# OTA timers not firing



## Sharpinv (Mar 14, 2006)

On Sunday I noticed "temporary" SD broadcasts of local channels on HD designated channels (9000's) had just shown up in anticipation of HD locals perhaps by next week in the Portland area.

Monday three OTA timers fired successfully, per usual.

Wed, I noticed that timers hadn't fired for AMAZING RACE and LOST (dhoh!). When I checked my guide, there were no OTA timers scheduled at all, but all the satellite timers were fine. The Daily schedule showed the same thing - no OTA timers. Yet there they were in the timers list as always.

I ended up deleting out all my old OTA timers and replacing them with new OTA timers - and now they show up in the guide and daily schedule, but you can bet I'll be sitting in front of the 622 at 8 PM tonight to make sure the first one fires.

Anyone else have this happen? Could this somehow be related to the oncoming event of HD locals likely next week? That theory would make more sense if my monday OTA timers hadn't fired as well.

Another timer thing I notice is that even thought I have "record plus" turned on (dual mode) and TV2 as the default - most of the recordings end up happening on TV1 for some reason - which means lots of times if TV1 is recording and you'd like to watch TV it is a pain to get to TV2 on the main screen to watch.

I've never seen any documentation on the Timer Icons - as far as I can tell there is no difference between a TV1 dish timer icon and the OTA timer icon. They are both green with "1" 's. TV2 is always blue, no problem. A red timer indicates what - that it is currently recording? When a timer has a conflict and the icon has a line through it can you tell if it is OTA/TV1/TV2?

I still get zero minute recordings and partial recordings, probably one or two per week of each. Does a partial result when a program starts but then is superseded by a higher priority recording, or is a partial overlap conflict supposed to prevent the lower priority from recording at all?

I have also not seen any documentation on what gets deleted first when the hard drive gets full. Is it the lowest priority recording or just the oldest stuff first?

I went from a 510 to a 622 but I'm thinking that some of these questions may be answered in a 942 manual since the 622 manual seems to be missing a lot of info.


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## ChuckA (Feb 7, 2006)

I believe this is a known problem. It sounds like your HD locals were activated yesterday, as they were in a number of cities (including mine). The OTA timers seem to be disapearing when you have the HD priority map down option set. This makes the HD local channels map down to the low channel numbers. You need to set the mapping option to SD Only or Disable so that the HD locals are not mapped down. This seems to prevent the OTA timers from going away. Check your assigned HD local channels and see if they are active.

We hope this is being worked on and will be corrected by the next software update since it has been reported by lots of folks.


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## ChuckA (Feb 7, 2006)

I just checked any Portland HD locals were activated yesterday.


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## Sharpinv (Mar 14, 2006)

Thanks for the info. The local HD channels are active in that they have SD content showing on them, no HD yet - but this was true as of Sunday, Monday my OTA timers were still there, but by Wednesday they were all gone.

Is this a one time problem or will my OTA timers keep disappearing unless I do the mapping routine you talked about?


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## Allin4greeN (Aug 2, 2005)

Sharpinv said:


> ...Is this a one time problem or will my OTA timers keep disappearing unless I do the mapping routine you talked about?


YMMV... I've adjusted the map-down, soft reset and hard reset the box... and "New Episode" DVR timers on OTA still disappear with each nightly EPG download :nono2:

A little frustrating, given that one of the biggest reasons I was excited about the 622 was for multiple recording options of locals.

My current work-around is to set "Manual" DVR timers on OTA channels. This works, but seems to defeat the purpose of having EPG info...


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## jvidalc (Aug 30, 2002)

I was having the same problem.

It's a know bug.

Here's what fixed it for me based on the feedback from this link http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=57522

Remove all Dish Local and OTA Timers.
Go to the OTA setup and set the mapdown to SD or Disable (preferably disable).
Recreate all Timers.

A telltale sign to check if the problem is resolved is to do a search of a local show, if the results include the OTA channels (0xx-01) , then you're good to go.

The above worked for me and hopefully will for you too.


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## Allin4greeN (Aug 2, 2005)

jvidalc said:


> I was having the same problem.
> 
> It's a know bug.
> 
> ...


Thanks jvidalc, your suggestion is slighty different from advice I received regarding this issue before... I'll give it one more shot and post my results in a few days!


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## Ghostwriter (Oct 11, 2005)

I am having somewhat of the same problem but with a twist. I did the entire SD Priority on locals and deleted and re-created all timers with hard and soft reboots. The intresting issue with mine is that all OTA timers fire fine except for anything on ABC (WPVI channel 006-01) in Philadelphia. All the timers show up in the timers list but Lost, American Inventor and Desperate Housewives never ever fire. 

I have since pushed the timers onto the HD LiLs but thats one of the options I liked and had to delete one of my SAT timers to do so since I had 2 SAT timers fireing at the 9PM timeslot and could use the OTA to correct this issue. All OTA timers on CBS/NBC/FOX all work perfectly.

Does anyone have any ideas? Is anyone else seeing this in the Philadelphia metro area? Does my 622 have some type of odd bug with the 006-01 slot???


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

ghost.. 

What happens when you do a search for LOST, does it show up on 006-01?


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## Ghostwriter (Oct 11, 2005)

A search for Lost nets me very positive results Ron. Just did it and it listed LOST for next Wed. on 006-00, 006-01, 6353, 8150. I no longer know what to do. I just rather use the OTA for Lost esp. (at least to me) that the PQ on the OTA HD is better than the HD LiL.


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## rbyers (Jan 15, 2004)

I found that I can set up the OTA recordings on the day the programs are to be recorded. This seems to work most of the time. But, it doesn't guarantee success. I've started recording off the LIL channels to be certain that I get what I want. I did record Lost OTA this week because their screwy program length won't let me record L&O & CSI at 10 from LIL. So, I took a shot at OTA and won (this week). 

This is certainly related to having HD locals, so we have one good thing and one bad thing. Let's hope this gets resolved in the next software update. It certainly is a software problem.


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## SaltiDawg (Aug 30, 2004)

Ron Barry said:


> ghost..
> 
> What happens when you do a search for LOST, does it show up on 006-01?


ron,

Thanks for replying to my private msg and explaining some of the details.

I remain confused. My wife's 622 was installed on May 1st. She gets the DC HD locals via sat and we get spotty digital OTA reception. That said, Ch-9 OTA (CBS) is solid. She has the HD local Sat channels displayed in the guide.... *not* the OTA HD locals. Any time she ends up in a situation where she has wanted to record *three* programs, to include Ch-9, she sets a timer for all New programming on Ch-9 *OTA.* This works just fine and the event records and daily schedule will show any new programs just as it it should.

Am I still not understanding the issue being discussed or is the problem not present at all times?

TIA


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## Rogueone (Jan 29, 2004)

You mention spotty OTA locals, and that will cause all sorts of problems with timers, at least it always did with my 921. When the signal is low when the timer starts, it doesn't fire usually. 

I'd seriously consider calling Fairfax Antenna and having them hook up an attic or outdoor antenna. As long as you aren't in say, more than 90 miles from NW DC/SilverSpring, you should be able to get the OTA's fine with maybe a line amp. 

As to the mapping, the mapping shouldn't matter. I have both OTA and HD locals mapped down. though I have noticed that before I had Sat HD working, OTA HD showed up as 00x-00, and now the Sat HD are that, and OTA are 00x-01 and -02. it's possible this caused some issues, I seem to recall it did me when I first activated. 

I make all my timers OTA first, sat second, and except for some issues a couple weeks ago when the guide wasn't populating correctly, it's hit them all fine, and we're talking 10-13 a week.


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## Allin4greeN (Aug 2, 2005)

jvidalc said:


> I was having the same problem.
> 
> It's a know bug.
> 
> ...


It looks like this sequence, after disabling mapdown, worked for me :righton:

I had previously tried mapping down SD using the sequence, and hadn't experienced positive results. Looks like I didn't experiment enough with my set-up.

Thanks again!


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## SaltiDawg (Aug 30, 2004)

Rogueone said:


> ...
> 
> I'd seriously consider calling Fairfax Antenna and having them hook up an attic or outdoor antenna. As long as you aren't in say, more than 90 miles from NW DC/SilverSpring, you should be able to get the OTA's fine with maybe a line amp. ...


Thanks, but that won't help. Everyone on my street is plagued with poor OTA digital reception. Antennas range from Rabbit Ears to directional antrennas with rotors. In my case I have a quite directional antenna with rotor attached to my chimney. It is capable of pulling in analog locals from DC, Baltimore, Annapolis, and other locations.

The DC OTA digital transmitting antennae as seen from my location are within 2 degrees of each other and range in distance from 12.0 miles to 13.8 miles. My "look" it right thru the elevagted home across the street to my south. There are also large trees immediately behind and to the south of that home.

With all of these impediments, CH-9 and CH-9 alone can be received in a reliable *manner.* I have sometimes used a line amplifier for distant analog reception but it has proven no help with the digital and I no longer view analog OTA TV. I have contacted CH-4 (NBC), CH-5 (FOX) and CH-7 (ABC) a few times about the problem - asking oif they were at full power - no reply from either.


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