Searching for Satellite Signal...

[BFisher]

I have recently upgraded my DirecTV subscription to HD (in anticipation of some new hardware )

I have noticed that we lose HD signal far more frequently than we ever lost the Standard Def signal (instead of once every other year, we've been losing it about once a week... granted we've had some major storms here in the SE lately))

I guess I'm looking for:
- is this normal? Are others seeing it? My signal strength appears to be very high when it's clear out (95-98)...

- is there a Sage fix? I know it's not a Sage problem - but most things recording off of Satellite could be recorded later when the signal comes back. Is there a way Sage could tell that it doesn't have a signal/picture and automatically reschedule to record the show later?

As a side note - even without the HD Recorder, I'm happy with this upgrade. The HD signal being output through SVideo is better than it was out of the standard receiver. Plus it's in widescreen format (requires changing my Sage Aspect ratio, but that's no biggie).

[stanger89]

Call direcTV and complain. My friend got the HD pack and between a combination of "weak" dish and improper installation he had frequent dropouts. DirecTV has since replaced his dish with one of the larger 5-lnb dishes and mounted it properly and he's quite happy. Only loses signal for brief periods when the weather's really bad.

[BFisher]

yeah, I'll complain. However, I'm already on the larger 5 LNB dish... but maybe there is a problem with the one I have...

[Slipshod]

Originally Posted by BFisher

yeah, I'll complain. However, I'm already on the larger 5 LNB dish... but maybe there is a problem with the one I have...

Not sure about Direct, but on Dish Network a lot of the HD content comes off of a sat at 129', which has much lower signal strength than 110' or 119'. It was a pain for the installer to aim when he set it up. If some of Direct's HD is coming off a similarly sub-optimal satellite for your location that could be the cause. Call and complain about signal quality, they should send somebody out to look and adjust anyway.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by BFisher

yeah, I'll complain. However, I'm already on the larger 5 LNB dish... but maybe there is a problem with the one I have...

It just occured to me, is it the squared off one or the big oval one? My friend had the square-ish one and had trouble but has no complaints since they installed the oval one.

[CollinR]

You may be better off with 2 seperate dishes rather then the try to get five birds at once oblong jobber.

Are you loosing local HD programming? You are probably either loosing 99 or 119 and still have programming on the others.

Take the time to go look for yourself, like EVERY install I have seen is jacked up. I myself have 2 dishes pointing straight into trees when a slightly more difficult install location would provide line of sight.

[BFisher]

Not sure if I'm losing local HD or not... I use OTA for local HD (although I also get the channels via Sat too if needed) so I never checked them.

I have 1 big oblong dish with 3 "heads" on the end (room for 2 more it looks like).

Today I noticed I lost my signal on 1 HD receiver, but not the other HD(and there was no weather issues today) (and I never lose signal on my SD receiver that I use for music and babysitter/in-laws). I reset that 1 receiver and it came back up fine.

I suspect that receiver may have a problem. I'll give DirecTV a call. Thanks

[pjpjpjpj]

A co-worker recently upgraded to DirecTV HD and has nothing but problems. He loses signal a lot and his HD DVR has all sorts of problems. They keep coming out to try to fix it (he's on like his third DVR from them), and then another problem pops up. He's apparently "had it out" on the phone with their customer service people a few times.

Hurts me to hear this, too, since I had DirecTV (SD, not HD) for five years and never had a single problem. The co-worker thinks they are pushing so hard to be "in first place" in the HD race that they are selling cheap, not-quite-ready-for-market equipment, and also contracting out poor installers, in order to stay "ahead" of the competition.

[timnelsonic]

I had the same issues and called DTV to complain. They came out and upgraded/reinstalled the dish for free. No problems since then. The second installer said the first installation was done all wrong, which I believe, because the installer was pretty lame. (He had to borrow tools from me, made me hold the ladder for him, etc.)

[BFisher]

yesterday was my final straw. Perfect weather and I couldn't watch the Indy qualifying (on ESPN2). I went up and down the channels and hmmm.... ESPN2 was the only channel with a problem. In hindsight, this is the channel that has given me the most problems... wasn't the tuner box but the channel itself.

I called DirecTV, and after 15 minutes of their automated system trying to tell me what to do, I finally got a live person who checked... and sure enough, that channel is all by itself. Checked signal strength and it's too low. DirecTV coming Wednesday to fix it. Hopefully this fixes my problems