I am working on my parents home theater and I have run into a very frustrating problem.

They live in a condo that shares a single dish. Every unit has a working satellite connection except theirs. Every unit has the same model receiver. A cheap sony model.

My parents are only receiving some channels. Basically every even transponder shows 0 and every odd show 70-80.

I have tried two different sony receiver/access card combos on their DirectTv account, same problem. I then purchased the RCA DRD4385 with component outs, because I thought the two boxes might be bad. Same problem.

I brought the neihbors receiver and access card ( the same cheap sony) over to their TV, and it worked perfectly. I took our original receiver to his place and it did not work. Always the same problem, half of the transponders working, half not.

To me, the installation is fine, because the neighbor's box received a valid signal and had no problems and received all the channels and all the transponders had a good signal.

I thought the problem must lie with the account, so I got a 4th receiver and access card, the same RCA model. I cancelled their account and activated this receiver under my old account, which I never had a problem with and I used several months ago before I moved. Still the same problem. Half of the transponders worked.

Don't know if it matters, but here are the basic connection for the sat.

Sat in to Monster Power 2600. Out to RCA DRD4385G. Component out to Denon 2802. Component out to Mistubishi WS 47 in.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. The installers and Direct TV are all stumped as well.

If anyone can correctly diagnose this problem, I will send you 3 dvds of your choice off of my trade list for the help!!!!!

I am desperate at this point.

Thanks

Seems to me if the neighbors receiver worked then the problem is probably in the receiver (even though all those others didn't work either). Do you have access to a voltmeter? If you do then you can check the receiver to see if it's working correctly.

Disconnect the cable that goes to the dish. Then measure the dc output on the center leg of the dish input jack on the receiver. It should be 12 volts or 18 volts depending on which transponder it's trying to pick up. Switch to an even transponder channel and check the dc out then switch to an odd transponder channel and check the dc again. It should switch between 12 and 18 volts when you switch transponders. If it stays at 12 or 18 or maybe even higher than 18 then the receiver is bad.

There is a control transistor in the receiver that switches the dc voltage and sometimes during a lightning storm it will become shorted. Whenever that happens the dc voltage always stays high so half the transponders won't come in.

Let me know if you can check this and I'll give you some more help if needed.

jr

OK, I will tell you what your problem is. This is the same thing that happened to me. I have the HTS2500 and if you run the DirecTV line through it you will lose several channels. I have 2 of the HTS2500 and this was the problem on both receivers.

I called Monster Cable (please do the same) at 1-877-800-8989 and spoke with rob on of the techs. He told me they have never heard of this problem and would get back to me on Monday. After talking with if for a while he then stated they know of a few channels that you may lose. The only way to get this fixed right now is to disconnect it from the Monster Power and it will work fine!!!! But let me advise you if you run into a problem Monster Power will not cover you because your RG6 lines are not going throught the Monster Power.

PLEASE CALL MONSTER POWER ON MONDAY AND LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE HAVING THIS PROBLEM SO WE ALL CAN GET IT FIXED.

If you need anymore help email me and I will.

Good Luck!!

Thanks guys for the info, it is a good starting point.

I will measure with a voltmeter this week and let you know what it says.

I just tested the problem by running the sat. in directly to the receiver and skipping the HTS2600. It still had the same problem. Also, the meighbors receiver did work fine with the HTS2600 filtering the signal.

After reading both of these post, and putting the info together, is it possible the HTS will not let the receiver switch voltages because it regulates the flow????

Kobra,

When you said to disconnect it from the HTS, did you mean the sat cable in, or did you mean the actual wall plug?? I tried the coaxial, but I still left the wall plug in the back of the HTS.

But still, I am pretty sure I had the wall plug and I am sure I had the coaxial in the HTS when I got the neighbors receiver to work and pick up all channels.

Oh yeah, one more thing, why did our receiver not work in his condo when he did not have a HTS?

I disconnected the coax in and just ran it from the SAT to the receiver. No matter what I did while the RG6 wire was hooked up to the HTS2500 I lost about 25-30 channels. Also my signal was at about 27 vs. when I unhooked it it went back to 87.

One other thing is DirecTV line is power in and out unlike cable tv where it is just powered out.

I will let you know more on Monday when I get the call back from Monster Cable.

OK, I called Monster Power and spoke with Carlos ( a real big Dick), he had no Idea on what the problem was and told me call direcTV and have them fix the problem. This guy has no PR skills at all. I will be going above him and find out what to problem is.

Kobra...

If your problem is the same as mine, go to http:www.tivocommunity.com and search the DirectTv forum for stacker or destacker.

Since I am in a condo complex, I think this may be my problem. Maybe it is yours as well.

Are you in an apartment or condo complex??

I don't mean to insult with a stupid question, but sometimes the simple problem is the most likely.

Are you setting up the reciever properly? By that I mean, when you go into the reciever's setup menu are you choosing the correct dish type? If you choose a oval dish and it's really a round you might loose half of the channels because the larger dishes get their signal from more than one satellite.


I thought for awhile that the LNB connector on the dish itself might be back (had that happen once), but that isn't possible since the other reciever worked. Perhaps you should write down the exact setup of your neighbors box and put the same setup into yours?

Just a thought. J

Yes, I setup my receiver correctly. I even had DirecTV come to my house to trouble shoot the problem!!

Law West,

That was my reply on the tivo fourm.

Ok, Rob from Monster Cable just called me back. They are going to send me (Via 2-day air) a sperate plastic power unit to see if this is the problem. If it is they are going to replace my HTS2500. I will let you know when I get the new Part form Monster and update this post.

I dont think I had the menu set up incorrectly, I actually tried the 4 dish options that were there.

I have been reading about stackers and destackers used in Apartments with a single dish.

Kobra, let me know how that works.

Thanks

The problem is your LNB. My dish had the same problem after a storm and my LNB had become loose outside. It took me awhile to figure out the problem as well. Go to the dish. Unscrew the LNB and retighten it.

Again, it has nothing to due to with your receiver or Monster Cables.

Chanster,

I am not so sure. There are 31 other units hooked to the same LNB and they all work. Also, another receiver worked in our condo.

How could it be the LNB?

Not true. DirecTV replaced my Dish w/ a new one and the problem was still there. Like I said in the past the problem is with the Monster Power and not the Monster Cables!!!

Some what of an update. One of my HTS2500 took a surge today. So I had to return it to Ultimate Electronics and I picked up the HTS2600. I will get back to you on Thursday and let you know if I still have the same problem with it. I also should be receiving my package from Monster Cable. So you should have 2 updates in the next 24 hours.

Kobra, let me know.

I actually solved part of the problem, as someone suggested it was pretty simple. Not only do you have to choose te right dish, but there is a service menu that you have to chooose wideband on to utilize the destacker. Unfortunately, we did have the instruction manual as the receiver came with the condo, and none of the installers mentioned the service menu. So now we get all transponders, but I have not tested the channels because we had to order a new access card.

Let me know if you 2600 gives you problems as I have one also.

Thanks for everyones help.

UPDATE!!!

It looks like the new HTS2600 fixed the problem. Well I think it did for the time being. First off in no longer using my DirecTV HD box. Im using my Ultimate TV and there is no problem so far. I check every channel and I get them all. Currently I dont have 2 cables running o the back of it so who knows about that. I will be replacing my HTS2500 on Friday and this one I run my Dual Tunner Tivo and My RCA HD-DirecTV receiver through and this should give me a better understanding.

Also Monster Cable just sent me the AV800 prowerstrip. I guess they this that will help fix the problem.

Well this is the final update. Well it looks like my HTS2500's were both bad. Connected both of my new HTS2600 today and I get all of the channels now. It looks like it was the problem.

Law West,

You may want to take back you HTS2600 for a new one and see if that is the problem. Monster Power comes with a lifetime warranty and you can return it to any B&M store that sells them or if you want call monster.

Good luck!!