If he already had dishes pointing at all the right birds then there is no reason to have a tech come. Ive run into this when upgrading to HD, they said I needed extra dishes, etc. When I explained I had them and that I was a tech they finally agreed.
What is strange is why would you have a HD receiver if your not receiving HD programming? I can understand not wanting a tech coming over, I would be in the same boat, but you need to give more information.
Since you dont thats why you get the flame posts. Many techs get tired of hearing people say they know all about the system yet really they dont. Not saying your in that group but techs run across this constantly.