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A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

post #1 of 13
1/9/08 at 7:30pm
Thread Starter 
My brother recently bought a Sony SXRD RP and now wants to view HD content. I will pretty soon also. HD via cable is not available to us now and it looks like it won't be available for quite a while, if ever. I can receive local channels with an antenna but because he lives in a valley with hills all around, my brother cannot. That leaves satellite for both of us.

My brother is cheap. Right now he's looking at DirecTV. He's all right with the HD packages but doesn't like the idea of leasing the two standard definition satellite boxes he wants and would rather own the boxes (me too). He feels, as I do, that owning the boxes will save him money over time. He sees these DirecTV satellite boxes sold on Ebay. Can he just get one of these in place of a leased box and, if so, which satellite receiver should he look for? Is there a downside to this plan?

I want to be able to record and so I want an HD DVR. Will the DirecTV HD DVR allow me to edit programs and save the result to disc? Will a TIVO HD PVR allow me to do this?

When DirecTV says it includes local channels, does that mean it will include the channels I'm used to? When I look at its description of local channels, they're nothing that I recognize.

Thanks!
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post #2 of 13
1/9/08 at 9:10pm

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

The boxes on eBay are older boxes, and I don't think they work with all the new HD channels DirecTv has now. They have about 80 HD channels now. As to being cheaper, it depends on how you look at it. If you own it, any problems you have with it, is YOUR problem. Leasing means they take care of problems.
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post #3 of 13
1/9/08 at 9:57pm

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

If youre a new customer to DirecTV, I believe they just about always run a promotion that the HD DVR is $199. It is yours. Its not leased, the only thing I lease from them is the regular boxes. You can probably lease a HD receiver(no dvr) from them but I would go the HD DVR route. I also pay $6 month for a protection plan, which covers the dish and HD DVR.
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post #4 of 13
1/9/08 at 9:59pm

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

The local ch's are the ones in your area. The ones you probably looking at are the CBS/ABC East/West channels. Not sure of what customers get those and in which package(i dont receive them in my package). So you get all your local ch's in HD. Except for CW which, in my area at least, is Comcast only in HD. In 4 months, I love it and would never go back to cable.
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post #5 of 13
1/9/08 at 10:00pm

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

one more thing, I am pretty sure Tivo doesnt work with Directv
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post #6 of 13
1/10/08 at 6:08am

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshRas
If youre a new customer to DirecTV, I believe they just about always run a promotion that the HD DVR is $199. It is yours. Its not leased
That is not correct. Last year D* switched to only leased boxes. If you already owned yours, then they are yours to keep. But any new customers or any additions to your system are under the lease format. Even if you go to a place like Best Buy and pick up an HR20-100 for $199, the lease agreement as well as the commitment terms will print out on your sales receipt.

Alan, we could better help you if we knew the location of both you and your brother. You only need to be as specific as what DMA you are in. Most areas are covered by D* and their HD local into local service. I'm in the Memphis DMA (#47 in the US) and I get the big 4 networks. I still use an antenna for the CW, PBS and the local digital subchannels. As comparison, my parents are in the Little Rock DMA (#55) but they only get standard def channels via satellite. D* is scheduled to add LR HD channels to it's satellite distribution sometime this year.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JoshRas
one more thing, I am pretty sure Tivo doesnt work with Directv
The HD Tivo and S3 Tivo are designed to only work with OTA digital and cable. There are no video inputs so they will not work with any of the satellite companies.

-Robert
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post #7 of 13
1/10/08 at 7:45am
Thread Starter 

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

Now that I know what DMA means, I found out that I will get the local channels I've known all my life.

What I am still unclear about is if these DirecTV boxes that can be bought on Ebay will work. My brother has only one HD set so only needs SD boxes for his other televisions. If he bought a used receiver, what about the access card? Are they available from DirecTV for use in used receivers that one might get over Ebay or whereever? The idea of owning over leasing is that over time it's cheaper. There is a ~$5 lease charge per receiver per month. If you keep your satellite service long enough you'll be paying for the receiver multiple times. If the one you own breaks - get another one. That's my brothers reasoning. It ok for him but I think I will stick with the lease arrangement.

Is the service plan worth it?
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post #8 of 13
1/10/08 at 8:12am

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

You may have some luck at getting them to drop the initial charge for the HD-DVR. They may want a longer initial contract. Give them a call and ask for a supervisor if the initial agent can't authorize it. I had a buddy do this with D* a couple weeks ago.

As far as the monthly lease for the SD boxes, I was paying that with TimeWarner before I switched so there was no change for me.
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post #9 of 13
1/10/08 at 8:20am

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

Check with DirectTV's competitor, Dish Network. They have an amazing promotion that includes a HD-DVR leased at $6 per month over and above the cost of the programming packages. Also, if you sign up for autopay you get Cinemax free for 2 years. Check it out on their website.
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post #10 of 13
1/10/08 at 8:24pm

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

If you are buying a used receiver, make sure to get the receiver ID and check with D* to make sure that the original owner does not have an account balance. If the seller owes D* money, they will not activate his receiver no matter who "owns" it now.

And you may need to buy an access card also. It depends on the access card that comes with the new receiver and the CSR who takes the call to activate it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bigluigi
Check with DirectTV's competitor, Dish Network.
I was an E* subscriber for a year and a week. They only reason I stayed that long was the 1 year contract and cold weather that prevented me from installing my D* dish. I owned the only DVR that was so bad it was part of a class action lawsuit. I bought an HD receiver with the promise of software upgrades. Turns out that they cut corners on the system memory and it wouldn't run the new software.

-Robert
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post #11 of 13
1/14/08 at 8:07pm

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

Some satellite HD receivers will not deliver HD except via HDCP compliant HDMI cable to the TV. (You will get the shows in SD.) You will want to check on the box you are getting or the box the satellite company is offering before subscribing.
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post #12 of 13
1/14/08 at 8:24pm

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by Allan Jayne
Some satellite HD receivers will not deliver HD except via HDCP compliant HDMI cable to the TV. (You will get the shows in SD.) You will want to check on the box you are getting or the box the satellite company is offering before subscribing.
Which ones? My D* HR20-100 is connected to my AE900U and delivering full HD from every HD channel I subscribe to.

-Robert
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post #13 of 13
1/14/08 at 10:39pm
Thread Starter 

Re: A Satellite Dummy Asks Some Questions

The idea of buying a used receiver was to save money on the monthly lease fee. My brother had a long chat with a DirecTV representitive who said - according to my brother, who isn't 100% certain about this - DirecTV will charge the montly lease fee whether you own your receiver or not. Therefore he's holding off on buying a used receiver until this is clarified.
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