# Issues since Whole Home install



## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

I was one of the first to get the Whole Home DRV service installed in May. The installer added 3 DECA units to two DRV's and one receiver. The installer also replaced my SWiM LNB which was working very well with a green label LNB along with adding a green label splitter. Signal strengths are very good generally in the 90's with a few in the upper 80's so I don't think it is an alignment problem although the system test often calls that out.

Every since the install, I have noticed some issues with pixilation and audio dropout which seems to effect my HR21-100 the worst. Recently I have been having biggest issues using MRV from the HR21-100. Often I would get the error message:

"<Receiver> has been disconnected from your home network. This program can no longer be viewed."

The program would generally reset back to the beginning when this happened and continue to play.

Today, I removed the DECA unit from the HR21-100 and while I still have the pixilation the MRV is working perfectly. Clearly I need a service call, but I am wondering what exactly to report and what I should be looking for them to replace. Seems to me the first thing to check is up at the SWiM LNB.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

p3pilot said:


> I was one of the first to get the Whole Home DRV service installed in May. The installer added 3 DECA units to two DRV's and one receiver. The installer also replaced my SWiM LNB which was working very well with a green label LNB along with adding a green label splitter. Signal strengths are very good generally in the 90's with a few in the upper 80's so I don't think it is an alignment problem although the system test often calls that out.
> 
> Every since the install, I have noticed some issues with pixilation and audio dropout which seems to effect my HR21-100 the worst. Recently I have been having biggest issues using MRV from the HR21-100. Often I would get the error message:
> 
> ...


 You don't mean you can use MRV from this receiver do you? 
You said you had 3 DECAs installed, but where or how is the internet getting to the receivers, or is it not? 

Your setup should look something like this:


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## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

veryoldschool said:


> You don't mean you can use MRV from this receiver do you?
> You said you had 3 DECAs installed, but where or how is the internet getting to the receivers, or is it not?
> 
> Your setup should look something like this:


My setup looks very similar to the drawing. There was also a 4th DECA installed to connect to my internet.

There are two issues since the install:

1. MRV on the HR21-100 doesn't work well with the DECA unit attached. There are many breakups and eventually I get the error I referenced in the first message. All of the MRV issues go away when I go back to an ethernet connection for that receiver.

2. All my receivers have had what appears to be signal issues since the install. Signal strengths look good, but I often see pixilation and audio dropouts.

George


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## jimmyv2000 (Feb 15, 2007)

check all your cable connections if you haven't done so already


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## NR4P (Jan 16, 2007)

Some things to check.

Is the 4way splitter feeding all your receivers, one with a green label?

Since the problem with the DECA unit is the HR21, is there a direct connection from the Directv splitter to the receiver? Any other splitters in the path or two pieces of coax connected with a double female barrell connector?


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## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

NR4P said:


> Some things to check.
> 
> Is the 4way splitter feeding all your receivers, one with a green label?
> 
> Since the problem with the DECA unit is the HR21, is there a direct connection from the Directv splitter to the receiver? Any other splitters in the path or two pieces of coax connected with a double female barrell connector?


There is a green label 8 way splitter between the LNB and the receivers.

Even after removing the DECA unit from the HR21 though I have still seen the picture quality issues. There aren't any other splitters that I have seen.

It is a direct run from the dish/LNB to the splitter other than the PI. I am starting to think the actual connection at the LNB is not good and I don't have the ladders that I need to get up on the roof and check it. Guess I can take another trip up into the attic just to verify all the connections, but I have done this before and haven't seen anything.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

All all of the open ports of the splitter terminated? I suspect they are as the splitter comes with 7 terminators. They would have to actually be taken off, but it's worth a check.

On the HR21, make sure you press & hold {INFO} and then run the system test. If there is something wrong, this should give you some indication of what it might be.


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## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

Doug Brott said:


> All all of the open ports of the splitter terminated? I suspect they are as the splitter comes with 7 terminators. They would have to actually be taken off, but it's worth a check.
> 
> On the HR21, make sure you press & hold {INFO} and then run the system test. If there is something wrong, this should give you some indication of what it might be.


All the open ports on the splitter are terminated. One thing I did notice while up in the attic is that there is a barrel connector between the PI and the LNB where the ground wire is broke out from the coax. There is a grounding wire that is coming off of this that isn't connected to anything. I know that it was before the DECA installation. I am guessing when they put in the green label LNB they disconnected it since now the grounding wire is too short to reach where it is grounded. Don't think this would be causing my issues, but definitely seems like something they need to fix.

Running the system test on the HR21 gives me this error:

Diagnostic Code: 43-72-073

Satellite Dish Alignment Problem

Signal strengths on that receiver look like:

Tuner 1

Satellite transponders (32 total at 101º)
[Most of your standard definition channels are beamed from 101ºW]
1-8 98 95 98 29 97 100 96 99
9-16 96 95 96 100 96 100 97 100
17-24 96 0 96 100 97 100 98 100
25-32 97 60 98 0 99 100 97 100

Satellite transponders (3 total at 110º)
[No channels are currently beamed from this satellite]
1-8 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA 0
9-16 NA 0 NA 0 NA NA NA NA

Satellite transponders (11 total at 119º)
[Local SD channels for some cities, Spanish package]
17-24 NA NA NA NA NA 0 0 0
25-32 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Satellite transponders (16 total at 99º(s))
[Local HD channels for some cities]
1-8 59 0 64 0 69 0 NA NA
9-16 NA NA NA NA NA NA 0 0
17-24 89 0 0 0 93 95 0 0
[Note: these can be very slow to appear]

Satellite transponders (14 total at 99º(c))
[National HD channels]
1-8 95 95 95 95 95 94 95 95
9-16 95 95 95 95 96 96 NA NA
[Note, these can be very slow to appear]

Satellite transponders (16 total at 103º(s))
[Local HD channels for some cities]
1-8 0 0 0 0 0 0 NA NA
9-16 NA NA NA NA NA NA 96 91
17-24 0 0 97 95 100 100 97 97
[Note, these can be very slow to appear]

Satellite transponders (16 total at 103º(ca))
[National HD channels beamed from D12 satellite]
1-8 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
9-16 95 95 95 95 94 94 95 95
17-24 92 95 95 95 94 94 95 96
25-32 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

Satellite transponders (14 total at 103º(cb)) [or 103º(b)]
[National HD channels beamed from D10 satellite]
1-8 95 96 95 95 93 95 92 95
9-16 94 95 93 95 95 96 NA NA
17-24 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

Satellite transponders (9 total at SWM)
[You'll only see this if you have a Single Wire Multiswitch (SWM) dish]
1-8 100 0 0 100 0 0 100 0
9-16 0 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

Tuner 2 looked very similar although once or twice I noticed some strengths vary from upper 90's to zero quickly and back on 101

Watching a local channel in HD on my HR21 gives frequent audio drops and pixilation while watching the same channel on my HR22 gives a perfect picture.

Hopefully the protection plan will cover whatever they need to do.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

I'd run the same test on the other receivers and see what they show.
error 43: Installation Verification Failure. Caused by low signal or distribution problem.
While this is a bit vague, it does seem to suggest a bad cable perhaps.
Run the same test on another receiver and then if it passes, try swapping it with this one and see if it passes at this location.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Do you have a SWM-3LNB or a SWM-5LNB? You are showing 0's on 110 and 119. If you have a 3LNB (single horn) you shouldn't be seeing 110 and 119 at all. Maybe your dishtype is set wrong which would give you the alignment error.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

TBlazer07 said:


> Do you have a SWM-3LNB or a SWM-5LNB? You are showing 0's on 110 and 119. If you have a 3LNB (single horn) you shouldn't be seeing 110 and 119 at all. Maybe your dishtype is set wrong which would give you the alignment error.


That would be my thought as well .. The LNB was changed .. perhaps it was switched to a 3LNB vs. a 5LNB .. Run Satellite Setup again on the HR21 and make sure it passes Installation Verification.


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## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

veryoldschool said:


> I'd run the same test on the other receivers and see what they show.
> error 43: Installation Verification Failure. Caused by low signal or distribution problem.
> While this is a bit vague, it does seem to suggest a bad cable perhaps.
> Run the same test on another receiver and then if it passes, try swapping it with this one and see if it passes at this location.


I get the Satellite alignment failure on 2 of my 5 HD receivers.

I will re-run the setup again on the ones that are failing as suggested here.


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## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

TBlazer07 said:


> Do you have a SWM-3LNB or a SWM-5LNB? You are showing 0's on 110 and 119. If you have a 3LNB (single horn) you shouldn't be seeing 110 and 119 at all. Maybe your dishtype is set wrong which would give you the alignment error.


Great catch by Doug and you. I re-ran the satellite setup on the HR21 and H23 that had the alignment error and now they complete the test with only the phone line error. I hooked up the DECA unit again to the HR21 and all the tests still pass. So far watching 30 minutes of MRV using the HR21 as a server has been flawless.

Thanks for all help. Now how much of a problem is the loose ground wire? Do I need to have DirecTV and get it hooked up correctly?


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## NR4P (Jan 16, 2007)

p3pilot said:


> I get the Satellite alignment failure on 2 of my 5 HD receivers.
> 
> I will re-run the setup again on the ones that are failing as suggested here.


5 receivers, first time I'm seeing that number in this thread. How many are DVR's? No more than 3 I take it. Otherwise you exceed your 8 tuner count with your setup.


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## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

NR4P said:


> 5 receivers, first time I'm seeing that number in this thread. How many are DVR's? No more than 3 I take it. Otherwise you exceed your 8 tuner count with your setup.


3 HR2X DVRs and 2 H2X receivers. Right at 8 tuners. Seems I am done with adding TVs for now.


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## NR4P (Jan 16, 2007)

p3pilot said:


> 3 HR2X DVRs and 2 H2X receivers. Right at 8 tuners. Seems I am done with adding TVs for now.


Our posts crossed and I now see your system is working well with the LNB correction. As you can see, some very helpful people here. Hope it stays solid. Good luck and enjoy the flawless service.


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## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

It would appear that I have jumped the gun this afternoon and while the help I was given fixed the issue with the satellite alignment failure during the system test, I am still seeing an incredible amount of pixilation and audio dropouts. Not sure why my initial look this afternoon didn't see it. I am also seeing it on other receivers, but not nearly to the extent as the HR21-100.

When I used MRV this afternoon it was on an old (more than 90 day old) recording and it worked great. Tonight I tried recording something and playing back using MRV and it was unusable with the error I noted in the opening message.

I removed the DECA unit and will try playing back a show using MRV over ethernet later this evening after it finishes recording.

I have this terrible feeling that this is gong to be hard to describe to DirecTV and reproduce when a tech is here.

Anything else I should try?


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## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

I just played a show recorded back tonight using ethernet and it played much better than over DECA although it had the same pixilation and audio drops as when I was watching live. Maybe DECA doesn't handle the breaks in the video as well as ethernet?

Either way, I still don't know what is happening with my signal. The checked the signal level on the spot transponders that carry my local HD channels on they were either 100 or in the upper 90's. I don't see how this can be an actual alignment issue.


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## azarby (Dec 15, 2006)

I know this may sound stupid, but it won't hurt to ask. Did the installer plug in the PI for the SWiM?


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## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

azarby said:


> I know this may sound stupid, but it won't hurt to ask. Did the installer plug in the PI for the SWiM?


The PI is connected between the line coming from the LNB and the input to the 8way splitter.


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## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

I think he was asking if its actually plugged into power.


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## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

David MacLeod said:


> I think he was asking if its actually plugged into power.


It is that too. Green light on.


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## p3pilot (Oct 27, 2008)

p3pilot said:


> I was one of the first to get the Whole Home DRV service installed in May. The installer added 3 DECA units to two DRV's and one receiver. The installer also replaced my SWiM LNB which was working very well with a green label LNB along with adding a green label splitter. Signal strengths are very good generally in the 90's with a few in the upper 80's so I don't think it is an alignment problem although the system test often calls that out.
> 
> Every since the install, I have noticed some issues with pixilation and audio dropout which seems to effect my HR21-100 the worst. Recently I have been having biggest issues using MRV from the HR21-100. Often I would get the error message:
> 
> ...


Technician was here today and replaced the LNB and PI. So far so good.


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