So... what to test?

Not sure what Directv are specifically looking for here, but having been involved in a couple of these kinds of things before, I think it's a fair statement to say that they usually seem to want us to just use the stuff the way we'd use any other piece of equipment and make careful reports of any problems or issues we run into. It seems like they (the nebulous "they" who pick people for the tests) seem to do a really good job of mixing up hardware configurations, usage patterns, etc., in order to get a good cross-sectional sample of subscribers out in the real world.

So in the absence of marching orders to the contrary, I'm gonna install this nifty bit of tech, use it to maximize my tuner capacity (I've got two unusable tuners on my DVRs right now due to switch and wiring limitations), and report any quirks or bugs.

 

Yeah, just use it for now and make sure it works

A little feedback is OK. The SL3-S has been released nationally as of last week .. probably the same batch that you guys got (or will get) .

As I said, this area won't be open that long .. Just want to give the opportunity to not issues, successes, etc. in a more private area than the public forums.

 

A suggestion, I would take the SWM and/or PI out of the attic.
With your location of Florida, your attic will easily exceed 140 degs F and that's too hot for any electronics.

You may find it fails permanently one day due to excessive heat. And the only recovery may be replacement.

 

I think Tfederov has one in his attice and he lives in Texas. He used to have either an SWM or a WB68.

 

Running 36 hours here and all is well.

I also replaced a WB68, and did NOT see the signal level drops. Of course, I run a Sonora Signal Injector unit just prior to the splitters to my parallel SWM8 and SWM5 (see the new SWM8 First Look thread and photos). I also use the Skywalker splitters, which have now been in place for over a year and very solid. If you had such a drop...perhaps there must be something else contributing, as I saw 0 drop across all the sats...and checked it on 3 different HD DVR's.

Thanks Doug - that's what inspired my First Look.

Mine's in my lower level (averages about 70 degrees year round).

Temp can have an effect on any electronics, but as I recall with the SWM5 testing, there were no measurable issues from folks who installed in their attic. If results drop, I'd be checking connector ends and cable runs first before anything else.

 

Thanks for the chance on the testing, as well as the private thread for now.

Its good that as many testers as possible share their results, so when it is migrated to public, others will have the background to replicate the successes.

We appreciate Doug's leadership on this front.