Pixelation - how to track down cause?

[graywolf]

Started getting sporadic pixelation in some recordings, CBS seeming to be the channel with it occurring more frequently.

Have DirecTV (SD), and Hauppauge 1600 card.

Think I've read somewhere that it is sometimes caused by signal strength.
How would I go about monitoring, having history of signal strength in order to refer back to on recordings that have pixelation.

Expect it at times during heavy storms but some of these blips have occurred on nights that were clear.

Any suggestions on how to track/monitor/troubleshoot?
Starting to drive the wife batty at times.

Do not think it is the server hardware since I've seen this happen on both my Prod and Test Servers (record just me stuff on Test Server sometimes).

For example, both CBS & Fox recordings Monday night had issues on both servers but other channels were fine. No storms in the area.

[Fuzzy]

It's not likely the server causing the picelation, since you are recieving a relatively low quality analog feed form the sat box. The pixellation is most likely to occur in the transmission from sat to reciever, due to either a failing LNB, or a poorly aimed dish. I'd check the signal strength's on the STB, especially regarding the transponder tha the CBS station is on.

An aging LNB could start to loose sensitivity on just one polarization, so, for isntance, all odd transponders might be fine, but the even transponders might be degraded.

[graywolf]

Thanks. I'll look into that. But since it does seem to be sporadic, do you know of a way that I can monitor the signal strength and keep historical data?

That way when I see the pixelation on a recording, I could look back in time to see what the signal strength was during the bad spot in the recording?

[panteragstk]

For a dish the only way I know of to monitor signal strength is through the menu on the stb.

[graywolf]

I guess the next question is: how do I determine which transponder supports which channels for DirecTV? And does it depend upon which STB model?