Intermittent black screen…Again

Hey @Kathmhunt. We're sorry for the black screen issues that you've had for years. Please try other troubleshooting steps here: Get help with a blue, black, or gray TV screen | DIRECTV Customer Service & Support Let's also meet via DM to further assist you. Kesiah, DIRECTV Community Specialist

Intermittent screen on a PBS station sounds to me like an issue with the local channel station. If you can get into contact with the station manager and ask them to investigate their stream going to directv satellite, they may be able to help. Just to confirm, what local channel market are you in (just need the city or otherwise PBS specific station giving you issues) ?

The two PBS stations are WEDU (channel 16 on my DirecTV channel lineup) and WEDQ (channel 3). I planned to reach out to them if the suggested fixes don't work, but I'm not optimistic that they will respond in any meaningful way. They usually point to the provider, i.e., DirecTV.  If DirecTV can address this with them directly on the behalf of subscribers, it would carry more weight. Thank you.

We're here to help @Kathmhunt. Let me DM you to investigate the black screen issue with your local PBS stations. Veilka, DIRECTV Community Specialist

Issue fixed by unplugging DVR for several minutes and rebooting. It’s strange that the problem was only apparent on the two PBS stations.

Glad it's working now. I will send you a DM to discuss and escalate your issue since it affects only 2 PBS channels. Veilka, DIRECTV Community Specialist

I have the exact same issue only on abc and fox and this last dvr the distortion. Had this exact same issue about 7-9 years ago. I have been with dtv for over 20 yrs  and have recently talk to at least 2 or 3 supervisors on the tech side. The original dvr I had  for 8 or 9 yrs and then the intermittent black screen. 2 replacement dvrs with the same issue. I may go to streaming now. Tired of not getting working equipment

Having the same issue regardless of station and temp fix is to unplug and plug in the power

I have this happening on a couple receivers and this happens on a few but not all and isn’t the tv or any other device 

I was able to resolve this by switching the hdmi cable from one port on my tv connection box to another port.  I also ordered new hdmi cables, but at this point it seems to be the tv connection port.

Got the same problem started a few months ago after a software update.  Does it live and on dvr recordings.  Only happens  on my local PBS station.  All the other stations  work.

We tried a lot of things to try to resolve this issue. Ultimately, DirecTV decided to replace our DVR and we haven’t had a problem since. They didn’t offer a replacement quickly, but they eventually did. If your DVR is more than a few years old, it may need to be replaced. Good luck!

We have developed the same intermittent blackout of ABC here in southern Delaware. The screen blacks out for a few minutes then resumes. Out ABC DVR recordings also have the same blackouts in them. Have 5 tv's, and it happens on all 5 tv's simultaneously. So it can not be the receivers and must be the DVR. Called CS, they said they would elevate the issue. Received this email in return:

Only the moderators, a few employees on their own time and DTVhelp reads these posts.  Mini clients are slaves to the Genie so a problem with it is sent to all of them.