New Cust: what to expect at installation?

[ecs4gl]

I have ordered DirecTV for the first time and want a little education on what to expect when the installer arrives Aug 7th. I expect that I have a few requests that will cause additional charges beyond the standard installation.

Here is what I ordered:
1. 1 regular receiver
2. 1 HD receiver (no DVR)
3. 1 HD antenna to hook to the dish to view HD local channels on my Sharp Aquos LCD

Here are other things affecting this installation:
1. 180 hour TIVO Series2 Dual Tuner: I want to hook this into the regular receiver and still be able to record a show and watch a show, etc.
2. 250 hour TIVO Series2: I want to hook this into the HD receiver (I know I won't be able to record HD) and record non-HD channels
3. I'm hoping to send an extra line feed from the HD receiver to an analog TV nearby and be able to watch whatever is tuned on the receiver except HD
4. I'm hoping to send an extra feed from the regular receiver to an extra TV nearby - same as #3

Questions:
1. Does anyone see any problems with what I want to accomplish here?
2. Does DirecTV allow extra line feeds to TVs that don't have receivers? Is it something an installer will do?
3. What kind of dish should I request? 3lnb versus 5lnb - I suppose they may not give me a choice anyway. I've read posts that mention the 5lnb is the dish that will handle future HD improvements??

Thanks for the help.

 

[charper1]

Without going into too much detail right off the bat.

1. You should have selected or been told what dish to expect during order confirmation.

2. By reading your list, it appears you have some extra (billable) specail work that will NOT be covered by the free install program. BUT you can glad pay extra for.

3. You need to call to find out what dish you are getting and see if you can talk to the installer beforehand to discuss your needed work in advance. This way he knows what to expect , can make sure to have all the needed parts/gear and you can get some possible extra cost ideas.

4. Don't be shocked if you might end up being asked to accept a new date. Just in case your install ends up being very detailed and added too past the freebie. IMHO

 

[Plywodstatebum]

Expect the worse, Hope for the best. and clean your gun while the installer is there.

 

[Teronzhul]

It all depends on how nice your installer is. For the tivo hookups, as an HSP employee I am mandated to accomplish complete system integration. If your electronics functioned when I arrived, they must do so equally as I leave. Many technicians though, both contractors and HSP employees are completely unfamiliar with tivo units and you may or may not have success in this regard. There is no training for these that we receive.

If you are getting an H20 installed, they should be installing a 5lnb kaku dish. They will not give you a choice.

Running a separate line from a receiver to another television is quite acceptable per DirecTv, but is definitely not part of standard installation. My office charges $70 for slave lines, but I've often done short ones for free due to the hassle of the electronic check authorization process we have to go through.

As charper said don't be surprised if you end up getting rescheduled. If you get a contractor who is only interested in hammering through installations, they may refuse to do anything custom as they won't have the time available. You will likely then get rescheduled to an HSP employee.

edit: addendum: Also, as I'm sure your ota antenna is headed to the h20, remember that the lines cannot be diplexed for the 5lnb. The installer will need to run a second line for the antenna. Going through exterior walls is standard, but if the tech has to wallfish to an interior wall that is extra. Typically $35 for a wallfish.

edit: reread: Also, for the dual tuner tivos recording one show and watching another. As the tivo will now be fed by the satellite tuner, and each of the boxes you are having installed are single tuner units, this will simply not be possible. The only option here would be to feed the antenna line to your tivo, and this would allow viewing ota broadcasts while recording satellite, or vise versa. Either that or you'd need a second satellite receiver to feed each tivo tuner. That becomes complicated though.

 

[ecs4gl]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I will see if I can speak with my installer ahead of time.

It looks like I will be able to do the slave lines like I want - but for utilizing the two tuners in my 180 hr TIVO DT box I may be out of luck. The OTA will allow me to get an HD feed of local channels, but TIVO can't record in HD, so I'm guessing I won't be able to hook one of its tuners into the OTA. I'll ask about getting a 2nd DirecTV receiver for the 2nd TIVO tuner - but I'm not sure how well that would work having a double stack of DirecTV receivers on the same TV.

That's one area where I see cable TV had an advantage - I could split off the cable signal wherever I wanted and record from the extra feed (without using the cable receiver box).

 

[damaged]

Expect the worse, Hope for the best. and clean your gun while the installer is there.

This works well with in-laws too!