[nighthawk777]

I had a receiver swap done to replace my old HD units. Guy came installed the dish, hooked up the receivers no problems. Expect he didn't have any receivers with antenna hookups. I also asked about the order because I have 3 HD units and he only brought boxes two swap my two regular HD boxes. Also when I went to pay my bill, noticed it was higher than it usually is. Took a look at recent activity and noticed the 2 new receivers, what I didn't see was a credit for the boxes they replaced. So I talked to the friendly CRS who was more than happy to fix the problem. Then I asked about my 3rd HD box on my account, for some reason it was listed online as a R10 DVR. She asked for the receiver id number, I gave the number she said sir that is a SD box. I was like it's an HD box I am staring at the label. She said ok, that there was nothing she could do and transferred me to someone she said could do a warranty replacement. I said ok, and they transferred me. I explained to the new CRS, my problem she asked me for the card number. She told me sir that is a SD box. I said well can I take a picture and send it to you, I assure you it's an HD box. So she asked the model number, I said it's a HR10-250. So I got my other receiver fixed on my account so that it's now correct and they are shipping me a HD DVR.
I am satisfied with that. My only problem now is I have two new H21 with no antenna hook ups. The CRS asked if I let the installer know I needed boxes with antenna hookup. I said yes I asked the installer if he had any with antenna hook up he replied that the H21 was all he had, and that boxes with antenna were getting scarce. The CRS said well sir we can't guarantee you that you will get a box with antenna hookup. So I asked the CRS if I could upgrade to HD DVR so I could get my antenna back. I explained to her that if my new H21 boxes were compatible with the AM21 then I wouldn't have a problem with the new boxes. She said the best she could do was 199 per HD DVR. I have had directv for 11 years. And have never asked for anything. Is it too much to ask to be able to upgrade my two new H21 to HR21 for 99. I paid right at 800 per receiver for the two the H21 replaced. I just hope this doesn't mess up my grandfather dvr service. But heck, I would give it up with they would just cut me a deal on the HD DVR so I can get antenna back with my directv boxes.

 

[spartanstew]

Thanks for the update.

 

[JLucPicard]

If I'm reading your post correctly, you had 2 HD receivers (which I would guess were MPEG2 and not MPEG4 receivers, thus why they offerred to replace them) and an HR10-250 (so 1 HD DVR). They replaced the two HD receivers which apparently had antenna reception capabilities with new MPEG4 compatible receivers.

It's been common knowledge on here for some time now that they had discontinued production of the HD units with built in OTA tuners a while back. It's also been widely posted that CSRs (that's CSR, not CRS ) really don't have the ability to specify anything more precise than "HD Receiver" or "HD DVR" and cannot guarantee the model that will be provided.

It sounds like they did replace the HR10-250 with an HD DVR. You may need to prod them to include an AM21, but you shouldn't have too much trouble with that. You may also be able to find someone at DirecTV that would agree to replace your HD RECEIVERS with HD DVRs, but that's really in all reality not likely to happen.

And I know I'll take flack for this, too, but when I read someone posting that DirecTV should provide an OTA solution for an HD receiver, I always think "Why?" If you have an HDTV, chances are more than likely (though I realize not 100%) that your HDTV has an OTA tuner anyway and if you're watching live anyway, that should work just fine.

 

[msmith]

And I know I'll take flack for this, too, but when I read someone posting that DirecTV should provide an OTA solution for an HD receiver, I always think "Why?" If you have an HDTV, chances are more than likely (though I realize not 100%) that your HDTV has an OTA tuner anyway and if you're watching live anyway, that should work just fine.

That's not really a good assumption for people who have "legacy" HD non-DVR boxes. Back when they were released, even the largest HD TV's didn't have ATSC receivers.

 

[nighthawk777]

Actually none of my HD tvs have digital OTA tuners nor do they have HDMI. My newest one is a 61in Samsung which is 720P. Back when 720P was all you could get in DLP.