anyway just to watch ota with hd tivo?

[gregftlaud]

roofers were out yesterday finally to redo the roof due to damage from hurricane wilma and unfortunatey the aholes apparently didnt give a crap about my dish and knocked it off the side of the overhang (wasnt on the roof) and it fell to the ground. my neigbors dish in the adjacent apartment was still up there but the dish was turned around. the ota antenna was broken and the side of the triple lnb dish was slightly bent of course they said they didnt do it. anyways, dtv is coming out to install a new dish and ota antenna next monday.

my problem is....i knew not to restart the hd tivo b/c if it didnt acquire satellite signal then it wouldnt go to live tv and i couldnt even watch my ota channels. well..like i said i didnt restart it...rigged up my ota antenna that was up on the 2nd floor side of the overhang on my apt complext......put it up in a high place inside my apartment..... and i got really good signals...just about as good as when it was installed outside. overnite for some reason though the hd tivo went to the acquiring satellite signal screen and it is stuck on 0 percent and i cant go to live tv. is there anyway around this? anyway i can just watch my local hd's with my ota without a dish connected until dtv comes out next week? anything in guided setup just to choose "antenna only"?

thanks for the help
greg

[gregftlaud]

i guess that's a no

pretty sucky of dtv to sell 1000 dollar hd boxes and force u to receive a sat signal from them to get ota. i'm assuming overnite when it somehow got to the acquiring satellite signal screen, that's when it was trying to do the data service download. is that correct?

greg

[ebonovic]

It should eventually "timeout" on the SAT look up screens.

Are your SAT lines completely disconnected from the box?

Utimately though, with out a SAT signal... You will have no guide information, and the box won't get the DVR activation signal, so you would only be able to tune in OTA stations... but only have 30 minute buffer.

Try hitting the DIRECTV button when it is at Acquiring signal.

My guess is though that you won't be able to go to live tv (even an OTA station), until it eventuall times out on the signal aquiring)

[gregftlaud]

re read my first post...the thread started. my sat lines arent disconnected from the box but my dish was knocked off the side of the roof and is laying on the ground so kinda hard to get a sat signal when it's laying on the ground. lol. i just want to be able to watch ota hd until dtv comes out to fix this.

u mentioned if my sat lines were diconnected..they arent...should i diconnect them?

i am also still curious how the hd tivo got to the acquiring signal screen. i was watching dtv yesterday when the dish was knocked off the roof and made sure not to restart it just because of this matter so i could continue to watch ota hd. does the hd tivo re aquire signals when it does the data service download?

also it takes it a long time to timeout..but when it does a screen comes up to give u the options of trying again....doing guided setup or directv central and even if u go to dtv central and hit live tv it goes back to the signal aquiring again

greg

[ebonovic]

What I ment was, are the wires still connect to the HR10-250 (I know your dish is out) for the SAT inputs.

If they are still connected, and still the other end maybe to a powered multiswitch... It could be some how confusing the unit....

As I KNOW I have had an HR10-250 hooked up with no SAT signals (during one of my swap outs for replacements, I had both systems up for two weeks or so, so I could watch old and record new)

[ebonovic]

Originally Posted by gregftlaud

i am also still curious how the hd tivo got to the acquiring signal screen. i was watching dtv yesterday when the dish was knocked off the roof and made sure not to restart it just because of this matter so i could continue to watch ota hd. does the hd tivo re aquire signals when it does the data service download?

greg

Could be anything... Even just a fraction of a second brown out (if you don't have a UPS), is enough to cause the unit to reboot..

But then if the unit got a "spike or a surge" when that dish fell...
Or maybe the hard drive just happens to be flaking out at the same time...

[gregftlaud]

ok i disonnected the sat inputs. should i restart the receiver or what?

and and there is no power mulitswitch unless that is inside the triple lnb end piece. i have a diplexor out the combing the ota and one sat feed into one.

also u say u have no sat inputs and can watch ota channels...but have u ever tried to restart the receiver or have u had that happend and the acquiring just times out and goes to live tv?
greg

[ebonovic]

I said, I was able to use the unit with no SAT inputs (there where actually NO inputs)
(aka it was able to get past the Download Information screens)...

Try starting up the unit with NO inputs connected... then add the OTA feed after it get's past that screen...

Yes, I would restart the unit after pulling the inputs.

[gregftlaud]

ok restarting it worked. thanks so much for your help. at least i have some tv to watch until next monday when they come out. pray to god they bring the ota antenna replacement like they told me they would over the phone. the one i had...a winegard (long and flat) was great and i could get ft laud and west palm beach locals. bet the one they bring out...if they bring out...wont be as good. i'm thinking that b/c they installed this fence looking wire antenna with my neighbors dish and he doesnt get good reception at all. if that happens...i might just use the top part of my winegard like i am now to get my locals. it works just fine high up near the ceiling. actually better than it was outside!!! so maybe put it in another room or attic and run the ota cable to the hd tivo if they give me a crappy ota antenna. yep, i'm mr negative always think the worst!

thanks again

greg

[ebonovic]

It's all in the direction that antenna is pointing.

I have a RatShack antenna in my attic and it works amazingly well.

Glad you got it back up and running.

[gregftlaud]

now i just need my dtv. god i miss cnn.

back a few years ago if u needed something done man dtv would be out in a day or two. now i gotta wait 6 days (i called yesterday)

greg

[ebonovic]

It all because of the local contractors and how busy they are.

Some days I can call, they have availability that afternoon.
Others times, two three weeks.

[sriggins]

i tried this but I could not record because it wanted programming data. Boo heh.

[ebonovic]

Of course it needs programming data to record.

If it does get the guide data or the authorization strings (which come via the DirecTV signal), it doesn't know the details to set the recordings.

It is after all a DirecTV reciever.

[gregftlaud]

jesus christ i climbed a 40 foot ladder ...dish and power drill in hand. got the dish mass and dish mounted but just could not get a signal on all 3 lnbs...one wuld come in good but then another would and so forth and so on......then the lnb arm broke off guess when it fell to the ground yesterday it really did a job on it. left the mast up there b/c i spent 2hrs up there and was so tired so hopefully the dtv guy that comes out monday wont get mad at me for having to take it down....it's not installed correctly anyway...and my weak powerdrill couldnt get the screws all the way in...i just wanted to get it up there and half+ss it so i could at least get 70's and watch some dtv......but i couldnt even do that!!! what's with these lnb arms. they are very flimsy and dont have screws on the sides of them where they connect to the dish. this was so hard i never tried to do an install myself i have alot more respect for these guys climbing up ladders all day...everyday and doing this. it's draining! going to bed ..nite! ugh

[ebonovic]

40 ft up is a major PITA...

But the Dish themselves are actually pretty solid... your's must have been pretty damaged in the fall.. Even a slight bend in the LNB areas or in the dish surface itself, would make it nearly impossible to get the allignment correct.