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mjitkop

Last reply Apr 10, 2012 · posted in DIRECTV General Forum

Trying to figure out exact fees for DirecTV HD with Tivo

Hi everyone.

Little background: I have been a loyal DirecTV customer since November of 2001. Started with regular SD receivers and then upgraded to DVRs in 2004. Currently 4 TVs hooked up with their own DVRs and 1 of them is a lease (R15-300-CR) while all other 3 are owned. All DVRs other than the R15 are TiVo-powered. My wife hates the R15 with a passion and she said she wants TiVo.

Now 3 of the TVs are HD and the last one is a regular CRT TV (still working... for now).

I am looking into getting full advantage of the HD TVs by upgrading to HD with DirecTV. The main requirement is that all "receivers" hooked up to each HDTV must be TiVo HD DVRs. I understand that with TiVo you don't get Whole Home and it is not compatible with HMC but that's fine, I discussed this with the family and that's what we want.

I have been looking/asking around to figure out exactly to the penny, well at least to the dollar, how much my bill would be in the end every month. I can't get a clear number (can't figure out fees per account or receiver).

Here is my current statement:

[TD="colspan: 2"][/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail, colspan: 2"] Current Charges for Service Period 03/24/12 - 04/23/12 [/TD]

[TD="colspan: 2"][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]

[/TD]

[TD="class: billDetail"]03/24[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]04/23[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]PLUS DVR Monthly[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] 76.99[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="class: billDetail"]03/24[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]04/23[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]Network: NBC West Monthly[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] 2.50[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="class: billDetail"]03/24[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]04/23[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]Network: FOX West Monthly[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] 2.50[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="class: billDetail"]03/24[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]04/23[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]Advanced Receiver-DVR $8.00/mo Included in Base Pkg[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] 0.00[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="colspan: 2"][/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail, colspan: 2"] Fees [/TD]

[TD="colspan: 2"][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]

[/TD]

[TD="class: billDetail"]03/25[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"][/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]Additional TV[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] 6.00[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="class: billDetail, colspan: 2"][/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail, colspan: 2"] Adjustments & Credits [/TD]

[TD="colspan: 2"][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]

[/TD]

[TD="class: billDetail"]03/22[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"][/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]AT&T Customer Savings[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] -5.00[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] Credit[/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="class: billDetail"]02/27[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"][/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]Tax Adjustment[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] -0.59[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] Credit[/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="colspan: 2"][/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail, colspan: 2"] Taxes [/TD]

[TD="colspan: 2"][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]

[/TD]

[TD="class: billDetail"][/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"][/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]Sales Tax[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] 6.70[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="class: billDetail"][/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"][/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"]Gross Earnings Tax Reimbursement[/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] 5.54[/TD]
[TD="align: right"][/TD]

[TD="colspan: 5"]

[/TD]

[TD="colspan: 2"][/TD]
[TD="colspan: 2"]

[/TD]

[TD="class: billDetail"] AMOUNT DUE [/TD]
[TD="class: billDetail"] $107.23 [/TD]

I want to get HD and replace 3 SD DVRs (including the R15) with TiVo HD DVRs. The CRT TV will remain as is with its current SD TiVo DVR (I know a SWM supports legacy receivers).

Would anybody be kind enough to help me figure out exactly what fees apply to the account and what fees apply per receiver? In the end, I need to understand the impact on my monthly bill.

Also I have heard that the up-front fee of $199 for a leased HD DVR gets credited back to your account in your bills after a given amount of time. Is this true?

Thank you in advance for your help.

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rkr0923

Apr 9, 2012

You can never figure it out. Mine is different every other month or so, why I have no idea. Same with cell bill. Charge what they want to I guess.

jcrandall

Apr 10, 2012

Small compared to the upfront cost, but there is a monthly $6 Tivo fee on top of the DVR fee that is included in your Plus HDDVR package.

DodgerKing

Apr 10, 2012

jcrandall said:
Small compared to the upfront cost, but there is a monthly $6 Tivo fee on top of the DVR fee that is included in your Plus HDDVR package.

So people have to pay more for something that does less, just because it has the TiVo name on it? So I ask, why would anyone want a TiVo?

mjitkop

Apr 10, 2012

rkr0923 said:
You can never figure it out. Mine is different every other month or so, why I have no idea. Same with cell bill. Charge what they want to I guess.

This is probably the main reason why I am hesitant to sign up for auto-pay. I want to be able to verify how much money I need to send them before I pay my bill. In case of dispute, I can contact them before any money is taken from my account.

raoul5788 said:
Have you tried calling Directv and asking them?

Of course, that's the first thing I did. The problem is they don't seem to be very clear about all the fine print. I figured I would ask you guys in case you already had experience with all this.

Hutch1814 said:
The SWM won't support it. Unless you have more then 8 tuners. Giving you a swm 16. Directv is now having non SWM receivers swapped for SWM supported so your 15 would become a 16. As for the billing, I doubt they'll credit $600 to hour bills after an X amount of time. They MIGHT credit some but this is more of something you would have to keep calling in until you get a rep that pleases you.

Thanks for the technical explanations.
I figured it would be very unlikely I would get the up-front fee back but that's what I was told by a salesperson in a retail store where they sell DirecTV subscriptions. In doubt, I preferred to come here and ask experienced people.

andrewj0781 said:
Maybe you can find some answers here www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/technology/tivo_receiver

Yes, I looked there before I contacted DirecTV. Not all fees are explicitly mentioned though and that's my problems. I thought I read somewhere there was a $20 monthly fee but I'm not sure if that applies to the whole account or if it's per DVR. And what exactly does that include? Is the HD fee included in it? After you add up all different fees that may or may not be listed in fine print, you may end up with a substantial monthly bill. That's what I'm trying to figure out.

jcrandal said:
Small compared to the upfront cost, but there is a monthly $6 Tivo fee on top of the DVR fee that is included in your Plus HDDVR package.

Thank you. This is exactly the kind of thing I'm trying to get a clear picture of.

DodgerKing said:
So people have to pay more for something that does less, just because it has the TiVo name on it? So I ask, why would anyone want a TiVo?

Well, for one, it's matter of personal preferences. I like the user interface of TiVo better than DirecTV-branded DVRs. Also software stability and usability. To put it very, VERY nicely, the R15 software is crap! After years and years of using TiVo without any issues, I tend to prefer using TiVo for sure. I have been reading lately a lot of negative comments about the HRxx DirecTV HD DVRs so in my mind this only reinforces the idea that DirecTV software is not as good as it should. Winner in my mind: TiVo.

This doesn't mean that I don't like DirecTV. Being a loyal customer from more than 10 years proves that DirecTV is doing something right: content delivery. For hardware/software, I like to have the choice.

Aridon

Apr 10, 2012

The hr software has been great for years now. The 34 is buggy because it's brand new but most complaints about the dvrs are ancient history now.

harshness

Apr 10, 2012

mjitkop said:
I figured I would ask you guys in case you already had experience with all this.

The flaw in this reasoning is that you assumed that there are quite a few TiVo HD units out in the wild. I'm not entirely certain that they've rolled the THR-22 to all 50 states yet

Well, for one, it's matter of personal preferences. I like the user interface of TiVo better than DirecTV-branded DVRs. Also software stability and usability. To put it very, VERY nicely, the R15 software is crap! After years and years of using TiVo without any issues, I tend to prefer using TiVo for sure. I have been reading lately a lot of negative comments about the HRxx DirecTV HD DVRs so in my mind this only reinforces the idea that DirecTV software is not as good as it should. Winner in my mind: TiVo.

Do you really think it is fair to assume that the R15 software is representative of the current DIRECTV state-of-the-art?

The fee for TiVo service is $5/month/account (in addition to the $8/month/account) DVR fee.

DIRECTV Is there a service fee associated with the TiVo® HD DVR from DIRECTV

You'll pay $10 for HD Access.

I'm not sure how they treat you if you have TiVo for life.

If you're committed to TiVo and DIRECTV, does it really matter how much it costs?

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Scott Greczkowski

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge

Last reply A moment ago · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Song Name Game Part 3!

Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne

Get it?

An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....

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long_time_Dish

Today at 4:43 PM

One Toke Over The Line - Brewer and Shipley

Reactions: RaiderPower

EatMyVolts

52 minutes ago

One Way Or Another -- Blondie

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long_time_Dish

43 minutes ago

One Way Street - Streets

RaiderPower

41 minutes ago

Working My Way Back To You - The Spinners

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long_time_Dish

A moment ago

Find A Way To My Heart - Phil Collins

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Former member 209992

Last reply 1 minute ago · posted in SatelliteGuys Support Center

Site is slooooow

For some reason, the satelliteguys.us site is loading a lot slower than usual on both Chrome on my Asus laptop and Safari on my iPhone.
I'm also seeing longer appearances of the blue bar at the top and the "3 blue bars" loading symbol.
Is anyone else also having the same problem? Thanks in advance.

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Scott Greczkowski

Yesterday at 11:18 AM

Just a heads up... I just patched our PHP to close the major PHP exploit announced this morning.

Now on PHP 8.4.27 (cli) (built: Oct 20 2026 00:00:00)

Reactions: dhpeeple1, BikinSwans, long_time_Dish and 6 others

harshness

Yesterday at 3:13 PM

More specifically, these:

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109618

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-109619

A more scholarly story is here:

PHP warns admins of two critical flaws, emergency patches coming tomorrow

The PHP security team is warning administrators to prepare for emergency security updates tomorrow to address two critical vulnerabilities, as information about the flaws has reportedly leaked ahead of their scheduled disclosure.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

Reactions: Foxbat and charlesrshell

navychop

Yesterday at 3:43 PM

"WARNING Will Robinson!"

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Don in CT

Today at 10:19 AM

Scott Greczkowski said:
Just a heads up... I just patched our PHP to close the major PHP exploit announced this morning.

Now on PHP 8.4.27 (cli) (built: Oct 20 2026 00:00:00)

When I heard about this exploit I was wondering how quick you would be on it.

Reactions: Foxbat and charlesrshell

Scott Greczkowski

Today at 4:54 PM

Don in CT said:
When I heard about this exploit I was wondering how quick you would be on it.

12 minutes after the patch was release I had it patched.

Reactions: Foxbat, comfortably_numb, Bobby and 2 others

Foxbat

1 minute ago

A.I. - Be careful what you wish for…

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TvMind

Last reply 22 minutes ago · posted in C-BAND Satellite Discussion

SES 1 101° W Horizontal "Issues" a.k.a "I want my M(e)TV"

Howdy folks long time no write.

Issue(s): Horizontal transponders (esp. Weigel mux) breakup/mosaic/sputtering audio, JTV less so (but received perfectly up until a month or so ago.
Vertical is fine (Daystar). Up until recently couldn't even get any signal on Weigel Mux but JTV was perfect.

What I did to improve things: A slight westward move improved reception but only slightly (approx 72 on the micro HD, sorry no dB to post). I removed the 3-way C-Band splitter and used a 2-way to get a 1-2 db signal gain ( the power port goes to the Startrak - the micro HD doesn't have enough juice ! (1st clue) even after swapping the switching power supply it came with with a heftier linear 12 V supply (less RFI too !).
I have had issues with the uHD before signal breaking up that a reboot would clear up (clue #2 = dying tuner?) - FYI, I reinforced the IF input and removed all flux from the pcb completely with a Flux Removal Pen (MG Chemicals Cat No. 4140-P) which definitely makes a huge difference.

I went outside and pushed and pulled reflector slightly and no improvement. Pole (actually tower in yard - the neighbours love me..NOT) is plumb, checked with carpenters level. Dish was last peaked in 2017 or so, after overhauling 24" Von Weise, new Acme, fresh grease, etc. Focal length, f/d ratio etc meticulously adjusted. One panel has a tear so planning to repair that this weekend when my cousin comes over ( to help me out (old guy here) forecast calls for sunshine.

What has changed: My utility company has installed new high tension line poles (one smack dab in the middle of 101°W target! But they put it in last year and reception (of JTV (HOR) at least) was fine, BUT when they came out to transfer the wires over this year from the old (sawed in half) pole that's about when the troubles started (coincidence?), but again Daystar (VER) was fine. I always had this pole in the light of sight of 101° before with no issues. (fyi my zenith sat 74° is unobstucted, but can't test)

In the meantime Weigel mux is trying to break in MOSTLY in LATE at night (less cell usage?) (audio not video except for a frame here or there) so don't know what has changed with this mux which suddenly "woke up". I have never had to fuss with dish moves on this satellite ( the slightest move +/- motor clicks loses lock, wheres normally on C-band I can go significantly wider east or west and still have a strong signal ( have these gone "spot beam" or narrower somehow and what is the slight difference in Az listed on Lyngsat to 100.9° affect things ( isn't that the declination i.e. requiring a tweak of declination?).

Long story short (too late, ha), if I had another DVB-S2 box to try and / or a newer more stable PLL lnb ( I have been meaning to upgrade many a time but never got arround to it) I could determine if it's my antiquated receiving equipment, or my dish/feed alignment ( doubtful as it tracks everything from 55 °W to 133 ° W nicely.) or the dreaded 5G! (BUT only on HOR and not VER?).
I read another post where the OP (with his smaller 7.5 footer) played around with the illumination to peak desired transponder and reduce qrm on interfering/ stronger xpndrs (even on 103° W). So will play with that too - and cut away the RG-6 a and pull up a fresh section with new PPC and coax Seal. Open the throat cap see if any cobwebs are there and check servo operation (also changed in last maintence 10 years ago).

Finally, this will probably be the last chance I get to play with the BUD from the looks of it (providers leaving, auctioning off rest of spectrum imminent above 4.0 Ghz, and to keep the peace with neighbours so it would be nice to have that mux back for the long, cold and dark winters to comfort this old man before I call it quits and buy a VHF/UHF/FM Yagi and get MeTV, H&I from my Vermont local stations (checked at a friends today and they come in nicely - except ABC) .
Only one guy in town (Montreal) I may be able to get a receiver or PLL lnb from to try (RPS Sat) so hopefully with elimnate that as a possible culprit. Be nice to pick up a cheap or used PLL lnb to try w/o 5G BPF (money is tight )

Like others I couldn't care less about "tv" (well maybe just a liitle or a lot) it's the challenge that excites me , I can get MeTV other ways OTA (no pirate crap).

So what do you guys (and gals) think ?. p.s. I don't have a spectrum analyzer and there are def/ cell towers nearby (half a Km or so away).
Oh and time permitting will hammer out dings too and wire damaged mesh on one section for an extra dB or two. Hesitate to touch Declination, Elevation and pole mount but will play around with those a little too... Why is this mux for finicky suddenly ?(8psk, 5/6 fec, beamwidthetc.. man wish they went back to VER I think everthing would be fine! For the engineers out here does 5G QRM affect one poliarization (HOR) more than another (VER)? I understand the strong interference swamps out the input mixer/local oscilator in the hapless old C-band lnb (I think it at time affect KU too esp. LPB on 101°W KU - incidentally thos were weak or "gone' but are back almost at the time MeTV improved..hmm Terrestrial interference?

Any thoughts or suggestions ( cheap or free solutions please) greatly appreciated. Cheers.

p.p.s. Micro HD can't display Decades and Toons but records them fine so I can watch on another box/media player (Ali chip set issue). Another reason to upgrade.

Anybody interested in a nice C/KU system free ? (for next Spring/Summer 2027)

[Sami 10' mesh, Corotor II+, Eagle Aspen (very old) C-band lnb, Norsat Ku lnb, Channel Master C/Ku (H/V) switch, Startrak 400 Analog receiver w/ motor control, Geosat uHD DVD-S2, CW600S for Mpeg-2]

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Titanium

Oct 1, 2026

What is the SNR readings for these transponders? Is the signal breaking up due to low SNR or interference?

Did you inspect the feedhorn throat and wave guide for wasp nest or other blockage? Good SNR with frequent drops in decoding ( loss of SQ readings) could indicate interference from 5G.

TvMind

Oct 13, 2026

Titanium said:
Did you inspect the feedhorn throat and wave guide for wasp nest or other blockage? Good SNR with frequent drops in decoding ( loss of SQ readings) could indicate interference from 5G.

Thanks for chiming in here. No wasps (or hornets nests) but good suggestion.

I am getting 70 and over Quality on uHD which is good but as you say the signal drops out (70 to 0 ) occasionally and much worse by day (even JTV which I used to get solid is a mess in the day. Again Daystar (VER) is fine but still not what it used to be.

I will will either have to get a BPF or go VHF/UHF for these channels but not giving up just yet!

p.s. Isn't there something between your feedhorn/lnbf BPF model and Norsat's 1500$ BPF and 5G filtering lnb's? Heck almost ready for a diy (reverse engineer) job here (microwave BPF hack) Ah where is Radio Electronics when you need it! If it wasn't for losing Ku I'd buy your lnbf in a heartbeat! Are these hard to add Ku to?

Titanium

Oct 14, 2026

Our LNBFs are integrated with the feedhorn and no KU option. Maybe install an inline waveguide BPF such as:

www.ebay.com/itm/158077455896
www.ebay.com/itm/960059145385
www.ebay.com/itm/158007483799

brownsfan1

Monday at 9:22 PM

TvMind said:
Howdy folks long time no write.

Issue(s): Horizontal transponders (esp. Weigel mux) breakup/mosaic/sputtering audio, JTV less so (but received perfectly up until a month or so ago.
Vertical is fine (Daystar). Up until recently couldn't even get any signal on Weigel Mux but JTV was perfect.

What I did to improve things: A slight westward move improved reception but only slightly (approx 72 on the micro HD, sorry no dB to post). I removed the 3-way C-Band splitter and used a 2-way to get a 1-2 db signal gain ( the power port goes to the Startrak - the micro HD doesn't have enough juice ! (1st clue) even after swapping the switching power supply it came with with a heftier linear 12 V supply (less RFI too !).
I have had issues with the uHD before signal breaking up that a reboot would clear up (clue #2 = dying tuner?) - FYI, I reinforced the IF input and removed all flux from the pcb completely with a Flux Removal Pen (MG Chemicals Cat No. 4140-P) which definitely makes a huge difference.

I went outside and pushed and pulled reflector slightly and no improvement. Pole (actually tower in yard - the neighbours love me..NOT) is plumb, checked with carpenters level. Dish was last peaked in 2017 or so, after overhauling 24" Von Weise, new Acme, fresh grease, etc. Focal length, f/d ratio etc meticulously adjusted. One panel has a tear so planning to repair that this weekend when my cousin comes over ( to help me out (old guy here) forecast calls for sunshine.

What has changed: My utility company has installed new high tension line poles (one smack dab in the middle of 101°W target! But they put it in last year and reception (of JTV (HOR) at least) was fine, BUT when they came out to transfer the wires over this year from the old (sawed in half) pole that's about when the troubles started (coincidence?), but again Daystar (VER) was fine. I always had this pole in the light of sight of 101° before with no issues. (fyi my zenith sat 74° is unobstucted, but can't test)

In the meantime Weigel mux is trying to break in MOSTLY in LATE at night (less cell usage?) (audio not video except for a frame here or there) so don't know what has changed with this mux which suddenly "woke up". I have never had to fuss with dish moves on this satellite ( the slightest move +/- motor clicks loses lock, wheres normally on C-band I can go significantly wider east or west and still have a strong signal ( have these gone "spot beam" or narrower somehow and what is the slight difference in Az listed on Lyngsat to 100.9° affect things ( isn't that the declination i.e. requiring a tweak of declination?).

Long story short (too late, ha), if I had another DVB-S2 box to try and / or a newer more stable PLL lnb ( I have been meaning to upgrade many a time but never got arround to it) I could determine if it's my antiquated receiving equipment, or my dish/feed alignment ( doubtful as it tracks everything from 55 °W to 133 ° W nicely.) or the dreaded 5G! (BUT only on HOR and not VER?).
I read another post where the OP (with his smaller 7.5 footer) played around with the illumination to peak desired transponder and reduce qrm on interfering/ stronger xpndrs (even on 103° W). So will play with that too - and cut away the RG-6 a and pull up a fresh section with new PPC and coax Seal. Open the throat cap see if any cobwebs are there and check servo operation (also changed in last maintence 10 years ago).

Finally, this will probably be the last chance I get to play with the BUD from the looks of it (providers leaving, auctioning off rest of spectrum imminent above 4.0 Ghz, and to keep the peace with neighbours so it would be nice to have that mux back for the long, cold and dark winters to comfort this old man before I call it quits and buy a VHF/UHF/FM Yagi and get MeTV, H&I from my Vermont local stations (checked at a friends today and they come in nicely - except ABC) .
Only one guy in town (Montreal) I may be able to get a receiver or PLL lnb from to try (RPS Sat) so hopefully with elimnate that as a possible culprit. Be nice to pick up a cheap or used PLL lnb to try w/o 5G BPF (money is tight )

Like others I couldn't care less about "tv" (well maybe just a liitle or a lot) it's the challenge that excites me , I can get MeTV other ways OTA (no pirate crap).

So what do you guys (and gals) think ?. p.s. I don't have a spectrum analyzer and there are def/ cell towers nearby (half a Km or so away).
Oh and time permitting will hammer out dings too and wire damaged mesh on one section for an extra dB or two. Hesitate to touch Declination, Elevation and pole mount but will play around with those a little too... Why is this mux for finicky suddenly ?(8psk, 5/6 fec, beamwidthetc.. man wish they went back to VER I think everthing would be fine! For the engineers out here does 5G QRM affect one poliarization (HOR) more than another (VER)? I understand the strong interference swamps out the input mixer/local oscilator in the hapless old C-band lnb (I think it at time affect KU too esp. LPB on 101°W KU - incidentally thos were weak or "gone' but are back almost at the time MeTV improved..hmm Terrestrial interference?

Any thoughts or suggestions ( cheap or free solutions please) greatly appreciated. Cheers.

p.p.s. Micro HD can't display Decades and Toons but records them fine so I can watch on another box/media player (Ali chip set issue). Another reason to upgrade.

Anybody interested in a nice C/KU system free ? (for next Spring/Summer 2027)

[Sami 10' mesh, Corotor II+, Eagle Aspen (very old) C-band lnb, Norsat Ku lnb, Channel Master C/Ku (H/V) switch, Startrak 400 Analog receiver w/ motor control, Geosat uHD DVD-S2, CW600S for Mpeg-2]

I had the EXACT same problem happen to me with 101w, MeTV mux (Weigel). Working great when about 3 weeks ago I started to get the pixelating, especially at night. Sometimes Jewelry TV would also do it, sometimes not. Tweaked my dish. I have a Titanium 240 feed with the 5G filter 4.0-4.2 band pass. Every other satellite is working fine. Something on their end for sure. Power reduction? My signal seems fine like always. Running a Winegard 8.5 ft dish using a GT Media UHD V8. I'm sure my receiver isn't maybe sensitive enough for lower signal levels. Frustrating here too. I'm in the Canton, Ohio area. Thanks!

arlo

Tuesday at 10:22 AM

To me it looks like all of the intelligent things to diagnose the problem 'on the cheap' are being done.
I have my own thoughts of lnbf's using an external filter between the feed and coax. It would be cool to see what Brian could add.
Do his units have the filter before the actual LNA chip in the circuit? In other words, signal is focused at the lnbf throat. The probes for h & v polarity send the signal to.......filtering......then to the lna IC......
Or probes, lna, then filtering. Makes sense to trap the bad stuff before amplification to me.

On the cheap sometimes leaves questions. Enosat and El Bandido both use dvb-s pci cards and TBS USB receivers.
With those, and software. Signal analysis becomes sort of easy. Or tapping into your coax with a dc pass splitter, decoupling capacitor, and using a spectrum analyzer. Tuning across the LO band. Finding signal spikes. Digging deep.

Still making my decision on a (most probably) TBS PCIe tuner card. But I have tapped into my coax with my ancient but quite impressive HP spectrum analyzer and tinysa.
I don't have 5G interference so far that I know of. But have my suspects because I'm only able to snag signal from 131W in the winter when the leaves drop. But out of curiosity do scan it in the fall. And seem to be getting a signal that 'shouldn't' be there and a scan shows no channels. Far as I got.

An idea pops up to rig up an LNBF on a stick. Along with the tinysa and power supply and do some rogue signal searches. War Driving, of sorts. But. I wouldn't think that a chinabox, firmware based receiver would be of much help.
From what I see scanning across the frequency band. 5G cell transmission is always on and is very wide spectrum.
Whether anyone is actually using talking, texting, watching stupid human tricks on YouTube Makes no difference. The RF is there. So why would a C Band setup come and go? And what if you dumped the corotor and went modern voltage controlled polarity?

Another thought. Since you've learned the optimal position to place the scalar to illuminate out to the dish rim. And peaked the feed. There's most of a roll of aluminum flashing out in my garage that would most definitely wrap around my dish perimeter. That and a bag of large binder clips from the office supply. wally world. Ideas?

brownsfan1

22 minutes ago

arlo said:
To me it looks like all of the intelligent things to diagnose the problem 'on the cheap' are being done.
I have my own thoughts of lnbf's using an external filter between the feed and coax. It would be cool to see what Brian could add.
Do his units have the filter before the actual LNA chip in the circuit? In other words, signal is focused at the lnbf throat. The probes for h & v polarity send the signal to.......filtering......then to the lna IC......
Or probes, lna, then filtering. Makes sense to trap the bad stuff before amplification to me.

On the cheap sometimes leaves questions. Enosat and El Bandido both use dvb-s pci cards and TBS USB receivers.
With those, and software. Signal analysis becomes sort of easy. Or tapping into your coax with a dc pass splitter, decoupling capacitor, and using a spectrum analyzer. Tuning across the LO band. Finding signal spikes. Digging deep.

Still making my decision on a (most probably) TBS PCIe tuner card. But I have tapped into my coax with my ancient but quite impressive HP spectrum analyzer and tinysa.
I don't have 5G interference so far that I know of. But have my suspects because I'm only able to snag signal from 131W in the winter when the leaves drop. But out of curiosity do scan it in the fall. And seem to be getting a signal that 'shouldn't' be there and a scan shows no channels. Far as I got.

An idea pops up to rig up an LNBF on a stick. Along with the tinysa and power supply and do some rogue signal searches. War Driving, of sorts. But. I wouldn't think that a chinabox, firmware based receiver would be of much help.
From what I see scanning across the frequency band. 5G cell transmission is always on and is very wide spectrum.
Whether anyone is actually using talking, texting, watching stupid human tricks on YouTube Makes no difference. The RF is there. So why would a C Band setup come and go? And what if you dumped the corotor and went modern voltage controlled polarity?

Another thought. Since you've learned the optimal position to place the scalar to illuminate out to the dish rim. And peaked the feed. There's most of a roll of aluminum flashing out in my garage that would most definitely wrap around my dish perimeter. That and a bag of large binder clips from the office supply. wally world. Ideas?

I did some more investigating and found I got the MeTV mux in the early hours, until about 6am then the pixelating starts. Gets worse until around 8am its totally gone. I suspect my local cell tower is ramping up traffic as the morning goes on. My Titanium feed does a super job and most everything is clear that wasn't before but this mux is aggravating! I seem to just be over the signal threshold to work until the 5G total overwhelms my system. I'm using an old 9 foot spun aluminum dish and was wondering if I went to a 12 ft dish this would solve the problem? I know bigger is better in most satellite dish related signal problems. If this is true I will be searching for a bigger dish. I like your idea of flashing put around the dish perimeter. I have some I need to dig out and try before I start ripping out my dish. Anybody have any ideas if the bigger dish would do better? Any help would be appreciated!

View all replies (11)

TRG

Pub Member / Supporter

Last reply 27 minutes ago · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Prescription drug costs

Now that I'm retired, obviously I have different health care insurance. I take 2 prescriptions. With my old insurance I didn't have to pay for either of them, now I do. It's not a huge amount but it led me to dig a little into the cost of prescription medications. I have been using Walgreens for the longest time. But what I found was that Walgreens price is 4.8 times more for one of my prescriptions and the other is 2.3 percent more compared to the lowest price pharmacy. If you pay for prescription medications you might want to have a look at trumprx and see if you can get a lower price.

https://trumprx.gov/

Screenshot from 2026-10-22 15-43-53.webp

Screenshot from 2026-10-22 15-23-34.webp

8 Replies · 45 views

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telstar_1

57 minutes ago

TrumpRx?!?

I went on Medicare recently (not an "advantage" plan) and my prescriptions at HyVee were very low out of pocket. The clerk said she was putting them on "Good Rx".

Jimbo

51 minutes ago

telstar_1 said:
TrumpRx?!?

I went on Medicare recently (not an "advantage" plan) and my prescriptions at HyVee were very low out of pocket. The clerk said she was putting them on "Good Rx".

When I went on Medicare, I was paying $10 a Month for my most expensive drug .... NOW I am paying $ 375 for the 1st 3 months and $120 for the rest of the year, every 3 months. (this is a Tier 4 drug) the rest of my drugs are Tier 1 and are free.

Mr Tony

39 minutes ago

I'm lucky. I have half a dozen pills and Continuous Glucose Monitor (diabetic) and it's all covered

On my old plan (different job) the pills cost about $100 for 90 days and couldn't get the CGM. Insurance wouldn't give a discount.

osu1991

33 minutes ago

I take 10mg Rosuvastatin (Crestor). I was paying $34 for a 90day supply at Walgreens last year when I was on Blue Cross. My Blue Cross premiums were going up to $1800 a month this year, so I switched to an Ambetter Bronze plan (I think that's a Cigna company) for $825 a month. I now have a $40 copay for doctors visits which is fine as I usually only see them once or twice a year, so a huge cost savings. My Rosuvastatin was going to go up to around $90 for a 90 day supply at Walgreens and even more at CVS or one of the local family pharmacies. Ordering online thru my insurance portal from Express Scripts it's $0.74 for a 90 day supply.

Reactions: Jimbo

comfortably_numb

27 minutes ago

telstar_1 said:
TrumpRx?!?

Scripts arrive in a gold paper sack.

View all replies (8)

Lon.TV

Today at 6:52 PM · posted in Lon.TV

Lithium UPS Battery Backup Review - Oupes UPS 1200 Review

Time for another AWESOME video from Lon Seidman of LON.TV!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwivKnNZrw

Direct YouTube Link - Lithium UPS Battery Backup Review - Oupes UPS 1200 Review
The Official LON.TV Website
Lon on Facebook

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niembre

Last reply Today at 6:24 PM · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

OTA no working after Update

My OTA is not working anymore. This started after the latest update. I have the OTA dongle with a OTA antenna that I've been using for years. My hopper does not recognize the dongle anymore and when I go to the OTA setting, it has a screen that says to plug a dongle into the USB. I tried unplugging and plugging back, in the same usb port and other ports. The Hopper does not recognize it. Anyone have same issue?

202 Replies · 5280 views

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Briant73

Yesterday at 9:19 PM

Anyone heard any updates on this, I'm still having the issue so thought I'd check in.

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Almighty1

Yesterday at 9:48 PM

Briant73 said:
Anyone heard any updates on this, I'm still having the issue so thought I'd check in.

No updates but if you can get DISH Technical Operations to roll you back to H710 or earlier even though H708 would be best because it also eliminates another problem like in this comment, you will also no longer have the problem as long as you don't update manually or forced to any new version until the problem is fixed as the problem started in H711 and still exist in H712 and H713.

https://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/th...ftware-version-713-is-out.423921/post-5108817

Reactions: charlesrshell

dishstaller

Yesterday at 9:57 PM

Installed an off-air antenna a couple days ago for a customer who had just cancelled his Dish service. He had a dual off-air adapter and gave it to me. Cool. I'll keep it on the truck....might come in handy. Got to admit I don't watch anything as far as live tv goes anymore. Even if we have severe weather, our local channels will have a live feed on Youtube.

Reactions: navychop and charlesrshell

navychop

Yesterday at 11:21 PM

In other news, it was announced that the software fix for the two tin cans and a string will not be forthcoming. A hardware fix is required. However, that fix will let you receive stations from a gazillion miles away.

Truck roll charges may apply. Two year commitment required.

Reactions: Almighty1, Bobby, dishstaller and 1 other person

brittanygarden

Today at 6:24 PM

Hi all. If you were using a single tuner USB OTA adapter that is no longer working, please PM me. Thanks.

Reactions: charlesrshell

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dfergie

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!

Last reply Today at 6:14 PM · posted in TV Shows

Survivor 51

Coming soon…

View: https://youtu.be/KXLSVRsI3pk?is=db1PQX4Kn1vegN5i

9 Replies · 84 views

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dfergie

Oct 1, 2026

Loose lips sink ships for her...

teachsac

Oct 3, 2026

Dang. That had to hurt. I would have not handled it that well. Surprised it wasn't brought up by Heff at the challenge.

dfergie

Oct 8, 2026

First rule - if you get a clue follow it immediately, 2nd - keep your stuff with you in a strange place, 3rd - pay attention to your ride... (pre first - don't go if you think you might not want to stay Rob)

dfergie

Oct 9, 2026

Still miss "On Fire" podcasts, found these...

View: https://youtu.be/XhBPqEz8pP8?si=iXn4UuXAcwWAKPFK

View: https://youtu.be/SiM7LI0ySio?si=Y-75xOXapYcEf8BQ

View: https://youtu.be/4vz_xetsX9o?si=hph63mnL_KA-iky4

teachsac

Today at 6:14 PM

Loved the tribal

View all replies (9)

TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Today at 5:22 PM · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

iPhone Duo Preorder Experience With Christina Warren

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xnM_6NlEjsU

Direct YouTube Link - iPhone Duo Preorder Experience With Christina Warren
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

0 Replies · 7 views

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Bruce

Supporting Founder Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 4:42 PM · posted in Internet Television (IPTV) Discussion Forum

How things have changed

I was reading this article

Cable TV ‘cord-cutters’ became the majority in 2022

The steady decline of cable and broadcast television, and the rise of streaming services, reached a sort of inflection point over the past year. Last summer, for the first time, streaming ser…

thehill.com

That said this-
Last summer, for the first time, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime claimed the largest share of the television viewing audience, surpassing both cable and broadcast TV. Streaming captured 34.8 percent of July viewers, according to Nielsen data, compared to 34.4 percent for cable and 21.6 percent for broadcast.

And then, sometime in the second half of 2022, cord-cutters became the majority. The share of cable and satellite television subscribers dipped to 48 percent, according to a report from Samba TV, a television technology company.

Now I do not consider those with YTTV and the likes, Cord Cutters, but they still do not have Traditional Cable/Satellite delivered Live TV, so I decided to do the math.

There are, now, 129 Million Households in the United States.

In 2015, there were 100 Million Cable/Sat Subscribers , no streaming Live TV Service.

Today, there are 66 Million Live TV subscribers, including Cable, Satellite and Streaming.

Roughly, Streaming Live TV has 14 Million subs including all of them.

So that means, Cable/Satellite now has, roughly, 51 Million Households

So in just 8 years, lost 49% of their subscribers and by the end of this year, expected sub count to be, roughly, 45 million households.

That means a total loss of 55% since 2015 at the end of 2023.

But out of 129 Million households, 45 million will mean only 35% will get Cable/Satellite Delivered Live TV by the end of 2023.

Imagine what 2024 will be like.

878 Replies · 71374 views

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Bruce

Today at 12:11 PM

Sony is discontinuing it's last 4K disc player, Panasonic has been rumored to be doing the same, the end of physical media is unfortunately, about to happen.

Bad News For Blu-ray Fans: Sony Has Stopped Making a Popular Player | Cord Cutters News

Sony has discontinued its final standalone UHD Blu-ray player, the UBP-X700/K, ending shipments of the device with no successor model announced. The move, first spotted by Japanese website Kunkoku.jp and confirmed through the status of the product on Sony’s own website, marks the company’s...

cordcuttersnews.com

Reactions: ncted and navychop

navychop

Today at 2:42 PM

Got a Sony 700 at WM dot commie.

I think.

Ordered, anyway. Amazon let me go thru entire process but then said no inventory.

Hopefully,, WM will come thru.

dishstaller

Today at 2:54 PM

Bruce said:
Sony is discontinuing it's last 4K disc player, Panasonic has been rumored to be doing the same, the end of physical media is unfortunately, about to happen.

Hate to hear that. If you don't physically have something in your hand, you don't really own it.

Reactions: navychop

Bruce

Today at 4:29 PM

dishstaller said:
Hate to hear that. If you don't physically have something in your hand, you don't really own it.

Even a physical disc purchase is considered a license, just extremely harder to pull access vs digital.

But once new players are no longer sold and older players quit working, that takes care of the access to your library.

See LaserDiscs for one example of that happening.

ncted

Today at 4:42 PM

Bruce said:
Sony is discontinuing it's last 4K disc player, Panasonic has been rumored to be doing the same, the end of physical media is unfortunately, about to happen.

Bad News For Blu-ray Fans: Sony Has Stopped Making a Popular Player | Cord Cutters News

Sony has discontinued its final standalone UHD Blu-ray player, the UBP-X700/K, ending shipments of the device with no successor model announced. The move, first spotted by Japanese website Kunkoku.jp and confirmed through the status of the product on Sony’s own website, marks the company’s...

cordcuttersnews.com

I am so done with Sony on so many levels. This is just one small piece of it.

View all replies (878)

MartyDe

Last reply Today at 4:31 PM · posted in Over the Air Television By RabbitEars.Info

ATSC 3 converter boxes

Interesting article about the work being done to develope an ATSC 3 converter box. Yes it does mention affordable.

Pearl TV Issues Progress Report on Low-Cost 3.0 Converters in Advance of NAB Show New York

Group has secured lower pricing from key tech players to make less costly boxes available

www.tvtechnology.com

9 Replies · 305 views

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navychop

Tuesday at 12:03 PM

DEATH TO NEXGEN!

Reactions: primestar31, RaVo68, gms49ers and 1 other person

primestar31

Yesterday at 7:29 PM

navychop said:
DEATH TO NEXGEN!

It's dead, they just don't know it yet. They killed it by forcing DRM on it, and that TOTALLY botched implementing it.

There is absolutely NO compelling reason for anybody to switch to ATSC3.0. They only want it as a total and complete money grab.

Reactions: FTA4PA and navychop

navychop

Yesterday at 10:37 PM

I truly hope you are right.

Reactions: FTA4PA

Mister B

Today at 7:43 AM

What bothers me is the total waste of broadcasting spectrum in this very crowded market. It has been almost three years now since KFOX converted their broadcast tower to ATSC 3.0 and moved all of their channels to other towers causing noticeable degradation of the picture quality.
I have a Sony TV with 3.0 capabilities but still use the 1.0 version of locals due to the fact that one or all of the 3.0 channels are often missing or unwatchable. In this city of 800K I doubt that more than a few hundred even know about ATSC 3.0.
The only thing that could motivate me to be interested in 3.0 would be if all of the minor networks (diginets) could be in at least 720P rather than blurry ultra-compressed 480i.
Three years is long enough to waste one of the few available RF frequencies in the area for this trial.
It is time to either move on with this experiment or call it quits.

navychop

Today at 4:31 PM

Mister B said:
In this city of 800K I doubt that more than a few hundred even know about ATSC 3.0.

They might notice the hand going into their pocket for their wallet.

navychop

Today at 4:31 PM

Mister B said:
It is time to either move on with this experiment or call it quits.

QFT. Of course, my preference involves a curb and some kicking.

View all replies (9)

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Song Name Game Part 3!

Site is slooooow

PHP warns admins of two critical flaws, emergency patches coming tomorrow

SES 1 101° W Horizontal "Issues" a.k.a "I want my M(e)TV"

Prescription drug costs

Lithium UPS Battery Backup Review - Oupes UPS 1200 Review

OTA no working after Update

Survivor 51

iPhone Duo Preorder Experience With Christina Warren

How things have changed

Cable TV ‘cord-cutters’ became the majority in 2022

Bad News For Blu-ray Fans: Sony Has Stopped Making a Popular Player | Cord Cutters News

Bad News For Blu-ray Fans: Sony Has Stopped Making a Popular Player | Cord Cutters News

ATSC 3 converter boxes

Pearl TV Issues Progress Report on Low-Cost 3.0 Converters in Advance of NAB Show New York