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Just got my new HD20 and still not getting all the new D* channels?

post #1 of 28
9/4/07 at 8:28pm
Thread Starter 
What am I doing wrong? I have the 5 lnb dish they said I would need and I have the crappy DirecTV DVR (HD20) that makes me long for the days of my TIVO. Why am I not getting the channels?
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post #2 of 28
9/4/07 at 8:30pm
what new channels are you speaking of?

The 'supposed' new HD channels haven't come online yet...
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post #3 of 28
9/4/07 at 9:22pm
There aren't any new channels yet. The first group of new channels is expected within two weeks.
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post #4 of 28
9/4/07 at 10:48pm
Thread Starter 
Oh. I thought it was in the beginning of Sept. Thanks for the reply. I guess it's hurry up and wait again.
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post #5 of 28
9/4/07 at 11:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Meno View Post

What am I doing wrong? I have the 5 lnb dish they said I would need and I have the crappy DirecTV DVR (HD20) that makes me long for the days of my TIVO. Why am I not getting the channels?

BAN THIS FOOL!!!!!!!!!! Cause I pity the fool who doesn't BAN THIS FOOL!!!

It's the HR20 and you have to do a red button reset to get them . No, No don't do that I'm just kidding. Please read one of the many forum threads on the subject or just do a search.
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post #6 of 28
9/5/07 at 6:37am
Mr T has spoken.
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post #7 of 28
9/5/07 at 6:54am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CycloneGT View Post

Mr T has spoken.

I pity the fool that doesn't eat his cereal.
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post #8 of 28
9/5/07 at 7:45am
lol at this panic thread
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post #9 of 28
9/5/07 at 8:01am
You have to have an engineering mode card to receive the new channels.

Edit - I was trying to make a newbie joke. It didn't seem to be understood that way. My apologies to the newbies.
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post #10 of 28
9/5/07 at 8:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by stephenC View Post

You have to have an engineering mode card to receive the new channels.

This is incorrect, you can view the guide data, but nothing is being transmitted from the new bird yet.
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post #11 of 28
9/5/07 at 8:27am
I'm using the 3LNB/H10 and want to upgrade to the 5LNB and H20. Will D* be contacting me to upgrade or is it up to me to get in touch with them to get the new equipment? Will I have to pay for the new dish and h20? I can't find any info on the D* website. Thanks in advance.
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post #12 of 28
9/5/07 at 8:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hunter65 View Post

I'm using the 3LNB/H10 and want to upgrade to the 5LNB and H20. Will D* be contacting me to upgrade or is it up to me to get in touch with them to get the new equipment? Will I have to pay for the new dish and h20? I can't find any info on the D* website. Thanks in advance.

Right now it's up to you. Call and play CSR roulette and see what kind of deal you can get.

Once the channels actually launch in a couple weeks I would expect the media blitz to begin.
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post #13 of 28
9/5/07 at 10:11am
Thanks bonscott87. I always appreciate your insight and advice. We'll give them a shout and see what what kinda deal we can get. Can we install the new dish ourselves? It's pretty basic stuff(based on installing the 3lnb anyhow).
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post #14 of 28
9/5/07 at 10:18am
I went and signed up for D* yesterday (switching from Dish...trying something new...) I got the H20 and the dish from the store, but it's not being put up until saturday, and I didn't start reading about this until today...

My question is, how do I know if I have the 3LNB, or the 5LNB? I don't want to have to upgrade something a couple weeks from now if I don't have the right one.
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post #15 of 28
9/5/07 at 10:25am
Hey guys i have the H20 but i only have a 3lnb dish. So will i get the new channels or do i have to upgrade to a 5lnb dish?
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post #16 of 28
9/5/07 at 11:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shakesa7 View Post

Hey guys i have the H20 but i only have a 3lnb dish. So will i get the new channels or do i have to upgrade to a 5lnb dish?

you need the 5LNB to get the new HD channels.
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post #17 of 28
9/5/07 at 1:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shakesa7 View Post

Hey guys i have the H20 but i only have a 3lnb dish. So will i get the new channels or do i have to upgrade to a 5lnb dish?

As hunter65 said, you will need the 5LNB dish.
Also, if you have more than 4 drops, you will need a Zinwell 6x8 multi-switch, plus BBC's on all your H20 / HR20 receivers.
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post #18 of 28
9/5/07 at 4:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bld93 View Post

My question is, how do I know if I have the 3LNB, or the 5LNB? I don't want to have to upgrade something a couple weeks from now if I don't have the right one.

One will have 3 LNBs on it. The other will have 5. Count the white plastic things that look like door knobs on your dish.
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post #19 of 28
9/5/07 at 6:05pm
Thanks for the info guys.. i will get on the phone to get a new 5lnb dish.
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post #20 of 28
9/5/07 at 6:30pm
does the five lnb dish actually have five white plastic things? because if it is suppose to my installer is a moron
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post #21 of 28
9/5/07 at 7:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Meno View Post

What am I doing wrong? I have the 5 lnb dish they said I would need and I have the crappy DirecTV DVR (HD20) that makes me long for the days of my TIVO. Why am I not getting the channels?


You are right about the crap factor of the HD20.
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post #22 of 28
9/5/07 at 9:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff R View Post

does the five lnb dish actually have five white plastic things? because if it is suppose to my installer is a moron

I seem to think so, but I haven't upgraded mine yet, so I can't be 100% sure. I've actually seen two styles: one with five cones in a line and one with two separate arms. I haven't been able to confirm if there are actually five cones on that model.
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post #23 of 28
9/5/07 at 9:00pm
There is also a special disc with the
lettering Slimline that gets all the sats.

As of this date, the new channels
are not live.
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post #24 of 28
9/6/07 at 4:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff R View Post

does the five lnb dish actually have five white plastic things? because if it is suppose to my installer is a moron

The correct dish says "Slimline" on it. Looking at the LNBs on that dish it would appear there are only 3 of them with 3 plastic discs, but there are actually 5 inside those 3 containers.

SMK
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post #25 of 28
9/6/07 at 4:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hunter65 View Post

Thanks bonscott87. I always appreciate your insight and advice. We'll give them a shout and see what what kinda deal we can get. Can we install the new dish ourselves? It's pretty basic stuff(based on installing the 3lnb anyhow).

This dish is much harder to aim than the 1 or 3 LNB models. I installed both of those myself, and it took some time but was not difficult to get them aimed correctly. This dish is different. You cannot use the signal meters on your tuners to aim the dish. You need a satellite signal meter. If you have one, you can easily aim it following directions available several places. Also, remember that with this bigger dish is a bigger mounting arm. You cannot use the previous one and just put the new dish on it (which is what I and most people did when going from the original round dish to the oval 3 LNB dish). Last, it really needs to be well supported, so make sure it is connected securely to your house preferably into a stud or roof rafter and use the 2 additional supports.

SMK
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post #26 of 28
9/6/07 at 5:10am
Great advice SMK. I'll take this into consideration when I give the job to my satellite guy. Thank you.
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post #27 of 28
9/6/07 at 9:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyGBiv View Post

The correct dish says "Slimline" on it. Looking at the LNBs on that dish it would appear there are only 3 of them with 3 plastic discs, but there are actually 5 inside those 3 containers.

SMK

Thanks for the clarification. I was confused by the various models out there that claim to be the correct one.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyGBiv View Post

This dish is much harder to aim than the 1 or 3 LNB models. I installed both of those myself, and it took some time but was not difficult to get them aimed correctly. This dish is different. You cannot use the signal meters on your tuners to aim the dish. You need a satellite signal meter. If you have one, you can easily aim it following directions available several places. Also, remember that with this bigger dish is a bigger mounting arm. You cannot use the previous one and just put the new dish on it (which is what I and most people did when going from the original round dish to the oval 3 LNB dish). Last, it really needs to be well supported, so make sure it is connected securely to your house preferably into a stud or roof rafter and use the 2 additional supports.

SMK

Good advice. I installed my original multi-satellite dish myself and having the additional adjustment of rotating the dish angle took a bit of getting used to from the old round dish. I can't imagine what acrobatics this new one requires to get it to see all the birds properly.
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post #28 of 28
9/6/07 at 1:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NetworkTV View Post

.... I can't imagine what acrobatics this new one requires to get it to see all the birds properly.

Actually, its the same tilt stuff as the 3-lnb, but the 5-lnb dishes require much more accurate aiming. The old satellites spacing of 9 degrees allowed the installer to be fairly imprecise and have a workable system (just less rainfade tolerance). The new satellites will have neighbors with only 2 degrees separation. So a 1 /2 degree error on the old dishes wouldn't be noticeable, but on a 5-lnb has you already halfway to the point where you get equal contributions from both satellites. To make it more interesting, some of those neighboring satellites aren't there yet. So you could have a bad installation that works fine today (with a lower but usable signal strength), but will fail when the new satellites are turned on.

Ernie
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