Direct tv app won’t play on TV.

[Drpozar]

When I connect my iPhone app to my smart TV I’m getting a message  HDMI output not supported .  It worked fine up to last week.   I have a different TV app and that one works. I only get that message when using DIRECTV app . 

[TexasBrit · Accepted solution]

The DirecTV app does not support streaming to a TV. DirecTV does not want people to do this because it reduces the revenue from set top boxes.

[Drpozar]

Well, that's just wrong.  We purchased AT&T and Direct TV because we have a weekend vacation spot with no cable.  They told us what to do to stream our phones data free to the TV.  We did everything they told us and it worked for a few weeks.  Every time I called Direct TV I got a different answer to the issue.  If I can't stream to my TV I have no reason to keep AT&T or Direct TV.

[mdram4x4]

it will occasionally work for some

but its not supposed to at all.  you can research it on the directv website.

if you can find anything stating otherwise, then please do link it

btw, who was it that told you you could?

[Drpozar]

The people at the store who sold us the package, every Direct TV person I spoke to in the past week. Direct TV techs even told me they were escalating the issue to a higher level. No one at Direct TV told me it can't be done. They had me uninstall my app, they had me check wires to my TV, they checked things on their end, they told me a few people have this issue, another told me there is no problem with the app. Every time I called Direct TV I got a different answer, but at NO time did anyone ever say it's not allowed.

[mdram4x4]

which store?

was the tech the installer? a directv employee?

did directv phone support tell you this?

i am just trying to figure out why directv would say this, if it was them or a third party.

[Drpozar]

As I stated, it was an AT&T store and the calls were all to Direct TV tech support. As I stated, the issue has been escalated within the tech dept of Direct TV. As I stated this was from numerous calls to Direct TV. Right from the app and from my account.

[mdram4x4]

gotcha.

at&t store employees really dont know much about directv.

i would think that tech support would

[litzdog911]

Tech Support folks should know better.  There are even posts here from AT&T/DirecTV Support folks stating that streaming from smartphone/tablet to HDTV using HDMI is not supported.  If it ever worked for you, you were lucky. 

[Jrandomuser · Accepted solution]

@Drpozar - just to make sure  - you have DirecTV (satellite service) not DirecTV Now (streaming service) - correct?  I ask because while DirecTV should never have allowed HDMI output from the iPhone app to a TV, DirecTV Now (which is a different service using different apps) does allow it.  However, since the new DirecTV Now apps (version 2.0) released over the last couple of weeks, there are reports the HDMI output from the app on the iPhone has stopped working.  (And there are some reports of ATT sales people getting the features of DTV and DTVN confused - though the Support people/techs shouldn't...)

[Campjackson]

My lighting connector to hdmi worked for over a year. June 1st of. 2018 it stopped and started giving a signal “ not hdmi supported”. 

It worked perfectly for over a year. They must have changed something. I called but direct tv said IT was an app problem 

[Jrandomuser]

Again - DirecTV (satellite service) or DirecTV Now (streaming service)?

[Juniper]

Directv (satellite) does not support streaming from phone to TV. Some have gotten it to work, but it is not supposed to. You are supposed to pay for each TV authorized on the service. If you have a 2nd home, vacation cabin, etc. you are supposed to install the service there and either take your box back and forth with you, or leave box at the 2nd location as long as there are not active boxes at both places at the same time and physical service address matches where you are at.

Though AT&T now owns Directv, the AT&T stores are NOT Directv employees. They can only sell new service like the 3rd party they have been for years. Unfortunately this means they have very basic knowledge of how Directv works. Techs installing the service would be expected to know better, at least if they are Directv techs and not a contractor.

Updates to the Directv app are fixing any issues that allowed the streaming to TV to work as it was never supposed to.

There is another TV provider called DirectvNow (also owned by AT&T). Unlike Directv (satellite), DirectvNOW is service by internet streaming. So this service, sometimes seen as DTVN, is designed to stream from internet to TV through various devices.

[gonecamping]

Same issue here... very frustrating.  I was going to unplug from Directv until I found that I could use the mobile app to watch tv via data (and not going against data w/AT&T) when camping (no WiFi most times) on the weekends.  I just discovered today getting ready for a trip that it does not work anymore. 

However, now knowing this nice feature is being stopped... there is no reason in having Directv at all.  I stuck around just because of this feature and i’m sure I’m not the only one.   I for one will be unplugging from Directv.  Bad business decision if you ask me.  So many are unplugging these days - you’d think they would try to keep customers in this new and fast growing digital world.  

Oh well......

[Juniper · Accepted solution]

@gonecamping

Many of us do not have good enough internet, if internet at all, to support streaming TV from internet. But we all have the sky which is what service by satellite is for. You do not get satellite TV if your main concern is internet streaming. In that case get an internet streaming provider (DirectvNOW, Netflix, Hulu, etc) not a TV by satellite service. Directv is still a great service, but no provider is good for everybody.

The mobile app was not supposed to support streaming to TV. Now that AT&T has acquired Directv, they have cracked down on fixing some of those "loopholes" to work as intended. The design of TV FROM SATELLITE, is to have a box in your RV with a receiving dish to get your service. It was not built to depend on internet as that is just used for some perks, not to replace paying for an authorized TV on the service.