# 942 TV2 Quality



## mmpotash (Nov 12, 2005)

I've had Dish receivers for 8 years with the output split to 2 TV's, with my second TV upstairs about 20' from the receiver. It was, and still is, connected with standard coaxial cable.
The Dish 942 was installed recently with the TV2 output connected to the upstairs TV with the same cable used previously. The picture is OK, but not quite as clear as the other setup. It has a bit more "noise". Has anyone experienced a slight degradation of PQ on their SD TV hooked to TV2 of the 942?


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## Mike Johnson (Jan 16, 2005)

Welcome to DBSTalk.com! Glad you found us. :welcome_s

I noticed the same thing when I got my 942. I have a long run to the TV in my office. The primary reason is that the TV2 modulator is UHF. UHF signals suffer more from cable loss than the older Ch 3 or 4 VHF modulators. On the 942, it helps if you can use the lowest possible channel. I use Ch 22. The 942 comes set to a high channel like 60. Even on Ch 22, it seems weaker that my old receiver that used Ch 3.


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## Bichon (Jun 5, 2003)

I agree with Mike. When my 942 was first installed, I was also getting a less than perfect picture on channel 60. I did some experimentation and found I got a much improved picture on channel 33. Eventually, I found an old R/S distribution amp I had laying around and added it inline. With the R/S amp I am able to tweak the output power (via an adjustment on the amp) and get a perfect picture.


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## mmpotash (Nov 12, 2005)

Thanks for the advice. When I changed it to channel 39, the picture improved 100%. It is now the same PQ as before. I may experiment with lower vhf channels.


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## Jon Spackman (Feb 7, 2005)

Did anyone see an increase in brightness by switching to a lower channel? I have a somewhat dark picture on channel 77 (which i plan to change to a lower channel now).

Jon


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## mmpotash (Nov 12, 2005)

It takes only a few minutes to change it, so why not try it to see for yourself. First, google the local staions so you can find a channel that is isolated from the broadcast stations. My TV's PQ was richer with less noise.


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## Frenzy (Nov 15, 2005)

Can anyone explain how to correctly make this change? When I try it, I only get static on the lower channels. Thanks!


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## Jon Spackman (Feb 7, 2005)

fRENZY, do you have cable or antenna hooked up along with the sat??

I am guessing you do and that is why you have a fuzzy picture because there is a channel along with the dish one on say 22 or whatever you set your to.....

Jon


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## Frenzy (Nov 15, 2005)

Jon-

I'll have to check. I know there is no cable, but it could be sharing with the house antenna. I tried to select a channel that was not near any of the local air channels, but no luck.


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## mmpotash (Nov 12, 2005)

The manual has good instructions on changing the channel. While I am at work without access to it, I believe it is: 
On the remote, hit MENU,SYSTEM SETTINGS?, then find the part that you choose AIR or CABLE I believe. Choose AIR then a UHF channel which is not used in your area, preferably a lower numbered channel less than 40. Then once the new settings are done, dial up that channel on the SD TV. You may have to switch the TV settings also.


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## Frenzy (Nov 15, 2005)

Thanks for the info...that is the procedure I used. Just wondering if I missed something as I have been unable to get a picture. I'll have to try a few different channel numbers to see if I can find one that works.


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## mmpotash (Nov 12, 2005)

It is in the "Modulator" part of the menu. Make sure your TV's video is set properly and that you are on that channel you selected in the modulator section.


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## Jon Spackman (Feb 7, 2005)

Frenzy,

When i first added the 942 tv2 output to my older Sony in my bedroom, i had no picture on it because i could get the tv to see channel 77. I had to make sure the tv was set to UHF also (cable tv setting not antenna or tv only setting) otherwise it will have no picture on the higher channels. check that out and see if that helps


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## Frenzy (Nov 15, 2005)

Thanks for all the advise, but I'm still stumped....installer had configured the TV2 modulator using "Cable" mode and channel 73, which works. If I switch the modulator mode to "Air" and select a lower channel number on the setup and then select the same channel on my TV, I still get nothing but static. I have tried several channel numbers that should not conflict with the local air channels, but results are all the same :>(


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## CABill (Mar 20, 2005)

Frenzy said:


> If I switch the modulator mode to "Air" and select a lower channel number on the setup and then select the same channel on my TV, I still get nothing but static. I have tried several channel numbers that should not conflict with the local air channels, but results are all the same :>(


You probably already did this, but the TV itself needs to be configured for Cable/OTA and if you change the modulator to use OTA, you need to change the TV as well.

I don't know that your Portland is OR but tried zip 97201 at http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx and there would be "unseen" digital channels using 27 (10.1) and 30 (12.1). Use your real zip if you aren't OR.

How about you try with a much shorter coax run to your main TV to make sure what you pick isn't present OTA (like a digital station) and then connect to the longer coax to the bedroom. But if you never changed the bedroom Sony to OTA, that would be the first thing to try. Cable and OTA use the same general frequency range, but channels don't line up the same.


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## auburn2 (Sep 8, 2005)

_"I agree with Mike. When my 942 was first installed, I was also getting a less than perfect picture on channel 60. I did some experimentation and found I got a much improved picture on channel 33. Eventually, I found an old R/S distribution amp I had laying around and added it inline. With the R/S amp I am able to tweak the output power (via an adjustment on the amp) and get a perfect picture."_

Unless I am mistaken the 942 already has a high-power amp on the UHF modulator. Unless you are conecting it to like 6 TVs or running 500 feet of RG6 I would not think line loss would be a problem. If it is why do they give you an attenuator which would only cause more loss?

Anyway I think more of the problem has to do with the UHF receiver on the TV you are watching. I see a big difference in the UHF going to two different TVs I own. I also see a difference on one of the TVs (36 inch phillips) when using the TV tuner versus the VCR as the tuner, with VCR doing a much better job than the TV does.

For what it is worth I still have mine set to channel 60.


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## Bichon (Jun 5, 2003)

auburn2 said:


> Unless I am mistaken the 942 already has a high-power amp on the UHF modulator. Unless you are conecting it to like 6 TVs or running 500 feet of RG6 I would not think line loss would be a problem. If it is why do they give you an attenuator which would only cause more loss?


I'm connecting my TV2 output to three TVs; coax runs are not terribly long. According to the information printed on the splitter, two taps are seeing a 7db loss and the third a 3.5db loss. I'm using the 3.5db tap for the longest cable run. I don't know how powerful the modulator in the 942 is, I can only report that when I added the distribution amp and tweaked the output setting, the picture quality on all three TVs improved to the point that they are now indistinguishable from a composite connection. When it comes to what should work in theory and what actually works in practice, I'll take the latter any day of the week.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

From the May 05 Tech Forum, the TV2 UHF out is 10dB.


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## zipcom (Oct 14, 2005)

Bichon said:


> I'm connecting my TV2 output to three TVs; coax runs are not terribly long.


Are you running the splitter directly from the tv2 out or are you splitting it somewhere else??

thanks,

Kipp


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## Bichon (Jun 5, 2003)

zipcom said:


> Are you running the splitter directly from the tv2 out or are you splitting it somewhere else??


I run from the TV2 output to the distribution amp, then through about 30 feet of cable to the splitter in the attic, and from there it branches out to the TVs. (Which are each about 30-40 cable feet from the splitter)


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## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

Frenzy said:


> Can anyone explain how to correctly make this change? When I try it, I only get static on the lower channels. Thanks!


Do you have more than 1 coax input on your TV? My Sony has an input that works on the lower channels (probably only meant for 3/4 or an OTA antenna) and another marked Cable that picks up the higher channels.

Also, sometimes higher channels are better. After much experimentation, I found that my best picture is on channel 100 and above.


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## Jon Spackman (Feb 7, 2005)

ltmunst-

Do you have cable and sat; cable, OTA, and sat; or just sat??


Jon


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## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

j5races said:


> ltmunst-
> 
> Do you have cable and sat; cable, OTA, and sat; or just sat??
> 
> Jon


SAT and an indoor OTA antenna.


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## Frenzy (Nov 15, 2005)

LtMunst-

Thanks for the tip. My Sony has only 1 coax input and I was never able to get the system to work on one of the lower channels. I did try the higher (100+) channels last night and got it to work, with a much improved picture.


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