Anything wrong with this HD install?

[rcpandr]

My daughter and husband got two new HD tvs, so I told them to call Dish and get a free upgrade. Dish comes and installs a new dish outside, a vip612 in the boys room, a vip722 in their bedroom and hooks up the tv in living room. They call and get the HD pack for $10.00 a month. I stop by Sunday and they have the new HD tv in the living room on. I tell them that the picture looks really bad and start to check things out. First the boys room has the vip612 hooked up to a SD tv with coaxial cable. Next the bedroom HD tv is hooked up to the vip722 with a RWY RCA cable. Now on to the living room HD tv. Dish has that one hooked to the vip722 in-home distribution output. Told them to call Dish back and set up a Sat. appointment so I can be there.

 

[osu1991]

The better question should be, what is not wrong with that install? I would definitely make sure I was there for the next visit.

 

[Frank7004]

A few possible things come to mind. Want to hear them?

 

[jcornelius02]

tv 2 is the living room?!?!?! oh boy somebody got lazy

 

[CK SatGuy]

No HDMI or Component cable hookup. No wonder you're not getting HD.

 

[Mike500]

Definitely does not take advantage of HD. If it's installed this way, you get worse than SD.

If you want all HD, you be much better off installing all 211/211k receivers, buying external hard drives, and paying the $40 hard drive activation fee. You are allowed three HD receivers.

I'd get HD for life and get rid of the $10 a month fee. You'd have to pay an additional $14 per month on the two mirrored recivers, but you'll already paying more than that in DVR and one additional receiver fee.

The hard drive fee and the hard drives are a one time fee, and external hard drives are cheap and can be upgraded easily without a service call.

This way every receiver will be HD. Every receiver comes with an HDMI cable with 1080p capability.

With a little work and a little up front money, you save a lot in the long run.

 

[Frank7004]

Ok, I'm going to offer my opinion regardless. lol.

My daughter and husband got two new HD tvs, so I told them to call Dish and get a free upgrade. Dish comes and installs a new dish outside, a vip612 in the boys room, a vip722 in their bedroom and hooks up the tv in living room. They call and get the HD pack for $10.00 a month. I stop by Sunday and they have the new HD tv in the living room on. I tell them that the picture looks really bad and start to check things out. First the boys room has the vip612 hooked up to a SD tv with coaxial cable. Next the bedroom HD tv is hooked up to the vip722 with a RWY RCA cable. Now on to the living room HD tv. Dish has that one hooked to the vip722 in-home distribution output. Told them to call Dish back and set up a Sat. appointment so I can be there.

First off, jumping on the evil dish tech bandwagon will get you no where. Lets not forget that your daughter or son in law signed the paperwork saying they were satisfied with the install at the end of the job.

HDTV's are a normal thing in the year 2011. Its about the only thing you can buy on the shelf now a days. So to say you have 2 hdtvs doesn't really mean much anymore. A 13" hdtv will have a crappy picture no matter how awesome the satellite service or the cabling.

A 612 in a kids room is normal. Making tv2 in a kids room ...well lets just say when oprah comes on to record at 4 and the kid just comes home from school and wants to watch tv in their room (mom and dad put it there, so they are going to watch it there) only to find oprah is on because mom wants to record it doesn't go over very well. -that said a 612 is common for a kids room.

The 722...
Is the home prewired? Is it by chance wired with 59? Did your kid refuse a new cable run so the tech could put the 722 into the living room? Is the TV hanging on the wall and only a coax runs to the mounting location and your kid refused to have an exposed cable from the rcvr to the tv? Is the son in law butt hurt about how the cabling is...he doesn't want all of the cables in the living room? Were the TV's moved around after the tech left? Were all of the TV's on site when the tech was there? Are the televisions near the rcvr location? The questions could continue on...

I will say that the tech not giving your daughter the proper HD cabling is uncalled for. As mentioned, if they have a off brand 13" "HDTV" in the bedroom, no cabling is going to make it look great. I am not making excuses for the tech, but automatically blaming the tech can really make you look ignorant also. As mentioned, your daughter or son in law signed stating they were happy with the install.

 

[Frank7004]

And oh yeah, dish now charges to move receivers to a different location in the home.

 

[Paradox-SJ]

Ok, I'm going to offer my opinion regardless. lol.



First off, jumping on the evil dish tech bandwagon will get you no where. Lets not forget that your daughter or son in law signed the paperwork saying they were satisfied with the install at the end of the job.

HDTV's are a normal thing in the year 2011. Its about the only thing you can buy on the shelf now a days. So to say you have 2 hdtvs doesn't really mean much anymore. A 13" hdtv will have a crappy picture no matter how awesome the satellite service or the cabling.

A 612 in a kids room is normal. Making tv2 in a kids room ...well lets just say when oprah comes on to record at 4 and the kid just comes home from school and wants to watch tv in their room (mom and dad put it there, so they are going to watch it there) only to find oprah is on because mom wants to record it doesn't go over very well. -that said a 612 is common for a kids room.

The 722...
Is the home prewired? Is it by chance wired with 59? Did your kid refuse a new cable run so the tech could put the 722 into the living room? Is the TV hanging on the wall and only a coax runs to the mounting location and your kid refused to have an exposed cable from the rcvr to the tv? Is the son in law butt hurt about how the cabling is...he doesn't want all of the cables in the living room? Were the TV's moved around after the tech left? Were all of the TV's on site when the tech was there? Are the televisions near the rcvr location? The questions could continue on...

I will say that the tech not giving your daughter the proper HD cabling is uncalled for. As mentioned, if they have a off brand 13" "HDTV" in the bedroom, no cabling is going to make it look great. I am not making excuses for the tech, but automatically blaming the tech can really make you look ignorant also. As mentioned, your daughter or son in law signed stating they were happy with the install.

Or we can simply go back to the logical conclusion of a lazy tech.

 

[Jimmerinwi]

They need to get the tech back out, move the 722 to the l.r. Put tv2 on the sd tv in the kids room, or 612 in the living room. HDMI cables at HD locations, life is good! Set record plus on 722 to disable ( menu, 8, 5, disable ). No more lost Oprah!

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Frank7004]

They need to get the tech back out, move the 722 to the l.r. Put tv2 on the sd tv in the kids room, or 612 in the living room. HDMI cables at HD locations, life is good! Set record plus on 722 to disable ( menu, 8, 5, disable ). No more lost Oprah!

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

Yep. Sure. Lets do what the guys on satellite guys say we should do.

Again, 1) there is probably something that is hindering the 722 and 612 to be placed in the "logical" locations or 2) the daughter wanted it there and dad comes by and says "what on earth are you thinking" and all of the sudden what she wanted is wrong. Gee...sounds like my wife. Now tech is needing to roll back out there, creating trouble calls and unnecessary headache. In our shop we have a term for customers like this. I'll refrain from saying it online.

 

[TheKrell]

Yep. Sure. Lets do what the guys on satellite guys say we should do.

Yes, you got that right because, unlike certain so called technicians, we are mostly competent around here and have no vested interest in leaving ASAP. We're here because we like to be here and help out.

Let me tell you what the braying jackass from Via Satellite did to me on my Dish Mover. Via Satellite scheduled the install for a Friday, and insisted on calling me every day all week including Friday morning to make sure I would be there. The tech never showed up, despite my calling Via Satellite several times that day to ask where he was. So what does this "technician" do? He shows up unannounced on Saturday morning and before I can get back home and tell him to stop, he cut my cable internet, taking down all phone service and 3 important business servers, and making it rather difficult for me to call up Via Satellite or Dish and straighten things out. (At that time, AT&T had no service at my address, and I had no landline.) He took down a DirecTV dish and put a D500 in it's place even though he had no LOS to 119. Then, when I asked where my wing dish was for 61.5, he wanted $100. I sent him packing. The next 3 techs from Via Satellite were not quite so brain-dead, but each one was basically incompetent and should never have been hired to do such work.

 

[Frank7004]

Your piss poor service doesn't have anything to do with dad wanting to ensure his daughter is hooked up the way he wants it done in her house.

For dad to be so frustrated with his daughters install, I was hoping to hear a logical response today. Shucks.

You had crappy service from a company who has crappy management and horrible dispatching. Basically probably way more than what you see when you opened the door to the tech.

Dad simply wants the job done his way.

 

[DishSubLA]

Why haven't we heard from one of our lovely Dish response team members to chime in on this? Hmm. I several experiences with LAZY or ignorant techs (the company installers have always done superb installs and proper HD connections) who install like the OP. Ironically, it is the Dish company techs who have to come--in a few cases discover on their own sometimes on an unrelated matter and make it right--and clean-up after the poor installer's work. No wonder people can get a negative impression of Dish. I've had to be at several installations to make certain it was done right and had to kick-out a REALLY LAZY guy who wanted hundreds more for an upgrade because of the "hassle" of using diplexers, etc. eventhough it was all covered by Dish as part of the one fee upgrade (confirmed by CSR and Dish Exec Offices who had to send out another tech to do it right). I have a ton of real life personal experiences and stories of how far too many techs (sadly, ALL independent retailers or contractors) with crappy installs, rude attitudes, shakedowns for more money when it is already covered and even a contractor who tried on several occasions to take away my brothers DPP44 switch, even saying they would install a 2nd Dish (an unnecessary solution), then came back with a 622 (my brother only subs to SD services) telling him it would give him a better picture--but failing to disclose the higher monthly box fee--even with only SD services all in exchange for his DPP44. Those incidents were reported to Dish who had someone up the chain talk to my brother gathering facts for an "investigation."

So much more to tell, but you get the point. The OP is perfectly reasonable and Dish has got to wake up to what too many of its retailers and contractors are doing to the company. Ergan admitted that they weren't getting the installs done right, and Charlie, you have a MASSIVE problem with many or the retailers and contractors who couldn't do a better job sabotaging what you've spent a lot of money working for.

 

[TheKrell]

One shocking note: the 3rd of my 4 incompetent techs from Via Satellite in 2004 claimed that he got paid a flat rate of $25/install, regardless of the complexity. This is not a living wage in this area.

 

[Frank7004]

Why haven't we heard from one of our lovely Dish response team members to chime in on this? Hmm. I several experiences with LAZY or ignorant techs (the company installers have always done superb installs and proper HD connections) who install like the OP. Ironically, it is the Dish company techs who have to come--in a few cases discover on their own sometimes on an unrelated matter and make it right--and clean-up after the poor installer's work. No wonder people can get a negative impression of Dish. I've had to be at several installations to make certain it was done right and had to kick-out a REALLY LAZY guy who wanted hundreds more for an upgrade because of the "hassle" of using diplexers, etc. eventhough it was all covered by Dish as part of the one fee upgrade (confirmed by CSR and Dish Exec Offices who had to send out another tech to do it right). I have a ton of real life personal experiences and stories of how far too many techs (sadly, ALL independent retailers or contractors) with crappy installs, rude attitudes, shakedowns for more money when it is already covered and even a contractor who tried on several occasions to take away my brothers DPP44 switch, even saying they would install a 2nd Dish (an unnecessary solution), then came back with a 622 (my brother only subs to SD services) telling him it would give him a better picture--but failing to disclose the higher monthly box fee--even with only SD services all in exchange for his DPP44. Those incidents were reported to Dish who had someone up the chain talk to my brother gathering facts for an "investigation."

So much more to tell, but you get the point. The OP is perfectly reasonable and Dish has got to wake up to what too many of its retailers and contractors are doing to the company. Ergan admitted that they weren't getting the installs done right, and Charlie, you have a MASSIVE problem with many or the retailers and contractors who couldn't do a better job sabotaging what you've spent a lot of money working for.

I agree with you 100%.

Look, at the end of the day, I will agree that the installer (most likely a contractor/retailer) probably did a crappy job. However, I will say that I (an in house tech) have done some installs where when I left I scratched my head a little bit, but it is WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTED even after several "suggestions" that I offered.

In the techs defense, there are several real life possibilities as to WHY he installed it the way he did. The job might be exactly what the customer wanted, Dad is the one that didn't approve.

 

[bigwillieb]

I here that a lot the wife was at home during install, she singed the work order saying it was like she wanted. Then husband comes home, and doesn't like and wants a installer come back out. Another $95 tech fee, $15 if you have the service plan, plus $50 for any moving of receivers or any custom work. It is sad that stuff like that happens, I would say that if you want it done right, you should be there for any install, just my opinion. Also, there is a large group of customers that have HD TV's and still use a 2800 receivers and happy with it. So, the reason why the installer installed the way he did, you would have to ask the tech, and who ever was at home at the time.

 

[HIFI]

BOTTOM LINE! If you want something a particular way, stay your a$$ around to make damn sure it's done to your satisfaction.

 

[dvrexpander]

This could be done this way for many reasons...first one to me sounds as if this is what the owner wanted or didn't want any new lines run etc etc. The 722 should have been located at the big HD Tv then back feed to the other room(no the one the 612 is in). As for the 612 hooked up via Coax, well that may have been the only way at that time depending on the TV or the customer didn't have or want to purchase the proper cables for the install as these are sometimes not provided in the boxes and are not free depending on the office of the installer.

 

[chainblu]

All true. We really need more information. I went on a trouble call once (322 receiver) where the house was wired with RG-59 and the installer simply did a wall penetration into the bedroom and back fed into the LR using the 59. Problem was, the customer was an elderly lady who also used her VCR a lot. She just couldn't grasp the whole 'channel 60 - channel 3' concept. I tried to tell her to just leave the VCR on all the time, but invariably
she would turn it off occasionally. The good news was I had given her my work cell number and she would call me (usually weekly) so I could walk her through getting a picture again, at least this saved me a 12 day TC. This continued until I got a new phone (and number). I don't know what she did after that. In hindsight, I guess, the proper fix would have been to run the cable to the LR.