Direct TV HD question.

[jperickson23]

I have a Direct TV HD DVR receiver and an LG 42" 1080I HDTV. I bought an off air anttena that is supposed to pick up local HD channels. Last night I go to plug it into my recevier and there is no input for an off air anttena. My brother-in law's receiver does have one as we were watching channel 8 in HD yesterday. I call Direct TV last night and the tech tells me that some receivers have this input and some don't. I ask what I can do at this point to get local channels in HD and he says he has to put me on hold. Then after he hasn't come back after 10 minutes I just hung up. I bought this receiver from Best Buy so I assume that it can't be exchanged for one that has the off air input but I haven't yet gone there to ask. Has anyone else run into this problem? I have tried just plugging the anttena into the anttena input on the TV but I barely get any reception let alone an HD picture. Any help from you tech gurus would be appreciated.

 

[jdoggivjc]

I have a Direct TV HD DVR receiver and an LG 42" 1080I HDTV. I bought an off air anttena that is supposed to pick up local HD channels. Last night I go to plug it into my recevier and there is no input for an off air anttena. My brother-in law's receiver does have one as we were watching channel 8 in HD yesterday. I call Direct TV last night and the tech tells me that some receivers have this input and some don't. I ask what I can do at this point to get local channels in HD and he says he has to put me on hold. Then after he hasn't come back after 10 minutes I just hung up. I bought this receiver from Best Buy so I assume that it can't be exchanged for one that has the off air input but I haven't yet gone there to ask. Has anyone else run into this problem? I have tried just plugging the anttena into the anttena input on the TV but I barely get any reception let alone an HD picture. Any help from you tech gurus would be appreciated.

You must have gotten the HR 21. There's some kind of converter box you can get for it. I was fortunate enough to get an HR 20 box when I installed a month and a half ago, so that was kind of fortunate.

 

[tejasclone]

I have a Direct TV HD DVR receiver and an LG 42" 1080I HDTV. I bought an off air anttena that is supposed to pick up local HD channels. Last night I go to plug it into my recevier and there is no input for an off air anttena. My brother-in law's receiver does have one as we were watching channel 8 in HD yesterday. I call Direct TV last night and the tech tells me that some receivers have this input and some don't. I ask what I can do at this point to get local channels in HD and he says he has to put me on hold. Then after he hasn't come back after 10 minutes I just hung up. I bought this receiver from Best Buy so I assume that it can't be exchanged for one that has the off air input but I haven't yet gone there to ask. Has anyone else run into this problem? I have tried just plugging the anttena into the anttena input on the TV but I barely get any reception let alone an HD picture. Any help from you tech gurus would be appreciated.

Please don't interpret this post as flaming, but going forward you can use antenna, not anttena.

 

[isuno1fan]

The converter box is NOT available as of yet. You are essentially SOL with respect to locals in HD until either you can find an HR20 box OR DTV starts broadcasting them in HD through the satellite (no announced timeframe for this for DSM).

I suppose the other thing you could do is buy a generic HD box from Best Buy (they sell them) and put your antenna input into this and then into another HDMI or component port on your TV, but you wouldn't be able to DVR those channels and you'd have to switch inputs everytime you wanted to watch locals in HD.

 

[nj829]

What type of antenna is it? Bunny ears or a bigger one? If your tv won't pick anything up, the directv box wouldn't either, as the tuner in the HR20 is generally worse than the built-in tuner in your set.

If you have bunny ears, you may need to move them around to try and find a sweet spot, or upgrade them to an amplified pair. If it's a big antenna, you will need to try it in different directions, as many of them have to be pointed at the tv tower in order to get a signal. Their is an add-on to the box you have to receive the signal, however it may not be readily available yet, as they just showed it off a month ago at the CES show. The cost will be $100 for the add on.

DBSTalk.Com is great for finding out more info on it, as is AVS Forum, and then click in the HDTV area, select local channel markets, and then hunt for Des Moines and there should be some good info on there to help you in your seach as well.

 

[ISUFan22]

It appears you have 2 problems...

- Receiver
- Antenna/Antenna location

As noted, you can get an off-air addition for your current receiver. I think it's regular price is $99...unsure if they're available yet. This allows you to get your off-air signal, guide and DVR recording through your HD box.

When you mentioned plugging in your antenna to your TV and not getting a picture - that's a problem. Either you need to program your TV for it, place/point your antenna better or you need a better antenna. I'm not sure which, as I don't know what kind of antenna you have.

 

[jperickson23]

I'm not sure of the brand name of the antenna but I bought it at Walgreens (I saw they have the same one at Best Buy) for $20 and it said on the box it works for picking up HD channels. It appears to just be the bunny ear kind. I didn't really program my TV when I attached the antenna as you say ISUfan22. I just plugged it in and changed the input to AV1. I have moved it around and tried to adjust the tuner on the base. There is a picture but fairly snowy.

I guess if it means dishing out another $100. I"ll probably just wait until Direct TV offers HD locals.

Thanks to all of you guys that helped and weren't a precinct captain of the local spelling police.

 

[keepngoal]

Your TV might not be able to de-code the HD signal directly and requries a box (like a satellite receiver) to de-code it. Do you know if your TV and de-code the HD signal directly?

-keep.

 

[ISUFan22]

I think the first problem is the TV settings. It seems you should set it to antenna. AV1 is the audio/video inputs.

Change your input on your TV to antenna with the one you have and see what happens.

 

[bstegs]

Also, if you are seeing snow (or static), then you are not watching an HD channel. HD channels with low signals become pixelated. Again, make sure that you are on the right input. You also may need to run an automatic channel scan to see the HD channels. I had to do this for my girlfriend's parents' tv.

 

[TxCycloneFan]

did you go through the Directv setup menu? If you see the option to setup antenna, you walk through those steps (add zip code, etc). If you don't see that option, go through the autosetup on your TV (if it has one). My Vizio has a channel search option in the setup menu.

You want the OTA signals (antenna) since they are not compressed. The local channels through Directv are compressed and suffer some loss of quality.

 

[brianhos]

You must have gotten the HR 21. There's some kind of converter box you can get for it. I was fortunate enough to get an HR 20 box when I installed a month and a half ago, so that was kind of fortunate.

That is not out yet. DTV really dropped the ball on this one.

 

[ISUFan22]

Got your e-mail jp, would respond but ya sent it via e-mail and not PM.

Glad you got it working!

Yes, channel 5 (ABC) does have an HD channel (5.1). I wonder if the reason you can't get it is the combo of your location and antenna. ABC doesn't have great power - this seems to be the channel that most often gives people trouble.

Your best bet is to get a better antenna.

 

[jdoggivjc]

If the antenna is the issue, then I recommend the Philips PHDTV3 Indoor Amplified UHF/VHF/FM/HDTV Antenna.

It was extremely easy to set up, and I pick up every HD signal in the Quad Cities, and since I live in Eldridge that's impressive because the stations from here are as far as 20 miles away. Yet everything comes in perfectly clear. Plus it didn't break my bank account (I think it was $40 at Target).