Hi,
It's been discussed before and in multiple threads on this forum and other forums throughout the Internet yet the problem is still ongoing.
We have been dealing with this issue at our home since HD television originated. DirecTV has been to our house so many times we believe we know most of the local installers. The equipment has been replaced, DirecTV case management has been involved and nothing solves the issue. We are hoping that DirecTV will wake up and solve it. The problem stopped for awhile and returned again when DirecTV installed a HR44-500 Genie Receiver in our home. Now the problems are back with a vengance. We see freeze frames lasting as long as 8 seconds on all of the local channels in Las Vegas followed by pixelization when the signal resumes. On occasion we have pixelization without freeze frames. The problems seem to be worse on the local CBS station which is Channel 8 in Las Vegas. DirecTV states that the problem is with the local channels and they are working on it but it's been going on for years with no progress. It happens on live tv and playback of recorded shows. We've kept the recorded shows on the dvr and showed them to the local installers and showed them the pixelization and they say there is no issue with the equipment and that they have never seen anything like what we show them.
The problems surfaced again when we upgraded to the Genie. We asked DirecTV to put the old receiver back in our house since there were no pixelization issues or freeze frame issues. Guess what the response was? Downgrading to the old receiver would require a two year commitment. You must be kidding me. Given all the issues we have experienced DirecTV wants a two year agreement to downgrade equipment. My commitment to DirecTV is to never sign another two year agreement for service with any company. We can now stream content from a variety of sources so our relationship with DirecTV will not continue if this is not solved.
If you have had these issues in the Las Vegas area and you have been able to solve them by doing something other then moving to another provider can you please let us know. Please post to the forums if you are having picture quality issues in Las Vegas. DirecTV won't fix it until enough people report the issue or drop service because of the issue.