# ViP 612 and Terk HDTVa problems



## kingmack (Sep 28, 2008)

I have the Terk connected to my 612, it was working fine until last week. When I was viewing the Dish Network channels, and switched to the local tuned channels, the screen went out and was just flickering. There was a flickering black screen, but I was able to hear the audio.

I had the DishNetwork guy come out today, and he changed the 612 to a new one. Was working fine, when I was testing it, and later tonight I switched to local channels again and the same problem again. I then realized the same thing happened nearly a week ago. So, I disconnected the Terk from the 612, and restore the 612 to factory default, removing all the local tuned channels, and now everything is working fine. Except now I can't use my Terk, any suggestions, or ideas behind what the problem could be, would be very helpful.

Thank you.


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## kingmack (Sep 28, 2008)

So, nothing... I was hoping someone had a similar problem. What I don't understand is how can the antenna affect the 612. It just doesn't seem to make sense. Do you guys have antennas connected to your 612s?? If so how did you go about setting up the local channels?


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## oljim (Aug 6, 2002)

Could be the Terk, get a real antenna. Only a Jerk will sell you a Terk


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## TheFoxMan (Aug 25, 2008)

kingmack said:


> So, nothing... I was hoping someone had a similar problem. What I don't understand is how can the antenna affect the 612. It just doesn't seem to make sense. Do you guys have antennas connected to your 612s?? If so how did you go about setting up the local channels?


My Terk HDTVa works fine, but my 612 OTA tuner never worked well -- low or no signal on stations that had strong signals when connected directly to the TV. My 722 OTA tuner works fine. Dish sent 3 replacements that all had the same problem (poor OTA performance and some quirky DVR issues), then I finally got it replaced with a 622, which works great. Have you tried feeding your antenna input directly into your TV (assuming your TV has a HD tuner)?


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## kingmack (Sep 28, 2008)

oljim said:


> Could be the Terk, get a real antenna. Only a Jerk will sell you a Terk


I read some really good reviews about it, that's why I bought it. But I don't think it's the antenna's problem anyways. Well, I guess I can't really do much. Could I actually ask dishNetwork, to give me a different receiver/DVR? Like the 622 or 722. I am not sure. Any ideas?


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## oljim (Aug 6, 2002)

My 612 tuner is not as good as my 622, but I have a good outdoor antenna so I have no problem. Get something like a CM 4220 or an Aspen Eagel double bow tie put it outside. !/2 your signal is lost before it gets to an indoor antenna


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## EXTACAMO (Apr 7, 2007)

kingmack said:


> I read some really good reviews about it, that's why I bought it. But I don't think it's the antenna's problem anyways. Well, I guess I can't really do much. Could I actually ask dishNetwork, to give me a different receiver/DVR? Like the 622 or 722. I am not sure. Any ideas?


I doubt they would just _give_ you a 622 or 722 but call them and see what kind of deal you can get. A better solution would be as mentioned above a better antenna mounted outside.


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## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

Mack,

One thing that you might look at is how the gain (amplification) is set on the antenna. Quite often if it is set too high it will cause a tuner to overload. I believe the Terk has a high/low gain setting (or something like that). Try the low setting and see if that helps.


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## kingmack (Sep 28, 2008)

Bill R said:


> Mack,
> 
> One thing that you might look at is how the gain (amplification) is set on the antenna. Quite often if it is set too high it will cause a tuner to overload. I believe the Terk has a high/low gain setting (or something like that). Try the low setting and see if that helps.


Excellent, thanks. I ll try that, they do have something like amplification of the signal. I ll try that this weekend and let you guys know how it turns out.


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## CALI_WATCHER (Mar 22, 2007)

kingmack said:


> Excellent, thanks. I ll try that, they do have something like amplification of the signal. I ll try that this weekend and let you guys know how it turns out.


Strange, I had an internal antenae on my 622 for the longest time, no issues, about 3-4 weeks ago, it went awful, picture drops,etc. I am not sure if it is the newest version of the software, but something went wrong...

I am going to try deleting the stations and readding them... but it is weird. I may buck up for an external, but I may go FIOS soon.. we will see.


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## kingmack (Sep 28, 2008)

i thought about the external antenna, but seems too much of a hassle to mount it on your roof, and drill holes in your wall to wire it. And I have to worry about water protection from those holes... Seems like it would cost too much. I don't know I ll see how this goes. I ll consider going external, if I get fed of this.


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## arxaw (Jul 13, 2003)

kingmack said:


> i thought about the external antenna, but seems too much of a hassle to mount it on your roof, and drill holes in your wall to wire it. And I have to worry about water protection from those holes... Seems like it would cost too much. I don't know I ll see how this goes. I ll consider going external, if I get fed of this.


You can hassle with installing a good outdoor antenna once. Or constantly hassle with a bad indoor antenna.


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## otnipj3s (Jul 20, 2008)

My weird thing I found out about my 2 amplified antennas is that they seem to work better not plugged in. I have tired playing with the gain, up and down, but once I get the loop in the right position they work best not plugged in. Kind of strange.


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## arxaw (Jul 13, 2003)

If you're in an urban area not far away from the transmitters, you *do not need* an amp.

If you try to use one when the signal is already strong, it will often overload and distort the signal, killing reception altogether or making it weaker than it is without the amp.


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## oljim (Aug 6, 2002)

A lot of the amps have high noise and hurt signal more than help. What some people do not understand is that a amped/over priced indoor antenna will never work better than a low priced outdoor antenna.
My daughter paid $59 for an indoor ant. with amp, she got one station some times.
I put up an outside double bowtie (UHF) $23 now she gets all the local DTV stations. Took me all of 45 min to put up the antanna.


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## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

arxaw said:


> If you're in an urban area not far away from the transmitters, you *do not need* an amp.
> 
> If you try to use one when the signal is already strong, it will often overload and distort the signal, killing reception altogether or making it weaker than it is without the amp.


This usually wasn't a problem with analog channels but, as "arxaw" pointed out, it sure can be with digital channels. Their is usually some degree of multipath in all OTA channels and the amps sometimes make those signals so strong that the tuner can't find a good signal to lock onto or, in some cases, it just overloads the tuner. Some tuners handle multipath better than other. I would rate the ViP tuners as "average" when it comes to multipath. The good news is that the next generation of DISH receivers (with ATSC tuners) will handle multipath better. The bad news (I think) is that OTA ATSC tuners will be an optional add-on for at least some future receivers (DirecTV is doing the same thing).


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## kingmack (Sep 28, 2008)

I turned off the amplification and it seems to work fine, actually better. The signal is much more stable, and it hasn't caused the DVR to die. So, I guess I ll just wait and see how long this lasts.

Thanks for all of your comments. I guess after a while I might just switch to the external antenna.


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