[jjjeffr]

Sometime after 2am on April 2nd, I lost half of my local channel here in Minneapolis. Channels lost were 2 (PBS), 4 (CBS), 5 (ABC), 9 (FOX). This is happening on 3 of my receivers (HDVR2). I have reset the receivers, re-setup the satellite dish, re-authorized them on Directv's website, and called technical support. There is an error message that pops up for a short time after the receivers have are done acquiring channel information from the satellite. The message states that the receiver could not acquire information for all channels.

The technical representative stepped me though checking the setup and verifying transponders and voltages, but nothing helped. I was offered free standard DVR replacements with no committment as one solution. Any ideas on what models they would replace them with? I have not kept the old Tivos working this long to go to a DVR and interface that I have not wanted for the last 5+ years.

I have read on this forum and the TivoCommunity forum that others are having this problem with other models as well. I feel that DTV made a change that is breaking the receivers. Would other people that are having the same problem please post so that maybe they will find a fix.

If it is not a widespread problem, I am open to additional troubleshooting...... someone please help!

 

[macq]

Sometime after 2am on April 2nd, I lost half of my local channel here in Minneapolis. Channels lost were 2 (PBS), 4 (CBS), 5 (ABC), 9 (FOX). This is happening on 3 of my receivers (HDVR2). I have reset the receivers, re-setup the satellite dish, re-authorized them on Directv's website, and called technical support. There is an error message that pops up for a short time after the receivers have are done acquiring channel information from the satellite. The message states that the receiver could not acquire information for all channels.

The technical representative stepped me though checking the setup and verifying transponders and voltages, but nothing helped. I was offered free standard DVR replacements with no committment as one solution. Any ideas on what models they would replace them with? I have not kept the old Tivos working this long to go to a DVR and interface that I have not wanted for the last 5+ years.

I have read on this forum and the TivoCommunity forum that others are having this problem with other models as well. I feel that DTV made a change that is breaking the receivers. Would other people that are having the same problem please post so that maybe they will find a fix.

If it is not a widespread problem, I am open to additional troubleshooting...... someone please help!

I assume those old Tivos are owned equipment. Be aware that any new units would fall under a lease. That's a pretty nice deal if they'll "give" you new boxes under a new lease. But, they will be their boxes - not the new THR22. If you upgrade your DVRs to HD then realize there are extra charges per-box for that feature.

I recently unplugged my very old SD Tivos. I've migrated to the Tivo Premiere and using Comcast. But, I still have the THR22 and might keep it around just for NFL Sunday Ticket season. Now that we're getting used to the Premiere's the THR22 seems archaic - although it works reasonably well. If you are going to swap all your boxes perhaps that's an option?

 

[carl6]

"Free standard DVR replacements" could well be standard definition DVRs (the R15 or R16). The current HD series are the HR2x series. There is an HD Tivo DVR, the THR22. You should probably call and get more specific details on what type of deal they are offering. Also, be careful as a CSR cannot assure you "no commitment", especially at no cost.

As to your primary problem, DirecTV has been implementing changes to guide data for several years now, some of which has impacted older model receivers (Sony, RCA, Tivo). I would not expect that to be changed (i.e., don't expect them to fix your problem).

 

[samrs]

Most likely if all his signal strengths are good, then the op is in a 72.5 market that is or has migrated to MPEG4.

 

[macq]

Most likely if all his signal strengths are good, then the op is in a 72.5 market that is or has migrated to MPEG4.

You can view the status of local channels for your market here:
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/packProg/localChannels.jsp?assetId=900018

Just enter your zip code and it should say whether locals are available in SD. The one zip code I tried for Minneapolis showed SD locals were OK (the OP's market).

 

[texasbrit]

No, this is not a 72.5/MPEG-4 market problem. It is being reported from a number of different cities and as carl6 says, seems to be only on older receivers; it's probably another situation where the older receivers don't have enough guide data space. I suspect this one might be unplanned, although I have no info yet to support that theory..

 

[wishbone4401]

I have a similar problem - I live in Colorado and have two Directv Tivo boxes - an HR10-250 and a Phillips DSR7000/17 and both have DVR upgrade kits. Sometime around the end of March both quit receiving signals for local channels 4,7,9 but they continued to show up in the program guide and display the information banner along with a blank, gray screen. Other local channels including 6,12, and 31 were still available. On the morning of March 30th channels 6,12 and 31 disappeared from the program guide of the DSR7000 at about 10AM and later vanished from the HR10-250 guide in the afternoon. The current status is channels 4,7,9 are in the guide but no signal; 6,12,31 are not in the guide and show up as unavailable if selected and I can receive 2, 3, 14, 20, 25, 27 and 50. I should also mention I have a DTV HR20/700 hooked up to the same antenna and multiswitch and it's working normally and receives the full guide and all the local channels in both high and low definition. In spite of numerous calls to Directv support, system resets, re-authorizations, and repeated guided setups nothing seems to fix the problem. Since 2 receivers were affected, Directv insisted it was an antenna or multi-switch problem, so I set up an old dual LNB round antenna on a pole, pointed it to the 101 degree satellite and ran a standalone RG6 coax past the multi-switch directly to each of the Tivo receivers and got the same result. All transponders on the 101 deg satellite have a good signal except for 18,20, and 28 which are spotbeams that may or may not be boresighted to the Denver area. Directv tech support said all they could do is replace the old Tivo boxes with their home grown SD DVR or send out a technician. I opted for the technician and without even looking at the boxes, he said they have had several calls on this problem (they started on Friday 4/1/12) and they have been told all they can do is replace the old Tivo boxes with the DTV home grown SD DVR.

For those of you that are having this problem and have hacked Tivos using the DVR upgrade kit with the internet connectivity option, try the following:

1) Access the Tivo box by typing its IP address into your browser
2) Click on "User Interface"
3) Click on "Channel Guide"
4) Click on "All"
5) At this point you should see all the channels available in your area - including the ones your Tivo box won't process like the HD channels. If you're having the same problem I am, some local channels you receive as normal are in the guide, some local channels you should receive are not in the guide and some local channels that are in the guide result in a blank screen when you select them for viewing.
6) Click on the callsign of one of the channels that comes in normally. This is what I get:

Receive= Yes
Favorite= No
SignalType= 6 (DirecTV)
NetworkID= 565
Transponder= 4
NumStreams= 2
ServiceType= 64 (DirecTvDigitalTv)
Spi= 1 (Gtv)
StreamType= 2 (StandardVideo)​

7) Click on the callsign of one of the channels that shows up in the guide but comes up as a blank screen. This is what I get:

Receive= Yes
Favorite= No
SignalType= 6 (DirecTV)
NetworkID= 565
Transponder= 12
NumStreams= 3
ServiceType= 64 (DirecTvDigitalTv)
Spi= 127 (StreamLanguageDescriptorList)
StreamType= 2 3 3 (unknown)
​

8) I'm guessing if I could set NumStreams = 2, Spi = 1 and StreamType = 2 in the latter category of channels, they would come in just fine.
9) Regarding the local channels I should receive that aren't in the guide, the callsigns of the HD versions of the channels are in the guide file but not the SD callsigns. This is an callsign dump for a typical HD channel

Receive= Yes
Favorite= No
SignalType= 6 (DirecTV)
NetworkID= 565
Transponder= 33
NumStreams= 0
ServiceType= 2 (AtscDigitalTv)
Spi= 124 (Terrestrial)
StreamType= (no value)​

10) This sure looks like a Directv problem to me.

 

[dpmcintyre]

I had the same exact thing happen to me.

I had two HDVR2's in Minneapolis. On April 2nd on the first one, I lost the SD locals channels 2,4,5,9 & 11, leaving me 23, 29 & 41.

I ran through DirecTV tech support, and instead of paying for a service call, decided to put that money to a THR22-100 install instead, where they came out two days later and made that all good to go. (I was like the 4th install this local shop had ever done of the new dTiVo).

Now my other HDVR2 have lost 2,4,5,9 & 11 as well. That box says it can't find SatB or SatC, which is weird as it used to. Also the local SDs should be spot beamed on 101 or SatA according to some site I looked up for Minneapolis.
The new THR22-100 can get locals in both HD and SD.

Definitely sounds like DTV messed with some of the spot beam stuff that affected older receivers to me.

It definitely

 

[texasbrit]

Looks like this may only be happening to people running the old release 6.2 software. People are reporting that updating the software to release 6.4a solves the problem.

 

[litzdog911]

Looks like this may only be happening to people running the old release 6.2 software. People are reporting that updating the software to release 6.4a solves the problem.

Unfortunately this can be quite difficult if your Tivo is not connected to a phone line.

 

[sbl]

It seems that most of the people reporting this, if not all, are those who have "hacked" their boxes and kept the version at 6.2 so that they can use MRV. The 6.4a "slices" are probably in the MFS database waiting to be activated, assuming they didn't just install 6.2 from an image. I recall that one of the things 6.4 was to do was adapt to a new format of guide data - I'm somewhat surprised it took this long for problems to surface.

 

[L2BENGTREK]

Very interesting info here...as three of my local channels have disappeared today...is it correct to assume that eventually ALL of my locals will disappear? Why is it only affecting the locals? Not disputing...just would like to know...and as you can see below..my Tivo IS hacked and running 6.2 software...guess I'm screwed...

 

[Whipl50]

How do you do this if you're unit is hacked? I've got a phone line connected but testing the connection hasn't worked so far.

 

[L2BENGTREK]

How do you do this if you're unit is hacked? I've got a phone line connected but testing the connection hasn't worked so far.

One of the big things is...are you able to have your DirecTivo on your home network? DirecTV never used that feature. If you have an ethernet cable connected through a usb adapter on the back..then it has been hacked to one extent or another..

 

[Whipl50]

One of the big things is...are you able to have your DirecTivo on your home network? DirecTV never used that feature. If you have an ethernet cable connected through a usb adapter on the back..then it has been hacked to one extent or another..

It's on the network, I zippered it a long time ago. I just don't feel like futzing with it now. It's been the last SD unit in the house so the only thing I've been using from the "enhanced" features is the weather from javaHMO. I've been thinking about upgrading anyway. I'll call DirecTV and see what they have to say.

 

[litzdog911]

How do you do this if you're unit is hacked? I've got a phone line connected but testing the connection hasn't worked so far.

The Series 2 v6.4a software is not currently in the satellite stream. DirecTV is working with Tivo to reactivate that so DirecTivos connected to a phone will be able to update to v6.4a. Stay tuned.

 

[wishbone4401]

I sent a letter to Directv corporate headquarters complaining about the longevity of this issue and the fact that the tech support and customer service representatives have not been told about this problem nor have they been given a consistent answer about our options. I received a call this afternoon from a corporate representative and this is what I was told:

Directv engineering was unaware that the updates to the old TIVO software were not being made available for download.

As has been mentioned elsewhere they are working to get the updates re-started.

They said they would call me next week to let me know the status about when and how updates will be available.​

 

[Shades228]

I sent a letter to Directv corporate headquarters complaining about the longevity of this issue and the fact that the tech support and customer service representatives have not been told about this problem nor have they been given a consistent answer about our options. I received a call this afternoon from a corporate representative and this is what I was told:

Directv engineering was unaware that the updates to the old TIVO software were not being made available for download.

As has been mentioned elsewhere they are working to get the updates re-started.

They said they would call me next week to let me know the status about when and how updates will be available.
​

TiVo controlled this not DIRECTV. Your receivers called TiVo and they sent the software. Once your receiver had been flagged you could not get it again on that receiver. This was a huge issue when people were swapping out HD's and they didn't have the know how to copy the OS as they basically hosed their units. This is the main reason that weaknees became what it is today.

 

[Whipl50]

Called DirecTV and was told that I should update my software to 6.4 via phone line. Can anyone give me instructions or point me to instructions on how to update my receiver? I haven't messed with this in years. I can still telnet in and get a bash prompt.

 

[Shades228]

You would have to plug your phone line in and then do a call back. If you ever had 6.4 on that TiVO then you will not get it again. To my knowledge TiVo has not sent out software in years to series 2.