# viewable greyed out channels....



## JcT21 (Nov 30, 2004)

channels 304 & 342 are greyed out on my guide. I can view the channels but I cant record anything on those channels. I get an error message "your receiver isn't authorized to record this program" and an option to press ok to clear the message. no error codes are provided. 

ive rbr all receivers and unplugged them. I have used directv online refresh. nothing helps.

any ideas how I can get this fixed? calling directv was no help. rep said it was not a problem on their end, he blamed tvland and fusion.

EDIT: after doing a sat setup/test I get a red X on sat 101 even. is that normal or something they need to come fix? even if that's not normal, all channels do work and are viewable.


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## j.burns (Jul 4, 2017)

That is funny. I just got off the phone with DirecTV and the rep I talked with stated they know of the problem, and that it was being worked on but no ETA on when it will be fixed. Apologized and that was that.

My wife watches some show on TVLand that just stated back up and I was able to set up a manual recording for it (while giving the error message).

EDIT: the SD version of the channel does work as normal if you show your SD duplicates.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

JcT21 said:


> channels 304 & 342 are greyed out on my guide. I can view the channels but I cant record anything on those channels. I get an error message "your receiver isn't authorized to record this program" and an option to press ok to clear the message. no error codes are provided.
> 
> ive rbr all receivers and unplugged them. I have used directv online refresh. nothing helps.
> 
> ...


Try refreshing your service and see if that fixes it.
What does "refreshing service" mean?


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## mfmathis (Oct 5, 2007)

Channel 304 is not grayed out, but 342 is, and I can view it also. If I try to record, I get the message "Your receiver isn't authorized to record this program." I never noticed that before.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

mfmathis said:


> Channel 304 is not grayed out, but 342 is, and I can view it also. If I try to record, I get the message "Your receiver isn't authorized to record this program." I never noticed that before.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk


Same issue here. I subscribe to Premier. Channel 304 (TVland) is not grayed out and can be viewed and recorded. Channel 342 (FUSN) is grayed out but can be viewed but not recorded (Your receiver is not authorized to record this program.).


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## TDK1044 (Apr 8, 2010)

You can reauthorize\refresh your receiver on the D* website. Doing this will probably resolve your issue. Go to 'my equipment' and select 'refresh receiver'.


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## JcT21 (Nov 30, 2004)

rep from directv called me back as promised. they refreshed things on their end, had me go through the whole rbr & sat setup again. I mentioned others are having issues with 342 also. my hd standalone receiver did not have this issue on 304 earlier, but now it does. they cant figure out why I don't have any loss of programming since im getting an X on 101 18v even. like before, all the resets and refreshes don't help. he said that as long as im able to view programming on all channels to give it a few days to see if it works itself out. he said it could be an unknown issue not yet brought to their attention. he said after 3 days call back for a truck roll. we shall see.


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## CraigerM (Apr 15, 2014)

I have 342 greyed out but I can watch it. I also have ELRey in SD but not HD. Does the box reset after doing a refresh my box? Mine didn't it just gave me a message on the refresh my box site that my box was refreshed allow five mins. between another one.


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## JcT21 (Nov 30, 2004)

CraigerM said:


> I have 342 greyed out but I can watch it. I also have ELRey in SD but not HD. Does the box reset after doing a refresh my box? Mine didn't it just gave me a message on the refresh my box site that my box was refreshed allow five mins. between another one.


the rep asked me if my box reset I told him it didn't, he said that it should have. my receivers never did reset after all those refreshes. he suggested I unplug the receivers for 30 seconds, after we hang up, to ensure the boxes got fresh info.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

MysteryMan said:


> Same issue here. I subscribe to Premier. Channel 304 (TVland) is not grayed out and can be viewed and recorded. Channel 342 (FUSN) is grayed out but can be viewed but not recorded (Your receiver is not authorized to record this program.).


Same here as well ...

Premier pk. and 342 grayed-out, can view it but not record it ....

Didn't notice it before because I don't really watch Fusion, plus with the channel being grayed-out the CIG guide filter option removes it.

So far checked the Genie and an HR24 here, both are the same. ...

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk


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## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

Same two channels recently went greyed out in our guides as well. Affects an HR44 and an HR24. Can still watch the channels. Never tried setting anything to record on either of them since they are not channels we typically watch.


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## ejbvt (Aug 14, 2011)

304 is white today but 342 remains grayed out, watchable, but not recordable for me.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

JcT21 said:


> rep said it was not a problem on their end, he blamed tvland and fusion.


What an idiot CSR. How does TVLand control access on a DirecTV DVR???  Sounds like he wanted to get you off the phone and go back to surfing the web or something.


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## SamC (Jan 20, 2003)

The CSR is just quoting from DirecTV's Big Book Of Why The Customer Is Always Wrong. Be it a sports blackout, a missing channel, or whatever, they will argue you that WHATEVER you are getting is 100% correct, never thinking for a second that a customer knows what he is paying for and should either get sent to a tech or the issue should be reported to the uploaders.

I have had the same issue on the same 2 channels. This happens every month or so to a channel or two or three. Usually gets cleared up in a few days.


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## JcT21 (Nov 30, 2004)

well it certainly is nice to know im not the only one having the issue. as for the red x error, I took the lnb off and tightened up the connection, ran the test again and the problem is no longer present. however those channels are still gray in the guide. perhaps it will be clear up in a few days. 

I know the rep was doing whatever he could to get me off the phone. I hate getting help from someone who obviously doesn't want to help & will say anything to get me to agree and end the call. soon as we hang up I called and went through the steps to get retention. that's when I got friendly service and someone who seemed to want to help. ended up getting free showtime for 3 months for my trouble, didn't even have to ask.


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## Soccernut (Jan 20, 2004)

I have 442 gray since the day it went live (don't watch), 342 is gray (don't watch), 304 is ok. If I set channels I get only the gray channels don't show on guide.


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## TDK1044 (Apr 8, 2010)

JcT21 said:


> the rep asked me if my box reset I told him it didn't, he said that it should have. my receivers never did reset after all those refreshes. he suggested I unplug the receivers for 30 seconds, after we hang up, to ensure the boxes got fresh info.


The device reauthorizes rather than resets. It will not reset as it would if you hit the red button. It's the same as hitting the reload page on a windows computer. Your CSR didn't know what he was talking about.


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

TDK1044 said:


> The device reauthorizes rather than resets. It will not reset as it would if you hit the red button. It's the same as hitting the reload page on a windows computer. Your CSR didn't know what he was talking about.


I remember as far back as '95 when we first got DIRECTV, and had our system installed by a 3rd party seller.

They would always call those receiver (re)authorizations "The Hit."

Probably long forgotten old school terminology now though I guess. 

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk


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## Ely (Sep 1, 2007)

I have had this issue for over a year now with some Spanish channels my mom watches, these can be watched but not recorded, when I called DirecTV last year they made me go through a lot of troubleshooting and finally I was told that this was because the station did not allow recording of their programming and that it was not DirecTV's fault.


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## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

I'm surprised this is still an issue. Perhaps anyone that knows anything about how to resolve it is on vacation this past week.


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

One workaround:

Manual recordings _do _seem to work (even on the DOGTV free preview this past week).

Of course, besides being cumbersome to set like a VCR, they also won't contain the "metadata" (extended descriptions, posters, etc.).

But they _can_ be set up for anytime (and to repeat) and play back just fine.


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## Soccernut (Jan 20, 2004)

Ely said:


> I have had this issue for over a year now with some Spanish channels my mom watches, these can be watched but not recorded, when I called DirecTV last year they made me go through a lot of troubleshooting and finally I was told that this was because the station did not allow recording of their programming and that it was not DirecTV's fault.


People have different channels gray out, so for them to say not allowed recording is down right dishonest, they should say they are aware of the problem and working on it.


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## JcT21 (Nov 30, 2004)

as of today my channel 304 is back on but 342 is still out. when I first called about this issue it was told that the station did not allow their programming to be recorded. i told him i had previously been able to record until now. he insisted the station did now allow this. sometimes customer service is really lacking.

on top of this, on demand recording from the history channel & encore isn't working for me as of this morning. i never had such issues in the past. whatever is wrong i sure hope they fix it soon.


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## samthegam (Dec 11, 2011)

Channel 295 is grey in my guide but I can watch it. On Preferred Xtra


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## JcT21 (Nov 30, 2004)

samthegam said:


> Channel 295 is grey in my guide but I can watch it. On Preferred Xtra


its grey on my guide also. I have preferred xtra too. I can watch it but unable to record anything from the channel. says I'm not authorized.


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## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

samthegam said:


> Channel 295 is grey in my guide but I can watch it. On Preferred Xtra


Same here. It's been that way for as long as I can remember. Guess it's rocket science and nobody can figure it out. Pathetic.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

cypherx said:


> Same here. It's been that way for as long as I can remember. Guess it's rocket science and nobody can figure it out. Pathetic.


Or nobody cares what we think. Look at the Black Shroud that majestically blacks out almost half the screen when the PB appears. Don't need rocket science to figure out that thing is just nasty...but there it is and it probably won't be changed.

Rich


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## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

Rich said:


> Or nobody cares what we think. Look at the Black Shroud that majestically blacks out almost half the screen when the PB appears. Don't need rocket science to figure out that thing is just nasty...but there it is and it probably won't be changed.
> 
> Rich


Yup, it's definitely NOT a democracy. Their tunnel vision takes them where THEY want. No options, no if's ands or butts.


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