Loss of OTA on HR20 after 0x1EA update

[GeneralBender]

Hi there. This is the first time I'm posting here although I've been a reader of this forum for some time.

I know that there are threads out there talking about this issue and how people have been able to resolve it by contacting DirecTV and activating the HD package. My problem though is a bit more complicated.

I get DirecTV through a MDU service, more specifically AT&T Home Entertainment, and unfortunately they have not upgraded to HD or installed the necessary 5-LNB dish at my location. At the time the solution was simple, get the HR20-700 (at $300) and use the OTA feature for all my HD recording needs. This worked great for about a year until this latest update came out. I now see the 750 error message on all OTA channels, and yes, the signal coming in is fine.

I know what the problem is: I don't have an HD subscription. I've tried calling AT&T Home Entertainment to see if they could activate the HD service, but there systems won't allow that because my MDU does not have HD. I've tried calling DirecTV but as soon as they see that I'm at an MDU they tell me to call AT&T, they say they can't even pull up my profile or make any changes.

I apologize for the long post but if anyone has any tips or recommendations I would really appreciate it since I've lost all HD recording capabilities.

[Earl Bonovich]

Nothing you can do. Except pressure your MDU company to add the HD Access line item.

The HD Package is required to activate the OTA aspects of the unit.

Your MDU offeres NONE of the HD channels?

[GeneralBender]

Nothing you can do. Except pressure your MDU company to add the HD Access line item.

The HD Package is required to activate the OTA aspects of the unit.

Your MDU offeres NONE of the HD channels?

They have told me there are no HD channels for my location. Here is a link to their channel lineup for my location (ignore the spaces):

www .attheonline. com /atthe/main.nsf/downloadDocs/00DA3415FFEAFB34862572DE0038F2F1/$file/DIRECTVMDUBrochureMay07.pdf

I guess I'll have to keep pressuring them.

[tarkin]

Why did D* decide after all ths time to charge $10/month to access free OTA HD.
Will any CE release address this, open back up OTA HD reception without HD service.

How unfair to charge someone a fee for HD service that is freely provided by someone else.

Just venting, but I wouldn't be so ticked if D* at least gave me HD Locals for my $10.

[JeffBowser]

They are not charging you for the free OTA, they are charging you to use their equipment to get it. Feel free to bypass the DirecTV box, and tune the OTA with your own ATSC tuner.

Why did D* decide after all ths time to charge $10/month to access free OTA HD.
Will any CE release address this, open back up OTA HD reception without HD service.

How unfair to charge someone a fee for HD service that is freely provided by someone else.

Just venting, but I wouldn't be so ticked if D* at least gave me HD Locals for my $10.

[CTJon]

Although this doesn't directly effect me it seems as if this software release is the worst in terms of customer experience that D* has issued. Between the loss of easy access to functions and the loss of other functions that were available to people before this is just rediculous. I also see this as a sign of things to come more restrictions, more cost less service to the customer. They are following the airline model with competeing on how little service they can provide.

One of these days we'll have some bold politicians who will create a personal bill of rights for today. No longer will companies be able to change agreements at will, force contract extentions for any reason without any benefit (at least the cell phone companies say they are giving you a phone discount for the contract length), leasing you equipment that you have to pay 1/2 of up front.
But I guess as we, and I, keep paying D* and others will keep jacking up the price and lowering the value for it.

We can blame LIN all we want for their lack of HD service to D* but how hard has D tried and have they ever offered anything of value to LIN.

[Xaa]

Yeah, getting the government involved will lower the cost to consumers. Good luck! :lol:

[Newshawk]

Although this doesn't directly effect me it seems as if this software release is the worst in terms of customer experience that D* has issued. Between the loss of easy access to functions and the loss of other functions that were available to people before this is just rediculous. I also see this as a sign of things to come more restrictions, more cost less service to the customer. They are following the airline model with competeing on how little service they can provide.

One of these days we'll have some bold politicians who will create a personal bill of rights for today. No longer will companies be able to change agreements at will, force contract extentions for any reason without any benefit (at least the cell phone companies say they are giving you a phone discount for the contract length), leasing you equipment that you have to pay 1/2 of up front.
But I guess as we, and I, keep paying D* and others will keep jacking up the price and lowering the value for it.

We can blame LIN all we want for their lack of HD service to D* but how hard has D tried and have they ever offered anything of value to LIN.

Last time I checked, LIN wasn't a consumer getting "screwed over" by DirecTV, Lin was a company trying to get as much as it could from consumers by using DirecTV as a "beard" to hide LIN's intentions. It is companies like LIN that force DirecTV to continue "jacking up prices" due to LIN's greed.

Look at it another way. If you so violently object to DirecTV's reqiring you to have HD Acces to receive OTA HD channels, why are you not equally mad at LIN for using DirecTV as their "collector" to pay them for HD locals delivered over satellite?

[Newshawk]

Yeah, getting the government involved will lower the cost to consumers. Good luck! :lol:

Reminds me of the scariest statement I've ever heard: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."

[CTJon]

Last time I checked, LIN wasn't a consumer getting "screwed over" by DirecTV, Lin was a company trying to get as much as it could from consumers by using DirecTV as a "beard" to hide LIN's intentions. It is companies like LIN that force DirecTV to continue "jacking up prices" due to LIN's greed.

Look at it another way. If you so violently object to DirecTV's reqiring you to have HD Acces to receive OTA HD channels, why are you not equally mad at LIN for using DirecTV as their "collector" to pay them for HD locals delivered over satellite?

That isn't really what I meant. I don't think LIN is the good guy here but they are a company with costs and the fact that they should want to charge for the product and recover their cost isn't wrong. I have no idea how much they want and how much is that D doesn't want to pay at all. LIN has every right to make as much money as they can, it is the American way whether you like it or not. Both companies have a right to sell their product for as much as they think they can get. Do the consumer's get to pay the bill, yes.

I don't care at all about HD access for OTA, since I don't use it - what I objected to was the method of taking it away. There was no notice to people that said, yup you've been getting this for free but we are taking it away unless you want to pay for it. At least for some people notice was given when the orignal HD only channels were going to a separate pay for package. I don' t think even on this forum was there notice to people that the OTA HD access was going away. That was my issue.

[Xaa]

That isn't really what I meant. I don't think LIN is the good guy here but they are a company with costs and the fact that they should want to charge for the product and recover their cost isn't wrong. I have no idea how much they want and how much is that D doesn't want to pay at all. LIN has every right to make as much money as they can, it is the American way whether you like it or not. Both companies have a right to sell their product for as much as they think they can get. Do the consumer's get to pay the bill, yes.

So you'll have no problem if your local station sends you a bill for receiving their broadcasts OTA? After all they are a company with costs....



I don't care at all about HD access for OTA, since I don't use it - what I objected to was the method of taking it away. There was no notice to people that said, yup you've been getting this for free but we are taking it away unless you want to pay for it. At least for some people notice was given when the orignal HD only channels were going to a separate pay for package. I don' t think even on this forum was there notice to people that the OTA HD access was going away. That was my issue.


Let no good deed go unpunished. Without HD Access the customer has agreed to return the equipment. The fact that they let them keep it is extra. The fact that they allowed free use of HD was an additional bonus. Now you want to call them bad for giving the customer 2 things above and beyond what both parties agreed to.

[CTJon]

So you'll have no problem if your local station sends you a bill for receiving their broadcasts OTA? After all they are a company with costs....


I do pay with advertising that I also get with D*, although I don't watch any commericals I skip through them. I didn't say I liked it but a company has a right to sell its service. We don't have a problem with ESPN selling their services or HBO but we do with things that used to be free. The model of making money in the TV and entertainment business is changing, I don't like it but it is what it is.


Let no good deed go unpunished. Without HD Access the customer has agreed to return the equipment. The fact that they let them keep it is extra. The fact that they allowed free use of HD was an additional bonus. Now you want to call them bad for giving the customer 2 things above and beyond what both parties agreed to.

Again, I didn't say I liked it that the person wasn't getting some value but it is the lack of notice and the way the change was made. We've had this discussion on other topics over time but if you aren't a member of this forum or something similar how would you ever know what is going on with D* and why your world has changed? Maybe a lot of the CSR complaints would go down if they weren't buried with confused people. COMMUNICATE DirecTV is what I meant.

[Xaa]

I hear ya CTJon, but they did and do communicate that HD Access is required to actually keep the unit at all, so everyone should expect that anything they get without HD Access is above and beyond the agreement they willingly made.

[Mike728]

I'm wondering if they will soon start charging for OTA HD reception, even if we're already paying the $10 + $5 fees.

[KCDataDude]

OK folks, after 3 calls to the helpless desk, I finally got a CSR who was willing to help me with the problem of the OTA's being 750'ed.

We lost OTA's in Kansas City on 1/25-1/26 when they pushed the new load. First call was to reset the HD20 and the OTA's came back. A couple days later, they locked out on the 750 service not subscribed again.

My thanks to the technician, who I will not name, for spending 2+ hours with me to find a resolution. Apparently the HD channel package has the OTA's included in its allocation. We did not get enough use / enjoyment from the HD channels at the time they upgraded our owned receiver (HD10 release its only puff of black smoke) so we canceled the HD, but kept the OTA. To demonstrate to him the issue was tied to the HD package, he turned my HD back on while I was on a local OTA channel (41-2). As soon as he turned it on, the OTA came back. He then did some additional research and asked me to reprogram the receiver to the oval 3LNB dish which I did and did not appear to lose any channels. I tuned back to the same 41-2 and he turned the HD off. When he did. the OTA stayed up.

Long story short, if you have a 20 series receiver, and are not utilizing the HD package, try reprogramming the receiver for a 3LNB oval dish (eliminating the HD content reception). It appears to have worked for me, and the tech was taking an EXTREME amount of notes as we worked, but I think we have found the answer.

Please let me know how / if this workaround works for you.
KCDataDude
charlie@cassmidway.com

[tarkin]

That awesome, thanks for sharing your great find.
What dish type did you have set before going to 3LNB oval?
What actual dish type is physically mounted?

Thanks

[KCDataDude]

Receiver was set for a 5LNB when the problem occurred. Technician advised to try round, but that sounded like a somewhat large scaleback if it was not necessary. Seems to equate to if you have a problem with XP, revert to DOS 3.2 (anyone here remember that??)

I hope this helps - please spread the word.

'In god we trust, all others we monitor'
KCDataDude

[GeneralBender]

Receiver was set for a 5LNB when the problem occurred. Technician advised to try round, but that sounded like a somewhat large scaleback if it was not necessary. Seems to equate to if you have a problem with XP, revert to DOS 3.2 (anyone here remember that??)

I hope this helps - please spread the word.

'In god we trust, all others we monitor'
KCDataDude

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunatly this did not work for me. My HR20 just updated itself to 0x1fe so that might be a factor.
I actualy had my HR20 already set to 3LNB (since that's what i actualy have) and was getting the 750 msg.

[bills]

this has possibley has been asked if it has i haven't seen it. the new receivers from directv do not have ota outlet. how do you get the locals with out subscribing to there locals. regards...

[Earl Bonovich]

this has possibley has been asked if it has i haven't seen it. the new receivers from directv do not have ota outlet. how do you get the locals with out subscribing to there locals. regards...


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