Buying a DirecTV box

[sainswor99]

This may be OT in this thread (if so, please move it mods), but I've got a question for you DirecTV subscribers. Can I just purchase a third party DirecTV receiver, plug it in to the cable jack in the wall, and start using it?

I've always been a cable TV subscriber, but have recently moved into a new apartment that has DirecPath (some sort of affiliate of DirecTV), and want to set up a couple of boxes for my SageTV server. I ordered boxes from them, but the tech wouldn't leave them with me unless he set them up, and he wouldn't set them up unless there was a TV attached.

Any insight would be helpful.

Thanks,
Stu

[kevine]

I actually laughed out loud when you asked that question. Sorry.

No, you cannot do that. How would DTV get their extra $5/month/extra box then? They all have smartcards in them and unless they are activated, the box is useless. You can buy a box and ask them to add it. They will send you a card (not sure if they charge for the card itself).

On the installer, just have him hook it all up to the TVs and then move them.

I do love DTV stability over cable. I have cable now but it is because it is cheaper than having DTV and all of HDPVRs.

[sainswor99]

The problem is that I've recently seperated from my wife, and so I have one tv. I wanted to add a couple of additional boxes to my Sage server, so I'll need to come up with two tvs to have the installer hook up the boxes. What sucks on top of this is the $50 service charge to have the technician come out to hook up the box; he was here 10 minutes.

Sigh.

[mtyme]

You don't have to have additional TVs. Just have him make the connections, and set up each box at the one TV to make sure it's working right. Tell them you're ordering new TV's in a few weeks. It will take them a little longer to set them all up but hey, that's what he's getting paid for.

However, keep in mind that satellite is nothing like cable in that you can't just split the coax and add a box. Each box has to have a seperate, direct line to the dish. So if you have a centralized location where you have your sage server and your HD-PVRs you will have to run 1 coax line from the dish to that location for each sat box you plan on using.

This is with DirecTV anyway... There are devices you can get called multi-switches that take a single coax from your dish and split it into multiple outputs but they aren't cheap. I think a 4 way multiswitch is around 100 dollars last time I checked.

[sainswor99]

Technician was a stickler for the rules; no tv's, no boxes. They;re coming back tomorrow to install Internet, so I rescheduled to bring back the boxes. I'll just go buy a cheap TV to use as a monitor for my MediaMVP (that'll get me one receiver).

I was going to have him set it up as PnP on my main set (second receiver), but now you're saying I need an uninterrupted run? I'm starting to miss cable

[mtyme]

Yeah pretty much unless it's different than DirecTV. Which may explain why they won't hook it up to the TV. When the tech came out to my house, I had one TV but 3 sat boxes. I told him to set them all up right there and I would handle running coax to the rooms from the dish. Which I did. Basically, I had to sign a form saying he did his job which I was fine with.

[sandor]

do you have any spare computer monitors sitting around? thats a tv...

if you really need to get some tvs, look at your local goodwill or salvation army - they typically have quite a few cheap, small tv sets for next to nothing.

[sainswor99]

I bought a Visio 19" TV that I can put in my bedroom with a MediaMVP attached to it; I got the tech to hook up the other box for PIP on my main set. Apparantly DirecPath will allow multiple boxes on the same run of cable to the dish; not sure how they do it, but I got my three boxes.

Now to find the time to start arranging everything.

Thanks for the help.
Stu

[Polypro]

The one cable from the dish is called a "SWIM8". All the installers are independents... I'd call them and see what they will do. My guy set up all 3 of my boxes behind the Sage server and ran me an extra cable (no SWIM8 here) for a future 4th if needed. He also gave me extra component cables and a multi-switch Depending on how much of an HD "snob" you are ( )...S-Video to an analog tuner looks pretty good from an HD DTV box...good enough for HGTV anyway

P