[detuch254]

Recently my friend had cancelled his DIRECTV service after about 30 years. He had seven receivers, half being SD. His dish had a non-SWM SL5 LNB, the same dish he had been using for around 10-15 years after getting a few HD receivers.

his seven receivers:
H21-100
H23-600
HR24-200
R16-300
D11-100
D11-100
D11-500

He received an email from AT&T prompting him to return stupidly old receivers (the HR24 doesn’t count as I’d understand that one):
R16-300
H23-600
H21-100
HR24-200 (understandable)

Has anyone else gone through a similar experience? I’m interested to know what exactly DIRECTV wants back an R16 of all receivers (it’s an SD DVR!) and those older bulkier H21 and H23 receivers.
I told him to drop off just the HR24 as he has ‘hand’ issues and was unable to unplug the coaxial cables for the other boxes. I plan to help him out later in the week but didn’t want to go through the stress if these other three boxes don’t need to be returned even if he was sent an email. I personally thought they were marked non-returnable like 5 years ago lol!

 

[SledgeHammer]

Recently my friend had cancelled his DIRECTV service after about 30 years. He had seven receivers, half being SD. His dish had a non-SWM SL5 LNB, the same dish he had been using for around 10-15 years after getting a few HD receivers.

his seven receivers:
H21-100
H23-600
HR24-200
R16-300
D11-100
D11-100
D11-500

He received an email from AT&T prompting him to return stupidly old receivers (the HR24 doesn’t count as I’d understand that one):
R16-300
H23-600
H21-100
HR24-200 (understandable)

Has anyone else gone through a similar experience? I’m interested to know what exactly DIRECTV wants back an R16 of all receivers (it’s an SD DVR!) and those older bulkier H21 and H23 receivers.
I told him to drop off just the HR24 as he has ‘hand’ issues and was unable to unplug the coaxial cables for the other boxes. I plan to help him out later in the week but didn’t want to go through the stress if these other three boxes don’t need to be returned even if he was sent an email. I personally thought they were marked non-returnable like 5 years ago lol!

Weird. They've already started shutting down some SD channels, so not sure what they would do with them unless they need some door stops and paper weights in El Segundo.

 

[detuch254]

lolol. Some of these things you can never understand. The R16 I can’t understand. Furthermore the H21 and H23?! Why do they want that bulky stuff back? If anything the H24 and H25 are worthwhile.

 

[SledgeHammer]

lolol. Some of these things you can never understand. The R16 I can’t understand. Furthermore the H21 and H23?! Why do they want that bulky stuff back? If anything the H24 and H25 are worthwhile.

Only thing that immediately comes to mind is that they've already been paid for by customers like 50x over, so if they get them back, they can milk them for a bit more money by sending them out for precious metal recovery, although I can't imagine there's much of that there, even at scale, so who knows?

Not like they can reuse the hard drives.

Maybe they just write them off as e-waste? But they physically need them back for that.

 

[Bender The Lab]

Maybe they just write them off as e-waste? But they physically need them back for that.

Yeah, I believe it is for Tax Purposes, write off as disposal of valuable working equipment or some type of depreciation maybe.

 

[James Long]

My guess is that DIRECTV wants them off of the network so they do not need to continue to transmit signals compatible with the older receivers. DISH did this a few years ago (converting QPSK transponders to 8PSK Turbo to increase the number of channels per transponder). DIRECTV's target seems to be getting rid of MPEG2 channels.

 

[P Smith]

Or they get some mfg who will rebadge/refill the models for Latin market ?

 

[slice1900]

I always thought Directv ought to ask for everything back, and just reroute the receivers that are obsolete to recycling centers. Otherwise a lot of them probably end up in landfills when customers are told to keep them, and they end up in a trash bin or dumpster.

Maybe Directv is finally implementing that sensible policy.

 

[harsh]

He received an email from AT&T prompting him to return stupidly old receivers (the HR24 doesn’t count as I’d understand that one):
R16-300
H23-600
H21-100
HR24-200 (understandable)

The R16 is a bit surprising but DIRECTV doesn't have anything that can replace them without a significant overhaul. H2x receivers could potentially last a very long time as they don't have any moving parts and they are compatible with both SWM and non-SWM cabling.

Given that what DIRECTV has available as replacements is largely limited to Genie Minis and refurbished legacy equipment, they can't expect to be able to upgrade everyone with a failed receiver to a Genie system each time a legacy box fails.

As for DIRECTV's long-discussed MPEG2 transition, it took them roughly seven years to make the first channel moves.

 

[SledgeHammer]

I always thought Directv ought to ask for everything back, and just reroute the receivers that are obsolete to recycling centers. Otherwise a lot of them probably end up in landfills when customers are told to keep them, and they end up in a trash bin or dumpster.

Maybe Directv is finally implementing that sensible policy.

You're generally told to "dispose of them properly", although who does that? But why take on the cost burden of shipping them back, man power at the warehouse, etc?

Since they stopped activating used receivers, eBay isn't an option anymore either. Too bad. I've sold every single DirecTV receiver I ever had on eBay. Last one I sold was my old HR24 with a 1TB internal drive and a hot wired internal fan.

 

[P Smith]

a hot wired internal fan.

So you did a mod, connect it directly to +12VDC rail

 

[SledgeHammer]

So you did a mod, connect it directly to +12VDC rail

It was a repair lol. +5VDC. The fan header died and took the HD with it. Thus the new HD and new fan.

 

[detuch254]

I think the R16 has an IDE Hard drive which is comp

The R16 is a bit surprising but DIRECTV doesn't have anything that can replace them without a significant overhaul. H2x receivers could potentially last a very long time as they don't have any moving parts and they are compatible with both SWM and non-SWM cabling.

Given that what DIRECTV has available as replacements is largely limited to Genie Minis and refurbished legacy equipment, they can't expect to be able to upgrade everyone with a failed receiver to a Genie system each time a legacy box fails.

As for DIRECTV's long-discussed MPEG2 transition, it took them roughly seven years to make the first channel moves.

Of course the R16 comes as a surprise since it’s the SD DVR with an IDE Hard drive. But even with the H21 and H23 those are underpowered with today’s software and have no really ‘good’ salveagsble parts for the more modern-like H24 and H25.
The H25 is SWM-only but the H24 supports both non-SWM and SWM systems as you alluded to.

 

[detuch254]

Based on the information I’ve decided not to go help since DIRECTV likely won’t want back an H21 or H23 and obviously they don’t ‘need’ the R16.

I doubt a non-return equipment fee for these three would be possible. Thanks everyone for your insight.

What surprises me is that the email sent to him from AT&T clearly states to drop off the R16, H21, and H23. Oh well, they ain’t going anywhere for the next 10 days he has left to ‘return’ them. He had already dropped off the HR24-200 at FedEx since I told him those are likely still being collected by DIRECTV as they are running low on 24s these days.

 

[b4pjoe]

They told me they want the HR24 back that I had replaced a few weeks ago. They said they would send me a return box with a prepaid USPS label. Still haven't gotten it and have not received anything about non-return fees. I will just wait and see if they try to charge me a non-return fee. If not I'll just throw it in the shed and keep it for parts.

 

[slice1900]

You're generally told to "dispose of them properly", although who does that? But why take on the cost burden of shipping them back, man power at the warehouse, etc?

Directv has taken back receivers for recycling for free for years, they have a web site where you can print off a label for free and toss it in a box. It makes more sense to have customers bring them somewhere to have them boxed up and sent in bulk, so for customers already returning newer receivers that way having them drop off the recycleable stuff at the same time makes perfect sense.

 

[SledgeHammer]

Directv has taken back receivers for recycling for free for years, they have a web site where you can print off a label for free and toss it in a box. It makes more sense to have customers bring them somewhere to have them boxed up and sent in bulk, so for customers already returning newer receivers that way having them drop off the recycleable stuff at the same time makes perfect sense.

Yeah, I meant, its a cost to DirecTV to pay for return shipping. So I guess they're just doing it for Mother Earth.

 

[Crow159]

I just had to return an R-16, 2 HR-24s, and an HR-21.

They didn't want back my H44 Genie with the hard drive.

 

[detuch254]

Interesting. Maybe something is afloat.

It’s not like they’ll sneak in a NRF for an R16 lol

 

[slice1900]

Yeah, I meant, its a cost to DirecTV to pay for return shipping. So I guess they're just doing it for Mother Earth.

The expense is tax deductible, and most big corporations try to do something to encourage recycling of their products to forestall any possible laws being passed that may end up costing them more depending on what the requirements are.

It is even more incumbent on Directv than say Dell or Linksys because they own just about every residential receiver.