DirecTV HDTV - Page 472

If D* ALSO removes the OTA guide data for the (same) affected station on satellite, then you're SOL...at least as far as doing normal "prog by event" timers; you might have to resort to doing manual timer recordings.

AND...since D*'s AM21 ONLY allows OTA scanning on the Genie DVR's - if you have one of the H2x or HR2x series receivers/DVR's, & they COMPLETELY remove the OTA channel out of their database entirely, then you won't get that OTA station, AT ALL, thru those said receivers...

And yes, one or the other of these have & DO happen...

I have never heard of DirecTV removing a channel from the AM21's guide data because of a carriage dispute. If anything I wouldn't be suprised if they were to add a channel in if they didn't have it before, and then offer people calling in to complain about the missing channel the AM21. Sinclair wouldn't be able to do a thing about it.

Ah, OTA only. Well sure, that is unaffected. My old TiVo HD lumbers on OTA-only now that I have D*.

I think people would take up torches and pitchforks if D* messed with AM21 functionality on OTA duplicates of disputed carriage channels.

Well then, if that's true, my choice of TiVo over another D* DVR+AM21 is looking even better.

On larger TVs, the guide and info bar seem to take a lot space than they need. Is there some sort of "big screen mode" I'm not aware of?
Thanks,
John

And I thought I was alone in thinking this...

That would be nice if I could adjust but don't see anything for that in D* settings, just proportionate otherwise.

I did wake up this AM to the tuning adapter doing it's 8x indicator light blink signifying it had lost sync with the cable headend. No canceled recordings, but it is inconvenient nonetheless.

I've been with Directv since Nov. 12'. I like it so far but we've had an insane amount of snow in KC over the last two weeks and my satelite keeps going out. My In-laws have DTV and they complain everytime it snows or rains their signal is lost. I'm not sure I can deal with all of that especially since it storms a lot in KC in the spring and summer. Anyone know what the exact cost is to cancel service? I'm still mulling it over and not sure I'll actually do it but doesn't hurt to know all the facts. Thanks in advance.

I believe it's $20 per month remaining on your contract. For you, that would be about $180.

BTW, we get terrible storms here in Texas and I rarely lose signal and when I do it's only for 5 minutes or so.

I don't deal with Snow, but I know many people in the Northern climates that have ways of getting the snow off the dish that helps (long broom, etc.). It also helps if your dish is easily accessible.

Used to live in the Chicago area and for snow only lost it if the snow built up on the dish or the end of the LNB, that's why I had it mounted in a location that I could get to for cleaning. Rain can be a problem especially with the HD signal, making sure that the dish is aimed so the 99(c) and 103(ca)/103(cb) signals are in the 90's can help with that.

Yes indeed snow has to be brushed off when it builds up and you are definitely getting lambasted with snow. I also remember it's 20.00 a month left on lease when you cancel.

We had a problem with our dish mounted on tower and eventually had it moved to ground where it's much easier to handle the snow thing (no tower climbing) The better news is that you guys been getting all our normal snow in IL.

I just watched recorded stuff when it goes out.

We've got15"-20" of snow in the past week and my dish is on top of our roof. I can't even reach it with a ladder because we also have a huge skylight with a seperate roof section just below our dish. Dangerous to say the least, even for a professional.

Snow can be an issue, but there are solutions. The best in my opinion is to mount the dish at or near ground level for easy access to brush the snow off. Failing that you can put a plastic bag over the dish - not pretty, but workable - and they do make dish heaters that will melt the snow. Here in MI we do occasionally get snow and once in a while I do have a problem, but I also have the AM21 units on my nonHR20 units so I have OTA always available. And as you say you do have recordings.

To be fair, this is the worst snow KC has gotten in 20 years, so I don't think you'll be dealing with the snow all the time. As far as storms, I'm in Saint Louis, so we get what you guys get, just later and I don't lose signal that often. It has to be pretty heavy downpour to go out, and usually its out for a few minutes. Your in-laws may need to get their dish repointed if it goes out all the time in rain.

Super Soaker full of windshield washer fluid.

Damn near fell off the roof but I got the snow removed. Signal back. We've been getting dicked around with DTV lately and I'm overall just not that impressed with the quality over TWC and after everything's said and done, our bill is not much cheaper. Customer Service is better but we just tried to cancel our movie promo that ended after 3 months at sign-up and they tried to add more monthly charges, citing that their fees went up and there's nothing they can do about it. Seriously? We have to pay extra to change or cancel our "CONTRACT" but DTV can change the $$$ amount of our contract whenever they want? They eventually waived the extra fee but I'm not looking forward to the future Gestapo Crap they're going to give us over new changes. I'll enjoy it for a few more months but I will eventually go back to TWC and my Tivo HD with Tuning Adapter. Customer Service may be crap but atleast I won't have my contract messed with whenver they feel it's necessary. Thanks for all the advice.
Edited by Justin Sullins - 2/26/13 at 1:16pm

I guess we all come into a situation with our perceptions, and we try hard to fulfill those perceptions. I've been with D for 10-12 years, had Dish and Comcast and quite honestly I'm the happiest with D. I don't feel jerked around, and I've never had an issue dropping a pay channel or adding something. Whatever contact I've had with them has been fine.

Initially I was less than happy with their HD DVRs but that was quickly rectified with software improvements. Now I'd be loth to go back to TiVo or some other DVR. I may be in the minority here, but I do all my own installs, own all my equipment and ave been out of contract for 4 years. I have nothing holding me with D, but there is nothing tempting out there. If I recall I had more outages with Comcast than the occasional few minutes with D. If you're happier and more comfortably with TWC look into switching back, no sense in being unhappy.

Spot on.

I don't have to be with D* - I choose to be. My experience with them is far better than anything I've ever had with Comcast.

Me, too. Had Comcast with many issues, moved and my new housemate already had D*, and kept it after he left. At first some issues but when I wanted new eqpt after my old dvr died plus better sat aiming they actually got it done plus at a reduced price. The continuity and pq quality beats hell out of my cable experience.

Comcast is pretty crappy in general so whatever you guys get after that is awlays going to look awesome. I'm happy with DTV as much as the next guy but I've had some issues since having DTV that I never had to deal with on a weekly basis with Tivo/TWC. For instance, rebooting the box with DTV every week or so just to get it running smoothly, loss of signal more than just rain/snow, and button delay from remote to action on guide that sometimes takes up to 8 seconds. Again, I'm not here to bash DTV, it's a great service but for me it's not so good compared with what I came from and the price is not much different.

DTV = digital television
D* = DirecTV

I've only had box reset/functioning issues when my sat dish was having blockage issues from the trees that surround my place, especially worse during weather (trees swaying in the wind during storms and interfering with channels that were normally fine) and I remember that the remote was affected as well. Although on my last box swap for a newer model of DVR they told me my old dvr's disk drive was crapping out and causing part of my problem at that point but never really tested that out (and they readjusted the sat dish position at the same time as that latest swap so hard to say which reason was primary or if it was synergy or what). No problems since so you might want to make sure your sat dish is setup right...or you don't have an old dvr crapping out. Still beats hell out of the cable connection with Comcast I last had...

I had no idea D* was DirecTV and DTV was digital television. Thanks for pointing that out to me. I feel like an ass for mixing the two up in my earlier posts. I'll contact Directv to let them know once again I'm having issues with lag on the remote. I've called several times about the issue since Nov. but the answer they give me is always to reboot the box. It seems to help but it's getting rather annoying doing all the time.

Directv and Sinclair Broadcasting Group have to an agreement

No one will lose stations this time around.

You need to tell them you'll be cancelling service if they can't fix the damn problem....they'll figure it out even if they have to finally send the "A" team of installers/techs as they did with me....shoulda insisted earlier, as channels we thought we just weren't in a good place for now tune in fine (on the "A" team's arrival and fix, the first guy just threw in the towel).

The sluggishness described is normal for DirecTV DVRs. It's been that way for years. If DirecTV could fix it, they would have a long time ago. The OP can raise hell and get one new DVR after another, but the situation will not change.

Are the newer boxes better than the older ones though in regards to it's responsivness?

We still have an HR21-200 and I know quite a few models have come since then.

The HR24's are (usually) faster and the new HR44 is supposed to be greased lightning (or so they say) when it comes out.
The HR21's are definitely dogs though, got rid of mine last week for the new Genie reciever.

Hope this is the right area but not sure where to post.My contract with D is up.I presently have a HR20-700 in the fam. room another HR20-700 in a tv room ,a H20-100 in master br,and a HR23 in another br.The hr20-700 dvr's are getting very slugggish at times slow response w/remote,sometimes on play back of recordings we get jitters/stall/dropouts etc.Just not all the time.I'd like to see what options i have from the experts here.I would like to replace all the DVR's as well as Add one to the Master BR replacing the H20-100.My significant other constantly records and then subsequently watches these programs that i dred.The other day she's watching one of her recordings and kept getting upset and saying "Y does it keep doing that!?" What can i ask or should ask for from D.thx