Warning about Direct TV/ATT receivers

[babock]

Originally Posted by DouglasReid

Direct TV is going Full Digital. This is the result of getting yo MUCH better signals!

It's always been full digital. They are just going full high def.

[DannyFaye]

Stay away from DirecTv spent almost 2 hrs arguing with them no more AT&T junk ever again will rip you off!!

[Dalin]

Just a little idea I had, but back when I had direct tv, we had 3 boxes on our plan, well when my daughter moved to go to college in Florida, we let her take on with her, still worked fine there, and she got to see the local TV channels from home that she was used to. Saved her some money too. Later we opted for a 4th controller and we only did that so that my second daughter could use one at her home....sometimes the monthly payments can come in handy to help others.

[ENGINEER]

Originally Posted by lilitaliangal

Yes. We had to come home and have a tech come out to reinstall it. Needed a whole new box. Apparently their customer service does not tell you this when they reactivate it'd. This has been since the AT&T merger and this is their way of generating business or continuing contracts I guess.

This is one reason the vast majority of mobile users have DISH NETWORK. Directv is a PITA...we used them forv10 years before discovering what DISH had to offer..

[slalonde]

I am a user and go RVing about every 90 - 120 days. My receivers in the RV are off all that time. After 27 days without use DirecTV deactivates the receivers. All you have to do is call in (24hous) a day and ask to resend the signal and the receivers are back on.
I’m confused as to what problems you’re having since I systems don’t fail after being off for more than 27 days.

[desuhu]

We have DISH and they told me today if we have them deactivate a receiver or a Joey, you have to return it. That is a crock if you ask me. Also changed to Hopper 3 and 2 Joey's last Oct. They gave me a Wally to use in our RV and we tried all afternoon and could not get all of our channels to come in on the Wally. We were at home using our Tailgator. We scanned and scanned and never did get all of them. What is weird is we could get 206, but not 205 and they're on the same satellite. Fox News and Fox Business. Talked with 2 different reps and did no good. Moved tailgater, changed coax, nothing. Any ideas?

[ScottBrownstein]

There is a difference between a receiver that needs to be reauthorized and a receiver that has been deactivated! DirecTV hasn't installed SD receivers for quite a few years. They are no longer activating SD boxes but they continually re-authorize them. If you deactivate an old box (stop paying a monthly fee) you will need a new box.

Simple...

[babock]

Originally Posted by slalonde

I am a user and go RVing about every 90 - 120 days. My receivers in the RV are off all that time. After 27 days without use DirecTV deactivates the receivers. All you have to do is call in (24hous) a day and ask to resend the signal and the receivers are back on.
I’m confused as to what problems you’re having since I systems don’t fail after being off for more than 27 days.

This is absolutely not true. I have receivers that are in a vacation home that are less active than that. In addition, I have one that is not even connected to the internet. Receiver satellite communication is one way. The receiver can not talk to the satellite.

[2witzmans]

Yep. Just ran into the problem when returning to summer home and Dish. They said we had to upgrade to a DVR receiver. Dang. I don't want a DVR. Fought for a CPL hrs and we're ok for now but will have another fight this fall. We buy all of our rcvrs so we can activate and deactivate at will . With leasing you can't.

[ScottBrownstein]

Originally Posted by babock

This is absolutely not true...

Actually it is true. Each receiver has a unique access card code and receiver ID. DTV continually transmits some unique combination of the two that tells each receiver, in turn, what channels it is permitted to display. I do not know how long it takes them to cycle through 20,000,000 of these codes, but presumably each receiver is "authorized" periodically. The receiver will not display any channels if its authorization is older than something of the order of a month. After that the receiver will wait for re-authorization before displaying anything at all. This happens if DTV satellite authorization codes (no power, no antenna...no signal) are unavailable for automatic reauthorization.

Once reconnected to the satellite signal the box will automatically reauthorize but it can take quite a while before "its number comes up."

If you call DTV and give them the box id they will put its auth code on the top of the pile or log into their web site and identify the box and ask for immediate authorization.

Takes seconds either way.

My boxes have never seen a phone line or the internet after the day they were first installed.

[colretired]

I have been with Direct TV since 1996 or so and been quite pleased. We have a receiver in the RV but we have not deactivated it so cannot address your issue. But there is something else we all should be aware of and that is the intention of ATT to discontinue the broadcast of the standard definition, SD, channels. This will render the portable antennas useless. So my Winegard carryout will be of no use. ATT is switching to the SWM technology so you need a SWM receiver and if not then you need a "B" band converter. Have-not figured it out just yet but will post when I do. Need to experiment a bit with the DVR's we have in the house. Unfortunately the tech support folks at ATT are not knowledgeable enough to help and there are no more Directv stores or outlets with real tech folks. I have a receiver that works with both the SD channel and the SWM but it is not a DVR ie the R means recording capability. We are trying to figure out if there is a DVR that works with both. I have a receiver that is not a genie so it will record independently but it does not work with the carry out. Interestingly we took the main receiver from the genie system in the house with us and thought we could watch recorded shows without being connected to the satellite. Not so. We have a recently purchased Traveler 3 that is a full size automatic direct antenna and will receive the HD channels that the carry out will not receive. We use the carry out when i need to remote the antenna away from the trailer to get a clear view of the southern sky. The Carry out was also great for use for tailgating or out by the pool. Unfortunately some time in the near future it will not work.
Dish on the other hand does not have these issues and their portable antennas will receive both the HD and the SD channels, they are less expensive, more compact and I know for certain they permit the deactivation and reactivation without issue. For me I am a bit stuck as I have permanently mounted the Traveler 3 on the roof and don't want to exchange it. So I might see if it is possible with a different dish component or LNB I could convert the traveler to the dish version and switch providers. I have reached out to ATT to try and get them to find a solution but am not going to hold my breath.

[ScottBrownstein]

Been with them that long as well and have a virtual museum of dishes and receivers.

As many posts have said, you need a H24 or HR24 if you want to continue to use your carryout or any legacy non SWM dish after the end of 2020 (sooner in some regions.) You may or may not need a baseband converter to go with it but that costs about $8. You will need to get the receiver and get a DirecTV vendor to write up the connection as after January of this year, users can no longer enable a new receiver.

The installers really know very little about this since all they ever do is trash the existing dish and install a new one! The H24 will work with both your Traveller and carryout. However, if your carryout is non SWM, you will have to change your setup every time you switch between your carryout and the Traveller. No big deal.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by colretired

I have been with Direct TV since 1996 or so and been quite pleased. We have a receiver in the RV but we have not deactivated it so cannot address your issue. But there is something else we all should be aware of and that is the intention of ATT to discontinue the broadcast of the standard definition, SD, channels. This will render the portable antennas useless. So my Winegard carryout will be of no use. ATT is switching to the SWM technology so you need a SWM receiver and if not then you need a "B" band converter. Have-not figured it out just yet but will post when I do. Need to experiment a bit with the DVR's we have in the house. Unfortunately the tech support folks at ATT are not knowledgeable enough to help and there are no more Directv stores or outlets with real tech folks. I have a receiver that works with both the SD channel and the SWM but it is not a DVR ie the R means recording capability. We are trying to figure out if there is a DVR that works with both. I have a receiver that is not a genie so it will record independently but it does not work with the carry out. Interestingly we took the main receiver from the genie system in the house with us and thought we could watch recorded shows without being connected to the satellite. Not so. We have a recently purchased Traveler 3 that is a full size automatic direct antenna and will receive the HD channels that the carry out will not receive. We use the carry out when i need to remote the antenna away from the trailer to get a clear view of the southern sky. The Carry out was also great for use for tailgating or out by the pool. Unfortunately some time in the near future it will not work.
Dish on the other hand does not have these issues and their portable antennas will receive both the HD and the SD channels, they are less expensive, more compact and I know for certain they permit the deactivation and reactivation without issue. For me I am a bit stuck as I have permanently mounted the Traveler 3 on the roof and don't want to exchange it. So I might see if it is possible with a different dish component or LNB I could convert the traveler to the dish version and switch providers. I have reached out to ATT to try and get them to find a solution but am not going to hold my breath.

I don't know why people over-generalize like this. I've been using an oval SWM antenna and matching HD DIRECTV receivers for several years. HD antenna --- HD Portable antenna. If they drop SD transmission, I don't care. That will not render my portable antenna useless. Now... usually when I attempt to correct this over-generalization, someone will come along and say "Well, he's really talking about the purple one that came from K-Mart in the late 2012s."


I don't have any of the issues people here blame on DIRECTV/AT&T. Back to your normal programming.

[colretired]

Thanks. WE have both the H24 and the HR24 receivers. The H24 seems to work with both antennas but the HR24 does not. We took them both on the last trip. As you noted we have to change the setup when we switch from the carry out to the Traveller 3. I keep getting there 771 error code on the HR24. The HR24 is the one we have in the house and it works with the SWM antenna and we can record with it independent of the rest of the house system. The rest of the TV's in the house are on the genie system. all are tied to the same dish antenna outside the house. I have the B band converter so that was to be the next step to try the HR24 with the converter and see if that works. Lots of trial and error

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by Mr. Dan

I don't know why people over-generalize like this. I've been using an oval SWM antenna and matching HD DIRECTV receivers for several years. HD antenna --- HD Portable antenna. If they drop SD transmission, I don't care. That will not render my portable antenna useless. Now... usually when I attempt to correct this over-generalization, someone will come along and say "Well, he's really talking about the purple one that came from K-Mart in the late 2012s."


I don't have any of the issues people here blame on DIRECTV/AT&T. Back to your normal programming.

And the discussion is centered around portable AUTOMATIC dish types, as you well know. But your point is taken that proper terminology is important.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

And the discussion is centered around portable AUTOMATIC dish types, as you well know. But your point is taken that proper terminology is important.

No... I don't well know that although maybe I should. I don't really see where portable AUTOMATIC antennas are called out. Sorry if I missed that.

[colretired]

Note to Mr Dan. I think if you do a little research you will find that neither the Winegard nor the King portable antennas will receive the Directv HD signal only the SD signal. So when they discontinue broadcasting the SD signal your portable automatic antenna will not work. It sounds like you carry a full size antenna with you and aim it yourself. That is a different animal altogether. I did that for a number of years and it was a pain even with the signal meter. But trust me I have done a lot of on line research and called the folks at AT&T numerous times in hopes of getting some solid answers.

[Joe_GA]

I have Dish and only use it when we take the camper someplace. The time it is sitting idle, we place it on "Dish pause". Customer service does it for you and and I believe you pick either 3, 6 or 9 months. If you want it reconnected, you contact customer service. While in Dish pause, it costs $5.98 a month to maintain the account.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by colretired

Note to Mr Dan. I think if you do a little research you will find that neither the Winegard nor the King portable antennas will receive the Directv HD signal only the SD signal. So when they discontinue broadcasting the SD signal your portable automatic antenna will not work. It sounds like you carry a full size antenna with you and aim it yourself. That is a different animal altogether. I did that for a number of years and it was a pain even with the signal meter. But trust me I have done a lot of on line research and called the folks at AT&T numerous times in hopes of getting some solid answers.

I'll drop out of this discussion and go on to some outside tasks. I won't do any research on Winegard or the King portable antennas because I don't need to know about them. My only suggestion is when you say portable antennas will not longer work you list the subset of those that won't. I point my oval antenna in a very few minutes without a stand-alone signal meter. I only use SatFinder Lite on my phone and the signal meters built into DIRECTV receiver software. No problem. I'm happy. I'm out.

[ScottBrownstein]

Originally Posted by colretired

Note to Mr Dan. I think if you do a little research you will find that neither the Winegard nor the King portable antennas will receive the Directv HD signal only the SD signal. So when they discontinue broadcasting the SD signal your portable automatic antenna will not work. It sounds like you carry a full size antenna with you and aim it yourself. That is a different animal altogether. I did that for a number of years and it was a pain even with the signal meter. But trust me I have done a lot of on line research and called the folks at AT&T numerous times in hopes of getting some solid answers.

An antenna and receiver receive what is being transmitted to them. There is nothing about the antenna that is SD or HD. That is all in the signal that is being transmitted. An 18" DirecTV dish can only receive data from a single satellite and for it receiver to work at all, that satellite MUST BE 101! Without that you get no authorization and no guide.

Currently DirecTV is transmitting SD signals using the MPEG2 compression algorithm and HD signals with more modern MPEG4 compression. At the end of 2020 they will stop simultaneously broadcasting MPEG2 SD and MPEG4 HD and only use MPEG4HD. SD only receivers cannot understand MPEG4 and as such they will cease to be able to receive and video at all...from any satellite!

Now, DirecTV cannot eliminate the satellite at 101 since all 20,000,000 of their receivers use this bird for guide and authorization. When they turn off the MPEG2 SD on 101, what will they do with the available channel space? They will begin to broadcast MPEG4 HD on those vacant channels. This means that while a small dish currently will not receive HD signals that is only because they are not being transmitted up to and down from the satellite at 101.

Solution, get a receiver that can decode MPEG4 from the antenna. That would be the H24 or HR24 receiver which can use all existing DirecTV dishes and decode MPEG4, and then send either SD or HD to your television set (an H24 or HR24 can extract an SD signal from a MPEG4 HD signal.)

It isn't the dish, it isn't the receiver...it is what they send up to a given satellite and how they compress it, that comes down to your coach.