anothertxguy's profile

Tutor

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8 Messages

Friday, November 22nd, 2013 4:59 PM

DVR and Wireless Receivers

I've had uVerse since 2007, and after the initial growing pains in my area, and old house, I found a combination where all three receivers, connected through ethernet ports on the RG, performed flawlessly.

 

Yesterday I had a new install at a new house and the technician said uVerse's go to plan these days was two wireless receivers and the hard wired DVR.  My 3801 is connected over vDSL receiving 54mbps to the house.  My VIP 2250 appears to operate normally.  I can record three HD shows at the same time without a problem.  Pause, rewind, playback, whether recording or not, works perfectly.

 

That cannot be said about the wirless receivers.  The two wireless receivers are connected through the VAP 2500.  If watching a recorded show the pause, rewind, FF, commercial skip, work with a small delay which is very manageable.  Watching live shows with the above operations is also manageable.  While the DVR is recording, I can change channels on the wireless receivers with no issues.

 

Disclaimer: I only watch and record HD shows.

 

Here is where things break down horribly.  If I am recording even one show, forget about using pause, FF, rewind, and commercial skip on the wireless receivers.  It doesn't matter if it is a live broadcast, a recorded show, even the show i'm recording live, or in playback mode. Going back 7 sec takes forever and then the stream never evens out.  Same with FF and the 21 sec commercial skip. Using any feature other than just watching a live show or changing channels causes huge pauses before playback and then constant pause/play issues throughout the current stream.  I can change channels and watch a new stream with no problems, until I try to pause, FF, rewind, etc.

 

Anyone have any ideas, answers?  The wireless lights show paired, and the receivers show full reception.  I have rebooted all equipment.  My cummulative seconds w/ Errors is 10 over 24hrs, Corrected blocks are 49902 over 24hrs, and 66 Uncorrected Blocks over 24hrs.  Actual time since last reboot is 8hrs, 46 minutes.  The numbers I don't believer are out of band, but they are higher than I expected for a brand new install.  All new equipment was installed yesterday.

 

I apologize if an answer is posted elsewhere as my googlefu is under the weather.  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.  Has anyone else run into this issue?  Is it standard fair?

 

If you need more info, please ask.  Thank you.

 

Jim

Expert

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10.1K Messages

10 years ago

anothertxguy - Good description - The only thing missing is how the DVR is connected to the RG. This is the critical link in the whole house DVR, For max performance the connection should be cat5. Ideally, the two should be adjacent.

Many people have no problem with wireless, many do. If I were you, the first thing I would do is try a cat5 connection. If that works fine, can you connect cat5 at the current location? If not, try moving the WAP to a better location.

Tutor

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8 Messages

10 years ago

aviewer, thanks for the reply.  Of course you picked the one link I did not mention.  The DVR is connected to the RG with a 6ft. CAT 6.  The WAP is also connected to the RG with a 6ft CAT 6.  Yes I know it doesn't matter if 5e or 6, but once you start buying CAT 6, might as well just use it for everything.

 

I was wondering if it was a signal loss or strength issue.  The signal strength lights never waiver.  It really is too bad there is no way for home users to gather statistics like with the RG.

 

I will try moving the WAP.  Has anyone determined a maximum cable length before signal degredation for the VAP2500 or is it the standard CAT 5 300ft?

 

Physical Layout:

I live in a two story townhome with wood laminate flooring upstairs, and standard textured sheetrock as the first floor ceiling.  The RG, DVR, and WAP are on the second floor.  My primary wireless install location is downstairs.  Using the RG/DVR/WAP as a fixed point, the wireless receiver is roughly 12ft down and 10ft aft.  Both locations are open and bordering the stairwell.  The secondary wireless is roughly 25ft away on the same plane as the RG/DVR/WAP.  This location has not been tested.

 

Knowing that the 5ghz spectrum is considerably weaker against solid objects than 2.4ghz, I am surprised AT&T does not offer an external/remote antennae for the receivers.

 

Of course this is all predicated on the theory that the only issue is a signal issue.  I will shift the WAP, but if anyone else has any ideas, please let me know.

 

Thanks,

 

Jim

Expert

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10.1K Messages

10 years ago

anothertxguy - Seeing expensive routers with arrays of two and three antennae on them makes me wonder why at&t did not go for a similar configuration.

I do not have wireless receivers & solved my internet wi-fi signal deficiency with a repeater. But, I have experimented with "make do" antenna on the RF remote. A "touch antenna" definitely improves reception. I started with holding the remote under and touching my chin. Then I tried the printed circuit made for the battery compartment of a cell phone. Then I touched the remote to a quarter inch round arm ( about 15" long) of a reading lamp. All of these provided significant improvement.

If you are down to reception problem you might try taping a similar piece of metal to the WAP. Of, course, do not let it touch anything else.

I believe, you can make any cat5/6 cable any length you would need.

Please let us know about your experience, good and bad.

Former Employee

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549 Messages

10 years ago

Hey anothertxguy,

 

Just checking up on your post. I see both Aviewer and 'My Thoughts' shared some great suggestions & insight to the situation. Were you able to get the Total home DVR issue resolved?

 

- MorganCS

- ATTU-verseCare

Tutor

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8 Messages

10 years ago

Hey All,

 

First let me say thank you for all solutions and checking in with me.  Yes, I did get it working with everyone's help.  "My Thoughts", verified my feelings that it was somehow a firmware conflict, but I was unsure where the conflict was.

 

@aviewer, thanks for your suggestions, it is always good to have a "second pair of eyes" to ensure all loose ends are tied up before digging deeper.  KISS theory will almost always trump Murphy's Law when done properly.

 

@My Thoughts, I resolved the conflict by factory resetting the DVR.  I did not need to reset the wireless receivers.  I did unplug my primary wireless for a "clean start"; however, I am unsure if it was completely necessary.

 

@MorganCS, thanks for checking in.  I was able to resolve the issue.  I may have missed where this is posted, but the following information would truly have helped me resolve the issue much sooner:

 

  • A stickied post with current revision numbers and essentially highlights of the patch notes.  I had to look at third party sites to find the firmware versions for both the VIP 2250 and the wireless receivers.
  • A stickied post with some of the basic and the more obscure options of the system.  I know there is a way to use the favorites list, but it doesn't appear to be just plain simple.  I don't believe I should have to dig deeply for such a basic function.
  • A place to post requests for future options.  One suggestion, the "hide channels" option is considerably more laborious than it should be.
    • There is a "Check All" option, more importantly how about an "Uncheck All" button?  Out of all the channels I am plied with, there are very few I ever use.
    • If not an "Uncheck All" button, how about an "Uncheck HD", or an "Uncheck SD" option. Unchecking 600+ channels can get extremely annoying.
    • Allow channel configuration from the gateway or online and allow me to push the lineup to whichever receiver I would like.

Once again, thanks all for the assistance.

 

Jim

Expert

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10.1K Messages

10 years ago

anothertxguy - Glad to hear you got your service working. I an not a fan of having to dig deeply for anything I want to do. So, I will not try to defend that. Don't be shy about making suggestions here on the forum. Join the crowd. I love to make suggestions.

Unfortunately, the Favorites process is currently "under the weather". It does not work like it used to. And, it is not known what the intended process is. But, it is possible, easy and straightforward -

To add or delete a channel to/from the Favorites list, press enter/zoom (bottom right), One Down Arrow to add Favorites. Select your favorites list & press OK. After selection the menu changes to remove

To view - Menu- 2 down arrows - OK

Discovered while I was testing testing my directions - Maybe it is more complicated than I thought - I am used to one favorites & now you can create more than one. This is done in edit favorites.

Also, there now appears to be a problem that I did not see before now - While watching a channel already on the favorites list, I hit zoom the menu says add (should say delete). So, I added it again. when I looked again for delete, it still says add.

You will have to experiment with those two areas (Menu/favorites and Zoom/favorites) to see if it works enough for you (as it does for me) while we wait for a fix. Hopefully, this will apply those buttons to set the guide button to display only favorites. At least that is what a lot of people have requested.

Contributor

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1 Message

10 years ago

Yo there can u please register my number with at&t because i dnt know wat a wireless number is or where its located on my device samsung gt-s5301 my number is 

[Edited for privacy.]

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