DirecTV nightmare continues - Do I need a new dish?

[JerryDelColliano]

I had my crestron programmer come over this morning and update my handheld remote in my living room to run the HR20 DVR in stead of the HD10-250 TiVo.

The remote works fine yet the receiver, which is connected to a 4 LMB dish that was JUST installed a year ago - isn't finding MANY of the channels on DirecTV. My master bedroom and theater systems are fine and receive everything. The new receiver can't get CNN (or CNN HD) but can get Discovery HD and other channels on other areas on the dial.

My programmer has DirecTV and ran into the same issues at his house. He needed to replace a new dish like mine.

My wife (an IT consultant by trade) called DirecTV for the 5th time in a week and you might be shocked to hear - they could do NOTHING to help us over the phone. When is JD Power going to realize that "restart your unit" isn't customer service. Neither is outsourcing all of your calls. Lame.

We have one of their techs coming over Friday. I wonder if he or she can fix anything or has the right parts on their truck to make the system work.

I want more HD channels but this is a JOKE. DirecTV should be ashamed of themselves.

[MoosePond]

Originally Posted by JerryDelColliano

The remote works fine yet the receiver, which is connected to a 4 LMB dish that was JUST installed a year ago - isn't finding MANY of the channels on DirecTV. My master bedroom and theater systems are fine and receive everything. The new receiver can't get CNN (or CNN HD) but can get Discovery HD and other channels on other areas on the dial.

My programmer has DirecTV and ran into the same issues at his house. He needed to replace a new dish like mine.

I want more HD channels but this is a JOKE. DirecTV should be ashamed of themselves.

Have a similar problem with my DirecTV setup at our weekend home in VT. Am getting some of the (both newer and older) HD channels but not all of them, even though we've got a new 5 LNB dish that was installed less than 3 months ago! AARRGGHH!! Their idiots on the phone don't seem to have a clue and I'll have to wait until the week after Thanksgiving when we're up all week to get one of their "technicians" out to see if they can resolve this.

[TheMoose]

When I got my HR20 it required a service call even though they shipped me the box.
It requires the new 5 LMB dish & it needs to be set up by an installer, it's not like the old dishes you could aim yourself, so yes if you have the 4 LMB dish you need a new dish.
If you had an installer over already & he didn't replace the old dish then I'd be ticked, if you are still waiting for your install appointment then he should put the new dish up then.

Now I'm in no way saying what is happening is right but I imagine with all the new HD channels there is probably a lot of new CSR's & installers that don't know what's going on yet.
However I have never liked the fact they subcontract out the installs & service, that gives them very little control over the quality of people they use.

I hope you get everything worked out soon so you can enjoy the new channels.

[TheMoose]

Originally Posted by MoosePond

Have a similar problem with my DirecTV setup at our weekend home in VT. Am getting some of the (both newer and older) HD channels but not all of them, even though we've got a new 5 LNB dish that was installed less than 3 months ago! AARRGGHH!! Their idiots on the phone don't seem to have a clue and I'll have to wait until the week after Thanksgiving when we're up all week to get one of their "technicians" out to see if they can resolve this.

Do you have the Mpeg4 receiver like the HR20? if not you won't get all the new channels, also make sure you have the B-Band converters that should have been shipped with the Mpeg4 receivers installed correctly.

[JerryDelColliano]

They are coming Friday.

I doubt they will make things work right...

j

[deacongreg]

You know Jerry, I was going to say the same thing as TheMoose. Before I had Cablevision, I had DirecTV for a little while. They subcontract everything here. Its all about installs and numbers. I hope it works out for you.

But i must tell you, and I know its been reported that DirecTVs HD signal is better than Cablevision`s, you might just want to switch back, just for simplicity sake. Cable in, cable out, no weather problems. And, I don`t know what you use for phones and internet, but getting the "triple play" does save money across the board.
Now, i don`t know if you even have this where you live in the cliffs and mountains.