A few quick tips and tricks for anyone with DTV:

Install the dish in an easily accessible location (pre installation)
Remember, you don’t have to install it high up, so ask the installation team to instal it in a low location for easy access. Remember that you should have a good view of the Western sky (at least 45 degrees or better, and no trees blocking your view).

Upgrading the dish
If the signal is weak or you experience rain fade, you can upgrade the dish: note: using a dish not supplied by DTV may void your warranty, or they may refuse to help if you have problems..

Ensure you get a good signal before the installers leave
When the system is installed, ensure they fine tune it to get maximum signal strength. Often the installation team is in a hurry to get out and if they get even a slight signal, they will be satisfied. Ask them to tweak the dish till they get the best signal strength.

Ideally, pick a day with clear sky and no clouds/rain as this tends to distort/reduce signals

Change channel order: The existing channel order (with CNN as first channel) is a pain. You can thankfully reorder the channels according to your preference as follows:

  1. Click Menu -> Installation
  2. Enter password 1234
  3. Press no 4 for channel edit
  4. Select the channel you want to move, click the green button (labled Audio on your remote) to move
  5. Use up/down arrows to move the channel where you want it to be
  6. Press green button once more to confirm move
  7. Repeat this process to move other channels

Rescan for new channels
Dialog is currently adding new channels. You can view these channels as they are being tested. For example, HBO Family and HBO Hitz are now in testing phase: HITZ is mostly operational whereas HBO Family is intermittently on/off.

To receive these channels, you may have to perform a manual scan as follows:

  1. Click Menu -> Installation -> Enter Password
  2. Press 1 - channel search
  3. Press the blue button for “Manual Scan”
  4. A new window will open with Transponder 1 (TP1) selected: Press down arrow to highlight “Start scan”, then click OK (Warning: this will erase the channel order if you have customized it, and reset it to default)
  5. After channels are detected, you can press exit. You will be asked to press OK to save channels, do so

Reset Decoder:
The decoder used is a cheap chinese decoder, which occasionally gets stuck: for example, in a rain storm, if the signal is lost, the decoder sometimes gets stuck with an error instead of resuming operation once the signal is back. To fix this, just turn off the decoder, and turn it back on.

So, do you have any tips? List them here as a comment