Pixelation and General problems with new HD channels

[lukinrats]

Hi,

I have been a DTV customer for sometime now, but last January '07 I moved to a new home... I called DTV and they sent an installer to set me up in the new house... I already had the HD service when it was only the 70-89 channel numbers... The installer put up a 5 LNB dish, and I have the HR-20 receiver with the bbc's on both tuners... I have dedicated cables running to both tuners, with no diplexers etc... I also have a dedicated cable running from my off-air antenna to the receiver... I have had no problems with reception on all SD channels nor the original HD channels... When DTV launched the new HD line-up, I started having problems receiving them... I either get the channels at certain times, get them not at all, or when I am watching them they go in and out of pixelation or in and out, in and out, so on, and so on... I have been reading about the fact that the new HD's are coming from 103b which supposedly has a narrow beam... I am going to have to check all my signal strengths when I get home, but is there anything that I can do to fix this problem... I figured that the dish may need to be re-aligned, and I called DTV to request this... They want to charge me $80 for someone to do this... My problem with that is this... My setup was installed before the 103b channels existed, and the installer did not have to aim the dish for that... Now that the HD's are coming from 103b I am having problems picking them up, and somehow this is my problem according to DTV... I have decided that if anything will be done, I will have to do it myself... I came here hoping that I can find some help getting my setup to accomplish this... I pay for the HD service and want to enjoy all of it, so if any help can be provided please, please... I am desperate

Thanks,
Nathan

[corkyfrog]

Hi, I'm NOT a DTV employee; that said I would have to advise that if DTV is going to charge you $80 to realign the dish then do it; its probably the easiest, safest and cheapest way to resolve your problem.

OR, take a look at the AU-9 installation manual on this site, on page 5 it shows you were the sats are in relation to the dish, you may have some luck just tweaking the alignment, first by azimuth then by elevation,(before even starting this confirm that your mounting pole is level); do the adjustments in very small increments and check the signal level meter on your receiver for the 103b sat. This may or may not work but your next step would be to purchase a Signal Meter (a good one runs about $100 + s&h) and try again. I aligned mine using the Accutrack Pro meter with excellent results.

Good Luck, hope this helps.