HD Reception Problems on D*

Tombanjo · Post by **Tombanjo** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 10:57 am

I'm having a lot of pixelation (or is macro blocking what it's called?) on HDNET, ESPNHD, CH94 (Yankee games on YESHD), and FOXHD. This occurs only on HD broadcasts and oddly enough NOT on HBOHD(ch71) and the HDNET movie channel. I haven't watched anything on the other three networks for a while. It happens live or recorded.

I do have a balky HDR 10-250 unit, but this seems to me to be another problem. I guess my question is does the dish look with a lower trajectory at the affected stations then it would at the other ones? I'm thinking tree growth over the last three years might be rearing it's ugly leaves again.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:52 am

While that is possible more than likely you are seeing compression artifacts...

viewtopic.php?t=4175

Tombanjo · Post by **Tombanjo** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:08 pm

No, I don't mean artifacts, the whole picture is breaking up every few saeconds. It's unwatchable. Only on those HD channels and not all of them. Is HBOHD on a different sat then the others? If I can figure out if it's the machine then I can use my protection plan. Now my center channel sound goes in and out. I checked all the wiring and it's ok. Only happens during recorded TiVo shows. How the hell is that possible with an optical connection??

kq6qv · Post by **kq6qv** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:43 pm

Tom- One possibility is that your good channels are all right-circular polarization and your bad channels are left-circular, or visa versa. Possible causes of this are a bad dish or a bad receiver. Another possibility is reflections in the coax, which will cause cancellation for some channels but have no effect on other channels. Another possibility is that the satellite is simply weaker for some channels. In this case the possible problems are tree leaves, miss-aimed dish, a bad dish, or a bad receiver. Also it might be time to reset your receiver by powering it off for 5 minutes. -Ken

Tombanjo · Post by **Tombanjo** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:55 pm

Thanks Ken. I was hoping to rule out tree issues because I know these D* techs that come out to the house are for the most part lazy bastards who will look up and say "TREES" instead of hopping up on my very high and very sloped roof to replace a dish, or replace a $1000 recorder under a protection plan claim. I'll reboot (for the 10th time), but I'm getting sick of it and the dropped recordings that lead to it.

kq6qv · Post by **kq6qv** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 2:18 pm

If you can reach the dish, you can put aluminum foil over one LNBF at a time. This method will tell which satellites carry which channels. I did this a couple years ago (see http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ISSUES/hints.html ) but DirecTV might have moved the channels since then.

akirby · Post by **akirby** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 6:10 pm

Sounds like my symptoms - IIRC HBOHD and HDNet movies were fine while HDNet and DiscoveryHD started getting pixellated then went out totally. Turned out to be leyland cypress trees that hit a growth spurt and blocked the 119 satellite. Moving the dish fixed it.

I'd bet that's your problem. I think the 119 is the furthest West and lowest in the sky, so if you have tree growth to the lower right of where the dish is pointing (standing behind it) then that's it.