VOOM Satellite Receiver, OTA ATSC/DTV Issue?

Archived from groups: alt.satellite.tv (More info?)

Hi Folks,

I'm a new subscriber to VOOM as of yesterday. I've previously had
DirecTV and Dish, so I'm experienced in the SatTV market.

Before subscribing to Voom, I've been receiving over-the-air (OTA) ATSC
(digital) broadcasts of my local stations for tuning/decoding to my
HDTV. The tuning/decoding has been accomplished by the AccessDTV card I
have in a computer I built specifically for HTPC (home theatre PC) use.

I have a 22-element yagi on a rotator in the attic of my 2-story house.
Most channels are in the same general direction from my house, within a
few degrees; two channels are not.

Channel Fox28 (digital 36) is lower power than other stations in my area
and oriented at around 80-100 degrees away from the others. I must
rotate the yagi to receive this channel.

And channel UPN53 (digital 46) is actually in another city. With the
yagi rotated in its direction (window is only 4 degrees!) I receive
better power than the local Fox28.

So, now that you know my background, enter my problem: the VOOM receiver
is capable of receiving OTA digital channels in the sub-100 channel
range. All channels work great, including UPN53, with the exception of
Fox28.

When I channel surf from the lowest channel: 4, 6, 10, 28, when I get to
28, it actually displays the picture from 10!

And when I channel surf from the highest channel: 53, 38, 28, when I get
to 28, it actually displays the picture from 38!

Now here's the bizarre part. *Sometimes*, that is, every once in a great
while, if I enter 28 directly on the keypad, it tunes it correctly.

If I go to the OTA signal meter in the setup screens, and enter RF 36
(channel 28), it will actually show me the "stuck" channel. That is, it
shows me the signal strength for channel 10 or 38, or of whichever
channel I was last tuned.

So if I tell it then to tune to, say, RF 13, then back to RF 36, it does
properly tune/sense 36 (Fox 28). So then I hit "Watch" on the remote,
back into the satellite channels, then directly tune 28 by punching it
in on the keypad, it will tune to it properly.

I chatted with support yesterday for 2 hours regarding this problem. He
wanted me to turn the receiver off when I went to bed and wait for the 2
AM firmware push (even though I already have the latest firmware version).

So this morning, no change.

It seems to me that there is some sort of relay/electronics defect in
the ATSC/DTV tuning portion of the receiver.

Any other ideas? Inputs? Similar problems experienced?

Cheers,

J