I've had Directv for over nine years now. I have HD programming, HD televisions, and HD receivers in all but one room. I always noticed that in times of bad weather, the HD went out rather quickly and the SD did not. (VERY frustrating when one of your favorites shows is on during a t-storm).Anyway, a Directv service guy was recently at the house. I was mentioning the HD problem I experience in bad weather. He said to go into the settings on the HD receiver and UNHIDE SD duplicates. When the weather gets bad, switch your channel over to the SD version. I was quite skeptical, and needed to wait for a storm to test his "theory" (those of us with Directv understand all the BS their service personnel bandy about...)This morning, I put this theory to the test for the 6th time. Only once was the storm so bad that SD did not come in.It was a tip I just LOVED finding out. Hopefully, it will work for those of you with DirecTV HD in your house.I don't know if the same thing works with Dish.The End.

Thanks!Just had a storm a couple nights ago and lost signal.Definitely will try this the next time.If this works, it would almost be as good as cooking corn in the shuck in the microwave. Cut the end off and the cob easily slips out completely clean - no silt!

My experience is that it does not matter. Where i live if there is snow on the dish the signal is dead. If there is heavy rain it will kill my signal no matter what.

donn0128 wrote:My experience is that it does not matter. Where i live if there is snow on the dish the signal is dead. If there is heavy rain it will kill my signal no matter what.Aw, don't spoil the party ;(

rexabbot wrote:donn0128 wrote:My experience is that it does not matter. Where i live if there is snow on the dish the signal is dead. If there is heavy rain it will kill my signal no matter what.Aw, don't spoil the party ;(I used to live in snow city up North, more often than not you had heavy snow on the dish. It would sometimes be days of no reception.I fixed that snow on the receiver problem by moving the dish onto the side of the house by a window......you just reach out and brush it off!Moved to Florida. No snow but when it rains there is NO reception period.:(

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chevyman2
Explorer
Jun 10, 2013
That is the first thing I did when I went from "total SD" to HD on Direct. I "unhid" all channels. Mainly because I dont really like side/top/bottom bars on my screen. (I realize some shows you just cant avoid them, unless you change zoom to either 2X or 4X). Sometimes an older show shown on an HD channel will have bars, switch to that channels SD brother and the bars might go away. (In other words it will fill the entire screen).
SCVJeff
Explorer
Jun 09, 2013
That's not a surprise at all as SD is considerably more robust simply because the data rates are much slower... You're not trying to recover an HD picture that can take up to x3 the data as the identical SD.

This is true with anything digital, and the includes Dish, Direct, off-air, literally anything that is wireless, and that includes WiFi. The difference with WiFi is that its smart enough to slow itself down until it can create a usable link.
YC_1
Nomad
Jun 09, 2013
Adding to that suggestion, set up a set of Favorites that use the SD channels. If you try to use your HD favorites it will just give you an error message.

While your system is running properly go to the signal strength screen and write down the numbers for future reference. I put a label on my receiver so I know what they should be. If working properly the signal should be very close on 101,110,119. If a large difference the dish needs to be aligned. The HD signal is very sensitive to alignment.
Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Jun 09, 2013
The OP is exactly correct. The DirecTV HD programming is broadcast on the KA band and this has a weaker signal and a narrower beam so it is more easily effected by rain fade. However, when the KA band drops out the KU band is likely still there and that's where all of the SD programming is broadcast.
This is not a solution for Dish customers since all of the Dish programming is on the KU band but it definitely works for DirecTV customers.
pf32450
Explorer
Jun 09, 2013
We have Dish and upgraded to there whole home Hopper and Joey system. Noticed that during significant rain that our system automatically converts to SD and back to HD when storm passes. So far seems to work well. Unless of course the rain is such that the signal is completely wiped out.
rockhillmanor
Explorer II
Jun 09, 2013
rexabbot wrote:
donn0128 wrote:
My experience is that it does not matter. Where i live if there is snow on the dish the signal is dead. If there is heavy rain it will kill my signal no matter what.

Aw, don't spoil the party ;(

I used to live in snow city up North, more often than not you had heavy snow on the dish. It would sometimes be days of no reception.

I fixed that snow on the receiver problem by moving the dish onto the side of the house by a window......you just reach out and brush it off!

Moved to Florida. No snow but when it rains there is NO reception period.:(
rexabbot
Explorer
Jun 09, 2013
donn0128 wrote:
My experience is that it does not matter. Where i live if there is snow on the dish the signal is dead. If there is heavy rain it will kill my signal no matter what.

Aw, don't spoil the party ;(
donn0128
Explorer II
Jun 09, 2013
My experience is that it does not matter. Where i live if there is snow on the dish the signal is dead. If there is heavy rain it will kill my signal no matter what.
rexabbot
Explorer
Jun 09, 2013
What will they think of next?
rexabbot
Explorer
Jun 09, 2013
Thanks!
Just had a storm a couple nights ago and lost signal.
Definitely will try this the next time.

If this works, it would almost be as good as cooking corn in the shuck in the microwave. Cut the end off and the cob easily slips out completely clean - no silt!

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