Suddenly all of my movie channels (HOB, SHO, etc) stopped showing up. get the dreaded "Searching for Satellite Signal" message. All of my other channels come in fine and with a strong signal. Also, this does not happen with the receiver in the back room. All DTV can tell me is that probably my receiver has gone bad. I hate generic answers like that. I want to know why. How is it that some channels come through and some don't. If my receiver went bad shouldn't all of the channels be affected? Have any of you experienced this? Can anyone explain what is going on? So now I am faced with the decision of getting a new receiver (I'll get the Tivo one if I do), or making the switch to digital cable (I'm pretty attracted to that I-control thing). Also, my Road Runner bill will go down by $5.
Could you decoder card be having issues? I have a DirecTV dish but I only watch it on Sundays from Aug - Jan. I'm interested in getting a Tivo DirectTV receiver, but it's costly plus the monthly fee. I'm waiting for my digital cable box to get that feature. I-control is cool in theory, but it doesn't work half the time, it was very buggy for me here in the Houston area. You know how TWC is.... they don't get it right, they just advertise the crap out of it and fix it later.
Your dish may need to be realigned. I can't get any of my big network local channels here in Dallas because of that. I'm not paying the $80 or so to fix it since I'm about to move in less than a month. LESS THAN A MONTH!!!!
I think it might be dish realignment also. Ours did something like this not too long ago as well. I had the $40 Direct TV service plan so they just sent someone out and fixed it. I know normally those plans are a waste, but this time it came in handy.
This is why I used to keep my dish on a tripod in the backyard, and pointed it myself. You'd be suprised how easy it is... and never once did I pay $$$ to get a maintenance man out there. Plus, its so easy to take with you when you move (even tho they have the movers program... that's still a hassel). You can even bring it to your friends house to catch up on some NFL Sunday Ticket!