Reception problems - Only my HD channels

[Ruhnie]

Hi all, I'm a AVSForum poster and found this wonderful sight from over there. I'm hoping you all might be able to assist me with a frustrating problem I'm having with my D* reception.

For the last week or so, all of my HD channels either don't come in at all (searching for signal message) or come in with alot of pixelization. All of my SD channels work fine and have had no issues with them. Before last week I have never had any problems w/ any reception, outside of the occasional thunderstorm hosing up my feeds.

I had a DirecTV tech come out to the house last weekend to check it out. My signal strength on every single transponder is over 90%, except for the HD one, which is hovering in the 30-60% range. The tech said that everything is set up correctly, and he thinks that a tree in my neighbors yard is blocking the HD signal, and there's nothing he can do. Does this sound possible, or should I call out another tech? I am having a hard time believing that all of a sudden a branch started blocking JUST my HD reception. Wouldn't I see problems on other channels as well? Thanks a ton for any opinions you all can give me, it is much appreciated.

[oakwcj]

Are you having problems with MPEG4-HD or just channels 70-79? Channels 72 & 79 are on the 119 satellite, while the others are on the 110. If it were a tree, I'd expect that you'd get the channels on one of the two satellites.

[zeekchic]

I had this exact problem not that long ago. HD channels were pixeling all the time, freezing, and dropping out all together, while all SD channels were fine. My signal strengths were all in the 90's except HD channels would fluctuate and even drop out to 0 momentarily. Replacing my slimline dish actually solved the problem. I was surprised because that dish was only 3 months old but I had heard of them going bad. I would have a different tech come out and check that option

[Ruhnie]

Thanks for the replies guys, you are giving me hope!

Are you having problems with MPEG4-HD or just channels 70-79? Channels 72 & 79 are on the 119 satellite, while the others are on the 110. If it were a tree, I'd expect that you'd get the channels on one of the two satellites.

I'm not 100% sure which channels are in MPEG4-HD, but I'm assuming that's my locals. I am not getting ANY of my HD channels, not my locals, not 70-79 either. If those are on 2 different satellites then I think that's enough for me to make a case for this.

I had this exact problem not that long ago. HD channels were pixeling all the time, freezing, and dropping out all together, while all SD channels were fine. My signal strengths were all in the 90's except HD channels would fluctuate and even drop out to 0 momentarily. Replacing my slimline dish actually solved the problem. I was surprised because that dish was only 3 months old but I had heard of them going bad. I would have a different tech come out and check that option

Sounds just about like what I'm seeing. I am pretty clueless when it comes to the actual hardware I have installed, as I did not do any of it myself though. I had a 5 LNB dish put in back in Feb/March. How might I tell what type/brand of dish I have?

Either way I think I'm going to call another tech out, but I'm not exactly sure what to ask for. If I suggest that my dish is bad, will they even know how to check it, or be willing to replace it? I have the service plan, which should cover all this stuff, hopefully that helps. Thanks again guys. :)

[Ruhnie]

Update:

Surprise, surprise, it was a hardware issue after all. I had techs come out on Monday, and they found multiple problems. Apparently my 5-LNB dish was not installed properly, it didn't have the correct reinforcement, and had been moved around by wind over the months. On top of that, one of the LNBs was damaged. This totally justifies my protection plan IMO, as I got it all fixed and didn't drop a dime. Looking forward to the new HD lineup!