View Full Version : Just switched from Dish to DirecTV
Hello everyone.
Just switched to DirecTV from Dish. Looking forward to finally being able to watch all my Macon, GA locals in HD for once. I can pick some of them up with my antenna but others are a no-go.
Anything I should know before the installer arrives tomorrow?
Good luck with your installation. Most of them are fine, we only hear about the bad ones. Let us know how it went.
doctrsnoop
03-18-09, 08:19 AM
Just make sure a representative set of chanels works before you let him go. That would be your locals in HD, the 200's in HD, and any premiums you are ordering. And take a peek at the install to make sure nothing crazy happened, outside and in.
When the installer arrives, discuss and walk through the entire install with him, make sure you are both in agreement about what is going to happen and how it is going to happen.
Installers don't make a whole lot of money. Tipping is your choice, but is appreciated.
ctaranto
03-18-09, 08:32 AM
I stayed outside in the cold with two guys when I had my install about a year ago. I chit chatted with them, offered them warm and cold drinks, etc. Ended up being a 5 hour install (roof mounted). I believe due to me "being with them", they offered (and installed at no charge) a SWM-8 so I'd have only a single wire running down the side of the house instead of 4.
I did end up tipping them at the end as well. Nice guys, and a job well done.
-Craig
I think someone posted a checklist here a while back. That's probably worth going over. I'm sure someone here has a link.
Good luck!
fortnerw
03-18-09, 09:13 AM
Todd H-All the above plus make sure all the 99 and 103 conus sat transpdrs are 90 or above. The 99 and 103 spot beams for HD locals will vary according to which ones are used for Macon. I am up the road from you (Forsyth) and I have the conus 99 and 103 transpdrs in the mid 90's. The reason you want this is rain fade will occur slightly before 101 sats due to the higher freq used on 99 and 103. Have seen your post in the avs ota forum for Macon. I also have ota ant and am able to get both Atlanta and Macon sta. Good luck on your install.
Todd H-All the above plus make sure all the 99 and 103 conus sat transpdrs are 90 or above. The 99 and 103 spot beams for HD locals will vary according to which ones are used for Macon. I am up the road from you (Forsyth) and I have the conus 99 and 103 transpdrs in the mid 90's. The reason you want this is rain fade will occur slightly before 101 sats due to the higher freq used on 99 and 103. Have seen your post in the avs ota forum for Macon. I also have ota ant and am able to get both Atlanta and Macon sta. Good luck on your install.
Thanks. I'll make sure to check those transponders before the installers leave.
My wife is wanting me to take down the antennas but I'm going to keep them up as it gives me an extra tuner to play with.
paragon
03-18-09, 10:09 AM
Thanks. I'll make sure to check those transponders before the installers leave.
My wife is wanting me to take down the antennas but I'm going to keep them up as it gives me an extra tuner to play with.
That's not true on DirecTV. You can only record two streams at a time, whether they are Sat or OTA.
Side note: You can record two streams and download a program from on-demand at the same time.
That's not true on DirecTV. You can only record two streams at a time, whether they are Sat or OTA.
Side note: You can record two streams and download a program from on-demand at the same time.
I was thinking more along the lines of my television's tuner. That way I can watch OTA on the TV tuner and record two shows on the DirecTV box.
I was thinking more along the lines of my television's tuner. That way I can watch OTA on the TV tuner and record two shows on the DirecTV box.
And you can also Download one while doing all the above.
And you can also Download one while doing all the above.
So the DirecTV receiver is capable of being hooked up to my network as well for on-demand stuff? I need to set up a wireless access point in my entertainment center one of these days. Sounds like a good time to do it.
DirecTV is installed. Here's a not so quick quick rundown:
My appointment was between 12 and 4 pm. The installers arrived at 6 pm. They showed up in an old beat-up small pickup truck instead of the usual DirecTV van. I took them around and explained how my home wiring was and we agreed on a place to put the dish. They pretty much told me they only install dishes on a pole and not the roof, which was fine since I wanted it on a pole to begin with but there are probably other people who would have preferred a roof mount. Heck, they didn't even have a ladder so a roof install would have been out of the question anyway.
After a few hours of installing the pole they started to work on hooking up the dish to my wiring. After the wiring was done, they brought in my two receivers. I had to pretty much show one of them how to hook it up to one of my two televisions. One of them had a set of component cables and couldn't figure out how to hook them up to my bedroom television. He basically had them confused with standard AV inputs and was lost. I ended up doing it myself.
The living room receiver was a bit easier since it was basically just an HDMI cable (something that Dish didn't even give me when they installed their Dish a few years ago). Of course, I just went ahead and hooked up the living room receiver as well.
After everything was done, I was finally good to go. They tried to charge me $10 for concrete but I wasn't going to pay (and I didn't). I hope the concrete sets correctly, since I would have let it set for a day or two before mounting a dish on the pole but maybe that's just me.
I ended up with an HR-23 receiver in the living room and a non-DVR HD receiver in the bedroom (don't remember the model number). My impression of the HR-23 is that the picture looks a little sharper than my old Dish 622. I was happy to see native pass-thru as I prefer my television to do the scaling. It was also good to finally get my local NBC station in HD, since I can't pick it up with my antenna. The transponders fortnerw told me to check were coming in at around 95 so it looks like that's covered. Comparing the Dish HD locals to my OTA was interesting. OTA was a little bit sharper but overall there wasn't a big difference.
All I have to do now is memorize the channel locations again and get used to the HR-23. I haven't had it long enough to make an in-depth comparison to the 622. I'll give an update after spending some time with it.
doctrsnoop
03-20-09, 06:54 AM
All I have to do now is memorize the channel locations again and get used to the HR-23. I haven't had it long enough to make an in-depth comparison to the 622. I'll give an update after spending some time with it.
Unfortunately the installation experience is "inconsistent" to put it nicely, but at least you have the dish pointed correctly and that's the main thing I guess.
You can set up the 2 custom guide channels. I have it set up on the TV's i watch to one set I watch 95 percent of the time which is only around 20 channels, and another which takes care of the rest too which is around 60. I haven't memorized all the channel numbers yet and its been a few years now
Sounds like you made out pretty well (there are plenty of horror stories to be found out there) Enjoy the new service!!!
Sounds like you made out pretty well (there are plenty of horror stories to be found out there) Enjoy the new service!!!
Thanks. I watched South Park in HD for the first time last night. Looked pretty darn good. I'm liking having Comedy Central, FX, Spike, and a few others in HD that I didn't have with Dish. Of course, my wife is already missing Lifetime/Lifetime Movie Network in HD. And I'll miss Travel Channel in HD as well. With every service I guess there are positives and negatives. It's just a question of finding the one that's right for you.
All I have to do now is memorize the channel locations again and get used to the HR-23.
You might want to go to the DirecTV web site and print out the channel listing for your package. It might make it easier to find what you're looking for until you get used to the new channel numbes.
Well, I've used the HR-23 receiver for a few days. So far no major problems. Getting accustomed to how things work didn't take long at all, even for my techno-phobe wife. The only thing I don't like is that the HR-23 is slow to respond to remote commands. Just scrolling up and down in the guide takes forever, unlike the 622. Maybe that will be addressed in the future via a software update?
A quick question...where are the 1080P channels located?
A quick question...where are the 1080P channels located?
Right now the only 1080p is some trailers out in DirecTV on Demand, search for 1080p and you'll find them.
doctrsnoop
03-23-09, 12:28 PM
The only thing I don't like is that the HR-23 is slow to respond to remote commands. Just scrolling up and down in the guide takes forever, unlike the 622. Maybe that will be addressed in the future via a software update?
That's a common complaint. A few things help that - setting up favorites list and keeping it light so you don't have that many channels to scan through, turning off scrolling effects. It could be my imagination, but it seems many of the software updates claim to speed up scrolling speed, but it never seems to happen
Shades228
03-23-09, 02:53 PM
If you have a 5 lnb installed and don't have spanish programming you can change your dish type to SL3 and see if you notice a difference. Some people say they do and some say they don't.
If you have a 5 lnb installed and don't have spanish programming you can change your dish type to SL3 and see if you notice a difference. Some people say they do and some say they don't.I'd like to do that, but with my SL5-SWM, the receiver auto-detects the dish and doesn't give me the option to change the dish type.
Fortunately, I've been using TiVo and other "slow" guides for so long that my HR22-100 seems pretty normal to me.
I'll check the LNB when I get home.
Anybody know where the cheapest place to buy an AM21 tuner is?
Edit: Well, just found out that you can order an AM21 from DirecTV when you log in to your account. Of course, when I add it to my shopping cart and try to checkout it gives me an error and tells me to call DirecTV. When I do they have no idea what an AM21 is. I've already spoken to two people and neither knew what I was talking about. On the plus side at least I'm talking to someone here in the U.S.
Well, DirecTV is sending me a free AM21. Very nice. Now I can record local PBS HD shows.
So far customer service with DirecTV beats Dish hands down, at least for me.
Edit: Came home from lunch to find the AM21 waiting for me. Didn't think I'd get it in a day!
rustynails
03-26-09, 01:46 AM
I have to agree with you on E customer service. I am a convert from E to D and the customer service with Dish was terrible. Of course I haven't had any problems to use Directv customer service.
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