[todbnla]

Well for those that have not been following my drama:
A month ago I ordered Dish Network and after that debacle :beatdeadhorse: w/ NO locals in HD for my DMA market (#52 N.O.,LA.) I ordered DirecTV thru their website only to find out they gave me an install date in the middle of OCTOBER due to Gustav caused issues in my area.:eek2: Even after calling the install dispatch and pleading my case my date only moved slightly to the left but no where near I could tolerate, come on, I need my HD fix! :nono2: So low and behold I called a local Home Theater store in my town and talk to the people there for a few minutes and ask a bunch of questions, they answer all of them great which leads me to think they might actually know whats going on, So then I ask the real question; (this was yesterday) "when can I look forward to an install?" the lady said: how about tommorrow? I fell to the floor and asked her if I misunderstood, she said; NO, in fact, the owner is coming and he is real picky about his work, you lucked out! YES, I did!!! Wow, he was 10 minutes into his 12-2pm install window time and arrived at 12:10pm, hooked up two bedrooms w/HD and 1 dvr in hd for the living room. All went fine and his outside work was outstanding but he had some issues with what he described as new software on the dvr unit that won't let signals of less than 83 pass on certain transponders... so after several calls to tech support that took over 30 minutes and after telling the tech that we were in the IKE storm area and it was cloudy and windy w/gusts of 75mph, I kid you not, they (d*) forced a download to the unit and viola, AWESOME pic quality, IMHO, I feel much better than my E* ever had while I had HD with them. WOW, worth the ordeal for sure!
He walked out of my home after 6pm, I kid you not. We b/s'ed:friendsch a lot during the install which Iam sure ate up his time but he was on w/D*'s tech support line for a good hour on and off, I felt bad for him cause we have all been there.:nono:

PS-I was even able to order my D* NFL remotes too, Go Saints!:icon_cool
PSS-All three of my D* receiver boxes CAME w/HDMI cables inside, another surprise...:jumpingja

 

[thestaton]

awesome! I had a great install this week as well, and having nothing but great things to say.

enjoy!

 

[Grentz]

Glad it went so well for you, I wish more of the Directv contracted installers could be like that!

 

[BattleZone]

Not all retailers are good, but the good retailers are definitely underappreciated!

 

[todbnla]

Added some pics...

Note: I already had the 1 5/8" pole from my E* 1000.2 so I just bought that $5 adapter off of eBay and he mounted it to that,adapter works great, FWIW.
AND, FYI,"Satellite Specialists" out of Slidell, LA 985-690-0070, ask for Dennis, he did this awesome install, great guy and he knows his stuff, no charge to come to my home in MS, he said they go as far as Ocean Springs MS too.:up: :up: :up:

 

[davring]

Textbook installation. The contractors that D* subs to should all study these pictures, I'm sure they will have excuses(some valid) as to why they cannot do that kind of work. Enjoy.

 

[TigersFanJJ]

Textbook installation. The contractors that D* subs to should all study these pictures, I'm sure they will have excuses(some valid) as to why they cannot do that kind of work. Enjoy.

Please explain what you mean by excuses. Do you mean excuses for neatness (90% of my jobs are at least that neat) or do mean excuses such as that install probably isn't up to spec per NEC or QC standards?

 

[ironwood]

Nothing special about this install you just got lucky you got an early date thats all. Not sure why the guy spent 6 hours he didnt even have to put a pole in the ground looks like an easy job especially considering you had all lines already run by a previous dish installer. I am very skeptical about this pole adapter stuff, I would never use it myself.

 

[todbnla]

Nothing special about this install you just got lucky you got an early date thats all. Not sure why the guy spent 6 hours he didnt even have to put a pole in the ground looks like an easy job especially considering you had all lines already run by a previous dish installer. I am very skeptical about this pole adapter stuff, I would never use it myself.

The house was prewired with the RG6 cables hanging out of the eave, the clown with DISH that did my install tried to hang the dish on the eave but it leaned to one side because he stripped the wood when he over tightened the screws :nono:
I yanked it down a few weeks after and hung it on a pole with the cables running out of the eave directly to the dish thru the air (read like a clothes line) as a temp fix until Direct was installed.

It took six hours for there reasons:
1)We b/s'ed a lot :lol:
2)We were in a storm area w/wind gusts up to 60 mph. (N/E of IKE area)
3)He had an issue with the dvr software not letting him finailze the install which caused an over an hour discussion with Direct techs in my living room.

The adapter was my call, not his and it is sold on ebay by a directtv installer, sorry it does not it appeal to you, it serves as a shim, nothing more.
.

 

[Grentz]

What is the ground wire running to? Just curious.

Very nice looking job, and to those questioning it here...look at what some of the other installers do. Most of you guys around here care enough to do a good job and be proud of your work, but there are a lot of nuts out there installing these things.

I can go to a newer neighborhood by my house and see probably 2 or 3 out of a good 20 installs that are actually done neatly, properly, and to how it should be done.

 

[kevinm34232]

That's an expensive static ground... Was the ground block peviously up on the eave? Everything looks fine though, I have used the pole adapters many times with no probs to date.

 

[ironwood]

I dont trust those adapters because you are mounting a much bigger dish to a small pole that worked great with a small dish. If that pole was installed solid and deep into the ground and didnt rust over time then probably it will work, but a lot of times poles arent installed good enough to support a big dish. In my opinion a much better option is to slide a 2" pole over the small one, push it as deep as possible (so the bottom is pressed against the concrete foundation) and secure with self tapping screws. Cut it to match the height of the old one.

 

[PicaKing]

Sounds like a few insecure installers here...........

 

[todbnla]

A) The installer asked me where I wanted the ground block and if you notice the additional two rg6's runs hanging out of the eave you will understand why I asked him to mount the block there, which by the way is where Dish hung their two blocks (1 double and 1 single) I had him mount it there in the event I wanted to "turn off" one room and turn another "on" simply by unscrewing one line and screwing in another.
B) Since my home is new construction and the electrical contractor ran all of the rg6 lines to the opposite side of the home (at least 75') from the power main, we grounded the dish to the water faucet via a copper ground clamp.

FWIW: I cannot stop saying how good my HD channels are, simply stunning, very pleased.