DirecTV HDTV - Page 428

I just saw E! has finally gone HD, my god that's nearly 10 yrs later than everyone else. Seriously, things looks so much better esp the Kardashians I just watched their wedding train wreck for the 1st time this morning. They were clawing at each other days before the wedding...not a good sign.

Anyways there's another show biz family making their debut this month Meet Mrs Eastwood & co. so those who tune in the Kardashians will prob enjoy this too.

Which raises the question why would they use 119 for guide data when I almost never have either tuner parked over there.

OTOH, I guess this development plus Dish's latest fiasco with AMC, pretty much quashes my latest bad ideas about jumping ship.

Well it has NOTHING to do with actually putting your tuner on 119; it has everything to do with the fact on the slimline legacy 5LNB's, the 103 HD (Ka) sat signals are frequency "stacked" on the SAME (switched) cable as the 119 bird. So, when you have your tuner parked on an HD channel coming from the 103 bird, your tuner actually is pulling guide data from the 119 bird. The 99 HD bird is stacked on the same cable as 101, so that's why there's no issue with that bird.

(FYI, in case you didn't know, the 110 & 119 sats are treated as ONE complete bird, as it is frequency shifted & falls into a different part of the band, but on the SAME cable as 119)

The ONLY workaround, would be that you do NOT keep your tuner(s) parked on a 103 HD channel for extended period of time; NOT really practical for most folks. Other than that, there is no way to alter these LNB's (or an external multi-switch) to get around the limitation.

None of the SWM LNB's or switches, nor the legacy 3LNB's have this issue, as they were able to ALWAYS pull guide data from 101, regardless of where the tuner is parked.

Yeah, the remote's been a POS since they gave me this "new" receiver. My old HR23 just stopped working and wouldn't power on anymore. I foolishly assumed that since there was a new box available that they would just automatically upgrade me to the newer box. But, assuming only leads to assumptions...and incorrect ones at that.
So it looks like I'm running the 0x59f software. Is this the latest update that's slowing everyone down?

After truTV and E! were added in HD, the last two months, I hope more basic cable channels in HD come our way. I hope DirecTV gives us more.

Hope there becomes a fix as well with the buggy software plaguing these HD DVR receivers. (Enough with that rage.)

Couldn't put it better myself. I would love to see HSN, QVC, SNBC go HD too. Oh and DIY, Nat Geo Wild, OWN and COOK channel also.

SNBC doesnt broadcast in HD.

Not quite 10 years, it launched December 8, 2008.


What indications are you having that the remote is bad? I'm not doubting you, but I bet its not the remote but more the slow software.

Same way I know when any remote is bad. The box and remote both blink when a button is pressed. Half the time the box doesn't blink. When this happens the remote will blink twice. I have to slap the remote and then it'll work. Yes batteries are good too. This isn't my first rodeo. I've had dtv for about 15 yrs. This was happening before the update as well.

Like I said, I haven't been paying attention to the tech aspects since, well D* came out and "free" upgraded me to the Ka/Mpeg4 system ... I haven't worried about it, since everything has been working as advertised for several years now.


Yes I know how the Ku band works ... I've been around since the single 101 LNB days. At one point, I had one dish for 101 and a second for 110/119 ... opposite problem: 101 was getting blocked on the old 3LNB Ku dish/location.

I did ponder over the Ka/Ku stacking and realized there was probably some switching signal reuse going on ... in the wee hours of the AM. In my defense, apparently, I'm getting old and senile.

"What indications are you having that the remote is bad? I'm not doubting you, but I bet its not the remote but more the slow software.[/quote]

Concerning the remote, I have an H21 and it doesn't always respond to button presses. The unit is in an equipment stack with metal boxes above and below. Any chance your unit is similarly shielded, with equip. above and below?

Dude, it's the remote. It's been happening since I pulled it out of the box. Didn't get the update until two months later. It's only gotten worse since then.

Dude, this has been an issue long before the new software.

So they used a firmware update out early this morning. I'm having loss of signal issues when changing channels all do a sudden. Do these people not test firmwares before pushing this out? Jesus. I have to turn the receiver off then back on to get my feed back.

I don't think it is me, but I just came back after being with Uverse for a year. They gave me the newer H24-100 DVR. I had the old H20 when I left. The HD picture quality looks soft and not the HD picture I remember while watching "Two and a Half Men". A cell phone comercial came while THM was on and that came in very crisp. USA HD looks soft too. I still have to do a little more exploring, since this is new as of Saturday. I have to say, I am not as impressed as I had been in the past with what I'm seeing now. Has there been a change with Directv in this past year regarding PQ?

BTW, I am using 1080i and 1080p setting on the H24. This is through HDMI to my Onkyo HT-RC260 and then into my Panasonic TC-P54Z1.

HD PQ seems to have gone downhill.

It hasn't changed one bit.

Haha! I see what you did there, "one bit".

HD picture quality looks the same as it has for a while. Looks great on my end.

Honestly, I can't say the picture looks inferior but the bit rates on my recordings do indicate that D* is doing something different.

Me too ever since Directv downloaded software version 0x5cd in the early morning on 5/17/12 (1:46am) to my HR22.

I spoke to a tech rep the next day and she said Directv has no control over the downloads. I think she said they come out of Korea. She "elevated" the issue but said it could be a few days or a couple of weeks. For me, it's almost been 1 week now.

"Directv has no control over the downloads."

They have no control over the "improvements" they force upon their customers? Then who's running the show in Korea?

That's bizarre. Well I'm hoping they get their act together.

Apparently my dish was moved, at least that is what DirecTV is claiming to be the issue.

The earliest appointment for a tech to come out is Tuesday 12-4 PM.

Is this a normal wait time?

I'm going to try adjusting the dish myself in the morning, but this sucks, especially since Young Justice premiers on Saturday mornings.

Mr Zoid

Sounds about right

I know there are better places to report this, but I don't frequent those places.

It looks like the programming droids at D* have "fixed" the HDMI handshaking with the latest firmware upgrade (0x5cd) ... My Denon is going bonkers! Multiple reports of several AVR's having the same issues over at the "DBStalk."

Also the HR21 apparently tried to authorize itself for whole-home DVR (so it said,) even though it's not hooked up to even a basic home network at the moment. Fortunately, the status screen still shows "not authorized.

All I can say is what the ..... !!!! Doesn't D* have alpha testers anymore?

Be afraid ... be prepared to go back to component & toslink cables until the storm passes ...

My HR24 (ethernet is connected) somehow authorized itself for Whole-Home DVR service as well (this happened a few months ago). When I got that message, I immediately went online to check the status of my account, and it said I wasn't authorized, but my DVR begged to differ.

I called them the next day and even D* said that it had to be a mistake because it wasn't showing for them either. It took about 10-15 minutes of doing who knows what for it to show up on their side as well. They de-authorized it, but it took a day for it to show up on the DVR itself. None of this ever showed up on my bill or online, so I don't know wtf happened.

I got the same whole-home authorization message (HR22). I don't even have a second receiver!

YES: but if you did have a 2nd receiver, DirecTV is smart enough to know that you would want this feature!! (I got the message, too)

BTW: My receiver is reacting much more quickly since the last software update. I was ready to throw it through the window!!!

The latest firmware mistakenly shows the Whole Home authorization screen to everyone when it gets loaded. It won't turn it on if you don't actually subscribe to the service.