From:	Woody Daniels -(WDDJ)	TO:	ALL

Date Posted:	201999-3-11 6:02:00
Message: Body:	Need some advice --- I turned on my receiver one evening a few weeks ago and found that I can’t get any digital channel to show a clear picture on my screen. Non digital channels come in great and I get a good clear picture and all satellites (that I can tune). I’ve tried the Showtime/TMC Digital channels on G9 and C3 (plus 780 and others on G9) and other satellites. My picture has 4 wide vertical bars (each made up of 15-30 narrow vertical bars) and everything is broken up by digital pixellation (sp?). In other words broken up by small squares all over the screen, just as if I was receiving a very week digital signal. But the signal is not week, in some cases I’m getting signal/quality 90/90 (on some channels) but the picture is still terrible. I can see the picture through all the garbage and I do get the DCII light on the front of the receiver It’s the same on all satellites, all digital channels. I get the same picture both with my rf connection and with the video jacks. Remembering that non-digital channels are great. I’ve tried the factory reset and reprogrammed everything all to no avail. I’ve tried adjusting skew and bumping the dish all with no joy. I’ve tried filters and reversing polarity, nothing works. I’ve tried to manually tune the channels but it doesn’t seem to do anything and it sure doesn’t give me a picture (and of course I don’t really know how to use the manual tuning). It was good one evening, bad the next, no storms, no wind, nothing hit the dish (10 ft) (its up on a 15 ft. pole) and no one cut/damaged the coax cables. Checked the cables in the back of the receiver and the connections are good. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give. Woody

Date Posted:

201999-3-11 6:02:00

Message:
Body:

Need some advice --- I turned on my receiver one evening a few weeks ago and found that I can’t get any digital channel to show a clear picture on my screen. Non digital channels come in great and I get a good clear picture and all satellites (that I can tune). I’ve tried the Showtime/TMC Digital channels on G9 and C3 (plus 780 and others on G9) and other satellites. My picture has 4 wide vertical bars (each made up of 15-30 narrow vertical bars) and everything is broken up by digital pixellation (sp?). In other words broken up by small squares all over the screen, just as if I was receiving a very week digital signal. But the signal is not week, in some cases I’m getting signal/quality 90/90 (on some channels) but the picture is still terrible. I can see the picture through all the garbage and I do get the DCII light on the front of the receiver It’s the same on all satellites, all digital channels. I get the same picture both with my rf connection and with the video jacks. Remembering that non-digital channels are great.

I’ve tried the factory reset and reprogrammed everything all to no avail. I’ve tried adjusting skew and bumping the dish all with no joy. I’ve tried filters and reversing polarity, nothing works. I’ve tried to manually tune the channels but it doesn’t seem to do anything and it sure doesn’t give me a picture (and of course I don’t really know how to use the manual tuning).

It was good one evening, bad the next, no storms, no wind, nothing hit the dish (10 ft) (its up on a 15 ft. pole) and no one cut/damaged the coax cables. Checked the cables in the back of the receiver and the connections are good.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give.

Woody

From:	George Antunes -(GANTUNES)	TO:	Woody Daniels

Date Posted:	201999-3-11 9:35:00
Message: Body:	From what you describe, the obvious suspects are the lnb and the receiver. Here's what I suggest. See if you can borrow/rent an authorized 4DTV and a new (digital ready) lnb from your local dealer. (You will only need them for a day.) Swap out whichever is easier. If the trouble persists swap out the 2nd suspect. If the trouble still persists it pretty much has to be a cable problem since that's the only thing left. I'm ruling out a feed horn problem like a broken rotor link since I think you would also have trouble with analog in that situation. George Antunes (Houston)

Date Posted:

201999-3-11 9:35:00

Message:
Body:

From what you describe, the obvious suspects are the lnb and the receiver.

Here's what I suggest.

See if you can borrow/rent an authorized 4DTV and a new (digital ready) lnb from your local dealer. (You will only need them for a day.) Swap out whichever is easier. If the trouble persists swap out the 2nd suspect. If the trouble still persists it pretty much has to be a cable problem since that's the only thing left.

I'm ruling out a feed horn problem like a broken rotor link since I think you would also have trouble with analog in that situation.

George Antunes (Houston)

From:	Woody Daniels -(WDDJ)	TO:	George Antunes

Date Posted:	201999-10-11 5:51:00
Message: Body:	George, Thanks very much for your suggestions. They sound very accurate to determine the location of the problem. Unfortunately, both are hard for me. First is my dish is up on a 15 ft. pole and swapping the lnb would be a very difficult effort (I’m too old to be climbing ladders and trying to rig some kind of platform to work from). Secondly, the two local vendors aren’t very cooperative and unless they get to do the whole job they don't want to talk to me. I got on the telephone with GI and after describing my problem to him, and a few tests, the tech says the problem is in the receiver. So back it goes. I guess I may be taking a chance that the problem may be the lnb but it would probably cost me more in the long run for a local vendor to come out and do the job. It’s (my 4Dtv receiver) worked for two years come December and I guess now days I can’t expect much more. I want it to work for another 10 or so years. Again, Thanks for the help… …r/wd

Date Posted:

201999-10-11 5:51:00

Message:
Body:

George,

Thanks very much for your suggestions. They sound very accurate to determine the location of the problem. Unfortunately, both are hard for me. First is my dish is up on a 15 ft. pole and swapping the lnb would be a very difficult effort (I’m too old to be climbing ladders and trying to rig some kind of platform to work from). Secondly, the two local vendors aren’t very cooperative and unless they get to do the whole job they don't want to talk to me.

I got on the telephone with GI and after describing my problem to him, and a few tests, the tech says the problem is in the receiver. So back it goes. I guess I may be taking a chance that the problem may be the lnb but it would probably cost me more in the long run for a local vendor to come out and do the job.

It’s (my 4Dtv receiver) worked for two years come December and I guess now days I can’t expect much more. I want it to work for another 10 or so years.

Again, Thanks for the help…

…r/wd

From:	REUBENRAY -(REUBENRAY)	TO:	George Antunes

Date Posted:	201999-11-11 12:59:00
Message: Body:	I am in Houston also and I was wondering where I could go and look at a 4dtv setup, also you said a digital lnb (what is the difference)?

From:	George Antunes -(GANTUNES)	TO:	REUBENRAY

Date Posted:	201999-11-11 3:57:00
Message: Body:	You can see a 4DTV in action at: Craft's Home Theatre 11030 Kingspoint Houston, TX 77075 Voice: 713-941-8106 FAX: 713-941-3172 email: kcraft2326@aol.com This is on I45 just south of Almeda Mall. The lnb reference is to a "digital ready" lnb. These are lnbs that have high phase & frequency stability. Some old lnbs that worked fine for analog are not very good for digital because of of phase/frequency instability. The more stable lnbs work much better with digital signals. But the majority of old lnbs work OK. So anyone upgrading to 4DTV should try their old lnb before swaping it out. In most cases it should be fine. If not, you replace it with one of the new higher stability units. George Antunes (Houston)

Date Posted:

201999-11-11 3:57:00

Message:
Body:

You can see a 4DTV in action at:

Craft's Home Theatre
11030 Kingspoint
Houston, TX 77075
Voice: 713-941-8106
FAX: 713-941-3172
email: kcraft2326@aol.com

This is on I45 just south of Almeda Mall.

The lnb reference is to a "digital ready" lnb. These are lnbs that have high phase & frequency stability. Some old lnbs that worked fine for analog are not very good for digital because of of phase/frequency instability.

The more stable lnbs work much better with digital signals. But the majority of old lnbs work OK. So anyone upgrading to 4DTV should try their old lnb before swaping it out. In most cases it should be fine. If not, you replace it with one of the new higher stability units.

George Antunes (Houston)

From:	Jackod -(Jackod)	TO:	Woody Daniels

Date Posted:	201999-11-11 5:35:00
Message: Body:	I had the same problem a year ago. the analog came in fine but the digital was all messed up. The LNB I had in the dish was new, a .7. It worked fine for about a month or so then it went bad. I then swapped it out and put my old LNB a 1.4 it does receive digital now. I never replaced the .7 and am still using the 1.4. I know I should, but there really isn't too much stuff on K band.

From:	trackerlee -(LEETRACKER02)	TO:	Jackod

Date Posted:	201999-11-11 11:18:00
Message: Body:	>but there really isn't too much stuff on K band. Sure can tell by that comment that you don't have a 4DTV. Even without a 4DTV I could not live or enjoy my Satellite System without Ku,without the Ku you only have half of a system,with Ku you have what is called "Full View" I do most of my Satellite viewing on Ku, and sure would be at lost mainly without SBS6 to view. I don't know about you but I prefer to view backhaul's of Sporting Events and uncut News Feeds and at times Shows,movies,etc all commercial free. I havn't watched a commercial in over 10 years,stick with just C-Band and enjoy your commercials and missed live Feeds and Backhaul (Not Me!!!).

Date Posted:

201999-11-11 11:18:00

Message:
Body:

>but there really isn't too much stuff on K band.

Sure can tell by that comment that you don't have a 4DTV.

Even without a 4DTV I could not live or enjoy my Satellite System without Ku,without the Ku you only have half of a system,with Ku you have what is called "Full View"
I do most of my Satellite viewing on Ku, and sure would be at lost mainly without SBS6 to view.
I don't know about you but I prefer to view backhaul's of Sporting Events and uncut News Feeds and at times Shows,movies,etc all commercial free.
I havn't watched a commercial in over 10 years,stick with just C-Band and enjoy your commercials and missed live Feeds and Backhaul (Not Me!!!).

From:	Jackod -(Jackod)	TO:	trackerlee

Date Posted:	201999-13-11 5:18:00
Message: Body:	I really do have a 4dtv, I've had it for about 2 years now. I bought it in November of 97. I think at the time it had code level 41 on it, now its at 6D I think. As for the Ku stuff, maybe I haven't paid to much attention to it because I get lousy recption, sparkles and stuff. Even on strong satellites like NBC I get lots of sparkes on the reds. I haven't spent a lot of time on SBS6, all I ever found there were backhauls of football games and maybe news feeds, but not much else. I have a question though maybe you can answer, why are there over 50 channels on SBS6. I noticed it changed about 8 months ago or so. Guess I should change my LNB to a better one, I did buy a .7 a year ago and it worked ok for about 2 months then I lost the digital channels. So I put back my old 1.4 I can receive the digital now but just barely. And if I wasn't so lazy I would have sent back the new LNB for a replacement. I guess I should go back and buy another.

Date Posted:

201999-13-11 5:18:00

Message:
Body:

I really do have a 4dtv, I've had it for about 2 years now. I bought it in November of 97. I think at the time it had code level 41 on it, now its at 6D I think.
As for the Ku stuff, maybe I haven't paid to much attention to it because I get lousy recption, sparkles and stuff. Even on strong satellites like NBC I get lots of sparkes on the reds.
I haven't spent a lot of time on SBS6, all I ever found there were backhauls of football games and maybe news feeds, but not much else.
I have a question though maybe you can answer, why are there over 50 channels on SBS6. I noticed it changed about 8 months ago or so.

Guess I should change my LNB to a better one, I did buy a .7 a year ago and it worked ok for about 2 months then I lost the digital channels. So I put back my old 1.4 I can receive the digital now but just barely.
And if I wasn't so lazy I would have sent back the new LNB for a replacement.
I guess I should go back and buy another.

From:	DRLev -(DRLev)	TO:	Jackod

Date Posted:	201999-13-11 7:00:00
Message: Body:	B6 is mapped with lower,centerand upper frequencies for each transponder. The frequency map can can be seen here.

From:	trackerlee -(LEETRACKER02)	TO:	Jackod

Date Posted:	201999-14-11 5:00:00
Message: Body:	>As for the Ku stuff, maybe I haven't paid to much attention to it because I get lousy recption, sparkles and stuff. Even on strong satellites like NBC I get lots of sparkes on the reds. Sounds like you need a Dish Alignment done for Ku birds.