I just can't seem to get the planets aligned to get my DirectTV Genie system installed. Just went through the third attempt with no luck - took the morning off from work again - alas, no Genie.
First try was not the tech's fault - poor weather was resulting in waivers for picture quality, and as discussed in another thread, my preferred location did not have a good LOS, so we would have to go with the current chimney location where the existing E* DISH is located. Could not get up there due to snow on the roof, and the aforementioned rain squashed that one anyway. I did like the tech though - knew his stuff, and was willing to work with me on the install. Wish I had grabbed his number!
Second try was Wednesday, and the guy who showed up spoke broken (at best) English and wanted everything to be RG6 between Genies and clients. I was not aware of this, so I had to send him on his way. There is another thread devoted to this on these forums - short version: I was able to find some existing RG6 already run to my client locations, and I verified that I had RG6 running up to my location on the chimney with the existing DISH. I thought I was golden after this, so I rescheduled for today, and asked if they could get me the guy I had the first time (only thing I knew was that his name is Stu).
Third try was this morning - different guy came out. He was a young guy, early 20's, seemed reasonably well versed, but told me that he cannot use my existing RG6 runs to the chimney location because A) it is not up to DTV standards - center conductor is too thin and will melt with 21 volts across it, and B) there is a barrel connector in the run, which is apparently a no-no. To add insult to injury, this guy didn't have any RF modulators on his truck for mirroring to any standard def TV's, so I guess that is up to me. (first guy said he can provide those, no problem.)
Starting to wonder if I need a magic wand to get a Genie. This is damned frustrating for me, and now I have burned basically a full day of vacation for nothing. It would be helpful if DTV could lay out a technical Ten Commandments for customers to know about ahead of time, so that we could have an idea beforehand what needs to be in place for a successful install according to their standards. I was under the assumption that RG6 is RG6, and I don't recall any mentions in the past about having connectors inline with the run between dish and receiver.
So exactly what kind of cable to I need to have going up to the dish, and does it have to be a straight run with no splices or connections? I can understand that they are trying to eliminate any potential trouble spots, but sometimes there is no other way. I guess if I have to I will take a weekend to try to fish a cable up to the dish, under the deck, and down into the basement myself, but I want to know what to use so I don't have to do it again. And does DTV require the same magic wonder gold-plated RG6 cable between the Genie unit and the SWM, or will "ordinary" RG6 work for this?
Sorry if I sound a bit sarcastic, but I'm beyond frustrated at this point. The wife is wondering why we can't just have high def satellite service like everybody else, and at this point I'm starting to wonder the same thing. Guess it's just me.
First try was not the tech's fault - poor weather was resulting in waivers for picture quality, and as discussed in another thread, my preferred location did not have a good LOS, so we would have to go with the current chimney location where the existing E* DISH is located. Could not get up there due to snow on the roof, and the aforementioned rain squashed that one anyway. I did like the tech though - knew his stuff, and was willing to work with me on the install. Wish I had grabbed his number!
Second try was Wednesday, and the guy who showed up spoke broken (at best) English and wanted everything to be RG6 between Genies and clients. I was not aware of this, so I had to send him on his way. There is another thread devoted to this on these forums - short version: I was able to find some existing RG6 already run to my client locations, and I verified that I had RG6 running up to my location on the chimney with the existing DISH. I thought I was golden after this, so I rescheduled for today, and asked if they could get me the guy I had the first time (only thing I knew was that his name is Stu).
Third try was this morning - different guy came out. He was a young guy, early 20's, seemed reasonably well versed, but told me that he cannot use my existing RG6 runs to the chimney location because A) it is not up to DTV standards - center conductor is too thin and will melt with 21 volts across it, and B) there is a barrel connector in the run, which is apparently a no-no. To add insult to injury, this guy didn't have any RF modulators on his truck for mirroring to any standard def TV's, so I guess that is up to me. (first guy said he can provide those, no problem.)
Starting to wonder if I need a magic wand to get a Genie. This is damned frustrating for me, and now I have burned basically a full day of vacation for nothing. It would be helpful if DTV could lay out a technical Ten Commandments for customers to know about ahead of time, so that we could have an idea beforehand what needs to be in place for a successful install according to their standards. I was under the assumption that RG6 is RG6, and I don't recall any mentions in the past about having connectors inline with the run between dish and receiver.
So exactly what kind of cable to I need to have going up to the dish, and does it have to be a straight run with no splices or connections? I can understand that they are trying to eliminate any potential trouble spots, but sometimes there is no other way. I guess if I have to I will take a weekend to try to fish a cable up to the dish, under the deck, and down into the basement myself, but I want to know what to use so I don't have to do it again. And does DTV require the same magic wonder gold-plated RG6 cable between the Genie unit and the SWM, or will "ordinary" RG6 work for this?
Sorry if I sound a bit sarcastic, but I'm beyond frustrated at this point. The wife is wondering why we can't just have high def satellite service like everybody else, and at this point I'm starting to wonder the same thing. Guess it's just me.
