Problem with 2 HD stations- Tech supp. useless

[whitman]

For past 3 weeks I have had an intermittent (non weather related) problem with only two stations. This problem is now a constant one.

HBO HD and SHO HD both come in but with very poor reception. There are constant loss of signal issues leading to artifacts on the screen in random places that make the shows impossible to watch. This occurs only with these two stations. Other HD stations are all fine. It occurs on both my HR10-250 units set up in two different rooms. The problem did not get better with rebooting the unit (tried twice).

A call to DTV tech support should have been recorded for laughs because this lady was so clueless it was actually sad. She had to put me on hold several times just to figure out how to find my access card info. She didn't know the word TiVO. When we are finally able to start working on the problem 15 minutes later, she starts off asking me to verify that my input cables are correctly in place. The units have run for over a year, the other stations all come in and it is occurring on TWO DVRs! It is impossible for it to be the input cables. She was reading from a script. I gave up at that point and decided people here may be able to help far more than her.

So, anyone know what is going in where only two stations are partially out? I suspect it is a dish related thing.

And, does anyone know how I can get to a high level tech support person at DTV who can assist me without a script?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[stevel]

Well, both HBOHD and SHOHD are on transponder 10 of the 110 satellite. I'd go to the signal strength test and look at the relative strengths on the various 110 satellite transponders (8, 10 and 12). Compare to what you get on the 101 and 119 sats.

How is HDnet Movies? That is on the same transponder.

TNTHD is on C-8 and UHD is on C-12 - comparing those would also be useful.

[A J Ricaud]

For past 3 weeks I have had an intermittent (non weather related) problem with only two stations. This problem is now a constant one.

HBO HD and SHO HD both come in but with very poor reception. There are constant loss of signal issues leading to artifacts on the screen in random places that make the shows impossible to watch. This occurs only with these two stations. Other HD stations are all fine. It occurs on both my HR10-250 units set up in two different rooms. The problem did not get better with rebooting the unit (tried twice).


Since it is happening to both receivers the problem has to be common to both, i.e. the LNB assembly on the dish and any mutiswitch in your setup. It could also be simple mis-alignment of the dish or corroded, insufficiently tightened coax cables.

I think that troubleshooting will require a service call to check dish alignment first, then substitution of known good LNB assembly/multiswitches.

[stevel]

My guess is that the problem is concentrated on the C-sat LNB, which is why I suggested some tests.

[actionj]

I'd have a tech come out and check the cabling. I have several long runs that the DTV tech ran and I had the same issue after 6 months, 2 HD channels were having random problems. The tech came out and replaced some of the caps or whatever they are called that join the cables together and the problem was solved.

[TyroneShoes]

But, this should be revealed by checking the receive levels, as Stevel suggests. IOW, if the receive levels are good, then the level of the signal entering the STB and nearly everything in the entire delivery chain before that point can be ruled out. Be sure to check the exact levels of the x-ponders that are showing the problem. If they are good, it is probably either an STB problem (likely) or a problem with the play-to-air server or compression equipment at the DTV uplink (not likely, as many more of us would be seeing this problem, and certainly the great majority of us are not).