again,

A couple of months ago, DN gave us a free view for a month of MGM-MGM-HD EPIX-1 and EPIX-2 and Retroplex and now they are giving us a free view of EPIX-3 on channel 292.

I did like MGM, especially with the Holidays coming, but really can't afford $10.00 more a month to get 16 more HD channels for this add-on package. As it stands, starting in January, it's going to cost me $80.99 a month before taxes and fees. Right now I'm getting $15.00 a month off for 12 months.

They gave us Free HD For Life, but it really isn't free. I either had to pay a one-time fee of $99.00 or go with paperless billing and auto-pay. (which is only hurting the Postal Service more) Then when I did that, it extended my contract with them for 24 months from the time I added the HD for Life.

Though I didn't have an HD package with DirecTV, I was only paying $67.00 a month and got some of the channels that DN isn't giving us, for free. We were having a lot of problems with DirecTV with equipment resetting itself for no reason, right in the middle of watching a movie or even while DVR'ing something overnight. They kept telling me it was a voltage spike or loose connection and wanted to charge me $75.00 for a service call. They would send us replacement receivers and they would do the same thing. They told me they would be "Brand-New" but when we got them, they had "Refurbished" stickers on them.

One problem was the caller-ID We do have it on our line and it shows up on our phone, but the receivers would detect that a call was coming in and said to call our phone company to have this service activated. When I would call DirecTV they would tell me that the receiver has to be on it's own dedicated jack with a DSL Filter which it was and then they told me to call the phone company to have them check that the caller-ID was working which was a waste of time becuase we already knew it was. We had two receivers that we owned and the caller ID was working fine until they sent us replacement receivers. They tried to tell me that I didn't hook it up right.

I an Electronically/Technically inclined and know what I'm doing, but played stupid with them and explained that I disconnected each wire and cable, one at a time and replaced it in the new receiver the exact way it was on the old one.

They can be so stereotypical when it comes to females, just like mechanics are. I was raised in a family with people in the Electronics field and actually worked as a secretary for a professional sound company with a recording studio and they taught me a lot of things about electricity and electronics.

What gets me is Time-Warner, DN and DirecTV all say they offer over 100 - 200 channels in HD, but they don't tell you that a lot of them are duplicated in the higher numbers. Or you have to subscribe to a higher priced package to get some of the channels.

Then too, with their regular packages, they don't tell you that a lo of the channels are shopping or infomercial channels and they are duplicated on other channels too. So you really aren't getting the number of channels your package states if you don't count the duplicate channels.

Oh well, thanks for the help.

thewolfman
join:2003-04-03
Niagara Falls, NY

thewolfman

Member

No problem.