Runaround from D* for Western Mass customers

[whereami]

Looking for help from someone...

Hi all. We've been posting our issues on the HD Locals: Springfield-Holyoke, MA page - http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=141220.

I understand there's a forum for this, but due to the amount of unresolved issues and runaround we've been getting, I'd really appreciate it if can possibly remain out here and hopefully get someone's attention that may be able to help.

The not-so-sum of it:
FOX6 says HD but it's not.
CBS3 WSHM is supposed to be out of Springfield, but we're getting WFSB out of Hartford.
ABC40 WTIC is choppy from a video standpoint and audio sync.
NBC22 WWLP - ditto as ABC.

Here's the deal, a lot of us have been contacting the main number, speaking to low-level reps and supervisors. We've also spoke to the Protection Plan dept., for those of us that have that service. We've spoken to their techs and supervisors as well.

They have insisted that they are NOT aware of any of these issues, yet our Western Mass office (Halstead Coummincations) is well aware of ALL of these issues. They're servicing these local HD issues all the time, over and over again, no doubt wasting money. I had a tech come out today and he mentioned these issues before I even had to.

How is there such a disconnect between our regional office service ALL of western Mass, and the main office?

FOX - I have a waiver for the FOXE feed out of NY for HD, that is now going to be revoked as of 1/16/09 because D* system shows I am getting FOX locally in HD, when ALL of us are clearly not.

CBS - We don't mind getting the station out of Hartford because at least it's HD. Programming Guides will be off because it's basing it out of Springfield, so that's a little annoying, but primetime shows are pretty much the same. A few weeks back we started receiving our actual Springfield station, but it wasn't HD. After about a week, it went back to Hartford. Quality is good and no choppiness on this channel. As long as it stays Hartford, then fine. At least it's HD.

ABC and NBC - the video choppiness makes it unwatchable. There's a slight workaround, which I don't quite understand, but it's to pause it, and play it after a few seconds. This helps with the video choppiness, yet the audio sync is still way off. Sometimes it's fine, I will say that.

Is there anyone that can help with these issues for ALL of us in western Mass?

Again, this regional office handles requests all the time on this very issue, wasting D* money by constantly going to customers homes only to discover the same thing over and over again.

Where is the ball being dropped? Why are all of us getting the runaround?

Thanks.

[jimmyv2000]

This sounds like there is a problem at the LRF (local receive facility)

[whereami]

In speaking with our regional office, they are constantly getting these calls. They have left several voice mails and emails for their "FOM" (not sure what that is, but I guess it's their actual rep at Directv), and haven't been getting much response/help from him.

Irt to the video choppiness, the "FOM" said to note the time of day when it's happening. Being that most of us have jobs, I can't say for the daytime much, but I can pretty much say anytime at night. The times when I can watch during the day or over a weekend, it does occur during the day as well. That being said -ANYTIME would be the answer.

Western Mass does NOT get FOX6 in HD, period. Once our local office makes the notes in the appropriate system, I plan on calling Directv back and tell them not to revoke my waiver for FOXE HD.

[harsh]

Once our local office makes the notes in the appropriate system, I plan on calling Directv back and tell them not to revoke my waiver for FOXE HD.If the station doesn't want to give you a waiver, there is very little DIRECTV can do about it. You can try to get the station OTA or have a $ite $urvey conducted on your property to prove that you can't get it OTA.

[BattleZone]

The "regional office" is their installation subcontractor, and no one there is a DirecTV employee and likely won't have a lot of influence on this type of issue. The office did exactly the right thing by forwarding the issue to their DirecTV Field Operations Manager (FOM) for the region. The FOM *is* a DirecTV employee, and he is the one who is supposed to be giving DirecTV feedback from the field.

In all likelyhood, DirecTV is fully aware of the problems already, and is doing what they can to resolve them, but is dealing with contractual or hardware warranty issues with the local channels, which have been common problems across the country with the digital and HD conversions. It could also be issues at the local/regional uplink station, where locals in your area get uplinked to the spotbeam sat.

CSRs are almost never going to be told about these types of issues, so expecting any information from them is pointless. It's an engineering issue, and DirecTV pays people to do nothing but look over this stuff every day. If it's been going on this long, then it's an issue that has no quick fix, and that usually means that many different parties are involved that all have to find a way to work together. That isn't always very easy.

[jdspencer]

You may want to send an e-mail to Ellen Filipiak, the DIRECTV VP of Customer Service, at ellen.filipiak@directv.com

[capecodsooner]

We had similar issues here on the Cape when the HD LILs (local in local) first hit our area back in 06/07. I spent most of those seasons watching in HD but listenening to the Red Sox and Bruins (NESN-HD) on the radio or XM service I have. Same for weekend football on FOX and CBS.

I had all the issues with chopiness, audio sync, etc...with my H20 and Sony HD recievers. Mostly MPEG4 channels but it ocassionally spilled over to nationals still in MPEG-2....HDs only from what I recall.

It sucked to constantly be trying "workarounds" suggested by CSRs and eventually I gave up and just waited for it to get better....while listening to the radio broadcast and trying to be happy with "billing credits"

Make the calls and keep hitting them about the service or lack of quality....both D and the local channel AND advertisers/businesses. Expect the runaround and VERY little information except what you see here in the forums. Eventually they will get all their suppliers to either update, upgrade or fix faulty encoders-decoders, etc.. but expect it to take a while.

Keep trying to get the waiver back/continued though. With the pending shutoff of analog maybe the FCC/DTV/ETC??? will consider looking at where the new reception footprints should be based upon the digital transmission limitations and revisit their waiver requirements.......one can hope :nono2: ???


EDIT. While the problem eventually deminished in my DMA it is not altogether gone. I still have audio sync issues and the "occasional" Brrrrrrrrp in the audio. No where near as bad as it was in the early user days (uninformed Beta testers) but still noticable and annoying when it occurs. Switching channels and then waiting for a few seconds to switch back usually fixes the issues...either that or waiting for the local commercials to be inserted and then when leaving the commercial break the sync issues is corrected.

These are probably all things that were in existance with old analog broadasts but the picture and sound quality of the day did not give our eyes or ears time to notice it as much as the demanding bit rates of HD 5.1 now show.

[whereami]

If the station doesn't want to give you a waiver, there is very little DIRECTV can do about it. You can try to get the station OTA or have a $ite $urvey conducted on your property to prove that you can't get it OTA.

I already have the waiver. Directv is saying they're going to revoke it because Directv's system says we got our local FOX in HD, when we don't. It's been confirmed by everyone in our area, and our regional office.

[whereami]

The "regional office" is their installation subcontractor, and no one there is a DirecTV employee and likely won't have a lot of influence on this type of issue. The office did exactly the right thing by forwarding the issue to their DirecTV Field Operations Manager (FOM) for the region. The FOM *is* a DirecTV employee, and he is the one who is supposed to be giving DirecTV feedback from the field.

In all likelyhood, DirecTV is fully aware of the problems already, and is doing what they can to resolve them, but is dealing with contractual or hardware warranty issues with the local channels, which have been common problems across the country with the digital and HD conversions. It could also be issues at the local/regional uplink station, where locals in your area get uplinked to the spotbeam sat.

CSRs are almost never going to be told about these types of issues, so expecting any information from them is pointless. It's an engineering issue, and DirecTV pays people to do nothing but look over this stuff every day. If it's been going on this long, then it's an issue that has no quick fix, and that usually means that many different parties are involved that all have to find a way to work together. That isn't always very easy.

This all indeed makes sense, however, to the average customer, we DO expect the CSR's to know what's going on. They are, afterall, the ones whom we're contacting the issue with. That's the number we're all given to call. Why should we go through the detective work to find out what's really going on? If we can't get the answers from them, then who? We're left in the dark.

Most people out there aren't coming to these forums, and instead simply given the response from these CSR's that "there are no reported issues in your area. Reboot your receiver." :uglyhamme It usually ends there. We're told our issue will be noted in our accounts (which we've seen time and time again when we actually do follow-up on an issue, that it never was). Repeat the issue over and over and over...

Our regional office techs are going out to customers for the same issue over and over again. Like you said, they're subs, so then they're probably billing Directv for this stuff, right? These costs then eventually fall back onto us on our billing statement. It may seem like pennies spread across everyone, but I doubt this is the only occurance of similar natured issues.

The regional subs are overbooked because they're making the same calls constantly, when the CSR's could be better informed and tell us that yes, there is a problem, and basically say what you did above. That way the subs can be spending their time efficiently, and helping customers for legit reasons.

Yeah, that email to the Ellen will be sent later.

[whereami]

A few of us have sent emails to Ellen as suggested. I don't understand why Directv's system shows us receiving HD for FOX6 Springfield, when it's not in HD, even with our FOM knowing it. Because of that, my waiver is set to expire on 1/16 for the FOXE feed. Lovely. Thanks Directv.

[whereami]

If I started the thread, it's only fair if I update it and hopefully resolve it... A few of us have been getting replies from the corporate office regarding these issues. Hopefully a suitable end is in sight. There's some finger-pointing though b/n Directv and our local FOX. Guess that's normal.

[facscc]

If I started the thread, it's only fair if I update it and hopefully resolve it... A few of us have been getting replies from the corporate office regarding these issues. Hopefully a suitable end is in sight. There's some finger-pointing though b/n Directv and our local FOX. Guess that's normal.

Thanks, and definately keep us posted on any new information.

[whereami]

Enough of us were able to collaborate via these forums, stayed on top of Directv and our local stations to get answers. Reports indicate FOX went live OTA in HD last evening and Directv is picking it up as of this morning. Before, the cable companies were getting the FOX in HD via fiber feed. OTA was SD only. There are still some times of choppiness/audio sync issues that make ABC/NBC unwatchable though, but again, there's enough of us feeding the "Advocacy Office" the info. Now if they could only get the CSR's and these folks on the same page.