# New Dish customer... Issues on 1st day!! Letter to CEO



## Wrecker06 (May 23, 2006)

I switched to Dish from Comcast and DirecTv (I was a charter member) so I could
save some $$. (I had Comcast only for HD Locals since D'tv doesn't have their new
HD DVR out yet).

After finally getting installed and the first day issues with the receivers, I am 
seriously thinking about switching back. In a last ditch effort to get some remedies 
or resolution, I sent the following letter to the CEO and DishQuality this morning. 
Since I'm clearly not the only person experiencing some of these issues, I'll post 
the responses if they have any good suggestions or remedies.

I have alot of respect for Dish for getting their MPEG4 DVR to market first, but 
a lot of that respect is lost for leaving it to the early adopters to work out the 
bugs. :nono2:

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to: [email protected]
cc: [email protected]

Greetings,

I'm a new customer. My service was installed yesterday. I am already 
experiencing severe issues with one of my receivers and very annoying 
issues with the 2nd one.

I called Tech Support a few times and they just keep telling me to restart my 
receivers to fix the problems. I restarted the two of them a total of 9 times 
the first day. The DVR restarted twice on it's own!!!

Clearly having to restart these receivers several times a day is not a good option,
please advise if you have any other remedies for the issues below. If there are not
any fixes, or remedies, please advise as I will most likely go back to DirecTV &
Comcast. Between my children, my wife and myself, I spend about $250.00 -
$300.00 a month on my TV Service for programming and pay per view movies/
events and need reliable service.

My installation included: Dish 1000 dish, VIP 622 and VIP 211

Issues:

--------------------------------

The VIP622 issues: (connected via HDMI)

Signal Strength - 119 signal strength - 90, 129 signal strength - 57, 110 signal strength - 74

- Freezes up while recording a program. 
- Can't watch a program that is recording, you have to wait until the show is over
and then restart the unit to watch the recorded program. If you try to watch it 
while it is recording, the picture goes black and you can hear the audio only. 
Program still records but you have to restart the machine to watch it. 
- rebooted twice on it's own. 
- I also rebooted it a few times to try and fix the Audio sync issues w/ ABC HD 
- ABC HD audio is out of sync (think old kung fu movie where the mouths move and
the words come a second later)

--------------------------------

The VIP211 issues: (connected via HDMI)

Signal Strength - 119 signal strength - 115, 129 signal strength - 59, 110 signal strength - 90

-Terrible picture quality on the HD Channels. Ghosting on moving images. (Eg: you 
know how you can turn on comet tails on your mouse on your computer?? that is 
like what happens on some of the HD channels. If someone walks, you can see a 
similar effect on the HD channels.

- ABC Audio is also out of sync on this receiver.

--------------------------------

I am not trying to be rude or anything, but I payed $400.00 to "lease" equipment
and it's not living up to how great it is supposed to be according to your website and
your Sales Reps.

I look forward to getting these issues resolved.


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## bryan92 (Oct 30, 2003)

With a letter like that, you'll get some good results. What they will be, I dont know. Good luck. Knock on wood- no problems yet with 622 after a week.


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## Nightmare (Nov 3, 2002)

That signal strength on 129 seems low. If you can't hit all 2 birds with the 1000, then I would have them install a 500 for the 129.

I have no idea if that will fix the other problems.

Mine are 90, 90, 63 and I am thinking that the 129 is also a little low.

Can anyone tell us if the low signal on the 129 could cause lockups? I'm not sure what the "minimum" signal strength is supposed to be.


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## Wrecker06 (May 23, 2006)

The installer (and his supervisor who accompanied him) said that anything over 55 on the 129 in the Bay Area is good.


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## dougmcbride (Apr 17, 2005)

I've seen one case with low signal strength on 129 where the channel is just black. No "acquiring satellite" message or the like - just black.

Doug


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## dave1234 (Oct 9, 2005)

Wrecker06 said:


> The installer (and his supervisor who accompanied him) said that anything over 55 on the 129 in the Bay Area is good.


55 may be a "good" signal for any area, but's it's terrible for use with the Dish system. At that level you'll experience drop outs, blank screens, and pixelization. I finally gave up on the dish I had pointed to 129(readings in the 50's) and reaimed to 61.5 where signal's are in the 80's(even here in oregon). Dish has a serious problem with the 129 sat. Hopefully they'll replace that sat. with another soon.


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## Steve H (May 15, 2006)

When/if you call Dish tech support again ask for advance support of the 622. Yesterday Dish started having their "regular" customer service group take call on the 622. Most CS reps. DO NOT know very much about the 622 and the 129 problems.


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## socceteer (Apr 22, 2005)

I live on the SF area. I requested to have my 61.5 replaced with the Dish 1000 so I can have less dishes on my roof. If I knew that the 129 signal strength was so low I would have kept the 61.5 sat dish. 

I still do not get why the signal is so low. Some one mentioned that the sat was over the pacific if that is the case, should't we have a very strong signal..?

Is this the case..?


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## mdgolf (Apr 14, 2006)

Great letter. Sorry for the nasty first impression.

I've been waiting to upgrade from my PVR 721, of which I was an early adopter, and have had a 99% positive experience with. The SF Bay Area issues may force me to wait a bit longer as I'm likely to have to dole out some $$$ on dishes, switches, and installation to make the transition.

Bay Area posters...where in the bay area are you? I'm in Pleasanton...just trying to figure out where the worst of the signal issues are.


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## sjm992 (Jan 14, 2004)

mdgolf said:


> Bay Area posters...where in the bay area are you? I'm in Pleasanton...just trying to figure out where the worst of the signal issues are.


I'm in Newark and so far I've found it impossible to pick up 129 on the Dish 1000 (self install!) Actually it says that it locks onto 110 instead - can't believe that.


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## bmichura (Apr 29, 2006)

sjm992 said:


> I'm in Newark and so far I've found it impossible to pick up 129 on the Dish 1000 (self install!) Actually it says that it locks onto 110 instead - can't believe that.


I can believe it. I have a tree in the way of 129 and VP622 "thinks" it is 110 instead lke you. My installer tried the number from dish 1000 manual and could not get a lock ON anything.

Does your VP622 or anybodies have DISH 1000 in the menu with Dish 300, 500 and SuperDISH? Mine does not!


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## dave1234 (Oct 9, 2005)

mdgolf said:


> Great letter. Sorry for the nasty first impression.
> 
> I've been waiting to upgrade from my PVR 721, of which I was an early adopter, and have had a 99% positive experience with. The SF Bay Area issues may force me to wait a bit longer as I'm likely to have to dole out some $$$ on dishes, switches, and installation to make the transition.
> 
> Bay Area posters...where in the bay area are you? I'm in Pleasanton...just trying to figure out where the worst of the signal issues are.


As much as I'd like to call this a California problem it's not.  

Signal strengths in Oregon and Washington are just as poor. In fact California is physically closer to the Sat. than Oregon so you've got even better signal (but still bad) strength. The problem is with the satellite.


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## Wrecker06 (May 23, 2006)

I received a call from the Engineering team. She walked me through setting up a log download to Dish so they can view them and see if anything is out of whack. Of course when the receiver went to download it crashed. She's sending me a new one.


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## Wrecker06 (May 23, 2006)

mdgolf said:


> Great letter. Sorry for the nasty first impression.
> 
> I've been waiting to upgrade from my PVR 721, of which I was an early adopter, and have had a 99% positive experience with. The SF Bay Area issues may force me to wait a bit longer as I'm likely to have to dole out some $$$ on dishes, switches, and installation to make the transition.
> 
> Bay Area posters...where in the bay area are you? I'm in Pleasanton...just trying to figure out where the worst of the signal issues are.


Pleasant Hill. No issues w/ line of site, I'm on top of the hill.
My 622 locks onto the 129 ok. Signal strength goes from 48-60. Nothing higher. I may have them install a second dish to see if they can get a higher signal.


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## sjm992 (Jan 14, 2004)

bmichura said:


> I can believe it. I have a tree in the way of 129 and VP622 "thinks" it is 110 instead lke you. My installer tried the number from dish 1000 manual and could not get a lock ON anything.
> 
> Does your VP622 or anybodies have DISH 1000 in the menu with Dish 300, 500 and SuperDISH? Mine does not!


I don't have a tree in the way - clear line of sight but it still thinks 129 is 110.

The elevation number quoted by dish for my location (94560) is 45deg. There are no satellites at that location. I have to aim at 55deg to get the 110/119 sats. I had to do the same with the Dish 500 that preceded the 1000.

The VP622 does not show Dish 1000 in the menu, even after the latest software download.


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## jmbrooks (Jan 11, 2004)

I also live in Oregon and am considering getting the 622. I currently have a Dish 500 with DP Quad LNB. I understand I would be better off getting a second dish for the 129 sat, (a Dish 500 or 300??) rather than the Dish 1000. Can I still get the DP Plus LNB with the 129 input for my Dish 500 and the 129 LNB for the second dish? I'd rather not have to have external switches.

Thanks


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## HD_Wayne (May 23, 2006)

When I installed my dish 1000 I used the aiming data supplied with the manual included with the dish. Having a Birdog meter has helped alot as I aimed it 1st to 119 then switched to the 129 bird and fine tuned the dish. The adjustment was very critical and any misaiming resulted in a signal drop. I have decided to get a Winegard 30" dish for 129 to improve the reception. Perhaps I will learn more information regarding 129 at team summit coming up in two weeks.

Wayne


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## UTFAN (Nov 12, 2005)

Wrecker06 said:


> I switched to Dish from Comcast and DirecTv (I was a charter member) so I could
> save some $$. (I had Comcast only for HD Locals since D'tv doesn't have their new
> HD DVR out yet).
> 
> ...


HOLY MOLY!


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## Wrecker06 (May 23, 2006)

I know! I have a wife and 5 kids who wanted to tivo alot of stuff and they also order alot of pay per view, on demand, etc. My kids are very active w/ sports, etc. and it is the only way they could watch their favorites anytime. With 2 dvr's it was hard to tivo everyone's shows so that's why we got Comcast on demand in addition to DirecTv.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

sjm992 said:


> IThe elevation number quoted by dish for my location (94560) is 45deg. There are no satellites at that location. I have to aim at 55deg to get the 110/119 sats. I had to do the same with the Dish 500 that preceded the 1000.


I'd be putting a level on the mast to make sure that it is plumb. One or two degrees higher isn't uncommon, but ten is well outside the pylons. If your mast is tilted, everything will be screwed up as the skew will be wrong.

What, by model number, is your switch and LNB setup?


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## davidxlai (Jan 21, 2006)

You can ask Technical Support (not Customer Service) to send you a new 622. My last 622 rebooted a few times a week. I got it replaced so far for the last month since I got it there has been no reboot. I also live in the SF Bay area.


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## normang (Nov 14, 2002)

I've noticed that sometimes when you select a Sat and it reports wrong sat and gives you signal or whatever for 110 or 119, a check switch will clear things up and then when you go back and select the sat you want to work with, it should display the signal for that location. If not, then there is some issue.. Though it sounds like 129 is having issues of some sort..


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## joebird (Sep 15, 2003)

Glad I opted to keep my 2nd dish pointed at 61.5 instead of getting the new Dish1000 and using 129 for the HD channels...dumb luck.


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## madbrain (Dec 10, 2004)

joebird said:


> Glad I opted to keep my 2nd dish pointed at 61.5 instead of getting the new Dish1000 and using 129 for the HD channels...dumb luck.


So where are you getting your SF bay area locals from ? Last I checked they weren't at 61.5, only 148 and 129 . Maybe you get the channels OTA, but the guide still has to come from a satellite.


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## HD_Wayne (May 23, 2006)

madbrain said:


> So where are you getting your SF bay area locals from ? Last I checked they weren't at 61.5, only 148 and 129 . Maybe you get the channels OTA, but the guide still has to come from a satellite.


The SD locals for the bay area are now on the new 110 with the HD locals on 129.
See http://www.dishchannelchart.com for more information.

Wayne


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## wje (Mar 8, 2006)

Obviously, you didn't have the joy of dealing with DTV's HR10-250 HD DVR. I'm on my third one. #1 had HDMI problems, later identified by DTV as a manufacturing problem affecting just about all the units shipped at that time. First replacement came not only with the same problem, but a dead #2 tuner, right out of the box. #3 has been working ok so far. However, people now seem to be seeing disk failures at about the 1 year mark. When it is working, be prepared to read a book for a while whenever you try to schedule a recording. Oh yes... I paid $1000 for this piece of garbage.

At least Dish seems to be trying to fix the 622. DTV hasn't issued an update in over a year.

It's somewhat amusing to see that the 622 has had many of the same issues... HDMI problems, random crashes and reboots, etc. I've pretty much decided to switch to Dish and the 622 next time my HR10 dies. After all, the 622 can't be any worse, and at least there is some evidence it will get better.


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## Grandude (Oct 21, 2004)

HD_Wayne said:


> The SD locals for the bay area are now on the new 110 with the HD locals on 129.
> See http://www.dishchannelchart.com for more information.
> 
> Wayne


A mild correction. The San Francisco HD network locals are on 119. Two others, KRON and KICU are listed as on 129.

I can currently get all my desired channels with one Dish500.

Brian


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## HD_Wayne (May 23, 2006)

Grandude said:


> A mild correction. The San Francisco HD network locals are on 119. Two others, KRON and KICU are listed as on 129.
> 
> I can currently get all my desired channels with one Dish500.
> 
> Brian


I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing that out.

Wayne


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## jenniferny (May 28, 2006)

bryan92 said:


> With a letter like that, you'll get some good results. What they will be, I dont know. Good luck. Knock on wood- no problems yet with 622 after a week.


Dont bet on it, they have ignored my letters for over a week without even an acknowledgment. When I called tech support again today he said that according to the notes it is a connection issue and scheduled a tech to come out and connect my receiver correctly. I guess they think that the tech that installed the receiver did it correctly and 8 days after the installation gremlins came and changed all of the connections.


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## Wrecker06 (May 23, 2006)

I got a new 622 from the Dish Engineering team. They asked me to record several shows on ABC & NBC HD so they can see exactly what I'm talking about regarding the ABC audio sync and the NBC ghosting draggy acid trip picture quality.

So far no issues w/ the new 622 except of course ABC & NBC HD issues.


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## Wrecker06 (May 23, 2006)

wje said:


> Obviously, you didn't have the joy of dealing with DTV's HR10-250 HD DVR.


That piece of crap is the main reason I left DTV. Always rebooted on Sunday nights when I would try to watch ABC. DTV has been promising a new HD DVR for over a year and keeps pushing it back further and further. I remember they called to let me know that "as one of our best customers we'd like to let you know that your locals in HD are now available". I said, "Great, but I can't view them with the equipment I paid 1000.00 for."


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