Switching to directv depends on install

[kyleorton]

I had Dish installed about 4 years ago but gave it up this winter to save costs with a cheap cable offer. My wife hates the new DVR (rightfully so) and almost everything about cable. She is trying to entice me to get satellite again and Sunday Ticket is the big carrot.

There are a few things that give me pause.
One is more holes in my roof or into my basement. Can Directv use the same mount? What about the cabling? The Dish installer did a great job and I don't want to sacrifice for the hideous hack job DirecTV did to my neighbor's house. I can't see any cables now and don't ever want to.

Another is rain fade. Dish had very little issue with rain fade but a friend with Directv in the area had more. Is this something that can be better or worse for the two companies in my location (Madison WI). There are no trees in the way on my property, so that's no issue.

Finally, I liked having the local OTA tuner on my 722 for Dish. Can Directv handle OTA with the Genie? OTA can get me NFL football in a blizzard. If I have no NFL football in a blizzard just once, it would ruin everything.

Thanks for your help!
?Dan

 

[ejb1980]

There is an OTA module with Directv (called the AM21). It is easy to install. Rain fade shouldn't be an issue much with a proper install. With a crappy job next door and others complaining, you probably have lazy installer in the area. Before s/he leaves verify 90s for signal on the 99 and 103 satellites to maximize signal. I think they can use the same cables.

When Iived up north, snow didn't effect my satellite signal once and it was often covered in snow for days at a time. Friends with both Directv and Dish say the same thing. Rain is the big thing.

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[Joe Diamond]

Dave,
DirecTv can use almost everything. All the cable will be fine. Probably the mast also...2"OD vertical pipe is becoming the industry standard. The installer will reconfigure the cable to work with DirecTv...no biggie!.
Rain Fade is what it is. A properly "peaked" dish will still lose it in heavy conditions. Blizzards from the south will probably screw your weekend. Just snow from Canada will only interrupt you if the dish gets ice covered. A little snow will not be a problem until it becomes a lot of snow...so figure a way to remove the snow or have a dish heater installed (extra$$..installer may not have one).
OTA is possible with the correct separate antenna. Run that parallel to your sat system...it will work when the sat system is down with rain (or snow) fade. NFL is subject to black outs that only God & the CIA can overcome. Diplexers will share the same cable but will interfere with sat or cable internet.
Don't know about OTA & Genie but someone on here does.

Rigging an OTA system is a good practice with either sat system even though you will get local feeds with either sat provider. No rain fade with OTA.

Joe

 

[kyleorton]

Thanks. How many cables need to come from the roof into the house? I had only one for the 722 on dish, do I need more now? The first installer managed to put the dish in a convenient place and route the cable in gutters and behind trim so you can't see it at all. I don't want to give that up but I imagine doing it with 4 cables would be tough.

Dan

 

[raoul5788]

If you are going to have less than eight tuners, you will need only one cable from the dish. Since the mast required for the dish for the Genie to work is larger than the Dish mast, they will need to install an entirely new mount.

 

[Liquidforce88]

I had Dish installed about 4 years ago but gave it up this winter to save costs with a cheap cable offer. My wife hates the new DVR (rightfully so) and almost everything about cable. She is trying to entice me to get satellite again and Sunday Ticket is the big carrot.

There are a few things that give me pause.
One is more holes in my roof or into my basement. Can Directv use the same mount? What about the cabling? The Dish installer did a great job and I don't want to sacrifice for the hideous hack job DirecTV did to my neighbor's house. I can't see any cables now and don't ever want to.

If the installer does his job right. You will need a new mast. Dish uses 1 5/8" mast Directv uses a 2" mast. The instaler should run a new Solid copper coax line from the dish into the house and can follow the same route as the old Dish line. The old line could possibly work, but it would be better to replace the outside line with solid copper. Inside the house stuff should be fine and should not have to reroute any of it.

Another is rain fade. Dish had very little issue with rain fade but a friend with Directv in the area had more. Is this something that can be better or worse for the two companies in my location (Madison WI). There are no trees in the way on my property, so that's no issue.

Rain fade should be minimal with a properly peaked dish. Directv has implemented IV (installation verification) that basically makes the installer peak the dish or it will not pass and the receiver will not activate. Due to the larger area of the Slimline dish I do see a tendency for snow to stick to it more often. I tell customers with roof mounted dishes that getting a super soaker water gun can make cleaning the snow off real easy. A bit of warm water cleans it off fast.

Finally, I liked having the local OTA tuner on my 722 for Dish. Can Directv handle OTA with the Genie? OTA can get me NFL football in a blizzard. If I have no NFL football in a blizzard just once, it would ruin everything.

Thanks for your help!
?Dan

While Directv does have the OTA tuner as an add on it's not something I see many customers getting. What I do if a customer has a useable OTA system is connect that direct to the tv. That way if the system were to fail they can just use the OTA tuner in the TV. Most OTA tuners built into the tv work much better anyway.

 

[Jimbo]

If the installer does his job right. You will need a new mast. Dish uses 1 5/8" mast Directv uses a 2" mast. The instaler should run a new Solid copper coax line from the dish into the house and can follow the same route as the old Dish line. The old line could possibly work, but it would be better to replace the outside line with solid copper. Inside the house stuff should be fine and should not have to reroute any of it.



Rain fade should be minimal with a properly peaked dish. Directv has implemented IV (installation verification) that basically makes the installer peak the dish or it will not pass and the receiver will not activate. Due to the larger area of the Slimline dish I do see a tendency for snow to stick to it more often. I tell customers with roof mounted dishes that getting a super soaker water gun can make cleaning the snow off real easy. A bit of warm water cleans it off fast.



While Directv does have the OTA tuner as an add on it's not something I see many customers getting. What I do if a customer has a useable OTA system is connect that direct to the tv. That way if the system were to fail they can just use the OTA tuner in the TV. Most OTA tuners built into the tv work much better anyway.

As far as your OTA advice, I would much rather have a AM21 as well as the OTA connection to the TV.

With the AM21 OTA set up the sub CAN Record for the OTA set up, without one they sub CAN watch his TV tuner by changing inputs, but cannot record it.

I usually set it up Both ways.

 

[Joe Diamond]

As far as your OTA advice, I would much rather have a AM21 as well as the OTA connection to the TV.

With the AM21 OTA set up the sub CAN Record for the OTA set up, without one they sub CAN watch his TV tuner by changing inputs, but cannot record it.

I usually set it up Both ways.

Jimbo,
I understood the AM 21 OTA was a patch to allow older TVs to continue to work after the OTA stations switched to digital transmission. Recent TVs have the capability for for OTA reception without the AM 21. Are they still needed to get OTA feed into the DirecTv system?

I dropped out as an installer about the same time the TV input was being removed from DVRs.....approx the HDDVR 25.

Also, I don't know but assume the digital OTA feed can be diplexed with the SD & or HD feed from DirecTv dishes.

Thoughts,

Joe

 

[Jimbo]

Jimbo,
I understood the AM 21 OTA was a patch to allow older TVs to continue to work after the OTA stations switched to digital transmission. Recent TVs have the capability for for OTA reception without the AM 21. Are they still needed to get OTA feed into the DirecTv system?

I dropped out as an installer about the same time the TV input was being removed from DVRs.....approx the HDDVR 25.

Also, I don't know but assume the digital OTA feed can be diplexed with the SD & or HD feed from DirecTv dishes.

Thoughts,

Joe

Yes, you still need an AM21 to get the OTA signal into the D* recvr ... unfortunately, I really loved my old HR20 and kept it much longer than I typically would because of the OTA tuner in it.

The other obvious problem is without the AM21 to feed the signal to the D* box, you can't record any OTA signals.

 

[Joe Diamond]

Yes, you still need an AM21 to get the OTA signal into the D* recvr ... unfortunately, I really loved my old HR20 and kept it much longer than I typically would because of the OTA tuner in it.

The other obvious problem is without the AM21 to feed the signal to the D* box, you can't record any OTA signals.

Thanks,

Did some remodeling and shifting TVs. For now gonna run a Squareshooter directly to an antenna input on the TV and use component for the old DirecTv box. Also looking at other sources for TV material. I am either getting too old for this or DirecTv has added to the number of commercials.

Joe

 

[Liquidforce88]

As far as your OTA advice, I would much rather have a AM21 as well as the OTA connection to the TV.

With the AM21 OTA set up the sub CAN Record for the OTA set up, without one they sub CAN watch his TV tuner by changing inputs, but cannot record it.

I usually set it up Both ways.

The problem is the AM21 uses one of the tuners in the receiver. If you put it on a Genie with 3 clients now you run into more times when a client will be forced out of live tv. I tell people the OTA antenna is for emergency use when the signal is blocked or a problem occurs. then they can just watch OTA and have something on TV untill the storm passes or the system is fixed.