Prime Time Anytime is on-again, off-again

[mthompson]

Hello,
We just had a Winegard Trav'ler and Hopper 3 installed during the Heartland Rally in Goshen. Everything worked fine and, after the first night (while everything was downloading) Prime Time Anytime recorded just like it should for the last 2 nights of the rally.

After the rally we moved north into Michigan and ended up in a park/site that had trees blocking our signal. So, back to OTA. After 2 days we went further north in Michigan and have a clear sight to all 3 western arc satellites. But, Prime Time Anytime is not recording.

I called Dish 2 different times and got 2 different answers.
1. Some local stations don't shoot to the western arc sats so Prime Time can't record anything (As I'm sitting there watching local channels).
2. Some places in the US don't have Prime Time Anytime.

Does anyone out there have any experience with this? Are there really areas of the US where locals won't allow recording via Prime Time Anytime?

Thanks for any help and/or answers you can offer.

 

[porthole]

Hello,
We just had a Winegard Trav'ler and Hopper 3 installed during the Heartland Rally in Goshen. Everything worked fine and, after the first night (while everything was downloading) Prime Time Anytime recorded just like it should for the last 2 nights of the rally.

After the rally we moved north into Michigan and ended up in a park/site that had trees blocking our signal. So, back to OTA. After 2 days we went further north in Michigan and have a clear sight to all 3 western arc satellites. But, Prime Time Anytime is not recording.

I called Dish 2 different times and got 2 different answers.
1. Some local stations don't shoot to the western arc sats so Prime Time can't record anything (As I'm sitting there watching local channels).
2. Some places in the US don't have Prime Time Anytime.

Does anyone out there have any experience with this? Are there really areas of the US where locals won't allow recording via Prime Time Anytime?

Thanks for any help and/or answers you can offer.

What is Prime Time Anywhere ?

I don't know if you can see my signature, but on the SAT TV thread, look at the linked thread, last page and there is a graphic showing how DirecTV beams it's signals, showing why all the locals don't show up all the time.

Because of 'spot beam' coverage you don't always get the channels, even though the SAT's are visible.

 

[mthompson]

What is Prime Time Anywhere ?

I don't know if you can see my signature, but on the SAT TV thread, look at the linked thread, last page and there is a graphic showing how DirecTV beams it's signals, showing why all the locals don't show up all the time.

Because of 'spot beam' coverage you don't always get the channels, even though the SAT's are visible.

Prime Time Anytime is an exclusive to Dish Network. From 8:00pm to 11:00pm the Hopper automatically records the "locals" - ABC, CBS, NBC, & FOX. The DVR saves these recordings for 8 days unless you save a program to your space on the DVR.

 

[mlpeloquin]

You may have to call Dish again and clarify that Prime Time Recording of local channels is not limited to a specific geographical/milage area where you first set up. With Direct TV, I receive my local channels in a 150 mile radius.

 

[danemayer]

The FCC restricts which channels you can receive based on where you are located. Satellite providers have spot beams to comply with the regulations. So when I'm in the Denver area, I get the spot beam for Denver channels.

Once in Goshen, I called Directv and changed my service address (not billing) to Goshen and was able to watch the local northern Indiana channels.

The Prime-Time Anytime service just looks like a simple way to record everything on the network channels that you're receiving. But if you're not receiving any, there's nothing to record.

 

[Terry H]

Dish Primetime Anytime only records the local HD Channels on the Western Arc satellites that are being received. While in the Goshen area I can only received the local SD channels because the Traveler only points to the Western Arc. Dish explained the the local HD channels for South Bend are on the Eastern Arc Satellites.

 

[mthompson]

The FCC restricts which channels you can receive based on where you are located. Satellite providers have spot beams to comply with the regulations. So when I'm in the Denver area, I get the spot beam for Denver channels.

Once in Goshen, I called Directv and changed my service address (not billing) to Goshen and was able to watch the local northern Indiana channels.

The Prime-Time Anytime service just looks like a simple way to record everything on the network channels that you're receiving. But if you're not receiving any, there's nothing to record.

The Prime-Time Anytime service just looks like a simple way to record everything on the network channels that you're receiving. But if you're not receiving any, there's nothing to record.


But in there lies the rub. We are getting local stations where we are (after calling Dish and giving them the zip code for our current location). We are able to record them - manually - but the Prime Time Anytime isn't working....So it just doesn't make sense to me that if we are able to get the channels they should record as their programming is written and sold.