Directv Installation

[Goldlexus]

I am making the switch from Dishnetwork to Directv. My equipment arrived today (1 Directv Tivo, 3 standard receivers, phase III dish with multi-switch). I took a look at the packing slip and it mentions what 'standard professional installation' entitles me to. Which is basically dish mount on the side of the house, 100 ft. of cabling, hooking up all equipment and showing me how to use the system. My question is since I already have a sat. system, the dish is on the roof of a 2 story house, would the installer just swap out the dish, use the existing cabling and add one more cable for the second turner in the Tivo? OR is he going to refuse to install on the roof and install on the 'side of the house' and run ALL new cabling? The later seems to be a lot more work, just wondering if they follow the 'letter of the law' or do what is easiest.

[PSB]

They will do what ever YOU want, I would get him/her to run the extra cable even if you do not want it right now, as you will need it in the future, also the Phase III dish has four outputs so sounds like you will need a few extra runs anyway, you are paying for it (even if it says free) so get EVERYTHING! Check out, www.basicinstall.com
to see what you will be getting with a basic satellite installation....good luck!

[dswallow]

It will vary a lot between installers, unfortunately. They get paid so little for an install by DirecTV they want to get in and out as fast as they can. Now if you offer to pay more for something, most will suddenly become a lot more open to doing extra work.

The easiest thing for the installer is going to be to use your existing cabling and dish mount, presuming they can get to it on your roof. If you can find out who the installer is and talk to them before they get there, you should mention what you have and what you want done so they can at least come prepared. A ladder to get up to the roof on a 2-story house might seem like something every installer should have, but it won't necessarily be the case.

If you want the wire run in any special way other than tacked onto the wall, expect to have to encourage the installer with a tip or payment of some sort for his work. If your existing setup is usable, and instead of tacking huge amounts of new cable everywhere you're asking for a single run to supplement what you've got, you may or may not have luck convincing the installer to do something special for you with paying extra.

[Mark Holtz]

All my installer did was reuse the existing wiring, remove the two Dish Network Dishes, install a Phase Three dish (dish location is on roofline of two-story house), and run one cable. Additional cost: $20 which was reasonable IMHO.

[bobo21]

They will charge you for the wall drop if they have to fish a wire down the wall. Also you ordered TVIO and 3 addition recievers you will need a external multi switch to hook up everything properly, as the built in multi switch can only handle two extra recievers and the Tivo.

[Goldlexus]

They will charge you for the wall drop if they have to fish a wire down the wall. Also you ordered TVIO and 3 addition recievers you will need a external multi switch to hook up everything properly, as the built in multi switch can only handle two extra recievers and the Tivo.

I think I have it covered...Here is what I ordered:
Hughes 4-Room 35 Hour DIRECTV DVR System w/ TiVo (1) TiVO (3) Directors with Triple LNB Dish, 4x8 Multi-Switch & Standard Installation.

I don't need a wall drop IF they are able to 'hide' the cable along the house. We will see. They are suppose to come today between 8-12.

[Kenster]

When I added a DTivo to the house recently, D* threw in a Phase III dish for no extra charge (total package-dvr and dish: $49.95) They swapped out the existing dish using the same pole on top of our two story house. They ran new double coax to the existing four lines--two to the new DTivo upstairs and two to the UTV downstairs. It was a great install by two very professional installers. Pretty much on time, friendly, thorough. I was the last stop of the day so they really took their time with me.

[Goldlexus]

When I added a DTivo to the house recently, D* threw in a Phase III dish for no extra charge (total package-dvr and dish: $49.95) They swapped out the existing dish using the same pole on top of our two story house. They ran new double coax to the existing four lines--two to the new DTivo upstairs and two to the UTV downstairs. It was a great install by two very professional installers. Pretty much on time, friendly, thorough. I was the last stop of the day so they really took their time with me.

Well everything has been installed. It took a while but the installer went over and beyond the call of duty. He even took the time to go into the crawl space so I wouldn't have any wires showing! He showed up on time and was really very pleasant. I am quite pleased. BTW I ordered my system from Rapidsatellite. I got all the above equipment for $67.95 not bad. I have heard bad stuff about Rapid but they did real well for me.

[bobo21]

I got screwed on the installation but the price was worth it. I wanted to install everything myself anyway.

[uwahusky]

So I had the installers come out today to hook up my brand new 2 room system that I ordered through American Satellite.

It's essentially a basic installation (all the wiring has been run when we built the house) except for a need to fish the cable that will hook in to the dish itself down a wall.

The guy showed up 3 hours late and then when I told him I needed to do a wall fish he freaked out because he'd never done one before. He called their main office and the guy on the other end let him have it and told him to do the wall fish and that's when I stepped in and told him to get out, that I'd find someone else to do the install but that I wasn't going to have him learning his trade on my brand new house.

Anyways, I need to find someone now to do my installation for me that has half a brain and knows how to do a wall fish. Any suggestions?

P.S. I can do the wall fish myself but I'd rather have a professional do it for me as I really don't have the time right now to do it.

[uwahusky]

Found someone locally through the yellow pages. Talked with him about what I want and he seems pretty well educated on the whole process and doesn't see a big deal.