# Fed up with D* and 6.3a crap!



## oldguy (Feb 10, 2005)

Tonight's House episode had so many long audio dropouts that I could barely keep up with the plot.

I am beginning to get paranoid and wonder if this may be D*'s way of making us dissatisfied with our HR10-250's and encouraging us to go to the new piece of sh*t HR20-700 that doesn't work either.

They are also forcing many of you who are fed up with the 6.3a problems to spend money to order a disk with the old dependable 3f software when they could easily admit there are problems and DOWNLOAD the 3f software until 6.3 is fixed!

I am paying for the protection plan on my HR10-250's I am going to insist that D* either download the 3f software or send me two new receivers with 3f on them. I they don't do either then I am going to file a complaint with my State Attorney General that D* will not honor the terms of their protection plan.

I can kick my ass for not listening to my own advice to leave the phone lines disconnected until it appeared that the software was stable!

I have been with D* since 1999 but now the grass on the other side is looking greener.


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## bidger (Mar 30, 2001)

I think your tin foil hat is on a little tight.


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## jhillestad (Jul 13, 2004)

Same here .... It seems fox shows have a lot of audio drop outs on 6.3 - its annoying as hell.

Its ashame because the machine is faster when picking shows to record and they fixed the 16x9 record out to video problem..... But the audio drop outs are maddening


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## PhysicalPresence (Jun 24, 2006)

What 16 x 9 problem are you referring to?


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## Sirshagg (Dec 27, 2001)

I find it mildly amusing that FOX appears to be the network most screwed up by this. They are sort of shooting themselves in the foot there, eigh?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I haven't noticed any audio dropouts but I also don't watch anything on fox normally except some football.


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## gquiring (Dec 13, 2002)

It's so weird before 6.3 I could not watch a single FOX show without getting long and many audio dropouts. Since 6.3 it's so much better. I did not get one dropout last night on House.


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## Sir_winealot (Nov 18, 2000)

gquiring said:


> It's so weird before 6.3 I could not watch a single FOX show without getting long and many audio dropouts. Since 6.3 it's so much better. I did not get one dropout last night on House.


I think the dropouts you used to get were probably signal-related; these new dropouts are a little different IMO.


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## kkluba (Oct 18, 2002)

One question - is ot Fox OTA or Fox via D*? HD and SD?


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## Cody21 (Jan 11, 2004)

kkluba said:


> One question - is ot Fox OTA or Fox via D*? HD and SD?


Both ... YMMV


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## Cody21 (Jan 11, 2004)

oldguy said:


> snip ...
> 
> I can kick my ass for not listening to my own advice to leave the phone lines disconnected until it appeared that the software was stable!
> 
> I have been with D* since 1999 but now the grass on the other side is looking greener.


You should call D* and demand to talk with Cust Retention .... and demand at least a $25/month reduction in your bill for 6 months .... I did ... and got it... It doesn't fix the Audio Dropout issues, but it's like getting the D* HD Channels for free for a bit... Also, when I chatted with them, they were under the FALSE impression that this was only happening OTA ... it is NOT ... it is either Satellite or OTA (in my case) --- most annoyingly on FOX, but occurs on the others as well (e.g., NBC, CBS, ABC) ... just not as often. Everyone needs to complain to them. Go through the madness of dealing with Level 1, then demand to chat with Cust Retention, then ask fro Technical Support to file your official complaint. ,,,


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## bwaldron (Mar 16, 2003)

Cody21 said:


> Both ... YMMV


yeah, if it's OTA FOX your mileage may definitely vary.


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## MisterEd (Jun 6, 2001)

11 Dropouts on the last FOX Prison Break I watched last night (NY OTA). It's like watching those Cingular Commercials. Can't wait till I try watching House tonight. I tried DTV HD FOX also and problem was the same. Maybe D* will pay for a lip reading course.


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## heaphus (Aug 30, 2004)

MisterEd said:


> I tried DTV HD FOX also and problem was the same.


Are you refering to channel 88? Well duh, if you are talking about 6.3 and you're in New Joisey, you must be. Anyway, I record both Prison Break and House on 88, and I don't have any audio dropouts. Hold on, I'm not a "6.3 is great and I don't have any problems" guy. I'm posting because I'm still intrigued by the inconsistency of problems of different boxes. I don't have any sat audio problems, and I don't utilize the OTA tuners(70 miles from transmitters and surrounded by umpteen miles of pine forrest) so I don't know if that is a problem, but I have had a handful of unsolicited reboots, though not in awhile. Is it possible that these boxes have different internals from different dates of manufacture that have different problems with 6.3?


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

No 6.3a problems here with ch 88, connected via component.


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## flemingljr (Jan 30, 2002)

Ignore all the people in this post that claim they've never heard of the FOX OTA audio dropout problem and take a look at the 29 page post all about this problem.


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## bwaldron (Mar 16, 2003)

MisterEd said:


> 11 Dropouts on the last FOX Prison Break I watched last night (NY OTA). It's like watching those Cingular Commercials. Can't wait till I try watching House tonight. I tried DTV HD FOX also and problem was the same. Maybe D* will pay for a lip reading course.


That seems at odds with what most of us have seen. The new "6.3-style" dropouts have only shown up on OTA broadcasts (or so I thought).


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## nasafella (Sep 30, 2006)

D* really doesn't have an option to download 3f. The software won't work that way. 

Upgrading to 6.3a included converting the internal database structure/format. If you went back to 3.1.5f it wouldn't be able to see any of the shows, among other issues. 

But, you should be able to get a replacement HR10. I did. 

I called D* "advanced tech support", talked (politely but firmly) with a guy for about 5 minutes, and they sent me a new HR10 with 3.1.5f on it. Actually it's probably a refurbished HR10, but it sure looks clean and shiny inside. Works fine. Phone line definitely not plugged in. 

Call 'em.


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## jhillestad (Jul 13, 2004)

6.3 fixed the problem of the 16x9 bit setting so if you copy a program to a dvd-r it will properly letterbox on an SD tv or if you play it on a pc quicktime will properly open a 16x9 window rather than a 4x3 stretched because the recorded material was 16x9....


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## kkluba (Oct 18, 2002)

I gave up on all my OTA channels a while back. On top of the audio dropouts they are unreliable and cause marital issues for me. While they may provide a better picture when they work for OTA isn't worth the trouble. After chaning all my recordings to the D* HD equivalents I've not had any issues - no audio dropouts.


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## bwaldron (Mar 16, 2003)

kkluba said:


> I gave up on all my OTA channels a while back. On top of the audio dropouts they are unreliable and cause marital issues for me. While they may provide a better picture when they work for OTA isn't worth the trouble. After chaning all my recordings to the D* HD equivalents I've not had any issues - no audio dropouts.


Horses for courses. For me, OTA is actually more reliable than the satellite signal, especially during rainy season down here. Obviously it depends upon distance from the stations and the antenna used, so I understand that it won't be the case for everyone.


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## kkluba (Oct 18, 2002)

In the Bay Area all or at least most signals are delviered from Sutro Towers or San Bruno Mountain. I have line of sight to both. Signal strength is not a problem. I had one day where I tore my hair out trying to find why I had no signal only as a last resort did I call a station and an engineer said Sutro transmissions were down for maintainence. It has been my impression in this area that OTA is a second class signal.


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## kbohip (Dec 30, 2003)

kkluba said:


> I gave up on all my OTA channels a while back. On top of the audio dropouts they are unreliable and cause marital issues for me. While they may provide a better picture when they work for OTA isn't worth the trouble. After chaning all my recordings to the D* HD equivalents I've not had any issues - no audio dropouts.


Yea, but isn't switching to Directv's craptacular locals from gorgeous OTA HD like buying a Ferrari and switching to a Prius powerplant?


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## kbohip (Dec 30, 2003)

I was watching Cops last night and I had 6 audio dropouts in 20 minutes! Over the course of an hour I counted 14 dropouts. Basically it's almost unwatchable. Directv and Tivo both need to get their heads out of their asses and fix this ridiculous problem. Now I'm off to Directv to complain and get them to give me some money off for this.


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