Odd Problem with Locals in Portland, OR

[mmihalik]

I'm located in Beaverton, OR, near Portland and an odd problem has appeared over the weekend.

I am getting macro-blocking on just the local TV stations that DirecTV carries; but only on the DirecTiVo units in my home. No problem with the RCA DirecTV receiver connected to an ancient series 1 standalone TiVo.

Here is the situation:
- have 2 DirecTiVos; one Philips DSR6000 and one Hughes GXCEBOTD (both with v3.5c software)
- have one series 1 TiVo connected to an RCA DirecTV receiver
- two of the three have been upgraded with expanded disks; the DSR6000 is still the original disk and no mods

Portland locals are 2, 6, 8, 10, 12, 22, 32, 47, and 49

On the two DirecTV units, all the local channels (except 22) will consistently macro-block or drop out; sometimes the entire picture, sometimes just a few lines. At the same time, all locals are OK on the RCA DirecTV receiver used to drive the Series 1 TiVo. All the other DirecTV channels are OK; no macro-blocking.

My theory is that most of the Portland locals must be on one transponder, and there is simply something wrong in my connection scheme - LNB or multiswitch. I am assuming that the hard drives are OK in both units, since the other DirecTV channels are all OK.

For 101 transponder signal levels:
- 4, 12, and 20 are all quite low (25-50) and 26 is "no signal"
- 28 is a 99, but sometimes drops to zero
- all others range from high 80s to 100

So...

If Portland locals are on transponder 28, the drop-outs could explain the problem on the DirecTV units reception. But the old RCA receiver seems to work fine with no drop-outs visible. So if the signal were important for Portland locals, the RCA should see the same drop-outs.

So...I am stumped.

Any ideas? Anyone else in Portland, OR area having issues with DirecTiVos on locals only?

Only thing left for me to do is to temporarily bypass the multi-switch to see if the issue is there (an old Channel Master), or bring out the spare antenna/LNB and see if that is the issue.

Mike

[JimSpence]

If this page is current, it seems that your locals are indeed coming from transponder 28.
http://www.tivofan.com/directv/channels.html
Those TPs that you mention are spot beams, but you only need TP 28. The other spot is 18.

I would try bypassing the multiswitch as a test and then try using different outputs to see what changes.

[mmihalik]

Jim,

Thanks.

That is what I was looking for - a map of channels to transponder. So I've got things narrowed down.

I'll report back after I've had a chance to swap things around to test. Still interesting that the RCA receiver is not affected.

As for the chart, my ch22 isn't flaking out, so perhaps it has been moved elsewhere.

Mike

[weaknees]

We've gotten a couple of reports of this from customers this morning. One was able to confirm that his locals worked on other hardware, just not with his DSR6000.

Both customers have DSR6000s.

Something is clearly up here . . .

[mmihalik]

Oh goody...for the first time ever (8 years?) a problem with my two DirecTiVos.

I'll check with direcTV forums to see if anything is cooking over there.

thanks for the report.

UPDATE: yes, two other users from Portland reporting the same problem.

Mike

[2jeff]

Hello Tivo lovers,

I guess I am one of those people with problems on my Phillips DSR6000. I have upgraded my hard drive to 123hrs. from weaknees.com. I too have blackout & pixeling problem with my local channels only. I was able to hook up an old RCA receiver and they came in just fine. I wonder if this issue is affecting all Phillips DSR6000's in the area or one's with new hard drive upgrades or mods? I live in Vancouver,WA (Portland Locals).

Please keep me in the loop everyone.

I hate that Directv no longer has Tivo. Tivo is awesome.

Jeff

[domi49]

Hi, I too live in the Beaverton area and having the same problems, but my system is a Samsung 4040R with a Weakknee ugrade, and llike the others before me my older RCA and the dvd 810h units are working fine. I have also notice it on the DIY station on occasion.

[jackg65]

Hi,

This is happening to me in North Portland as well. We have an old Sony SAT T60. Nice to know it's not the machine.

John

[Phantom Gremlin]

I called DirecTV and was given the two usual choices of having my receivers replaced or having a technician sent out. Of course neither option would apply here, since the problem is not in customer hardware.

I then called Ironwood Communications in WA. They are the subcontractor for the majority of DirecTV's installs in the Portland area. A technician there told me that the pixelation on locals is a known problem. DirecTV is in the process of moving locals from one transponder to another. I was told the problem would be fixed in a few days.

Let's hope for the best. Maybe the Ironwood guy was blowing smoke, but I'm clinging to his story for right now. It's the best story I've heard today.

[seamus23]

I'm on the Oregon Coast and am also having the pixeling problem and audio drop out. I get the Portland feeds as well. I use a SD DVR40. I thought I was having a hard drive problem, so this is actually good news. That is, of course if they fix the problem soon!

[seamus23]

Can anyone explain why this problem is only effecting DirecTivo receivers and not others?

[jackg65]

Problem seem to be fixed in my area now, 4-5 days later....

[seamus23]

I swapped a couple of Emails yesterday with DTV customer service. When I assured them that I had gone through all the basic troubleshooting and that I was confident that the problem was not with my hardware but was in fact with their service - and that many other customers were reporting the same problem they informed me "that your email has been escalated to the proper department and someone will contact you to assist you as soon as possible."
A few hours later a received a fairly lame response from someone else in customer service telling me the problem would be fixed soon if it hadn't been already.

I kept the networks on for quite a while and didn't notice anything odd, so I figured it had been fixed. Then later last night while watching Fox 12 it came back.
So far today, everything looks good again, and I hope it really is fixed, but I'll wait til I get through a 24hr period before breaking out the champagne.

Wouldn't it be nice if when DTV knows they're doing something like maintenance that may cause disruption in service they could send a notice out to customers warning them - instead of trying to sell them new equipment or getting longer commitments out of them when they complain!

Thanks mmihalik for bringing this issue to all the frustrated Portland locals users attention.

[tjpotter]

I'm in Battle Ground, WA, north of Portland. I've been seeing macro blocking on all the local (PDX) channels for more than a year, but it's gotten REALLY bad for the last couple of months.

I was just about to replace my Hughes HDVR2. My signal strength is in the mid-90s on both tuners, but periodically, one will drop, sometimes to 0 for a moment to a few seconds. Switching the cables from the LNB didn't make the problem move between tuners, so it appeared that the tuners were going bad (has been a problem with this model). Other than the macro blocking, this unit has performed flawlessly since I purchased it right after they were put on the market.

I've contacted DTV repeatedly about this issue, but finally just gave up after getting nowhere with them. They have steadfastly insisted that they've had no customer complaints, so it was my equipment and wiring causing the problem. Now that I've found this post, I'll see if it gets better within a couple of weeks.

BTW, you can find out what satellite & transponder any channel is transmitted from by tuning to that channel, then going to the satellite signal test. The one displayed will be for the channel that is on live TV. If you then use the Live TV button and tune to another channel, you can return to the signal test with a left arrow & Select. I used this method to develop a chart that lists every satellite & transponder that I receive along with the channels on each and the signal strength by tuner.