DTV Doesn't work for me

[Hokus]

Hello, I'm new here and not all that knowledgable about HD or satellite tv in general. I recently upgraded to HD and have had absolutely the worst experience possible.

I'm willing to post my 5 pages of documentation if anyone is interested, but to make a long story short(er) here goes: I upgraded to HD in June and got an HD DVR Receiver from DTV. The tv cut out and would reboot and then wind up sitting on the DTV logo screen. I called, ran through some diagnostics over the phone with a rep and he said the problem was with the dish itself. They sent a tech out (1 week later - first available) and he said that the problem was with the receiver. I had to order a new receiver over the phone since the tech didn't have one on the spot. 3 days later (they weren't willing to overnight it), I got that receiver.....Last week I called to have them send the 4th HD DVR receiver. The DTV rep told me that it must be the dish, not the receiver. The tech came out to look at the dish and said the signal strength was great etc. and that the problem was with the receiver. He happened to have a receiver in his truck and replaced it. It worked for all of two hours. I am fed up!! Anyone else experience anything like this??! Is the equipment really this bad?

Compounding the problem has been confusion over what I ordered, long hold times, waiting periods of 3-7 days (11 days once, but was able to move up in line due to a cancellation) to get techs to come out and receive new receivers etc. I spent $1200 on a new TV 2 months ago and I've had 2 techs and 4 receivers and still no HD. I was able to view it a few times, but that's it!
Thanks for listening!

 

[FlyingJ]

I will let the tech guys handle that side of things but.....4th receiver, you have other issues besides the receiver or you are the unluckiest guy in the world. Are your installers from the We Crazy Installation Company or something? Get them out, tell them to make it work before they leave. Period. I would say the problem is with them.

 

[atp1313]

Through all of this has anyone looked at the multiswitch?

 

[bonscott87]

If it's truly your TV that is acting up I'll bet you're using HDMI for the connection and your TVs HDMI may be flaky. Try using component connections instead. So hook up component, unhook HDMI and restart the HR20 via the menu's. See if that helps.

 

[srt3924]

Re: DTV doesn't work

I have the same problem that the system reboots itself.

I have a H20 (replaced 3 times) and a DENON AVR 3805 and a Panasonic AE900 Projector all connected thru HDMI.

It didn't work before and then I got it working. (1.5 years ago)
The trick was to turn everything off and start the AVR first before turning on the H20 receiver. The system worked great with that technique until recently.

Now the receiver just keeps spinning and rebooting itself in a continuous loop. Nothing has changed on my end. The 'technique' doesn't work anymore. If I connect a regular (non-HD) tv then everything is fine.

I'd love to get some help here.

THanks.

 

[bonscott87]

Like I suggested to the other guy, what happens if you try component? Component is still HD and most people can't tell the difference between component and HDMI.

 

[Hokus]

Thanks for the replies. I've tried component, but it doesn't seem to help. I'm leaving both component and HDMI plugged in (as instructed by one of the techs) and it seems like I tried only component, but it's been 2 months so I'm not sure now. Does this make a difference? Should I only have componenet plugged in? Regardless, HDMI should just work properly shouldn't it? You think the HDMI problem could be with the TV and not on the DTV end?

OK, forgive my ignorance, but what is the multiswitch? The DTV rep said something about moving the location of a switch on the dish itself. The tech came out and said the dish is fine and that he has no idea what switch the rep was referring to.

 

[Bob Nielsen]

I agree with Scott. If it works with a non-HD TV, there probably are HDMI issues (particularly if it is a H20-600). Different HDMI chip sets work differently (for both receivers and televisions), which probably means that the specification is missing some critical points. Component should work as well as composite (which is limited to SD).

There is a multiswitch built into 3- and 5-LNB dishes. It allows a signal from the receiver to choose which satellite and polarization is fed to the receiver. If you have more than 4 tuners, an external multiswitch is installed to expand the capability.

 

[WalksInDarkness]

There could also be some problem with your house's wiring. I had a bad ground in one room that was frying receivers. The tricky part is that if you have multiple recvievers, it could be any reciever sending a surge through the coax (so you would have to check each room). Also, you will need to verify that any grounding from the dish or multiswitch is not actually tocuhing something "hot". Unfortunately, the techs usually are not up to electrical code; so after cooking several recievers, I had to figure out the problem for myself. A quick sanity check is to buy a $10 outlets tester at Lowes or HomeDepot, you just plug it in and it will tell you if there are any obvious issues.

 

[bonscott87]

Thanks for the replies. I've tried component, but it doesn't seem to help. I'm leaving both component and HDMI plugged in (as instructed by one of the techs) and it seems like I tried only component, but it's been 2 months so I'm not sure now. Does this make a difference? Should I only have componenet plugged in? Regardless, HDMI should just work properly shouldn't it? You think the HDMI problem could be with the TV and not on the DTV end?

First, unplug the HDMI if you are trying component. Having it stayed plugged in mean it's still being used.

Second, while in a perfect world HDMI should "just work" it doesn't. And it's not helped by the fact that many TV manufacturers don't follow the HDMI specs 100% and introduce their "own" extensions to it which may then cause a receiver like the H20, HR20 or a PS3 to lock up on it cause it doesn't understand what the TV is talking about. See HDMI is a 2 way communication route between receiver and TV and the only reason is for DRM. Component just sends the HD signal to the TV and the TV displays it. HDMI isn't nearly that simple. With that 2 way communication comes a lot of room for errors and mis-communication to crop up. Heck many times HDMI problems go away by rebooting your TV. Seriously. Unplug the TV, wait and plug it back in. This will reinitialize the HDMI connection on the TVs part in case it locked up.

Basically, if component looks great for you (and for 99% of the people out there it does) there really is no reason to use HDMI at all.

 

[Hokus]

Once again, thanks for the tips. I got the component working (nothing new, it has worked for hours / a few days at a time and then reboots) but now the picture is all weird. It's too red. The last time this same receiver worked, it was too green. I know it's not my TV because DVDs look fine. Any idea on this? Thanks so much!

 

[Hokus]

Is it possible to rule out the bad ground /bad wiring scenario if I had no problems with the previous non-HD DTV set up? DTV worked fine for 9 months prior to the upgrade.

 

[Jimbo]

Once again, thanks for the tips. I got the component working (nothing new, it has worked for hours / a few days at a time and then reboots) but now the picture is all weird. It's too red. The last time this same receiver worked, it was too green. I know it's not my TV because DVDs look fine. Any idea on this? Thanks so much!

Check closely to see if by chance you have the wrong color connection plugged into the unit , Green to green ect., IF one is reversed you will definately see the problem you just described.

Jimbo

 

[Hokus]

Check closely to see if by chance you have the wrong color connection plugged into the unit , Green to green ect., IF one is reversed you will definately see the problem you just described.

Jimbo

Thanks, I did that already. It was working fine at one point and then just went green, then red and now green.

 

[Jimbo]

Thanks, I did that already. It was working fine at one point and then just went green, then red and now green.

Hmmm, do you have a different TV you can hook it up to, to verify weather it's the TV or the receiver.
On other thing, I know that most Component cables have a very tight fit, make sure that they are all the way plugged in, I had this happen to me once before as well, everything looked good, but when I checked, one was not in all the way and that was my problem.

Jimbo

 

[bonscott87]

Also you probably need that input properly calibrated no matter what.

But sounds like bad component cables or not plugged in properly to me. And definitely make sure you unplugged the HDMI cable.

 

[srt3924]

What is the difference in the picture quality between using the component and HDMI? I feel that (after purchasing Denon AVR 3805 $$$, Panasonic projector and a screen) I have to settle for less because different equipment manufactures (DENON and Directv) can't get their act together.

I did notice one thing. I have less chance of rebooting/recycling if I turn on the receiver first and turn on the Denon receiver few seconds later and then it doesn't get confused about the display.

 

[charper1]

I have seen no difference in my own in-home tests and still prefer using component; for my 37' run.

 

[vurbano]

Thanks, I did that already. It was working fine at one point and then just went green, then red and now green.

Get your money back and order DISH. You have given D* more than enough time to fix the problem.

 

[Hokus]

Thanks!

Thanks for all the help everyone. This is definitely one of the friendliest forums I've been on.

Get your money back and order DISH. You have given D* more than enough time to fix the problem.

Yeah, I can't believe I let it go on for as long as I did. I cancelled and had to write in to see about getting the early cancellation fee waived. I was told that nobody has authorization to do that over the phone.