DIRECTV at hotel super slow

[wagonman76]

I was smart and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express 2 nights last weekend. But seriously, they had a DIRECTV system that was painfully slow. Being totally ignorant about these systems, all I know is it consisted of about a 40” TV with a rear HDMI or USB connection from the TV to wall. No actual receiver in the room (that I knew of).

Any button would take like at least 10 seconds to actually register. Multiple presses would just make a mess that took forever to work out. Scrolling the guide wasn’t as bad, just a few seconds after each press and it would scroll. But go to a channel, and it would take like 5-10 seconds, then blank the screen for another 5-10 seconds, then bring up the correct channel. Changing channel directly would do the same thing, take several seconds to even register the button press, then blank the screen for a bit, then eventually show the correct channel.

The front desk said it was probably the remote batteries. But the button presses registered, it just seemed like either the DIRECTV system was dragging, or the TV was not powerful enough to run it.

Anyone know what might be going on here? Gonna be writing a review after I get my deposit back.

 

[lordodogg]

Did it have the old UI DirecTV guide with many of the regular DirecTV channels? If so, there's definitely a receiver somewhere.
Or did it have a limited, cable-like lineup with 50-channels and a scrolling program guide channel? If so, there's no receiver and they're using COM2000 or COM3000 systems.

 

[wagonman76]

From what I remember it looked a lot like this. It was modern looking, and had channel names in text and not icons. It was in Detroit if that makes any difference.

 

[lordodogg]

They probably have either the H44 or H26K receiver, then. No idea why those would be slow, then, since those are both fairly new receivers.

 

[wagonman76]

The remote was fairly small, similar or same as this one. Not a long tall one like I’ve seen in the past.

 

[lordodogg]

I have that same remote as well at home, and I've even used it at some HIExp's that I've been to as well (most recently being in Warrenton, Virginia).
Have you tried doing a CLEARMYBOX in Smart Search on the receiver? That usually speeds up slow receivers since it clears a lot of cached stuff like the program guide, channel logos, and posters.

 

[wagonman76]

I didn’t, as I don’t really know anything about these. But that’s really good to know, it might have took care of it. I’ll have to remember that. The hotel was excellent otherwise and next time I’m down there I’ll be staying there. The place was built between 2016 and 2018.

 

[lordodogg]

The place was built between 2016 and 2018.

We have newer here, a Fairfield by Marriott that opened in January 2020!
One last question, have you had DirecTV yourself before? Asking since I don't see any DirecTV equipment in your setup signature.

 

[wagonman76]

I’ve never had DIRECTV or Dish Network or smart TVs or anything. I’m old school and familiar with C band systems.

Below is what the room looked like. The black bar at the bottom is a bank of power and USB plugs. Since the remote says it’s IR/RF, maybe the receiver was in the cabinet or something. It wasn’t behind the TV, at least not in the open.

 

[lordodogg]

Oh yeah, I’ve been to a lot of HIExp hotels with that room design. Even the one I stayed at in Warrenton, VA looked just like that and had an H25 box behind the LG TV in the room I stayed at. Heck the LG was on one of those swivel wall mounts so you could move it and see everything!

 

[wagonman76]

This one was on a swivel mount too. At first there was no signal into the TV whatsoever. So I looked behind it, and there was one short cord dangling from the wall, and only one port in the TV that it could have gone to. They must have knocked it out when cleaning. Plugged it in and at least we had TV, just dirt slow.

The receiver could have been in the mount or elsewhere behind the TV, but the wires would have had to go into the wall because there were no other wires visible.

 

[Jimbo]

I have that same remote as well at home, and I've even used it at some HIExp's that I've been to as well (most recently being in Warrenton, Virginia).
Have you tried doing a CLEARMYBOX in Smart Search on the receiver? That usually speeds up slow receivers since it clears a lot of cached stuff like the program guide, channel logos, and posters.

A lot of times when I see D* available in hotels, there often times are very few options available in the menu to do such a thing ...

IF I would have access, I'd be nervous that I might be messing with more than just one box ... (not knowing what system your on)

 

[lordodogg]

They do have Smart Search from what I've seen, but it's broken down into individual options for the genres (title, person, actor, channel, keyword). I assume you can do it through the keyword one. When I still had a D12 its search feature was also like that.