[jhollan2]

I finally got off the list to trade in my R15 for the HR20 and had my install on saturday. Despite numerous resets including red button and complete I have the following weird issues:

1. I can get HD broadcasts on my local channels but when you go to one of the "HD" channels it either tells me to call x721 or says "not available in your area." Some NFL Sunday Ticket games in HD would come in (the Giants game) but not others (the Jets game). I have confirmed with DTV that I actually subscribe to these channels.

2. The HDMI absolutely will not work. I've tried running it through various component, resets, plugging in some components and not others etc. The television simply will not recieve a signal over HDMI. The tv is an LCD HDTV that is 4 months old.

3. Sometimes when you change the channel it starts looking for satellite 2 but does not interrupt programming and all the numbers for reception are in the 90s.

The installer spent atleast 2 hours on the phone with tech support trying to fix the issue until we all gave up and they want to bring me out a new one. I really would hate to lose another saturday!

They will FEDEX me the box if I want and I can mail the bad one back, but if its an install issue that wont help!

Has anyone experienced and fixed these problems or should I suck it up and take the reinstall?

 

[Tom Robertson]

I finally got off the list to trade in my R15 for the HR20 and had my install on saturday. Despite numerous resets including red button and complete I have the following weird issues:

1. I can get HD broadcasts on my local channels but when you go to one of the "HD" channels it either tells me to call x721 or says "not available in your area." Some NFL Sunday Ticket games in HD would come in (the Giants game) but not others (the Jets game). I have confirmed with DTV that I actually subscribe to these channels.

2. The HDMI absolutely will not work. I've tried running it through various component, resets, plugging in some components and not others etc. The television simply will not recieve a signal over HDMI. The tv is an LCD HDTV that is 4 months old.

3. Sometimes when you change the channel it starts looking for satellite 2 but does not interrupt programming and all the numbers for reception are in the 90s.

The installer spent atleast 2 hours on the phone with tech support trying to fix the issue until we all gave up and they want to bring me out a new one. I really would hate to lose another saturday!

They will FEDEX me the box if I want and I can mail the bad one back, but if its an install issue that wont help!

Has anyone experienced and fixed these problems or should I suck it up and take the reinstall?

Well, hard to say. Perhaps we can sort this out together.

Do you have strong signals on sats 101, 110, and 119 (start with the basics, then we'll work up)?
Do you have a strong signal on at least one transponder on sats. 99 or 103. (Those sats. are only spotbeams right now, you likely will only have a strong signal on the one aimed at your area. For instance, I only get a signal on 103, transponder 4, IIRC.)
Lastly, did you watch the installer align the dish? Did he adjust the fine tuning knobs on the base before locking the unit down or at least spend a fair amount of time carefully aligning the dish?
Did he ground the dish?
Did he install a multiswitch and if so, ground it?
Did he use new runs of cable without splices?

If those 6 (and a half) questions are all positive, then first estimate is the install was at least OK. (Can't pronounce great or good, based on cursory questions such as that, but its a start.)

Back to your enumerated questions:
1) if you get the HD locals, that is a good sign the installation was at least fair. HD locals are usually the hard ones. I've had to have Directv resend access data to enable programming to my units multiple times every once in awhile when making changes. Don't know why, but it just seems to be part of the deal.

2) We'll need more information to walk thru hdmi. Make/model of TV would help. Did you try different HDMI cables? Did you test different resolutions of the output, in case the hdmi handshake wasn't working? Beyond that, I'm afraid I can't think of anything helpful at this time.

3) Try swapping the sat. cables to your HR20. That might give us an insight as to what is happening.

If it were me, I'd take the new box Fedex AND tell them to keep the appointment. That way I'd get the new box faster and still be scheduled for re-installation if necessary.

Good luck,
Tom

 

[jhollan2]

sats 101: Mostly in the high 90s - 20 is 86 and 12 is 82

110: 3 coming in: 8, 10, 12 - 95, 96, 80 respectively

119 11 coming in - 90s- 23, 25, 29, 31 are 0

99 6 coming in 1-8. 1 is 30, 2 is 0, 5 is 33 - the rest are good - total percentage 33%

103 - 6 coming in 1 2, 3, 4, 6 are 0 the others are 95- overall 95%

Lastly, did you watch the installer align the dish? Did he adjust the fine tuning knobs on the base before locking the unit down or at least spend a fair amount of time carefully aligning the dish?

I couldnt see him on the roof - he was up there for quite a while.

Did he ground the dish? No idea

Did he install a multiswitch and if so, ground it? He used the existing wiring and did not have to add any actual cables. He installed some form of a device which I'm assuming is a multi switch in the garage where the terminal is.

Did he use new runs of cable without splices? We just plugged it in where the R15 used to be. Those cables were installed when the house was built in may.

Back to your enumerated questions:
1) if you get the HD locals, that is a good sign the installation was at least fair. HD locals are usually the hard ones. I've had to have Directv resend access data to enable programming to my units multiple times every once in awhile when making changes. Don't know why, but it just seems to be part of the deal.

No luck - reset the sat too.

2) We'll need more information to walk thru hdmi. Make/model of TV would help. Did you try different HDMI cables? Did you test different resolutions of the output, in case the hdmi handshake wasn't working? Beyond that, I'm afraid I can't think of anything helpful at this time.

It is a Samsung HLS4266WX/XAA. The cables are new from bestbuy "monster" brand. I tried playing with the options in the setup menu. It really just seems to be happy with the component.

3) Try swapping the sat. cables to your HR20. That might give us an insight as to what is happening.

Huh?

If it were me, I'd take the new box Fedex AND tell them to keep the appointment. That way I'd get the new box faster and still be scheduled for re-installation if necessary.

Dont I wish they'd let me do that! It seems there is some issue with the installer being given a "charge back" if they dont close out the job. I can only have one or the other! The installer begged me to take the fedex so they dont charge him. I feel bad for the guy!

Thanks!

 

[Tom Robertson]

All the numbers look very good. As expected between the two sats. 99 and 103, there would only be 1 or 2 strong signals. Everything else is a spotbeam for your neighboring cities and no programming for you.

For the moment I'll assume the cables are good since the house is new. (Was cabling run before drywall went up?)

In the HDMI issues thread I see a note or two that some of the Samsung TVs don't like the handshake with the HR20s. For now, you may have to use component until Directv can fix the problem. (Might be fixed with a new box, who knows.)

With the last item, I was suggesting you take the two satellite input cables at the back of the HR20 and swap them to see if that affects the searching for Satellite 2 issues. Don't think it will solve the problem, but would be an interesting diagnostic, I hope.

I think I once closed the case out, got the parts dropped off at the house and opened a new one install date all at the same time. Gave the installer his out, me the box sooner, and a set re-install date. And D* was ok with that. (Or was it the installers company? I don't remember for certain.)

Yeah, I have felt for the installers that did do their job, worked hard, and problems occurred.

Good luck,
Tom

 

[jhollan2]

The strangest issue... now my R-10 is dead. I left for work this morning and came home to find the box complaining about having no sat signal.

I spent 2 hours on the phone resetting it, plugging it into different rooms, plugging other machines in and watching them do fine...

This has to be related, right? What are the chances that my beloved R-10 would die just at the time that I have to decide between it and the R-15???

Anyway, its dead. RIP.

We re-sent the signals to the R-20, rebooted it a few times, swapped cables in the back, swapped rooms, swapped cables at the multiplexer - nothing changed. Sometimes certain HD channels would show up in the guide, sometimes they wouldnt. All times it told me to call 721 or gave me a black screen.

The caller ID randomly started working.

Only one tivo left (phillips). I have to get this thing to work!!!

Thanks so much,
Jill

 

[Tom Robertson]

The strangest issue... now my R-10 is dead. I left for work this morning and came home to find the box complaining about having no sat signal.

I spent 2 hours on the phone resetting it, plugging it into different rooms, plugging other machines in and watching them do fine...

This has to be related, right? What are the chances that my beloved R-10 would die just at the time that I have to decide between it and the R-15???

Anyway, its dead. RIP.

We re-sent the signals to the R-20, rebooted it a few times, swapped cables in the back, swapped rooms, swapped cables at the multiplexer - nothing changed. Sometimes certain HD channels would show up in the guide, sometimes they wouldnt. All times it told me to call 721 or gave me a black screen.

The caller ID randomly started working.

Only one tivo left (phillips). I have to get this thing to work!!!

Thanks so much,
Jill

Jill,

RIP, good and valued friend, R10.

Hard to believe this isn't related somehow, but I don't know how it could be unless the installer shorted the cables at the switch for an extended time. But I would expect that to be more immediate.

Alas, I don't have much else to offer for remote diagnosis. Hopefully someone else will have some useful thoughts.

Cheers,
Tom