OTA With ExpressVu 9200 (DVR 942)

I don't mean to repeat but it was suggested I try this forum.

Hello and thanks for the help. I posted this on a Canadian site and it got buried by the moderator (page 13 of a generic post)

I am using an ExpressVu 9200 (a Dish PVR) for OTA. I have been having some weird problems

1) it finds more channels on scan than you can tune in to
2) it find one sub channel, but not the HD channel. The sub-channel it gets with like 97% signal strength so I can't understand how it would miss the HD content
3) if you manually scan one channel at a time, it almost never locks, even if when it tunes in the channel it gets really strong reception
4) I can't figure out how to manually add a channel (like the missing HD one above)

There are a bunch other things as well. I figured maybe people with the Dish version might have had the same issues. Any suggestions?

Also, am I right in guessing that this is probably not the best OTA receiver? HD OTA STBs are not available in the snowy north ....

I don't mean to repeat but it was suggested I try this forum.

Hello and thanks for the help. I posted this on a Canadian site and it got buried by the moderator (page 13 of a generic post)

I am using an ExpressVu 9200 (a Dish PVR) for OTA. I have been having some weird problems

1) it finds more channels on scan than you can tune in to
2) it find one sub channel, but not the HD channel. The sub-channel it gets with like 97% signal strength so I can't understand how it would miss the HD content
3) if you manually scan one channel at a time, it almost never locks, even if when it tunes in the channel it gets really strong reception
4) I can't figure out how to manually add a channel (like the missing HD one above)

There are a bunch other things as well. I figured maybe people with the Dish version might have had the same issues. Any suggestions?

Also, am I right in guessing that this is probably not the best OTA receiver? HD OTA STBs are not available in the snowy north ....

I don't know if the 9200 supports HD. Does it have an internal ATSC tuner?

Yes -- you can buy OTA STBs in the Toronto area. Some of the smaller dealers sell them.

There is lots of HD OTA in the GTA.

I am using an ExpressVu 9200 (a Dish PVR) for OTA. I have been having some weird problems

1) it finds more channels on scan than you can tune in to
-- this is quite normal, although I do not know about your particular receiver. When my (DirecTV) receiver scans, it will find every OTA channel where there is a detectable signal. But that does not mean that the channel has a good enough signal quality to achieve a lock

2) it find one sub channel, but not the HD channel. The sub-channel it gets with like 97% signal strength so I can't understand how it would miss the HD content
--sounds very strange. Are you saying that for a channel, say channel 2, you get subchannel 2.2 but not 2.1? Remember the primary digital channel is 2.1 not 2.

3) if you manually scan one channel at a time, it almost never locks, even if when it tunes in the channel it gets really strong reception
--don't know about this. I don't know what is the quality criterion for getting lock on your receiver. On my DirecTV receiver, if the OTA signal "strength" is below about 45 I can't maintain a lock.

4) I can't figure out how to manually add a channel (like the missing HD one above)
--you should find it in your user manual. There is definitely a screen called "add digital channel" but since I do not have a 942 I can't tell you where to find it.

Magically, my missing HD channel returned, though I don't know why it went.

I ordered a DTB H260F from J&B and it should arrive today. I'm gonna see how that behaves.

I still find it weird that the ExpressVu 'finds' channels which show no signal strength. It can't have it both ways, it seems to me.

Anyhow, hopefully the DTB is more sensitive, or at least more rational.