Directv Took the plunge

[mhutsell3]

I took the plunge on the sweet deal that I was offered as a new Dtv customer. (Used wifes information). I also specified in the order comments that all TV's in my house are on inside walls and wired to a central closet and that there is only one Coax to the outside (besides the Comcast run) and that they need to send equipment to support that install as I will not be allowing any drilling of external walls since my house was pre-wired.

Waiting to see what they show up with on Saturday morning. Cant wait to dump the Cable TV, keeping my Cable internet for now until ATT upgrades the neighborhood for pair bonding so that I can get better than a 1.5 mb DSL circuit.

Wish me luck, any insight on whether the installer will read my comments and actually show up with the correct stuff?

Later and have a great Tuesday!

 

[jdspencer]

What receivers are you getting? As a new customer and getting HD receivers, you will most likely get an SWM install.

 

[raoul5788]

I took the plunge on the sweet deal that I was offered as a new Dtv customer. (Used wifes information). I also specified in the order comments that all TV's in my house are on inside walls and wired to a central closet and that there is only one Coax to the outside (besides the Comcast run) and that they need to send equipment to support that install as I will not be allowing any drilling of external walls since my house was pre-wired.

Waiting to see what they show up with on Saturday morning. Cant wait to dump the Cable TV, keeping my Cable internet for now until ATT upgrades the neighborhood for pair bonding so that I can get better than a 1.5 mb DSL circuit.

Wish me luck, any insight on whether the installer will read my comments and actually show up with the correct stuff?

Later and have a great Tuesday!

I certainly hope all goes well, but from previous posting here, I wouldn't hold my breath!

 

[Joe Diamond]

I took the plunge on the sweet deal that I was offered as a new Dtv customer. (Used wifes information). I also specified in the order comments that all TV's in my house are on inside walls and wired to a central closet and that there is only one Coax to the outside (besides the Comcast run) and that they need to send equipment to support that install as I will not be allowing any drilling of external walls since my house was pre-wired.

Waiting to see what they show up with on Saturday morning. Cant wait to dump the Cable TV, keeping my Cable internet for now until ATT upgrades the neighborhood for pair bonding so that I can get better than a 1.5 mb DSL circuit.

Wish me luck, any insight on whether the installer will read my comments and actually show up with the correct stuff?

Later and have a great Tuesday!

M,

Your house wire notes should make your installation simple and neat. Your house seems to fit SWM technology exactly...assuming you are sure there are home runs to each outlet.

However: The installer may not see any notes. They are often not on the work orders. He will be given some written instruction on the day of the installation. He may decide he is to only give you a FREE basic installation and insist on drilling your walls, using new cable he was issued. Others will designate the equipment to be used. He may decide to open a few wall plates and inspect the fittings your builder used. While they may be fine.....troubleshooting your house wire will be an extra.

So report back how it goes.

Good luck,

Joe

 

[mhutsell3]

M,

Your house wire notes should make your installation simple and neat. Your house seems to fit SWM technology exactly...assuming you are sure there are home runs to each outlet.

However: The installer may not see any notes. They are often not on the work order he will be given on the day of the installation. He may decide he is to only give you a FREE basic installation and insist on drilling your walls, using new cable he was issued. He may decide to open a few wall plates and inspect the fittings your builder used. While they may be fine.....troubleshooting your house wire will be an extra.

So report back how it goes.

Good luck,

Joe

I made it very clear to them that I would not allow any drilling, I have tested all of the cables and they are in perfect working order according to my Coax Cable tester. If they do not show up with the correct equipment I will simply turn them away and cancel the order, its that simple and I made that very clear to the individual that I talked to on the phone after making the arrangements yesterday.

We will see what happens. I will for sure post back with an update after the install on Saturday.

 

[wildbill129]

I made it very clear to them that I would not allow any drilling, I have tested all of the cables and they are in perfect working order according to my Coax Cable tester. If they do not show up with the correct equipment I will simply turn them away and cancel the order, its that simple and I made that very clear to the individual that I talked to on the phone after making the arrangements yesterday.

We will see what happens. I will for sure post back with an update after the install on Saturday.

The problem you might encounter is if your house was pre-wired with the wrong cable. It must be RG6 solid copper core. Fittings aren't a big deal, those can be cut off and the proper compression fittings reinstalled (assuming there is enough cable left to do that).

How many receivers are your ordering and what type?

Is there are run from your central location to the roof or where the dish would go? If not, is there a smurf tube to the attic or down to the basement/crawl space from the central location to make the fish into that panel easy?

 

[yorktown]

It doesn't have to be solid copper core.

Solid copper core is preferred, but everything will work just fine if it's not.

It's not like you'll get zero for signal strength levels if it's not solid copper core.

 

[Joe Diamond]

It doesn't have to be solid copper core.

Solid copper core is preferred, but everything will work just fine if it's not.

It's not like you'll get zero for signal strength levels if it's not solid copper core.

Yorktown,

You are correct about the cable. The point is some installation offices will go look at work.....or not even look at the work...in order to assess an Quality Control (QC) failure.
This allows them to decline to pay the tech.

So techs learn to ignore common sense and just do what is on the work order. Twist on fittings can be replaced and most cable will work..even rg59 in short runs. You just cannot confuse technical facts with what goes on in the installation world.

Hope I am wrong.

Joe

 

[wildbill129]

It doesn't have to be solid copper core.

Solid copper core is preferred, but everything will work just fine if it's not.

It's not like you'll get zero for signal strength levels if it's not solid copper core.

You are right.........and so is Joe. I know some techs will refuse to use old RG59 and copper clad steel core because the don't want to risk QC failure. You are right it will work in most cases.......depending on length of runs, etc.

 

[Mark0525]

I took the plunge on the sweet deal that I was offered as a new Dtv customer. (Used wifes information). I also specified in the order comments that all TV's in my house are on inside walls and wired to a central closet and that there is only one Coax to the outside (besides the Comcast run) and that they need to send equipment to support that install as I will not be allowing any drilling of external walls since my house was pre-wired.

Waiting to see what they show up with on Saturday morning. Cant wait to dump the Cable TV, keeping my Cable internet for now until ATT upgrades the neighborhood for pair bonding so that I can get better than a 1.5 mb DSL circuit.

Wish me luck, any insight on whether the installer will read my comments and actually show up with the correct stuff?

Later and have a great Tuesday!

Good luck. I've had mine installed for a couple weeks now. I also instructed the person I talked to over the phone that I would need equipment to handle 8 receivers total including 2 DVR's. They were bringing 5 receivers out and I was getting 3 on my own. No problem they said. The installer showed up at 8:30 in the morning with equipment for a 5 receiver house, a big difference for installation. He didn't have any instructions that I passed along. He called his boss and had the propper equipment brought out. He did go through each jack that my builder put in 5 yrs ago replaced them and programed everything at no additional charge which he could of charged me alot. From what I hear it all depends on what installer you get. Like I said in my other post, this guy was there from 8:30 am to 5:30 at night and did a great job. Good luck. I'm not sorry yet that I switched from cable to Directv.

 

[mhutsell3]

The problem you might encounter is if your house was pre-wired with the wrong cable. It must be RG6 solid copper core. Fittings aren't a big deal, those can be cut off and the proper compression fittings reinstalled (assuming there is enough cable left to do that).

How many receivers are your ordering and what type?

Is there are run from your central location to the roof or where the dish would go? If not, is there a smurf tube to the attic or down to the basement/crawl space from the central location to make the fish into that panel easy?

I am getting one HD DVR and one HD receiver.

We had the house specifically wired with RG6, there are two runs to each of the two locations to the central wiring panel. This includes two runs to the point where my ComCrap comes into the house. Above the location where the Cable comes into the house is where I plan to have them install the dish as it has the clearest view of the southern sky. Not trees or houses in the way and probably never will be.

 

[Joe Diamond]

I am getting one HD DVR and one HD receiver.

We had the house specifically wired with RG6, there are two runs to each of the two locations to the central wiring panel. This includes two runs to the point where my ComCrap comes into the house. Above the location where the Cable comes into the house is where I plan to have them install the dish as it has the clearest view of the southern sky. Not trees or houses in the way and probably never will be.

Wow!

If a beginner tech can't slam dunk this one ....nothing is possible!

Report how it goes.

Joe

 

[mhutsell3]

UPDATE!

Installer was here right at 8:00 AM. He is installing my SWM dish so we are good with the Single wire install. Looking forward to this and getting back on DTV. Goodbye ComCrap, well at least for TV, still have their Internet.

 

[raoul5788]

UPDATE!

Installer was here right at 8:00 AM. He is installing my SWM dish so we are good with the Single wire install. Looking forward to this and getting back on DTV. Goodbye ComCrap, well at least for TV, still have their Internet.

Good news!

 

[mhutsell3]

Well the install is complete. HR20-700 in the Great Room and an H23-600. Installation took right at 2 hours (issues with the lnb's and the HR20 Receiver not cooperating). HR20 rebooted got software update and I am now capable of multi room viewing. No selection on the H23 yet but I believe I can watch recorded movies on it from the HR20. I will have to figure that one out. Now I can officially call ComCrap on Monday and cancel my Cable service.

 

[wildbill129]

Good news. Glad to hear a story where everything worked out well! Enjoy MRV while it's free!