Instructions to get MRV (whole home DVR) activated for ethernet

[cfb]

Solid Signal has DECA adapters for $39.99 & their Band Stop Filters are $3.99. If you go to Beach Audio,their DECA power inserters are $10.99.

Yeah I see that. Directv must be eating some of the profit on this because thats a lot cheaper than other coax/ethernet adapters. The DECA stuff is pretty darn close to MOCA only using a different frequency. The cheap low end branded MOCA stuff is $70-100. The MOCA adapters made by more established brands were selling used for over $100 and close to $200 when they were hard to buy at retail.

Pretty substantial investment in hardware any which way you turn it. Even at wholesale/cost to directv the gear they put in JAG's house must have cost 350-400+. Probably more cost to directv than a dish and a couple of HD DVR's.

I guess they better hope that not too many customers sign up for DECA/MRV or its going to put them out of business.

 

[cfb]

I had to jump through some hoops, I did the email that cfb posted and got a response that they would have to send my email on to a specialist and see if my request could be processed? I got pi$$ed and sent an email back to the csr stating that i didnt appreciate her "passing the buck" and if she would just follow the instructions in the email we would be good. Not even five minutes later I received a response from a different customer service rep stating that I was good to go and reminding me that this would not be supported. So I did take the csr's name and her id number and did email a very positive letter about her and asked that whoever received it to please pass along to a supervisor. And sure enough I got another reponse thanking me for my email and for complementing the csr and ensuring me that my email was passed along to her supervisor. SO, all in all, it's on, it's working, BUT I HAD TO WORK FOR IT!!!!!! Very happy!!!!

Yeah the people who read the email cant do this themselves and have to pass it off to someone who has the access to turn it on, so dont sweat it if you get a "this has been passed to a specialist" response at first. The email people are just there to answer most of the easy questions and route the messages to the appropriate department.

 

[MattJ2124]

Uh-oh, my fault, I figured they were just passing the buck on to someone else, now I feel like an idiot. Time for another email to apologize.

 

[Brewer4]

Called the main number, got a CSR that knew exactly what I was talking about. Worked in a split and she was very pleasant.

 

[dfecarter]

Not eligible for MRV activation

I emailed Directv asking that my account have the MRV feature activated following the end of the Beta service. I got an email back saying that I was ineligible because my package is outdated. Since I have the HD DVR package for $79 per month - that I'd need to upgrade to have the $3 per month MRV tunred back on and that I'd need to "upgrade" to a current package. Now that sounds like it'll result in more $ to me. Can anyone tell me what D charges for HD service, DVR service and 200+ channels(no premium movie chs.) I've checked their site but they have it set up horribly. Thanks.

 

[cfb]

As mentioned earlier in the thread, they're excluding some 'grandfathered' packages like your HD DVR package from getting MRV. I'm guessing its their way of making you scoot along to a current package.

I dont know the package naming off the top of my head, but if you go to the directv web site, you'll see that there is a package thats substantially similar to what you have now, only I dont think they bundle in the HD and DVR services, I think you pay for those a la carte. The total will come to a few dollars more than you're paying now, plus the $3 for MRV.

So you'll effectively be paying $4-5 a month for MRV because you're paying a little more for the base package.

I think what you want is choice xtra, dvr service and hd service. That should run around $64+10+7=$81, or two bucks more than you're paying now.

If you bump to the choice ultimate for an extra $5 over that, you get a bunch of old semi crappy premium movie channels like encore thrown in. If you like old movies thats not a bad deal. A few of the channels are even in HD.

 

[rmmrph]

I just called to added MRV. He asked if I needed to upgrade equipment or just to turn it on. So he knew exactly what I wanted. He then told me I had to change my programming package from grandfathered Total Choice package to Choice Xtra at a minimum. That's a $6/ mo increase. No deal at that price. Is this true you need to have at least the Xtra to upgrade? I am happy with the package I have now because I get almost all the channels that are in the Xtra package for less money.

 

[cfb]

Yeah, you need it. I hear some CSR's will switch you to the new package, turn on mrv and then put you back to your old package, but it seems its hit or miss as to whether the CSR will do it for you.

 

[msilva0]

Just emailed mine and i didn't lose my grandfathered package

 

[dfecarter]

Thank you CFB for your response! you explained it very well! I may call in the next few days and see how I make out. I don't see why I have to upgrade! But it is surely a way to recoup a few more $ per month

 

[cfb]

I'll go out on a limb and guess that they put the MRV option into their computer system and had to put prequalifiers on it of a certain package level, certain receivers, etc...and couldnt or didnt put in some of the grandfathered packages as being okay as a minimum package level.

There was one recently grandfathered package (I forget which one, like total choice + hd/dvr) that seems to have caused the most trouble.

I made up for the cost increase by dropping the HD Extra pack and the protection plan. Actually saved me some money and I dont think I'm missing much.

 

[espressoman]

Well, I went the email path and got MRV back. Still kind of stinks we have to pay $3/month extra for it. But, my wife and I are hooked on being able to watch recorded shows in the other rooms of our house, so we'll pay.

 

[cfb]

Yeah, I'm not thrilled with the fee either.

But for us it fixed the limitation of 50 series links. Theres 3 people in the household and we each have about 30-35, many of them seasonal. I was having to remove and re-add series links every few weeks to manage living within the limits and have something everyone wanted to watch at every tv. And we were having to 'switch rooms' a lot.

 

[JimL]

After all the drama, and waiting to see if they would find the problem and turn it on it wasn't. So I wrote another email explaining all that transpired with Customer Service and asking that it just be turned back on - got the email back about it not being supported and the bill would be prorated and she turned on the service - just like that - makes me wonder what she did that the others didn't. Works as great as it did before.

 

[MrShides]

Hi everyone, I've been a longtime visitor of the forums, but I've never had much to offer in the way of help that I see most people here offer. That all changed today.

After 3 phone calls, then a visit to this site, a fourth phone call, and getting transferred to 3 different people, it turns out that the problem was my r22 (standard definitation dvr, capable of high definition, but i'm sure you all know that).

They could not turn it on with my r22 on the account. They had to remove the r22, leave the hr22, activate, then re-add the r22.

Maybe this is the problem that some of you are having getting it activated.

 

[cfb]

"You put your R-22 in, you take your R-22 out, you put it back in and shake it all about..."

 

[hdtvtechno]

"You put your R-22 in, you take your R-22 out, you put it back in and shake it all about..."

:rant:

 

[Ronnie-]

Hi everyone, I've been a longtime visitor of the forums, but I've never had much to offer in the way of help that I see most people here offer. That all changed today.

After 3 phone calls, then a visit to this site, a fourth phone call, and getting transferred to 3 different people, it turns out that the problem was my r22 (standard definitation dvr, capable of high definition, but i'm sure you all know that).

They could not turn it on with my r22 on the account. They had to remove the r22, leave the hr22, activate, then re-add the r22.

Maybe this is the problem that some of you are having getting it activated.

Welcome to the forum, and thanks for your input:up

 

[WyattEarp]

I participated in the beta test and now officially subscribed to the pay service. Luckily my home is pre-wired with network cables to all my receivers, so I don't have to use the DECA setup.

While playing content from one DVR on another works fine, there is a good deal of latency in response time when fast-forwarding / rewinding and particularly when using the 30 second skip.

Do you think this is resolvable by upgrading my router to a gigabit router or are the receivers themselves the bottleneck?

WyattEarp

 

[jcrandall]

The receivers max at 100mbps. No need for gigabit. The reason they went to DECA is to isolate the MRV from other network traffic. Initial reports are positive that it works better than even the best network setups, though some network setups work very good as well.

I had it wired for a long time and decided to go DECA (also for the SWM upgrade), but am still waiting for them to get a SWM16 to do my install.