Help ! 80+ yr old ordered DirecTv, installing SD right now - shouldnt be HD free instead?

[Jimbo]

No they don't. Every D* (and E*) install in my complex uses a pole and not a single one of us were charged for it. My buddy down the road has it and REQUESTED a pole, and the installer did it without a question.

Some do , some don't ...

Doesn't sound like there IS a standard.

 

[Jimbo]

Call them, I bet they'll take it off. No reason for it. Sounds like installers are trying to get a little extra. You'd think a pole mount would be better since they don't have to climb on the roof.

Thats what I've been saying for years now.

 

[Jimbo]

You have NO clue what you're talking about re: DirecTV - you DO realize that Claude IS a dealer & knows what he's talking about.
And what Claude told you re: NO HD receivers on an SD-only account IS, & has been a DirecTV policy, for quite some time now.
I didn't say it was smart; but it's what their bean-counters have decided to do for now.

I don't want to get into the middle of this argument, but I have friends that are on SD package and have HR24's on board.
So, they DO put HD recvrs out for SD subs.

And Yes, if they call in they are set and ready to go if they want to turn thier HD on .... they are set up with a SWM 3 dish.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Again, the only way you could have an HD receiver on a Directv account without HD programming is if your in an MPEG4 Market.

You cannot specifically request an HD receiver from Directv and not be expected to subscribe to HD programming.

MPEG4 Markets are the only exception, or an exception I think might be made if you had a bad SD box and Directv only had an HD box to swap it out for.

Even if you in an MPEG4 Market, you need to order SD equipment to not be able to subscribe to HD, and because its an MPEG 4 Market Directv will automatically upgrade you to the HD equivlant.

I just upgraded my friend a few weeks ago and she lives in an MPEG 4 Market. She wanted an HD box, but I ordered an SD box knowing full well she would get an HD receiver anyways

 

[Hutch1814]

Sorry, but the majority of equipment sold by providers, is HD capable. What little that is out there that customers have, is yes SD only. But now as of 2012, all you get when you sign up is HD capable equipment. It is easier to make a switch in the computer, and cheaper to carry this equipment then stock SD only & HD capable equipment. It helps the bottom line, along with keeping the costs down for the customers.

Actually half of my installs are SD only. D12's, R16's, R22's. All 3 SD and all 3 still produced with the R22 making a come back. I have upgrades weekly that have a SWM dish and are swapping out their HD equipment because "we can't tell a difference" and they don't want to be charged the $10 fee that directv requires to have HD equipment on the account. So saying everything is switching over is not true by any means at all

 

[Hutch1814]

Call them, I bet they'll take it off. No reason for it. Sounds like installers are trying to get a little extra. You'd think a pole mount would be better since they don't have to climb on the roof.

There is actually I a $75 charge for a pole mount but I can't think of a single installer that charges it, contractors do but in house not so much just because of what you stated, easier than pulling a ladder off a truck

 

[pdiddy]

At their age they are probably not going to even know high definition from standard definition let alone pay $10 a month for something we should all be getting for No additional cost. I personally told them I did not want HD I didn't want to pay the extra 10 bucks.


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[navychop]

.....As of this year all CATV, IPTV, & Satellite provider have to comply with the "Open Standard". That means that they have to issue out HD capable boxes to all customers, whether they are paying for hd channels or not.....

Are you referring to what is discussed in this article? Which is not quite what you posted, and only seems to apply to cablecos. Or can you give a link to more information about the "have to issue out HD capable boxes to all customers" part?

 

[raoul5788]

By this time, every market should be mpeg4, or soon to be mpeg4. That means that by the end of the year, mpeg2 equipment should be phased out. Also Direct cannot tell a customer that they cannot have an HD box, if they do not subscribe to HD, under FCC regulations.

As of this year all CATV, IPTV, & Satellite provider have to comply with the "Open Standard". That means that they have to issue out HD capable boxes to all customers, whether they are paying for hd channels or not.

Also this was discussed in this thread http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/324582-2014-MPEG-4-Conversions So please do not keep going on that DirecTV does not have plans to end mpeg-2.

We are in a Directv area here, and talking about Directv. The link you provided is from a Dish thread. You seem to be confused. Do you have a link to your claim about the FCC regulation?

 

[Broe67]

Are you referring to what is discussed in this article? Which is not quite what you posted, and only seems to apply to cablecos. Or can you give a link to more information about the "have to issue out HD capable boxes to all customers" part?

It applies to all Pay to watch tv providers, not just CATV.

 

[Broe67]

Actually half of my installs are SD only. D12's, R16's, R22's. All 3 SD and all 3 still produced with the R22 making a come back. I have upgrades weekly that have a SWM dish and are swapping out their HD equipment because "we can't tell a difference" and they don't want to be charged the $10 fee that directv requires to have HD equipment on the account. So saying everything is switching over is not true by any means at all

All of those are going on the EOL list at the end of the year. The whole Mpeg-4 upgrade is supposed to be done by year's end. With that, only Mpeg-4 boxes will be sold for DirecTV.

Direct has been moving towards all boxes being HD capable, no SD for over the past 2 1/2 years, along with moving those markets that were only Mpeg-2, to Mpeg-4. It is to not only cut down on costs, but also makes it easier for the engineers to push out only one software update to all of the equipment, then having to write two different versions of the software, due to half the markets having Mpeg-2 equipment, the other having Mpeg-4 equipment.

This is why CATV providers went to only supporting Mpeg-4 equipment as of last year, and no loner carrying SD only equipment. That is because that they were seeing a lot in the metrics, that there were more customers wanting to have HD, without having to swap out equipment when they purchased new tv's, or having the capability, if the provider were offering free previews.

If you do the searches, you will find a lot of information on customer metrics, etc. on the Internet, outside of these forums.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Actually half of my installs are SD only. D12's, R16's, R22's. All 3 SD and all 3 still produced with the R22 making a come back. I have upgrades weekly that have a SWM dish and are swapping out their HD equipment because "we can't tell a difference" and they don't want to be charged the $10 fee that directv requires to have HD equipment on the account. So saying everything is switching over is not true by any means at all

Yea they can't tell the difference till after you leave.

What some people will do to save $10 per month.

That right there goes to show you that the $10 HD fee is mandatory if there is HD equipment on your account if your in a non mpeg4 market.

 

[Jimbo]

Again, the only way you could have an HD receiver on a Directv account without HD programming is if your in an MPEG4 Market.

You cannot specifically request an HD receiver from Directv and not be expected to subscribe to HD programming.

MPEG4 Markets are the only exception, or an exception I think might be made if you had a bad SD box and Directv only had an HD box to swap it out for.

Even if you in an MPEG4 Market, you need to order SD equipment to not be able to subscribe to HD, and because its an MPEG 4 Market Directv will automatically upgrade you to the HD equivlant.

I just upgraded my friend a few weeks ago and she lives in an MPEG 4 Market. She wanted an HD box, but I ordered an SD box knowing full well she would get an HD receiver anyways

Is Toledo an MPEG4 market ?

 

[Jimbo]

Actually half of my installs are SD only. D12's, R16's, R22's. All 3 SD and all 3 still produced with the R22 making a come back. I have upgrades weekly that have a SWM dish and are swapping out their HD equipment because "we can't tell a difference" and they don't want to be charged the $10 fee that directv requires to have HD equipment on the account. So saying everything is switching over is not true by any means at all

Isn't it time for D* to get rid of the EXTRA FEE for HD ?

 

[Jimbo]

All of those are going on the EOL list at the end of the year. The whole Mpeg-4 upgrade is supposed to be done by year's end. With that, only Mpeg-4 boxes will be sold for DirecTV.

Direct has been moving towards all boxes being HD capable, no SD for over the past 2 1/2 years, along with moving those markets that were only Mpeg-2, to Mpeg-4. It is to not only cut down on costs, but also makes it easier for the engineers to push out only one software update to all of the equipment, then having to write two different versions of the software, due to half the markets having Mpeg-2 equipment, the other having Mpeg-4 equipment.

This is why CATV providers went to only supporting Mpeg-4 equipment as of last year, and no loner carrying SD only equipment. That is because that they were seeing a lot in the metrics, that there were more customers wanting to have HD, without having to swap out equipment when they purchased new tv's, or having the capability, if the provider were offering free previews.

If you do the searches, you will find a lot of information on customer metrics, etc. on the Internet, outside of these forums.

Don't know where your getting this info that ALL providers are no longer using SD equipment, thats NOT true ... I KNOW for a fact that the local Cable Co. still uses SD boxes and it has been shown that many D* installers are still putting SD recvrs in when warranted.

 

[stardust3]

MPEG4 Markets

Albany, GA
Alexandria, LA
Amarillo, TX
Anchorage, AK
Bangor, ME
Billings, MT
Biloxi - Gulfport, MS
Binghamton, NY
Bluefield - Beckley - Oak Hill, WV
Boise, ID
Butte - Bozeman, MT
Cedar Rapids - Waterloo - Iowa City - Dubuque, IA
Champaign - Springfield - Decatur, IL
Clarksburg - Weston, WV
Columbia - Jefferson City, MO
Columbus, GA - Opelika - Auburn, AL
Davenport IA - Rock Island - Moline, IL
Erie, PA
Eureka, CA
Evansville, IN
Fairbanks, AK
Ft. Smith - Fayetteville - Springdale - Rogers, AR
Ft. Wayne, IN
Gainesville, FL
Great Falls, MT
Greenville - New Bern - Washington, NC
Greenwood - Greenville, MS
Harrisonburg, VA
Honolulu, HI
Idaho Falls - Pocatello - Jackson, ID
Jonesboro, AR
Juneau, AK
Lincoln - Hastings - Kearney, NE
Lubbock, TX
Marquette, MI
Meridian, MS
Missoula, MT
Montgomery - Selma, AL
Odessa - Midland, TX
Panama City, FL
Peoria - Bloomington, IL
Quincy, IL - Hannibal, MO - Keokuk, IA
Sioux City, IA
Sioux Falls - Mitchell, SD
Springfield, MO
Syracuse, NY
Terre Haute, IN
Tri - Cities, (Bristol - Kingsport - Johnson City) TN - VA
Watertown, NY
Wausau - Rhinelander, WI
Wheeling, WV - Steubenville, OH
Youngstown, OH

 

[Jimbo]

Albany, GA
Alexandria, LA
Amarillo, TX
Anchorage, AK
Bangor, ME
Billings, MT
Biloxi - Gulfport, MS
Binghamton, NY
Bluefield - Beckley - Oak Hill, WV
Boise, ID
Butte - Bozeman, MT
Cedar Rapids - Waterloo - Iowa City - Dubuque, IA
Champaign - Springfield - Decatur, IL
Clarksburg - Weston, WV
Columbia - Jefferson City, MO
Columbus, GA - Opelika - Auburn, AL
Davenport IA - Rock Island - Moline, IL
Erie, PA
Eureka, CA
Evansville, IN
Fairbanks, AK
Ft. Smith - Fayetteville - Springdale - Rogers, AR
Ft. Wayne, IN
Gainesville, FL
Great Falls, MT
Greenville - New Bern - Washington, NC
Greenwood - Greenville, MS
Harrisonburg, VA
Honolulu, HI
Idaho Falls - Pocatello - Jackson, ID
Jonesboro, AR
Juneau, AK
Lincoln - Hastings - Kearney, NE
Lubbock, TX
Marquette, MI
Meridian, MS
Missoula, MT
Montgomery - Selma, AL
Odessa - Midland, TX
Panama City, FL
Peoria - Bloomington, IL
Quincy, IL - Hannibal, MO - Keokuk, IA
Sioux City, IA
Sioux Falls - Mitchell, SD
Springfield, MO
Syracuse, NY
Terre Haute, IN
Tri - Cities, (Bristol - Kingsport - Johnson City) TN - VA
Watertown, NY
Wausau - Rhinelander, WI
Wheeling, WV - Steubenville, OH
Youngstown, OH

Thats all there is ?

 

[stardust3]

That's it, those markets also used the 2 dish setup at 1 point when 72.5 was being used.

 

[raoul5788]

That's it, those markets also used the 2 dish setup at 1 point when 72.5 was being used.

Not all of them. Bangor for instance, didn't have local channels at all until they became available from mpeg4.

 

[stardust3]

Not all of them. Bangor for instance, didn't have local channels at all until they became available from mpeg4.

Ahh...didn't know that.

These markets are MPEG4 for only 1 reason....local channels.