HD question....prob heard this before. ;)

Yes, you have to fine tune the dish as all the HD channels are on the 99/103 sats.  You also need a 21v power inserter to power a SWM LNB.

The HR44 is the 2nd generation Genie. I wouldn't say "impressive", but it is about the highest level of equipment you can go currently.

Did you have a Genie before (HR34, HR44, HR54)? If you didn't, so not a warranty replacement, then DirecTV should have sent a tech as Genies are not simple self-installs. Or did you acquire through a 3rd party retailer where you paid the lease cost (instead of getting it free) and so must do the work yourself? That self-install should only happen if you are setting up in an RV, camper or the like as DirecTV only installs in a permanent residence.

You cannot add your own screensaver to any DirecTV box. Either you have the default logo one, or if internet connected your Genie will have a screen saver that is a mix of landscape pictures and advertisements of programming. The boxes are not designed to install your own stuff.

Thanks, guys!  Got it all sorted.  HD and all!  And apologies on the wait on this.  Medical issues popped up here.  Haven't had a lot of online time.  I tuned the 99 and everything is sorted.  J, it was all a self install.  I would have done the 99 but the DTV person said I just needed the 101 and 103 and not to bother with the 99.  My old box was the one we've used since 95.  Only changed because some of the chans were going HD and disappearing.  It was a free upgrade from DTV....they offered a free install but my schedule is hectic.  The install was all of a half hour.  Nothing difficult.

@Drahcirl that technician was mistaken. In fact, 99 has an insane amount of channels in HD compared to 103. So if I had to choose one I would get it would be 99. As long as satellite 101 is 95 and above signal strength (a few can be 0) and 103 and 99 are 90 and above in signal (a few can be 0) then you should be good to go. Glad everything is up again!

Box since '95? Impressive it still worked as that is before DirecTV unified the box designs and instead had a different one per manufacturer. New dish and SWM setup from not just MPEG-2 setup but older legacy setup in only about a half-hour of time? I must say I'm a little shocked, well done.

We bought the original set, antenna and box from either Lowes or Circuit City.  It was back in 95.  Bought them outright back then.  Hughes.  It was the oval antenna top to bottom.  The DTV guys here can probably tell what it was.  A few months back, some chans started disappearing and the message said to call.  This was a free upgrade, just $19.95 shipping.  I think we're leasing now according to the bill.

This antenna mast is slightly bigger than the original.  Beyond that and the nifty little adjustment nuts, it's no diff than the original, mounting-wise.  Could have used a square of leather to mount this antenna to the old mast even.  Never considered that.

But aiming, just use your compass laid in the center of the spot you plan to mount....mark a couple of pencil ticks at 244 and 64, I think it was.  WNC here.  Mount the mast....cute little bubble level it came with, too!  Lol!  Mount the antenna snug but not too tight.  Rough aim to your tick marks and elevation and hand adjust til you get any signal on the meters.  Use the fine adjust nut for left and right til you center on the right spot and then sock it down.  Same for the elevation.  Aim at 101 til you get 90-100 and then up and down til 99 and 103 come up, too.  Like I said, I had 101 and 103....just had to adjust to get 99.  That took all of five mins.  The cable goes down our front deck post through a hole in the wall to the basement and up to the livingroom.  All you need to do is connect the new cable to the old with a female to female connector and pull the new cable through.

The hardest part is the new remote....but our old remotes, the white and grey four component universal works perfectly so the new remote got tossed into the closet.  Take that back....the "hardest" part was figuring out how to stop a recording!  That took most of an hour!

Real honor to meet you folks!  I hope I don't have to bother you folks too often!  Lol!

SWM masts are 2"OD fence post, the old ones where 115/16"? OD.

Juniper, the old box was a D12-100.  Significant other reminds me that it was in fact changed around '10 or '11 she thinks.  Our cat used to sleep on it and one day it started smelling badly of burnt hair.  Original antenna, second box.  This one now is our third in all this time so I guess we've been pretty lucky!

Ok, guys, here's a question that some of you might know the answer to but I'm not near the box to find out so...

Back in those days, in the 80's when cable was still pretty new, the cable used to carry literally dozens, maybe hundreds of radio chans.  Add a splitter to your cable and a quicky Macgyver some speaker wire to your radio antenna and you could get radio stations in Chicago and Seattle etc.  Does the DTV cable carry those?  I mean, I know about the music channels in the 800's...we listen to them often...but what about individual stations?  Does cable tv even still do that?

@Drahcirl the D12-100 was made in about 2006-2007 I would think. Your original box from 1995 would have to be a Hughes or other receiver. DIRECTV started making their own receivers in 2004 with the D10-100.

DTV only sends a sat signal to you there is nothing else on the coax.

@Drahcirl 

Services are now dedicated so jury rigging or trying to MacGyver your setup doesn't work anymore.

DirecTV only delivers their service. Trying to use their cabling to deliver another service causes a lot of problems. Their coax is for satellite TV only, which includes the satellite music channels (currently from MusicChoice). For music over the airways, you get a radio.

The D12 was the last MPEG-2/SD-only non-DVR made for DirecTV. It was made close to a decade after you started service as the '90s have the individual branded boxes like Hughes and Phillips before unifying the design for all. Your D12 was end of life as no longer available a few years ago in preparation for the MPEG-2 shutdown. Going forward equipment must be MPEG-4/HD capable.