Rain Fade. Two four-letter words that satellite customers hate. For most people rain fade is a very rare occurrence, happening far less than cable outages and much more easily fixed (all you have to do is wait for the sun to come out.) But let’s be honest, it does happen.
Rain fade happens when satellite signals pass through heavy clouds and rain. The frequencies used by satellite TV, especially DIRECTV, are dispersed when they hit mist or rain. The result is you lose signal and can’t watch live TV.
You have choices!
When a rainy day threatens your reception, you have several great options! Pre-recorded content on your DVR is still available of course. You should be able to get to your playlist even if you have no reception. You may get a signal loss message every couple of minutes, but you generally won’t. Watch a half hour show and chances are that the rain fade will be gone when you’re done.
Another great option
If you want to continue watching live, you have another option: The DIRECTV app for phones, tablets, and streaming devices. You’ll find over 150 channels of live TV on these apps and even some of your locals (for most markets.) Watch to your heart’s content! The DIRECTV app for tablets, phones, Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku devices is available at your favorite app store of course, and it’s free for all DIRECTV subscribers.
The new solution for this issue
DIRECTV has rolled out new StreamSaver technology to all those folks with Genie DVRs. If you have a Genie system and it’s networked, you’ll automatically switch to the streaming version of a program when signal is lost. You’ll keep streaming until you change the channel. Chances are you’ll barely notice the interruption other than a quick message when StreamSaver kicks in. You can still sit in front of the TV and watch as you always have.
StreamSaver is available for about 200 channels including most locals. It’s not available for every channel but it is available for most.
What if you miss a recording due to rain fade?
If it begins to rain heavily while you are recording, the recording itself won’t complete. This can be a problem. However, you still have options. Pretty much every show on a national channel is available on demand within 24 hours of being shown live. It stays available for about 3-4 days. Press the dash button (to the left of the zero) to search for your show, and you’ll likely find it’s available to “Watch Now.” If not it may be available to record on a future date. Of course you’ll need to be networked in order for this to work.
Still have questions?
Call the experts! Trained DIRECTV technicians are available in our Novi, Michigan corporate offices to answer your questions for free! We can even get into DIRECTV’s systems if you want, to check your programming package or send a tech. Call us during East Coast business hours at 888-233-7563. Or, if you’d rather, fill out the form below with your questions and we’ll get right back to you!
