# Yellow screen - DishNetwork or local station?



## gopcs

Last night I was watching "The Good Wife" on CBS at 9pm Central. Just as the show started, the TV screen went Yellow, solid Yellow. The audio was fine. This was on the DVR ViP722. The wife and I ran to the kitchen and turned on the ViP211k HD receiver and 19" TV - same thing - Yellow screen, and program audio. About 12 minutes into the show, the picture returned to normal. When I play it back on the DVR, the same Yellow screen is there for the first 12 minutes of the show. What can I do to prevent this in the future? What caused this problem? Thank you.


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## 722921

OTA signal loss?


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## otnipj3s

I get that every once and a while. I go down to the SD feed and it's OK. I've gone to other HD channels on the same sat., and they are fine.


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## phrelin

Assuming that was from a satellite feed, it means the HD is off for some reason. Sometimes, such as in my area when one morning three channels were dealing with changes at their joint tower, the down time is scheduled and deliberate. Sometimes you see things screwing up and for a few minutes someone shuts it down to fix it. Sometimes it's an "oooops" someone doesn't even notice for awhile.


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## jkane

Start with any local video problems going to your local station first. They care more about you than anyone else.

How to prevent it? Quit watching TV!


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## BEETULZ

I had a yellow screen on Tuesday evening while watching the 6pm edition of Eyewitness News on ABC. I switched to another channel and that channel was fine. I switched back to ABC and the yellow screen was still there. I switched over to my cable connection (also HD) and Eyewitness News was airing normally. I went back to my Dish receiver (622) and screen was still yellow on ABC. Switched channels again on the 622 and the new channel was fine. Switched back to ABC and the picture had returned. This all happened in about a two minute period.


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## phrelin

I know this is heresy, but more often than not you can switch to the SD feed until the HD feed comes back up.


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## Stewart Vernon

Could be a problem on either side actually..

Sometimes the OTA is off-air or having issues and then you get the yellow screen.

Other times I've seen where Dish 'thinks" the channel is off-air, so they won't allow tuning to that OTA channel even if it is on-air... and you get the yellow screen.

Obviously one Dish could fix, the other not... and I don't know how to tell for sure unless you have a non-dish OTA tuner (like one built-in to your TV) to check and verify reception of the OTA channel in question at that time.


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## Galaxie6411

I've only ever had the yellow screen on local HD stations NON OTA, I don't watch any OTA. IIRC Fox and ABC were the worst but I also watch them more than the other networks but haven't had a yellow screen in months.


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## renpar61

I can confirm that I get the yellow screen too, on locals NON OTA.


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## DJ Lon

renpar61 said:


> I can confirm that I get the yellow screen too, on locals NON OTA.


Same here. And if SD locals go out the screen is purple.


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## cditty

Also, keep in mind that Dish actually has to pick up your HD local OTA at their site. It then gets compressed and sent to an uplink.

Cable companies are allowed (and most do) to get a direct link from the TV station (Microwave, Fiber, etc...).

So, if your OTA has a transmission problem, the Dish feed would be compromised, but the cable would not.


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## James Long

cditty said:


> Also, keep in mind that Dish actually has to pick up your HD local OTA at their site. It then gets compressed and sent to an uplink.
> 
> Cable companies are allowed (and most do) to get a direct link from the TV station (Microwave, Fiber, etc...).


There is no prevention from satellite getting a direct feed, just like cable. It is probably easier to use a set of professional tuners than to tap a feed, especially in areas where the stations are not using the same tower. Providers want ONE headend per market. DISH would have to connect all of the direct feeds to a single location for the backhaul to the uplink. It is probably cheaper to simply pick up the OTA signals.

Cable companies have the network in place to connect to local stations and backhaul them within their coverage area. It doesn't cost them as much extra to run the connecting feeds from a studio/transmitter to a head end. OTA would be a good choice for stations that are not in the cable company's coverage area. Stations may even help pay for a connection if OTA doesn't reach a headend.

Satellite doesn't have the local network in place ... they also have the issue of required carriage of all stations in a market (regardless of the station's help) so I'd expect to see the best OTA signal reception plant possible.


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## Michael P

> DISH would have to connect all of the direct feeds to a single location for the backhaul to the uplink.


I believe it's the station's responsibility to get their signal to the E* (and D*) POP. In some cases it's a necessity. For example one of my LIL's is a station in a remote region of the DMA. It's so far away (half-way to the central city of the next DMA) that it's impossible for OTA reception of this station in 95% of the DMA. It's worth it for this station to run a back haul to the DBS POP's so that their station may be seen in a larger area than their signal could ever reach OTA. It's SD only, but even OTA they are only SDTV. D* carried this station first, E* followed about 2 years later.


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## scooper

There is nothing preventing either DBS provider from getting fiber feeds from the stations, or even getting them from the (gasp) cable company (if the cable companies agreements permits this). I know my markets locals are done via OTA. There have been cases where a station has announced that they are doing antenna work, but "subscribers of Time Warner Cable will not be affected by this temporary outage".


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## James Long

Michael P said:


> I believe it's the station's responsibility to get their signal to the E* (and D*) POP.


Within reason. I recall a case a couple of years ago where DirecTV refused to carry a "must carry" station because they could not receive it at their POP and the FCC decided that they had to pay for the connection to the POP. It came down to where the POP was located (DirecTV was trying to use one POP for two markets and was not receiving both markets fully.)

There is usually more cooperation than conflict. Having stations on the system is a win for everyone.


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