[gwilliams]

We have been having some construction on a media room going on around the house here recently, and I plugged the receiver back in on Friday, and had much jerking in the picture, and then a complete loss of picture. I have (had?) an RCA DRD203RW, so I think I bought it perhaps 5 or 6 years ago. The signal strength is reading 0, and the dish is bolted down tightly, and I rechecked the cables.


If I do need to buy a new receiver, can anyone make a recommendation? Will a new receiver work with my old dish? Will the access card still work? I'm considering the RCA DRD480RE (because of it's 5.1 capability), since I am about to make a fair investment in the electornics for my media room. Are there better receivers for about the same amount? I already have a standalone Tivo that has been upgraded, so I don't think I need a DSS/PVR combo. With so few HDTV satellite channels, I'm not sure that getting an HDTV receiver will be worth it for, unless I need that to receive the HDTV signals off the air.


Let's hear those opinions!

 

[Ray H]

Sudden death and construction work could be an interrelated phenomenon. Is your coax buried in the wall(s)? Was anyone drilling into walls? You didn't mention whether you have a 2nd receiver elsewhere in the house. If so, and if it's working, the first order of business would be to swap the "dead" receiver to the other location. If it works there, it's not dead. If you do have a 2nd receiver, you probably also have a dual LNB. (maybe two of 'em if you have the elliptical dish). Swapping leads at the LNB(s) should help you isolate whether it's a cabling problem.

 

[gwilliams]

Nope. Don't think anybody was drilling. For debugging purposes, I plugged the receiver into the cable before it goes into the house and still no good. Plugged the cable into the other LNB and still no good. Only receiver in the house, but I think I'm going to buy a second one, a cheap one, and worst case, it can become a second receiver.