PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
 ·CableOne
| reply to ColdCase
Re: Tivo again ?
ColdCase, that is what I said.
said by PolarBear  :They [HD Tivos] will always work fine with today's sats and programming The HD Tivos will always be able to pick up the 101, 110, and 119 sats. But they will NEVER be able to pick up the 99 and 103, which means they will never be able to receive any more HD channels than what is currently being offered on the 110.
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. |
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ColdCase
Premium
join:2006-11-29
Hudson, NH | reply to PolarBear
Wrong. The new sats and programming are for HD content, the old receivers, including TIVO boxes will continue to work until the old birds fall from the sky. |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| reply to fireflier
I don't think it would have happened, if Murdoch, who owns the company making the new receivers, wouldn't have bought 35% of DirecTV. So hopefully his selling his piece will change things. Hopefully DirecTV realizes they suck, and will make some changes once Murdoch is gone.
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| reply to dvd536
That is because the sat they are currently using (110) to provide HD is owned by Dish/Echostar; they are simply leasing space, and a small amount of space it is. That is why DTV launched two new sats of their own this year. To provide much more (and hopefully better) HD content.
Also, I have heard similar complaints from many Comcast customers. I've had neither HD service myself (still got a 27" tube!), so I can't state an opinion.
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
 ·Skype
| reply to PolarBear
said by PolarBear :But I still say they suck! I wholeheartedly concur. . .
From a support standpoint I can understand why DTV migrated to their own branded boxes, but if you're going to do that you need to make sure what you offer is at LEAST as good as the run-of-the-mill equipment you're replacing if not better.
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Wishes: When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor. --despair.com |
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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| reply to PolarBear
said by PolarBear :Sorry to burst your bubble, man. But you have to admit: all the cool new shows on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX primetime would be killer in HD. DTV doesn't offer true HD, its HD-LITE downrezzed overcompressed crap.
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You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| reply to fireflier
I would assume its the PSU; they probably use really cheap inefficient ones to cut costs.
But come to think of it, with the way it runs, one could also assume it is improper cooling on the CPU. It's software operation DOES remind me of my PC when my case fan quit working.
Opening it up to find out may be interesting. If it is the CPU, you may find a simple cooling upgrade (another small fan in there somewhere?) may make your box run quite smoother. But I still say they suck!
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
·Skype
| reply to PolarBear
Any idea what component on the H20-600 runs so darn hot? I've never torn into it to see where the heat is coming from but I figure it's either the CPU or a poorly designed PSU.
I hear they mostly fixed that issue on the newer H20-600s but I don't know what was changed.
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Wishes: When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor. --despair.com |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| reply to fireflier
I've been with DirecTV since 1999. I've had dozens of different receivers over the years.
By far, any of the new "DirecTV" branded receivers (D-10, D-11, R-15, H-20, HR-20) SUCK @$$!
The fact that they weren't smart enough to build that little box INTO the receiver internally (among other things), proves this.
I still use a Hughes SD-HBH for my regular receiver, and 3 Tivo's for DVRs. I WANT to get a new LCD TV and HD receiver, but I haven't yet, cause I am not going to trouble myself with their current crappy HD receivers.
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
·Skype
| reply to PolarBear
said by PolarBear :Yes, the new receivers suck so bad, they can't even handle all the signals piped into them. They need an external converter to lower the frequencies to something they like more. Should have been built in, I say. Wow. That is just insane! 
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Wishes: When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor. --despair.com |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| reply to fireflier
The two new sats they put up this year greatly add to the range of frequencies transmitted down the cable from the dish to the receiver.
The new frequencies run close to 2GHz. But the recievers don't like them. So the little gray box on the back converts those near-2GHz signals to between 250-500MHz.
Yes, the new receivers suck so bad, they can't even handle all the signals piped into them. They need an external converter to lower the frequencies to something they like more. Should have been built in, I say.
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo | reply to PolarBear
LOL! |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
·Skype
| reply to PolarBear
I bet you know what the gray box/dongle that installs in-line with the DTV receiver cable (comes with the H20 box) is for?
I know it's somehow related to the 5-LNB dish and programming but I'm not sure exactly what it's used for.
Upconverting? |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03 | reply to fireflier
 Just don't TELL THEM YOU DID IT INTENTIONALLY, and you'll be fine  |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
·Skype
| reply to PolarBear
Hee hee:
DirecTV: "Customer service, how may I help you?"
Me: "Um, yeah, I got tired of my H20 rebooting every day, so I poured alcohol in it and set it on fire to see how long it would continue to operate. . .Anywhoo, runs about 2 minutes with 8" flames coming out the vent ports on top. It's, um, no longer functional, can I get a new one?"
DirecTV: "Looks like you're on the replacement plan, we'll send someone out tomorrow to replace the charred hulk of your H20 with a new one."
I'd love to see the look on the face of the guy who gets it at the refurb center.
I bet they'd cancel my replacement plan after that.
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Wishes: When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor. --despair.com |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| reply to sporkme
Please read my above post about HD Tivos. They will always work fine with todays sats and programming, but in a few months, they will literally be obsolete.
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| reply to fireflier
The $5.99 plan covers anything that goes wrong, including if your dog chews the cable, your wife hits it with the weedwhacker, you back into your dish with your truck, if lightning fries your whole system, or if you are adding new electrical wiring to your house, short something out, and electrically fry all your recievers (which I encountered one time).
So acts of God and acts of stupidity are included. And unlike others here in DSLR that have complained it took forever to get a cable tech or telco tech to fix their cable/phone problems, DirecTV has 72 hours to fix your problem when you call in, whether that fix be over the phone, or sending a tech to your house.
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| reply to roamer1
As nice as your High-def Tivo is, I have bad news for you (and this is the reason I won't get HD yet):
DirecTV launched two new KA-band satellites this year strictly for more HD programming (mainly for HD local channels), in the 99 and 103 orbital slots. Hence the new big awkward semi-square looking 5-satellite dish that new HD customers get when they are installed. Your HD Tivo is not, and will never be, able to recieve these two new birds. So when the new programming on the new birds go live, you won't be able to get them. You will either need an H-20 (Regular HD receiver) or an HR-20 (HD DVR).
Sorry to burst your bubble, man. But you have to admit: all the cool new shows on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX primetime would be killer in HD.
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
·Skype
| reply to PolarBear
If it covered things like lightning (I suspect it does) it sounds fair, but I don't see why I should have to pay an extra $5.99/month to cover replacement on a receiver that dies spontaneously simply because it--like so many thousand others of the same model has design flaws that make them prone to failure.
The H20 probably needs that kind of plan. My older Sony receivers ran fine for years and were still working fine when I yanked them (but they weren't HD).
Guess it just seems like that plan would be rewarding them for building crap. It's a little like saying: "Here's an extra $5.99/month to your bottom line because you designed a product with a 90 day warranty that's likely to fail soon afterward. I just can't wrap my brain around that. 
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Wishes: When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor. --despair.com |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| reply to fireflier
That is why, when I installed, I always recommended the $5.99/mo protection plan to my customers. Then if a receiver quits working, DTV will be at your house within 72 hours to replace it.
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"I invented it, Bill made it famous." --David Bradley, the inventor of Ctrl+Alt+Del. |
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