Direct TV cuts in and out on some channels. Anyone else?

[BruceH]

Just wondering if anyone has experienced DTV cutting out. Sometimes it's sound and picture, sometimes it's just the sound.

I am aware of things to do about this. Rebooting the receiver will usually help but not solve the issue.

The fact that it's only certain channels at certain times (ie it doesn't happen all the time and some channels never experience it) leads me to think it's something with a few of their sats.

It will be fine for a week or two and then it's spotty for a few days then back to fine. It also doesn't seem to follow any weather or time of day patterns.

This was first noticed in September.

Once again I am aware of the standard remedies. The purpose of this thread is to see if anyone anyone else also experiences this at random times.

Pretty sure I'll go back to Sling once my commitment to DTV is over. I had gone to streaming live tv via Sling but DTV offered me a one year deal of $50 a month and a $200 visa to come back for a year. If I cancel now it's a $20 per month penalty for each month left.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I previously had DTV before cutting the cord. I never experienced this, but of course that was 3 years ago I think.

That said, due to my job I have a LOT of experience with the set-top box DVR market. If this was at the satellite level, I think you'd be hearing about it in the news. So I doubt that.

I think there are various places to look:

1) Look at your own dish mounting, and the signal strength that you get. Make sure there's nothing affecting the physical dish, including things like water in connections, etc.

2) Look at anything related to the health of your DVR. Is it in a cabinet with no airflow (and can get hot), or is it somewhere it can breathe. Is there anything environmental that changes when this occurs, such as humidity, temp in your house (i.e. does it correlate with running the heater or the A/C -- you're up north of Seattle, so September might have been the first time in the year you've run the heater). But heat & electronics don't mix, and as someone in the industry, we CRINGE when we see a hot DVR put into a cabinet with no airflow and a closed front door, which becomes an oven just sitting there cooking the DVR.

3) Check with DirecTV tech support and see what version of software you're on and when it was installed. Did you have a software upgrade around the Sept timeframe?

4) If nothing else, perhaps have them replace your box. For anything that's recorded, your DVR has a hard drive in it. HDDs are sensitive and if there was an impact or something else that caused light damage to the HDD, it could affect performance. It's also possible that the HDD may be failing due to natural causes by random chance, and you're the unlucky one.

In general, I think it's extremely unlikely [i.e. <1%] it's the satellites, and if it absolutely is NOT related to weather, wind, etc at the Dish, it could be a marginally-functioning DVR. Worst case, call them up and complain, and tell them you want the DVR replaced. And if they won't replace your DVR, tell them you want out of the contract without penalty due to poor quality of service [that'll likely get them to replace the DVR].

 

[watermelon83]

I had a similar issue. Ended up going through hours on the phone with support until they came out and replaced the LNB and all the hardware between the LNB and the hopper. No issues since.

 

[Sailingeric]

Had that before. Ended up being water was getting in the receiver part. Might be time for a new dish.