I need some tech help

[Sue S.]

Hi,
I have been a customer of Directv since 1996. I was having a problem getting all the channels I pay for. I have just a plain receiver, no bells and whistles. If I reset the receiver the channels would work ok until the next time they didn't. Eventually resetting didn't help and I call for help. Yesterday a tech came out and had to replace something on the dish itself and I thought he fixed the problem. Well, he did fix that problem, but now I am not getting full picture on 2/3 of the channels I pay for. The tech came back today, to no avail. Still only getting full picture on my local stations. The rest are not full picture. He even changed the receiver. No change. He had me talk to his supervisor who tried to hand me some bull about sending the signal they are getting, yada yada, but could not explain why I was getting full picture before this problem, but can not get it now. The tech left me with "use your TV zoom feature" to correct it. That's unacceptable. Any ideas?

Thanks for you help ahead of time.
Sue S.

 

[maestro7]

Hi, Sue:

I would first recommend that you take some pictures and upload to the forum and/or have them on-hand for DirecTV. It's often very difficult to understand what certain terms mean even when we think we know what we're talking about

Secondly, and phenomenally more importantly, the very next tech visit (should have started with the first) should absolutely not leave your premises until certain key channels that you know should be good are showing as good. In my years of IT quality assurance and release management, I would absolutely never allow a deployment to be considered completed until a general smoke test showed that what was supposed to be delivered was actually delivered.

That should be the same with you. It's too bad that the techs on hand didn't know enough to follow through on their job to consider whether the changes they made were, in fact, good.

I hope this helps!

 

[texasbrit]

tell us what receiver model you have, and how it is connected to your TV...

 

[raoul5788]

to Satelliteguys Sue S.!

Like texasbrit posted, posting your equipment helps us to diagnose your issues.

 

[Sue S.]

Hi, Sue:

I would first recommend that you take some pictures and upload to the forum and/or have them on-hand for DirecTV. It's often very difficult to understand what certain terms mean even when we think we know what we're talking about

Secondly, and phenomenally more importantly, the very next tech visit (should have started with the first) should absolutely not leave your premises until certain key channels that you know should be good are showing as good. In my years of IT quality assurance and release management, I would absolutely never allow a deployment to be considered completed until a general smoke test showed that what was supposed to be delivered was actually delivered.

That should be the same with you. It's too bad that the techs on hand didn't know enough to follow through on their job to consider whether the changes they made were, in fact, good.

I hope this helps!

Hi Maestro,
Thanks for taking the time to respond. All that you have said makes perfect sense to me, however that is not the way it went down. and here I sit dissatisfied with a product that cost me $90.00 a month for the basic stuff. I pay for 160+ channels and at the moment have 6 channels that have full screen picture format. All the others are either approx. a 18 inch square in the center of the screen, or appear with a three inch empty space on both top and bottom of the screen. I tried to take pictures to show you, but I can't capture it . I really don't know what I should do now.

 

[Sue S.]

tell us what receiver model you have, and how it is connected to your TV...

Hi Texasbrit,
My receiver, which he just replaced, is the basic "standard" black receiver. It's connected to the AV plug. What makes no sense to me is why everything (picture) was as it should be, before he replaced the part on the dish itself. He never touched anything inside yesterday aside from the remote.
Thanks for responding.

 

[Sue S.]

to Satelliteguys Sue S.!

Like texasbrit posted, posting your equipment helps us to diagnose your issues.

Hi Chip,
Thanks for the welcome.

Sue

 

[mdram]

what is the output resultion set to?
is it an hd tv?

sounds line a 16:9 ratio beieng sent as 4:3 with black bars on top
then the tv adding bars on the side

 

[Sue S.]

what is the output resultion set to?
is it an hd tv?

sounds line a 16:9 ratio beieng sent as 4:3 with black bars on top
then the tv adding bars on the side

Hi mdram,
Yes it's an HD tv. I don't really understand the "output resolution." though I know that has to do with HD. All that other stuff
you said sounds like it might be that, but, nothing was touched as far as connections and all that. It worked fine before. It should
now, as well.

Thanks

 

[mdram]

press the info button on the remote, then right arrow button to audio/video it should say what resolution you are set to

similiar to this picture
where it says 1080i+pillar

 

[raoul5788]

So what is the model number of your receiver and what type of dish do you have?

 

[Jimbo]

Sounds like an output issue, either on the recvr or the TV itself, it could be either.

What recvr do you have (model number inside door on front, also in the Menu/Settings section).

While your in the settings section ...
Go to Display/Video ... what does Screen Format say ... if it says Pillar box, change it, I recommend Original format.

Go back in the Display section and what is showing under TV Ratio ... which one has the radio button ... should be the one that says Wide Screen 16:9

 

[peds48]

This is the typical two technologies clashing and the consumer who do not understands. It seems the TS has an HDTV being feed by an SD receiver. The SD receiver of course puts out a 4:3 aspect ratio, very few 16x9. This can be easily solved by using the WIDE feature on HDTVs.

 

[Jimbo]

This is the typical two technologies clashing and the consumer who do not understands. It seems the TS has an HDTV being feed by an SD receiver. The SD receiver of course puts out a 4:3 aspect ratio, very few 16x9. This can be easily solved by using the WIDE feature on HDTVs.

Except for the fact that the sub said that it worked fine before the recvr was swapped out ... I'm guessing it's one of the settings I mentioned a few posts up, except that the sub is not currently online to fill in the blanks.

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

My theory from reading is that it's an aspect ratio issue and the cm is not understanding letterbox vs 4:3 feeds. Hence why the tech tried to have his sup explain it. I understand you said it worked before, but there is alot of information missing here.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

 

[peds48]

Except for the fact that the sub said that it worked fine before the recvr was swapped out ...

I am not saying otherwise. Point was, misunderstanding of the technology. Why would you want to amplify a crappy picture to begin with? Just to fill the real state of your screen?????? Let's keep it real folks, SD picture is for the most part 4:3. The REAL solution here is to get an HD receiver or set the TV to ZOOM.

Stretching the picture is a workaround, not a fix!

 

[peds48]

My theory from reading is that it's an aspect ratio issue and the cm is not understanding letterbox vs 4:3 feeds.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

Nailed IT!

 

[Jimbo]

I am not saying otherwise. Point was, misunderstanding of the technology. Why would you want to amplify a crappy picture to begin with? Just to fill the real state of your screen?????? Let's keep it real folks, SD picture is for the most part 4:3. The REAL solution here is to get an HD receiver or set the TV to ZOOM.

Stretching the picture is a workaround, not a fix!

I agree entirely ...