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Monday, April 6th, 2020 10:27 PM

Direct TV telephone scam

Telephone call from Direct TV telling me that I have an old receiver and service to it will stop in 3 days. Tried to get this info to Direct TV so that they could warn customers but it seems to be impossible to email or chat.

ACE - Expert

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2K Messages

5 years ago

There is no point in informing Directv. They can’t do anything about it and other than their website warning customers about scams, they won’t warn customers about that specific scam. Seriously, do you ever remember receiving a warning from Directv about a scam? Scams like that have been around for years.

ACE - Expert

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21.1K Messages

5 years ago

If you have SD only receivers then it is true you have to replace them and the dish in order to continue using DTV, they have a free swap offer.

New Member

I dont even know what an SD receiver is. Why would they call 3 days before shutting me off? If they do, I will just cancel and go to dish. I think my receiver is only from 2015.

ACE - Expert

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21.1K Messages

5 years ago

SD receivers start with R or D if your receivers start with H then it is not an SD.

ACE - Expert

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23K Messages

5 years ago

@cgarnett

There are millions of scams out there. Impossible for a company to be aware and inform customers of every single one. So "scams exist, perform your due diligence" is the warning for every company in existence.

However, right now scammers are trying to capitalize on a real DirecTV situation. DirecTV has been shutting down their MPEG-2 (SD-only) feeds since April 2019. So going forward we all need MPEG-4 boxes and receiving dishes. DirecTV will not call you, at most sending an email or bill insert instructing you to call the official DirecTV customer support number.

What are the exact models of each box you have? That will confirm if you need to call DirecTV for the required MPEG swap or are safe to leave it the way it is. We can even give guidance if there might be any reasonable upgrades to consider, as opposed to an overzealous agent recommending more than is good for you.

New Member

@Juniper Model is HR 54-200. Thanks.

ACE - Expert

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23K Messages

HR54 is the 3rd generation Genie. That is absolutely MPEG-4, in fact that is the most current reliable equipment. (Avoid Genie-2, HS17, as though newer it is far from reliable and is restrictive).

If you have any other boxes, they don't need to be replaced unless they are a D12 or R16 as those are the only MPEG-2 boxes that work on SWM with a Genie setup (even though they cannot use Whole Home DVR).

If you have any Mini Genie Clients, highly recommended to consider your next free upgrade to replace with a regular HDDVR. Clients steal a tuner (each) from the main Genie as they are extensions of it, and will not work without it. HDDVRs have 2 tuners of their own, work even if the Genie doesn't, have 500GB recording space (as of recent models), and no difference in monthly cost from a Client as it is $7 for the TV either way.

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