Dear DStv - technical faults thread

How do you rate the DStv service *technically* ?

  • 10 (Best)

    Votes: 4 1.6%
  • 9

    Votes: 6 2.4%
  • 8

    Votes: 6 2.4%
  • 7

    Votes: 8 3.2%
  • 6

    Votes: 10 4.0%
  • 5

    Votes: 15 6.0%
  • 4

    Votes: 18 7.2%
  • 3

    Votes: 32 12.9%
  • 2

    Votes: 17 6.8%
  • 1 (Worst)

    Votes: 133 53.4%

  • Total voters
    249
Thanks Brian, do you have any names I can ask for?
Phone agent Ntombi is still my only contact in this, and she gets nervous
What may have helped is my insistence everything gets recorded in emails.
 
Of course, you could always drive over the decoder in their parking lot in front of the walk-in centre :laugh:

Geoff, below I'm quoting directly from an email I sent them :whistling:

The decoder has already been disposed of as it was defective, I cannot bring it to a service center short of digging up the entirety of city of Joburgs landfills to retrieve the unit.
 
I really like DSTV, they scared shitle ss your old decoder is going to be used to hack their service, so they are entitled to abuse you in an attempt to protect their interests, - pitiful really. Keeping the long defunct decoder on your profile, will aid them in finding some one to blame if the decoder surfaces somewhere, in the next 20 years, and a hard ware wizard, brings it back to life and defrauds them with a months worth of subscription.
 
I really like DSTV, they scared shitle ss your old decoder is going to be used to hack their service, so they are entitled to abuse you in an attempt to protect their interests, - pitiful really. Keeping the long defunct decoder on your profile, will aid them in finding some one to blame if the decoder surfaces somewhere, in the next 20 years, and a hard ware wizard, brings it back to life and defrauds them with a months worth of subscription.

I got the impression dealing with this mostly involves "I'm in charge" ego issues, and laziness. But someone will have made the base rule.
 
Anyone else noticed that DSTV Stream no longer shows highlights in the morning after matches? Specifically football, such as UCL or Premier League. Previously I was able to watch the next day after the match, but now it takes about 24 hours or more after the match before they add it. Really frustrating, since the highlights (in lower quality, if you can believe that's possible) are available on the SuperSports website for free but not for paying customers.
 
To my amazement I logged onto my account to activate holiday viewing for some family and the old decoder has finally been removed :D

What a fight though.......
 
To my amazement I logged onto my account to activate holiday viewing for some family and the old decoder has finally been removed :D

What a fight though.......

Why does one always have to deal with incompetent idiots daily in this country?
 
One package we're actually impressed with these days is EasyView, now doubt I'll leave MC completely.
Besides having 137 TNT Movies, a few months ago they exclusively added old BBC content on 134 UK TV - some great stuff we've never seen. A steal @ R29 p/m, hope it lasts.

It's on some other smaller packages as well now, but not sure if that's in SA as well.
 
One package we're actually impressed with these days is EasyView, now doubt I'll leave MC completely.
Besides having 137 TNT Movies, a few months ago they exclusively added old BBC content on 134 UK TV - some great stuff we've never seen. A steal @ R29 p/m, hope it lasts.

It's on some other smaller packages as well now, but not sure if that's in SA as well.
Channel 134 is available from Compact downwards. Not sure when they extended it to Compact I suddenly spotted it there couple of months ago, I think. Once the next price hike kicks in it will make it far easier to downgrade to Family or even Access. BBCbrit is the only channel that we will really lose. I'm hoping to see the last season of BBC Ghosts and maybe another of Miss Scarlett and the Duke and All creatures great and small before we downgrade.

Now for the main reason I'm here. I'm having recording problems with my Explora 3b :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:. Oh what a surprise. Live play is fine, last I checked Catchup its fine. But the recordings playback aren't good. It is skipping scenes, getting stuck, having picture quality issues sometimes. I've been checking my signal strength and quality last month it wasn't all that good but then two or three weeks ago the signal dropped to -0 for maybe 5 minutes and when it came back everything was nearly a 100% as it should be. I rechecked the signal strength and quality tonight and it has lost some quality down to 84%. The strength was still high. I'm wondering if when the signal dropped -0 and then came back to what it should be is an indication of an issue on DSTV side. Or if the Explora 3b is already failing? There are no trees blocking the satellite dish and the whole installation is nearly new.
 
Now for the main reason I'm here. I'm having recording problems with my Explora 3b :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:. Oh what a surprise. Live play is fine, last I checked Catchup its fine. But the recordings playback aren't good. It is skipping scenes, getting stuck, having picture quality issues sometimes. I've been checking my signal strength and quality last month it wasn't all that good but then two or three weeks ago the signal dropped to -0 for maybe 5 minutes and when it came back everything was nearly a 100% as it should be. I rechecked the signal strength and quality tonight and it has lost some quality down to 84%. The strength was still high. I'm wondering if when the signal dropped -0 and then came back to what it should be is an indication of an issue on DSTV side. Or if the Explora 3b is already failing? There are no trees blocking the satellite dish and the whole installation is nearly new.
My understanding and from looking at my setup, is the "strength" should always remain at 100%, but "quality" can be & usually is variable by a percent or two ....and changes between the channels.

Some channels sit around the 80% quality mark, while others might be around 85%, and as mentioned, change somewhat, periodically.

I don't have a decoder that can record, so my uneducated guess is that it was probably DStv affected and not your decoder failing ..... as long as most of what you record is what you expect it to be, most of the time.
The failures are likely glitches on Dstv's side, but others here I'm sure know more on the subject.
 
This afternoon I sat down to watch a show and all my recordings were gone and Catchup had obviously been cleared and was reloading. We have nothing to watch! I had 71% and the bulk of the shows were done was over the last couple of months. :mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

I had this piece of rubbish for about 6 months and have had problems from the beginning. I wouldn't be surprised if it is failing. I'm torn between cancelling or running out my warranty. (Maybe the later, it will give us time to decide properly which way to go with streaming.)

Oh should I be concerned that on my dstv profile they are showing an Explora Ultra instead of a 3B? I think they stuffed that up when they changed their site because it had 3B before
 
  • Sad
Reactions: BCR
So, I wonder which bouquet(s) are meant to get the new 217 revision SuperSport channel?
It's not on EasyView as someone suggested elsewhere (strange idea anyway), and doesn't seem to be on Compact... maybe on Compact Plus, or Premium only (unlikely from what I've found)? Or (also weirdly) on Access?
Not advertised anywhere I can find.
 
Last edited:
Might not be for South Africa at all, based on the name and names of other channels that appeared at the same time recently. Thanks for keeping us guessing MC :thumbsup:
 
A # 217 I've seen nothing about, but might have missed it ?
No, really doesn't seem to be anything at all about it on their website or in the press.

You can see it on your decoders if you change the Channel Group to "All Channels" (Options button).
 
No, really doesn't seem to be anything at all about it on their website or in the press.

You can see it on your decoders if you change the Channel Group to "All Channels" (Options button).
Seems to be showing a whole lot of athletics / marathons, then switching to UEFA Champions League ; that's as far as I went.

I keep that setting on "My DStv channels", so if I get anything new, it's obviously added automatically, but I understand your wanting to know more about this one.
 
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X