DIRECT TV QUESTION

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rob moore 2

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We currently have cable but they do not offer any HD channels. There was a DTV dish up when we moved and i contacted them about getting just the HD channels and they said they didnt offer JUST the HD, that i would have to purchase one of there other packages along with the HD package.

My MIL has DTV, so my question is, can i get her to order the HD receiver/package and use it here at my house and me pay her the monthly bill for it?
 
I don't know for sure. The tech on their end is pretty advanced; they can see where the receivers are and what not. The HD receiver will replace the standard receiver, so you'd have to set it up for multiple rooms, and even then, I'm sure they have a way to prevent this. When we were getting our DirecTV HD setup, the tech guy on the phone said "Okay, I see another unit in the room, is that the old unit?" and it was unplugged sitting under the coffee table. You could get an OTA antenna and receive OTA HD channels if your locals are broadcasting, but other than that, you're outta luck.



With our DirecTV, we get every channel they offer, and it comes out to just $30 more than the basic cable package we had (the cable company has a monopoly on the area, there is no way to get cable except through Charter) so we decided on DirecTV.



The picture is SOOOOOOO much better than cable. We haven't had any problems in rain, or storms, or anything, the picture won't go out like the cable commercials say.
 
No way to do that. But if you are going for Direct TV and are in need of a new TV, this is definately worth checking out.
 
I have DISH and i agree it is SOOO much beter than Cable and dealing with comcast in general. The offer a very good HD package also..



Check out this post about Dish a few weeks ago.



I still have some more codes...



 
You may want to try installing an outside antenna to receive HD broadcast locally. Here is a good link that I used when I put up my antenna for HD.
 
If it is an old style dish on the roof, it may have to be upgraded to the one that is capable of receiving HD channels. DTV should change it for free if you tell them you want to go with them.
 
I'm happy just running basic Directv through the plasma. It's good enough quality for our family. I don't see any reason to try and make it any better.



 
I've had Directv from many years and love them, but they are soon going to raise their rates again & their customer service has been going down hill for awhile now. They will soon (so they say) have alot more HD channels, but quality might be weak. OTA antenna is the best picture, & most connent. Plus it's free!;)
 
main reason for the cable is the HSI, only type of broadband available to me
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Same situation we had with Charter, they have a monopoly on the cable in the area. It sucked. Our internet would just go out, for no reason, and when we called, they'd tell us there was no outtage.



We're getting HughesNet satellite internet. The setup fee is a little pricey, but after that it should be smooth sailing and I can laugh at all my neighbors for having to deal with Charter.
 
tn sporttrac
My MIL has DTV, so my question is, can i get her to order the HD receiver/package and use it here at my house and me pay her the monthly bill for it?
Click to expand...



Don't know if they still do it or not but when I had it, you had to connect it to a phone line. If they do the caller ID thing when the box dials out, and and it didn't match your MIL's phone number, you could have issues. In theory, your idea would work... I used to take my box from home when camping and never had an issue except on PPV since it could not dial out.



JeffC
We're getting HughesNet satellite internet. The setup fee is a little pricey, but after that it should be smooth sailing and I can laugh at all my neighbors for having to deal with Charter
Click to expand...

Let's hope so.... in a perfect world, it would all work as advertised, including cable. My concern with the satty internet would be rainfade. When I had directv out in TN, rainfade was an issue for us during those afternoon showers that always seemed to roll across the river. I would think it would affect internet as well.



 
Well, I know that there are many things possible. Legal, that is another story.



** Check you local and state laws**



DirectTV boxes DO NOT NEED to be plugged into phone lines. I never have in 7 years of having a box (or two).



At one point I was "borrowing" my in-laws signal. I had a box and a dish, they had a box and dish 100+ miles away. My receiver was on their account. There is NO WAY that DTV will know the location of a particular account box UNLESS IT IS PLUGGED INTO A PHONE LINE, and then it's only a maybe.



When you want to watch PPV, setup the purchase over the internet. It's just as easy and you don't need to drag a phone line to the dang receiver. The only thing that may be of use to have the phone cord plugged in is caller ID (if you have it... I don't waste the $4/month on CID).



There is no such thing as a "spot" beam, contrary to what DTV may tell you. I had my bill at another time go to my in-laws house in St Louis, but lived in Tulsa with my box. I got all the STL programming in Tulsa. The tech told me "the STL channels are on spot and will not work elsewhere".... BS.



I don't know if there is a limit to the number of receivers on an account. I know that 4 is no problem since they now offer (4) receivers in a package. HDTV DTV still works the same, the difference is that you need an oval dish to point at multiple satillites. It's a bit trickier to set up, but if you've ever had DISH 500 it's the same setup.



I have moved with my DTV over 7 times and have yet to have a tech come set it up for me. It's not hard to do, sometimes it can be time consuming since you have to know about what direction the sat is in, then systematically sweep the dish until the transponder under "SETUP" goes nuts.



A word of caution on HughesNet.... I have not been exactly impressed when comparing it to cable or DSL. There are many websites that I could not access as the ping return from the website was not in sufficient time. Luckily, MyST.com was not one of those sites. The speed is also not eye-popping fast. It may have been my laptop for part of it, but not all as another laptop and a desktop connected to the router all couldn't access those particular sites.



I have been generally happy with DTV since I got it in Jan. 2000. I'm not happy that they keep raising rates and that I can only get "local" channels out of either NY or Los Angeles (I'm in North East Arkansas for crying out loud... Memphis and Little Rock have their local channels on DTV and both are only 1 hour away... if I had cable, I could get both!!). Thinking of "moving back" to STL if you know what I mean....



BTW, if anyone needs a DTV receiver, I have an older Hughes box that is not being used that I would be glad to sell off. Has a universal remote. I don't have a spare dish or LSB, but if you need a box, speak up.



Just my $.02.
 
Yeah, I cannot get DSL in my area, and after the way the cable company treated me and my mom on the phone, I'll never be using Charter for anything ever again. I've had 0 problems with rain fade, even on days where it was so dark and cloudy and rainy that it looked pitch black outside. I also have the biggest dish they offer. At this point, it's gonna be satellite internet or no internet.
 
Does anyone have Internet through Dish Network's new partner Wild Blue. I was seriously considering this until I saw the price/specs. It is the only choice I have for high speed internet and the dialup is just getting too slow, plus I cant use my new laptop wireless. There is no cable on my road, no DSL available, I live in the sticks. Good thing we have DSL at work I can use or it would take me all day to read the ST forums. The lowest package Wild Blue has $50 but the speed seems quite slow although certainly faster than dialup.
 

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