HD10-250 Signal Strength Problems (among other things)

[lamontd]

Folks,

(Sorry to start a new topic...but I couldn't find anything about this anywhere.)

So I took the HD plunge and bought a HR10-250 last week. As many have mentioned it is slow -- painfully, agonizingly slow. (It wasn't installed until Wednesday, but I didn't really get to play with it until this weekend.) It was almost slow enough for me to take it back...but then I started having issues in with the signal strength on the HD DVR only -- basically, I was losing both HD channels and certain non-HD channels, while the non-HD DVR was seeing things just fine.

And after 45 minutes on the phone with D* tech support, all I got was "it's the weather...call us back when it clears up."

After I asked him to find out what the contract early termination fee was, he decided to offer a technician to "re-calibrate" my dish. (And, for that delay, I made a nice little complaint to customer service.) This sounded kinda fishy, so I went through the trouble of doing a little more research into problems on-line and I've become a little more distressed -- especially since I plopped $400.00 on this receiver and I don't have much more time to exchange it if I change my mind!

My questions are as follows:

1) Is it true that the HD satellites are different, and that if the installation "specialist" would have taken the time to recalibrate the existing dish with the HD satellites that this will go away? The earliest date that the installer could return was July 5th, and I'm not at all happy that I will be sitting on a tempermental $400 paperweight that will only work intermittently. Speaking of intermittent...

2) Does anyone know if the program guide speed on the HR10-250 *can* be fixed through a SW update -- or should I be exchanging my HR10-250 for a regular HD set and waiting (patiently) for something better/stronger/faster?

3) The post(s) about the new local HD channels sort-of infer that we will all need some new dish in order to see them. (Of course, no one from D* has ever mentioned this.) Is this true? (I believe that I have a triple LNB dish.) Will I be looking at a scenario where I will get some announcement from D* saying, "Hey...you can get local HD channels as soon as you plop down this xxx for another antenna and get another installation 'specialist' to come out and install it"?

I *hated* Comcast back when I had it, and I've loved D* for the three years that I have had it...but some of these HD problems are deal-breakers for me.

Thanks!

Lamont

 

[damaged]

My questions are as follows:

1) Is it true that the HD satellites are different, and that if the installation "specialist" would have taken the time to recalibrate the existing dish with the HD satellites that this will go away? The earliest date that the installer could return was July 5th, and I'm not at all happy that I will be sitting on a tempermental $400 paperweight that will only work intermittently. Speaking of intermittent...

Well, they _are_ in different places in the sky, assuming you have the 3lnb dish, if something _is_ off, you would see low signal levels on (one or more of) either the 101, 110, or 119), if you see your present signals are below, say 80% or so, this would tend to allow dropouts to occur, and a repeak would likely fix those dropouts and pixelation associated with that issue, especially during storms in the southwest. So, check your signals and post them to here if you are not sure. BTW, this would not apply to OTA, that would be handled by your OTA antenna.

2) Does anyone know if the program guide speed on the HR10-250 *can* be fixed through a SW update -- or should I be exchanging my HR10-250 for a regular HD set and waiting (patiently) for something better/stronger/faster?

Yes, it _could_ be fixed, as to if or when..I can't tell you for sure, but if I had to guess, I would think that they are more concerned with the newer H20 and the soon-to-be-released HR20 than something that will be obsolete soon.

3) The post(s) about the new local HD channels sort-of infer that we will all need some new dish in order to see them. (Of course, no one from D* has ever mentioned this.) Is this true? (I believe that I have a triple LNB dish.) Will I be looking at a scenario where I will get some announcement from D* saying, "Hey...you can get local HD channels as soon as you plop down this xxx for another antenna and get another installation 'specialist' to come out and install it"?

Yes, that is what I alluded to in question #2, eventually all HD from D* will use mpeg4, the unit you have is mpeg2 and cannot be software-updated to use mpeg4, and the new dish is required to pick up the other 2 sats, one or both of which will be using the Ku band, which the 3lnb dish cannot do. They may upgrade you to this new setup when you need it, for free, or for some reduced price, I would guess that when that time came, depending on your standing with D* that could be something you could haggle.

Thanks!

Lamont

No problem, good luck, and welcome to satguys.

 

[lamontd]

Well, they _are_ in different places in the sky, assuming you have the 3lnb dish, if something _is_ off, you would see low signal levels on (one or more of) either the 101, 110, or 119), if you see your present signals are below, say 80% or so, this would tend to allow dropouts to occur, and a repeak would likely fix those dropouts and pixelation associated with that issue, especially during storms in the southwest. So, check your signals and post them to here if you are not sure. BTW, this would not apply to OTA, that would be handled by your OTA antenna.

The 101 signals go between 60 and 85, the 119 signals are between 70 and 98...and the 110 signals are in the 30s. I guess I know what to tell the installer when they come...

Yes, it _could_ be fixed, as to if or when..I can't tell you for sure, but if I had to guess, I would think that they are more concerned with the newer H20 and the soon-to-be-released HR20 than something that will be obsolete soon.

Yes, that is what I alluded to in question #2, eventually all HD from D* will use mpeg4, the unit you have is mpeg2 and cannot be software-updated to use mpeg4, and the new dish is required to pick up the other 2 sats, one or both of which will be using the Ku band, which the 3lnb dish cannot do. They may upgrade you to this new setup when you need it, for free, or for some reduced price, I would guess that when that time came, depending on your standing with D* that could be something you could haggle.

That's good information. I'm going to call them and talk to them about this. If they are coming out with a *better* DVR in the next few months, then maybe my best course of action is to return this DVR to BestBuy and exchange it for a plain HD receiver -- knowing that I can buy the better, MPEG4 DVR when it comes out later this year. Maybe by then they will be running a better deal to try and get me into a HD DVR...

No problem, good luck, and welcome to satguys.

Thanks! This was great information from an obviously informed source! I'm glad that I stumbled across you guys!

 

[damaged]

The 101 signals go between 60 and 85, the 119 signals are between 70 and 98...and the 110 signals are in the 30s. I guess I know what to tell the installer when they come...

That is some significant signal fluctuation, if you replace the receiver and it keeps fluctuating this much, you may have a tree in the line of sight, or the dish mount itself is not stable.

Thanks! This was great information from an obviously informed source! I'm glad that I stumbled across you guys!

Glad it was informative, let us know what happens.