Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Direct TV DVR question

I switched from cable to Direct TV last week. I went with their whole home system. The system comes with one HD DVR and two additional HD receivers. The DVR does the bulk of the work. It does all the recording and stores recordings on its hard drive. The two receivers talk to the DVR through the cabling between each machine. You can watch whatever happens to be on the DVR’s hard drive from the three different locations, set up recordings, delete recordings, download movies and shows, etc. All this sounded way too cool to not give it a whirl. I’m not terribly impressed so far. So far I have had one receiver lock up hard, which affected the DVR, locking it up too. Twenty minutes later, after unplugging both machines and letting them do their thing to re-boot and talk to the satellite, they started working again. I think I'm going to have a love / hate relationship with this system.

My question is in regards to the networking capabilities. I need to plug the DVR into my broadband home network in order to use their video on demand feature. Supposedly, I can download movies and shows, some for a fee, others not. I plugged the DVR into my wired home network and tried to get it to connect. It connects to the home network, but will not connect to the internet. I have no trouble connecting any of my other devices to the internet using the same cable / network jack, so I’m not real sure what to troubleshoot to fix this problem. Suggestions?? I figured I’d ask the IT / Networking guys here before I waste an hour of my day on the phone with someone that I can’t understand in India reading a script.

So normally you don't have to do any configuration on things you plug into your wired network?

It sounds like it's not picking up a DNS server properly. I would check the configuration on the cable box for that entry. If it's not auto-filling (via DHCP), you can use Google's DNS servers at 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.

Michael, I soooo do NOT know anything about networking, but is it possible you first have to have an account set up with their site before your DVR will "talk" to it?


It's just a shot in the IP....

I'm surprised.

I have an older DTV setup, and haven't had ANY problems. My experience with their tech support has actually been quite good.

Well I should clarify that Ken. Normally, for this particular jack / location, I just have my Oppo and Denon. All I've ever done is simply plug them in and they find the Internet and do their thing. I do not have a switch or anything here; just the cat 5 wire. I've been meaning to buy a hub or whatever I might need to just plug all these devices into so I don't have to change the cable, but I don't know what I need and I didn't want to bother you guys - AGAIN with this networking crap. I'll have to look at the boxes that the DVR is automatically filling in. I remember a lot of numbers, but don't recall what. I'll do that and report back.

I'm not entirely sure Mark. Shit, I bought the "everything" package with the NFL Sunday ticket, so I just assumed that included "everything". I'll check.

I have not actually tried to call tech support yet Tom. I'm just biased with electronic tech support lately. Seams like every time I use it, I end up figuring out the problem on my own after wasting hours on the phone, either on hold, or asking "what the F*** did you just say?", "isn't this the English support line and don't you have anyone who actually speaks English?", "no, I'm not going to reboot the damn thing for the third time dammit!"

Your DVR should automatically find your network and connect to the internet. I would call their tech support. I actually had a good experience with their tech support because I couldn’t get mine to connect. Turned out my problem was self inflicted since I connected using a phone cable and not a cat5 one.

It may be something as simple as they haven’t turned on that capability for you.

Well I ended up calling tech support for a different issue. My NFL Sunday Ticket channels are all grey. He couldn't fix that problem, so I asked about the network problem. He couldn't fix that and recommended that I call Best Buy's Geek Squad.

I plugged my Cat 5 cable into the Oppo to make sure it is working OK. I did a test with the Oppo and it told me my connection is OK.

So I then did the old stand by trick; re-setting my router. No bananas. The DVR will still not connect to the Internet.

This is what the error message says:

IP Address (numbers) OK
Subnet Mask (numbers) OK
Default gateway - -
DNS - -
Network: Connected
Internet: Not Connected (13) - 13 being the same error, I'm not connected.

This sucks.... I was looking foward to watching the Steelers game when I got home, but it didn't record. Sonofabitch!!

As far as what you need to stop switching that cat 5 cable it is just a simple network switching box/hub.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Wired-Networking/Hubs-Switches/abcat0503012.c?id=abcat0503012

I have one for my HT requirements as well, much simpler than running a bunch of cat5 to one location that rarely requires a bunch of bandwidth.

OK. If you don't have a default gateway (or if your IP address is 169.254.xxx.xxx), then there's the problem. If you do have a default gateway, then you're ok on that count.

However, if you don't have DNS, then there's your problem. Is the DVR definitely set to DHCP?

All I need is a switch!? Hey, I can handly that! Thanks Jay.

Uh.... What's DHCP?

There is an "advanced" network setup option, but it comes with a warning, "not recommended for the IT challenged" (my interpretation of the warning). Seeing how I ma severely challenged, I elected to not try the advanced set up.

The dashes above mean there is no default gateway or DNS.

I'm cursed. For absolutely no reason at all (I did nothing, seriously), the damn thing reset everything to factory defaults, everything. All my favorites menu's, all my recordings, everything that had been recorded, all gone. Tech support (call number three) had absolutely no idea why this happened.

Tech had me run a system check, and everything came back golden.

At this point, I'm just laughing.

DHCP is a protocol that automatically assigns network information to devices on the network. It sounds like the DVR is either not looking for or not finding the router that supplies that information. I'm guessing the IP is probably in the 169.254 range, rather than the more typical 192.168.x.x range. Given that your other devices work fine on that port, I'm thinking the problem is definitely on the DVR side of things rather than the router side of things. Go ahead and look in the advanced network setup option, just don't change anything.. the Cancel button is your friend.

Well, at least the thing hasn't caught fire, yet.

Tom, before Michael has to say it..... go to your room!

(You'll be safe from the fire there)

Tom - I'm not done yet!! And ya, like Mark said.....

Ken -

Advanced menu has all the boxes that I can enter numbers into manually. The boxes already populated with numbers and boxes whithout any numbers are:

IP Address: 169 - 254 - 8 - 193
Subnet Mask: 255 - 255 - 0 - 0
Default fateway: - - - -
DNS: - - - -
Mac Address: 00:16:6B:49:AA:DD

Try this:

Turn off your PC(s).
Turn off, and unplug the satellite receiver.
Reboot the router (probably by power cycling).
Plug the satellite back in, and see if it gets an Internet connection.
Then you can turn your PC back on.

The 169.254 is the range that Windows XP and later uses (and sometimes mistakenly hands out to the network) when it can't find a DHCP server. Take the PC out of the picture to make sure the router can do its job.

I have just upgraded my DTV to the same thing . I already had the correct DVR but needed to update the my 2 other receivers. The Direct TV people installed all of this for me and did the setup. It works flawlessly.

I of course followed them around to see what they were doing. You did not mention if you installed a wall wart powered white box labeled "Connected Home Adapter" DECA1MR0-01. This has a Mac address and your router connects this to your Sat Dish.

What they did on mine was to run a cable from the adapter though a new cable wall connector to the outside and to the Sat dish.
Also when they were doing the setup they could not get it to work through one of the new receivers no matter what they tried but went to a second new receiver and were able to do the setup there. And like I said everything has functioned as it should since the install. Hope some of this helps you.

It's definitely a DHCP issue. BTW, Chris, that's the range that ANY network device uses when it can't find an address--not just Windows.

That does, however, point to hte server being the problem, now that I think of it. Maybe his router has a very, very small DHCP range?

That range actually belongs to Microsoft (it's classified as routable by ARIN), they made it the default no-DHCP range with Windows XP. Others may have followed suit now.

I was wondering about the router running out of IPs, but unless someone specifically configured it that way, or he already has 100 devices on the network, I don't know of any router that is so limited out of the box.

I knew I shouldn't have tried to correct you... damn, I hate being wrong about that stuff...

Before I went with the Whole Home Connection My DVR was able to get the On Demand and the like with a simple connection to my network using a Sling Powerline connected to my router a Linksys E3000. With the new setup like I said they had to install a connection between my router and my Sat Dish. The setup goes, Comcast Cable Modem> Router> DTV Connect Home Adapter> Sat dish. I don't know exactly what this adapter does but it seems to be a necessary part of the equipment chain. Michael do you have this adapter in line?

OK, I tried Chris' suggestion: turning off all my connected PC's, the router, the DVR. They I turned the router back on, left everything else off, turned the DVR on and tried to get it to connect. Again, like before, no connection.

radtek -

The installers did not install or leave behind any such device. All I have is one RG6 cable going to a three way splitter from the dish. From the splitter, all three RG6 cables are home ran to the three satellite receivers. I'm not sure I understand what this device is. Is it a powerline adapter or do you have a hard cable running directly from your router to the satellite dish?

I might also add that it continues to assign the same IP address, even if I restore the default settings and try to connect again.

My router is new. It's a Cisco / Linksys E3000. I have this particular location hard wired via my home lan.

And the link lights show up on both the DVR and the router at the other end of the cable?

I'm at a loss. It really seems like there's something wrong with the DVR. Any other device gets its own address assignment without problems when connected to the same Ethernet cable, but the DVR doesn't...

Ya, the lights are both on and this connection works fine with the other devices on the EQ rack.

I also checked my router settings and DHCP is set to Automatic. There is a tech forum at Direct TV, I'm looking through dozens of "can't connect" threads now. None have this particular DVR though, so I may have to post a question there with my specifics.

I'm blessed with IT/ Computer issues. If it can go wrong, it will.

Michael, do any of these suggestions help?

1

2

3

Hope one of those links help.

Here's two suggestions specific to an error code 13.

Also, this is a setup guide, but you've probably gone through this. Link.

radtek -

The installers did not install or leave behind any such device. All I have is one RG6 cable going to a three way splitter from the dish. From the splitter, all three RG6 cables are home ran to the three satellite receivers. I'm not sure I understand what this device is. Is it a powerline adapter or do you have a hard cable running directly from your router to the satellite dish? [/quote]

Michael, I went out side and looked at the splitter block from the dish. I have one RG6 from dish this goes to the newly installed splitter block. There are 7 connections plus the feed cable on the 3way splitter block, 3 of which go to the 3 receivers on the outgoing side of the block. there are 4 RG6 connections on the opposite side of the splitter block connection, one of which is the RG6 cable from the " Connected Home Adapter" which is connected to my E3000 router.

The Sling Powerline plugs into router it uses the home electrical system in lieu of Cat6 cabling. I have my DVR and my Oppo BD83-SE using this to connect to my PC and Internet.

I have a hunch that the little white "Connected Home Adapter" is needed.

http://www.2000networks.com/DirecTV-DECA-DECA1MR0-01-Adapter-p/decadeca1mr0-01.htm

Michael, This what you need

I suspect you are right. I just got a couple response at the DTV tech forum indicating I need the DECA adapter. Here's what they wrote...

-------

The Internet Connection Kit costs $25 + $49 installation (although some folks have reportedly been able to negotiate that down). It consists of a DECA or Broadband Network adapter and power supply to "bridge" your Whole Home DVR network to your home network/internet.

---------------

Whole Home system and hard wire Ethernet connection for VOD will not work correctly together. You will have to call Directv for the internet connection kit to incorporate the internet with the WHDVR system. Thats the only way it will work, there is no secret way around it unless you network your own system together using Cat5 Ethernet cable from each location and connecting them to a internet switch. Using that suggestion will not make your WHDVR system supported by Directv and all trouble shooting will have to be done by yourself.

--------------------

Oh, and thanks...

I can't believe I've just wasted four hours of my day screwing with this, when Direct TV tech support had no idea why I was having troubles.

I'm not impressed.

I would be pissed too! I don't understand why this was not provided in the first place. Overall I have had decent service from Direct TV but.... I would file a complaint with them about this. You should not have to pay anymore period to get this working correctly.

Yeah, that's a crappy install. I've had three different techs - at the same house - that approached the installation with widely varying levels of expertise.

Call #4 to DTV tech support. This time the tech knew all about this damn Internet connection kit. She told me that it will cost me $25 + a $49 installation fee + a $50 new installation fee. I calmly told her I thought this was complete robbery and that I wanted to file a complaint with customer service, seeing how I've wasted, now five hours of my time dealing with a "known" issue that their incompetent tech support failed to note. She was very nice and got the extra $99 fees waved. Now I have to set up another installation appointment. She would not just send the damn thing to me to install, even though I am the own who installed the dish and all the cabling....

I'm about ready to go back to rabbit ears and be done with all this.

I still do not understand why the DECA unit was not installed at the same time the system was installed? I know I had to pay $150 up front(current customer), but everything worked, and the two installers checked functionality on all four Tv's/receivers before leaving. Sorry for your troubles michael.

Michael, did you ever get the DTV Whole Home config. working?

No, they will not let me do it. It needs to be done by one of their installers. And of course there are none within 300 miles, so who knows when one will get here. I should have just bought one one you liked to.

Yeah its not rocket science, but they seem to think no one but themselves are capable of installing. Like you, all previous flavors of DTV including the Hi Def I installed myself except for this last install. Also I am assuming since you installed your own dish that this was included.
http://www.techtoolsupply.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SL3-KIT