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cire's avatar
cire
Explorer
May 15, 2013

You cannot use your DirectTV DVR without a satellite signal.

If you have DirecTV with a DVR you can no longer view your pre-recorded programs if you don't have a satellite signal and the power to your DVR has been interrupted. (You move to a new site.) If you want to read details of this problem go to this post in the Technology Forum: "Directv DVR continuously resetting when no signal from sat" After 9 pages the bottom line is: Your DVR will not work if you don't have a satellite signal. (It will work for about 6 minutes then go to searching for satellite.) If you simply interrupt your satellite signal your DVR will work for about 12 hours+/- then it will go searching for satellite. You can try this by disconnecting your satellite, then disconnect the power to your DVR for a while.

This is intolerable to all of us who sometimes park under trees. The only solution is to complain to DirecTV. The technician at DirecTV will not believe you. "It always use to work." Yeah, I know. It doesn't anymore.

If one day you likely will park under a tree and want to watch your recorded shows.....call DirecTV complain and request a software engineering change.

Do this before you park underneath that tree.

14 Replies

  • donn0128 wrote:
    Hih, i can. Do it at times when I cant get a signal for some reason. You have to go thru setup and then stop the setup at one point. Then it will allow you to watch dvr content.

    X2
  • Hih, i can. Do it at times when I cant get a signal for some reason. You have to go thru setup and then stop the setup at one point. Then it will allow you to watch dvr content.
  • This has been discussed before.

    If you don't turn off the power to the DVR once it's got a signal, it'll not do that reboot thing once the signal goes away. In other words, keep the receiver powered as you move and it will then work without a signal when you find that tree to park under.

    By all means, DO complain to DirecTV. But the workaround will maybe get you thru until somebody decides to listen.

    We use an inverter on ours, so we can keep it hot when we move. We've only had this happen once since whatever they did to the software, and we haven't actually tried the workaround, but others have - including Bill Adams, a certified (maybe certifiable) expert. If Bill says it works, it works.

    al

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