Real problems with Cinco De Mayo install

[dishcomm]

Oh man am I having some problems with my recent D* installation. Would appreciate any and all feedback before I show my ignorance over the phone.

On May 5, I switched from DishNetwork (almost sorry I did now) to DirecTV. With Dish, I had three DVR at three different locations (942 in Family Room, 625 in Master Bedroom, and an 525 in the basement Family Room). With DirecTV I only got two DVRs (HR20-100 & HR15-300). They put a new 5LNB Slim Line dish on the same roof mount that supported the E* dish and took down the old Voom dish. They used the old Voom mount to reconnect my OTA (another horror story). The installer said that no additional wires were needed since the locations were already setup for DVR (multi-tuner) duty. He told me that the current multi-switch from E* could not be used but my installation would include a new one.

At the end of the install, the installer fired up all the connected TV's and the pictures looked great. He did not however test the recording functions and features of the two D* DVR receivers,... abd maybe because of the excitement, I did not ask to be shown those features. I guess I felt I'd have no problem figuring it out,... how difficult would it be get used to any differences between the D* and E* DVRs? I signed and he left.

Once I began experimenting with the HR20-100, it didn't take long to realize that something was wrong. I could not record a program and watch another. Each time I tried changing channels while something was recording, I got a error message say I would have to stop the recording before moving to another channel. I call tech support and it took them but a minute to figure out that the 2nd tuner was not being fed on the HR20-100. They asked me some other questions and stated that I may have a faulty receiver as well. They asked if I was having the same problem with the HR15, so I moved to that location and sure enough, the same thing. On the HR20, the installer had a small thin plastic gray box connected to the Tuner 2 input on the back, but nothing connected to the plastic box. On the HR15, there was something connected to the Tuner 2 input, but the other end of THAT cable was still attached to E* multi-switch amplifier,... not to anything coming from the dish or D*'s multi-switch.

The tech support people declared the install 'incomplete' and and arranged for a follow up visit to complete the installation. That tech just left,... and what he told me nearly floored me.

The first installer DID NOT install a multi-switch as he said he did. He re-assigned the coax coming from my OTA to some other purpose, and combined the OTA signal with the sat signal requiring a diplexer at the HR20 (this maybe why I've lost half of my OTA HD channels), and according to the 2nd installer, made a complete mess of things, particularly where all the cable enters the home. Also, according to the 2nd installer, it will cost me well over an additional $100 to do the install properly!

I am about to call E* and have my service restored if there is no resolution insight. I've already paid out a total of $300 for the receivers and do not fancy pulling another $100 bucks out of my wallet. I simple can not believe the D* DVRs cannot utilize the setup that worked quite fine for the E* DVRs! And the deceipt over the multi-switch and the obvious laziness of the 1st installer is really hard to swallow.

Any comments appreciated.

Question:..How many runs of coax are present at your DVR receivers?...If the answer is ONE, then you have a problem..There needs to be be TWO..One for each of the two tuners.
There is no issue with using the existing cable as long as it's high quality rg-6 preferably swept to 2250 mhz(I use 3k mhz, better)..Seems ot me this original instaler seeing an opportunity to skate on doing the entire job, played you
The CSR that stated the job was incomplete is correct..CallD* and let them know that you will not be paying for anything until the job is finshed..also you can request that another tech finish the owrk and that ther is no way you want the original tech to enetr your home..This all at no additional charge to you...The install company is responsible, let them deal with the cost of their installer's negligence

 

[ericpd]

Question:..How many runs of coax are present at your DVR receivers?...If the answer is ONE, then you have a problem..There needs to be be TWO..One for each of the two tuners.
There is no issue with using the existing cable as long as it's high quality rg-6 preferably swept to 2250 mhz(I use 3k mhz, better)..Seems ot me this original instaler seeing an opportunity to skate on doing the entire job, played you
The CSR that stated the job was incomplete is correct..CallD* and let them know that you will not be paying for anything until the job is finshed..also you can request that another tech finish the owrk and that ther is no way you want the original tech to enetr your home..This all at no additional charge to you...The install company is responsible, let them deal with the cost of their installer's negligence

Thanks for your comments. I pretty much followed the course you laid out, but it took some time and 2 more visits. I now have three coax cable leading to each of the locations (two for sat and one for OTA). Because of the many visits and problems, D* has sweetened contract by extending the free premium pack (HBO and stuff and sports pack) for an additional three months (6 mos total), a $50 credit to my account making the SD DVR $49 as opposed to $99, an additional 10 per month credit, and a really nice deal on upgrading the standard receiver to an HR20. The second HR20 cost me $49.99 plus 20.95 for handling. So now I have two HR20 (the first one is a HR20-700 and the new one is a black HR20-100) and a R15-300.

What funny is that originally I have since found out that many new subs have complained about the same thing, and it IS NOT a weakness of the D* receivers as I was originally lead to believe,... it is a weakness tied to the Multi-Switch D* currently uses. According to the last and most knowledgable installer, D* is now experimenting with Multi-Switches that won't require two separate coax cables for each receiver. If all goes well, the new switch will allow multiple tuners to be feed using only one cable. Just like the switch E* been using for years.

So,... eventhough it was a long and frustrating road, I'm ok with how it all turned out. I got the 1st HR20 for $199, the 2nd HR20 for $49 (almost forgot, the $20.95 S&H was credited back to me), a R15 for $49, $69 worth of programming for $49 for 12 months, and an extra three months to look at the premium channels. No further reason to complain I guess.

Thanks again,...

Eric

 

[Newshawk]

A BLACK HR20-100? I am officially jealous!

 

[ericpd]

A BLACK HR20-100? I am officially jealous!

Yeah,... it's a black one. I now know that this unit is gold nugget in the informed D* world. Guess I got extremely lucky. Other than it looks good, it's the same as the bland silver 700. I've been told that it is probably better constructed, runs cooler and does a better job of communicating with the remote when in RF mode. But I hear ya,... I wish I could take a can black gloss spray paint and dress up the 700. Yeah,... right!

 

[Newshawk]

Yeah,... it's a black one. I now know that this unit is gold nugget in the informed D* world. Guess I got extremely lucky. Other than it looks good, it's the same as the bland silver 700. I've been told that it is probably better constructed, runs cooler and does a better job of communicating with the remote when in RF mode. But I hear ya,... I wish I could take a can black gloss spray paint and dress up the 700. Yeah,... right!

An old saying pops into my head at this point, but I don't think it'd be appropriate right now. However, even though I don't have the black one, I'm very satisfied with my -100.

 

[ericpd]

An old saying pops into my head at this point, but I don't think it'd be appropriate right now. However, even though I don't have the black one, I'm very satisfied with my -100.

Yeah,... I'm happy with my 100 also. And the 700 as well. I understand the silver 100 is also glossy. Is it almost like chrome or something? Having trouble picturing what my 700 would look like dressed in the same high gloss used to dress the black 100 sitting here. It's gotta be nice.

Like I said, I've experienced none of the major problems I've been hearing of on either of these boxes. And aside from the spinning blue light,... you can't tell the difference between the two. They operate the same, and the UI seems to be identical. Now that's not to say that I don't have a long wish list for the HR20 though. Held up against the Dish 942 & 622, the HR20 seems a bit old and dated in more areas than not.

All-n-all, I'm kinda pleased with my move from Dish to D*. The $49 upgrade from a standard receiver to a 2nd HR20, an extra 10 bucks off per month on programming, and an extra three months of free premium programming was more than enough to offset the install nightmare. Oh yeah,... almost forgot, I also got 12 free PPV's coming as well as a redemption coupon for a portable DVD player. I think everyone signing up in April and May got that though.

Damn,... now I'm officially curious as to what gloss silver looks like! LOL!

 

[madbud]

What funny is that originally I have since found out that many new subs have complained about the same thing, and it IS NOT a weakness of the D* receivers as I was originally lead to believe,... it is a weakness tied to the Multi-Switch D* currently uses. According to the last and most knowledgable installer, D* is now experimenting with Multi-Switches that won't require two separate coax cables for each receiver. If all goes well, the new switch will allow multiple tuners to be feed using only one cable. Just like the switch E* been using for years.

I haven't heard of any specific multi-switch problems, except the fact of running all the wires. The SWMS (single wire multi switch) from D* won't be seen for a while yet, however it will be well worth the wait. :

 

[ericpd]

I haven't heard of any specific multi-switch problems, except the fact of running all the wires. The SWMS (single wire multi switch) from D* won't be seen for a while yet, however it will be well worth the wait. :

Oh you mis-understood me madbud,... neither I nor the installer I learned this from was suggesting that there was a problem associated with the current multi-switch used by D*. They work perfectly as designed. The weakness as I understand it is in their design. They require double wiring,... and this for many new subs and subs upgrading can take you dangerously close to the costly 'Custom Install'. In my case, I already had an infrastructure for three dual-tuner DVR's, but because of the multi-switch D* currently uses, it was necessary to duplicate what I already had in order to feed three DVR's. Once everything was done and the complete mess the 1st installer was cleaned up, the final installer informed me that I would have been looking at a substantial custom install charge had it not been for D* promising me that I would not be charged to fix the problem.

After talking to several D* tech people and installers, I've learned that my circumstance IS NOT unusual, and many have balked at the custom install cost as a result of the current switches. For folks like me, the new switches will mean simply unpluging E* stuff and plugging up D* stuff. End of install,...

I'd define that as a weakness,... particularly when a better solution exists!