# 211 upgrade & various issues?



## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

I know these issues have been addressed somewhat in another thread, but here goes anyway. After a long time with constant problems with my 811, I decided to upgrade to the 211. 
I'm a little apprehensive about this upgrade since I've read about a lot of 211 issues in this forum. Particularly about the HDMI failure. Since my Hitachi HDTV uses DVI, I had to go out and purchase a DVI to HDMI cable today in prep for today's install. Does the HDMI problem so frequently talked about here still exist today?
Also, the Dish exec. I talked with told me they couldn't just send me the 211, an installer would have to bring it out. I'm going to try & avoid having them install a Dish 1000 & instead stay with my current set-up, (2) dishes: (1) for 110/119 & (1) for 61.5. I've been told that will work here where I live in S.E. Texas and that I wouldn't need to acess the 129 SAT. This would allow me to simply remove my 811 & replace with the 211 (quick & painless). Any feedback will be appreciated on either of these issues..

Ken


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## Mikey (Oct 26, 2004)

The HDMI on-board connector seems to be fragile. You should support the cable at the back of the 211 so that it's weight doesn't pop the connector off. Downforce on the cable is the enemy. Mine's been working with a DVI/HDMI adapter since February without a glitch.

There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to keep your current setup. There's nothing you want on 129 that isn't on 61.5. Having said that, 129 works fine for me in OKC with a Dish 1000, with some rare rain-fade, but only on the VOOM channels. A real frog-strangler will kill the whole dish, but that happened with the Dish 500 too.


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

OK, I just had the 211 hooked up a little while ago replacing my 811. Everything on SAT looks great including all the HD channels.! However not so on the OTA locals..On my 811, I was getting great PQ on my OTA locals. Now with the 211 on those same locals, their PQ is nowhere near as good. It's about like watching their analog signals instead of digital. BTW, I am using a DVI to HDMI cable since my HDTV uses DVI. Has anyone else seen, had or heard of this problem? Any help will be appreciated since as much as I watch my OTA locals, I cannot accept this inferior PQ.

Ken


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## Mikey (Oct 26, 2004)

Doesn't sound right to me. Is your OTA antenna hooked up? Did you scan for locals in the setup? Sure you're not looking at the Dish locals? Of course, in the daytime, there isn't much local HD.

I have an 811 and a 211 both hooked up, and the OTA quality (which I think is pretty good) is about the same on both.


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

Mikey said:


> Doesn't sound right to me. Is your OTA antenna hooked up? Did you scan for locals in the setup? Sure you're not looking at the Dish locals? Of course, in the daytime, there isn't much local HD.
> 
> I have an 811 and a 211 both hooked up, and the OTA quality (which I think is pretty good) is about the same on both.


Yes, before the installer/tech left we did the local scan. And of course it only picked up the OTA digitals like I was aware of. And yes it's definately the OTA locals. My Dish locals are up in the 8400 range. (I wasn't even sure if I could map the Dish locals down below the 100 range on the 211). BTW, if I can, I'd like to do that, but I'm not sure how to do so on the 211. Of course that won't help the OTAs' PQ.
I've had my 811 for some time so I'm used to it's PQ. I don't know what the problem is with the 211, but the OTA's just don't look as good as they did. As I mentioned, it's like looking at analogs..This really surprises me as I had read several posts where many that switched from the 811 to the 211 experienced better PQ on their OTA digital locals.

Ken


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## Mikey (Oct 26, 2004)

Chapter 11 (page 79) has the info on enabling the Dish locals in the guide next to the OTA locals.

Don't know what to say about the OTA PQ. Did you try 1080i/720p in the setup? Toggle the format key ('*') a few times?


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

Mikey said:


> Chapter 11 (page 79) has the info on enabling the Dish locals in the guide next to the OTA locals.
> 
> Don't know what to say about the OTA PQ. Did you try 1080i/720p in the setup? Toggle the format key ('*') a few times?


Thanks for the advice. I tried changing from 1080i to 720p in the 211 setup & also different aspect ratios, etc. I forgot to mention earler that after going in and looking at my SD SAT channels they also had, what I consider, inferior PQ compared to my 811. I called and spoke with an advanced tech. He told me to do (2) things. Change out my DVI/HDMI cable & if that didn't work, try using component cables. If neither of those things helped, he said the only thing left would be to swap out the 211 which he placed a note in my file approving to do so when/if I called back.
I did notice something interesting on my OTA's however. My signal strength on my local digital OTA ABC lowered 10% with the 211 compared to my 811 & raised 6% on my digital OTA CBS. That probably means nothing, but I still don't understand why.

Ken


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

Ok, a little bit of an update to my initial post & problem. In that post I indicated that although the OTA's and SAT SD's looked worse on the 211 than the 811, my HD's looked about the same as before. Not true! I've had more of an opportunity to really look at them & compare over the last (2) days, and I realize now that they too look worse (particulary Universal HD which I had always heard was terrific)!
I've since learned from another DBS responder, that what could be happening is that the 211 is handling the video differently than the 811 did. It's a different box with different engineering. That does make sense to me, so I've tweaked my display's calibration settings to try & compensate. This however didn't help..
I am certainly glad that switching to the 211 has eliminated the "smart card error" I was having constantly with the 811, but I would rather have that than inferior PQ. (I can't believe I just said that :eek2: )!
Since my TV is a Hitachi 51" HD RPTV (CRT-type), I've been told that the DVI/HDMI cable would probably not produce noticable improvement in PQ anyway. So I am going to try changing the 'DVI > HDMI' cable out and replacing with 'component' cables. Even though I don't like the idea of using (3) cables vs (1), if it gives me better PQ, then it's worth it.

Ken


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## cyberized (Mar 7, 2003)

I hope switching to Compnent Cables does the trick for you - I too went from the 811 to the 211 connected up with C. Cables and my PQ improved over the 811 - especially in SD...hoping does same for YOU!


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## khearrean (Mar 24, 2004)

cyberized said:


> I hope switching to Compnent Cables does the trick for you - I too went from the 811 to the 211 connected up with C. Cables and my PQ improved over the 811 - especially in SD...hoping does same for YOU!


Yep, same here! I just replaced the DVI/HDMI cable with components & the PQ is much better. I particularly see the improvement on SAT SD's, but HD's are also improved.
Now, I've still got that audio drop problem with optical. And really bad on HD OTA's. I hope they can correct this...

Ken


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## setv2 (Nov 28, 2006)

khearrean said:


> I know these issues have been addressed somewhat in another thread, but here goes anyway. After a long time with constant problems with my 811, I decided to upgrade to the 211.
> I'm a little apprehensive about this upgrade since I've read about a lot of 211 issues in this forum. Particularly about the HDMI failure. Since my Hitachi HDTV uses DVI, I had to go out and purchase a DVI to HDMI cable today in prep for today's install. Does the HDMI problem so frequently talked about here still exist today?
> Also, the Dish exec. I talked with told me they couldn't just send me the 211, an installer would have to bring it out. I'm going to try & avoid having them install a Dish 1000 & instead stay with my current set-up, (2) dishes: (1) for 110/119 & (1) for 61.5. I've been told that will work here where I live in S.E. Texas and that I wouldn't need to acess the 129 SAT. This would allow me to simply remove my 811 & replace with the 211 (quick & painless). Any feedback will be appreciated on either of these issues..
> 
> Ken


BE WARNED!!!!!! This is a widespread issue!!!

I placed an order to upgrade my DISH HD package.

Today I received my new BROKEN 211vip. As an existing customer I paid $49.00 to get my new BROKEN 211Vip receiver. The HDMI is receiving an audio signal (I can hear it) BUT THERE IS NO VIDEO SIGNAL going out to my Panasonic 42" Plasma.

I just got off the phone with a representative from Dish Tech support. They are aware of this problem and said that they are working on it, but for now I need to use the RGB component or composite cables. I wish they had of told me about this issue when I placed my order and told them so. The DISH rep explained that their sales department is not aware of the problem. OH WELL......TOO BAD FOR us "DISH VALUED CUSTOMERS". Maybe someone should tell sales.

Unfortunately, I invested in a new HDMI card (160.00) and a HDMI cable (100.00) before I was let in on DISH's little secret. They are actually continuing to lease these receivers without telling anyone about this issue. Now I have to unplug my DVD Player in oder to watch TV & vice versa.

I told the rep that I wanted to return the receiver, and use my old HD receiver until the issue was resolved. The response was "ALL SALES ARE FINAL" and they would not take it back. They said they were working on the problem....I asked when do you think there will be a resolve....2 days? 2 weeks? 2years? The rep informed me that Dish does not know when the issue would be resolved.

DISH also hooked me into an 18 month contract in order to upgrade. Dish's position is that, even though they knowingly sent me broken equipment, I am still obligated to the 18 months and cannot return the equipment.

I was using a DVI cable with the old receiver and getting a much better picture. This has been a downgrade in picture quality, and I paid through the nose for all of it.

I plan to continue the fight with DISH, but they really don't care, as their position is that they have me under contract, I'm SOL, and the broken receiver may be fixed eventually. I am not going to let this go.

I'm getting fed up with large corporations signing you up on "Contracts" and training their reps to have generic responses to vailid issues with no intention of correctiing the issues.

Did I mention that I've only had the receiver for 5 hours. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. I can't believe this has been going on for months and Dish just keeps shipping faulty equipment.


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