Direct TV

Just switched over from Comcast cable TV to Direct TV. (This was part of a “Bundle” deal with new phones from ATT and Century Link – Price for Life internet. St Paul, Mn area) Anyway, so far so good on the Direct TV. We have 3 TVs with control boxes at the house. Here is the question. Can I just buy a used dish off Craigs list and install at my cabin on Mille Lacs and just move one of the boxes up there when we need it? Any other equipment needed? Also, why the wide price swings in used dishes on Craigs List. Some $25 and some $150? What is the difference?

Thanks,

-J.

JJ – I just dropped Directv. Sending my boxes back in this week but they made no mention about the dish. If I don’t need to return it, you can have it.

Not sure what the differences are but it had current boxes plugged into it.

Yes Jon you can do that, I do at my place on Ml. Jjust have to tune dish in correct direction.
Some dishes are for old style and some are HD dishes. If you got HD boxes(which you probably did) the dishes are going to be more expensive…by a lot.

Jon
If I was doing it, this is what I’d purchase (or soemthing like it)
That and some COAX cable with ends is all you need

Avoid getting the high definition dish as they are a pain in the Ars to get dialed in
The old style is quite easy

I currently use both the old boxes and many of the high def boxes with this
style dish set up and works fine.
That’s my $.02
Good luck

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Directv-18-Inch-Satellite-Dish-Antenna/272384553039?hash=item3f6b62704f:g:fzoAAOSwCGVX4gKz:sc:ShippingMethodStandard!54001!US!-1

My dad and I “share” a DirecTV account and they have the dish and receiver at my house billed as if it were simply an additional receiver on his plan, I think $10/month. They did insist on installing the dish at my house. We’ve been customers since like 1999 so I’m not sure if this is something they still do or if they just agreed to it after one of my dad’s many threats to cancel.

If you have the whole home “Genie” system at your house, where you have one main receiver and then a couple smaller sub-receivers, the sub-receivers will not work unless networked to the main receiver — so you wouldn’t be able to take one of those up to the cabin and connect to a different dish, I don’t think.

I wasn’t aware of this “Genie” so may have spoke to soon
If it’s just the one box setup, the dish I mentioned above should still suit your needs

We have the Genie setup at home with the new style dish and I added an old style receiver to my home account.

This old receiver works on my old dish at the cabin. The only issue is it is not High Def. If I bring the old receiver back and forth, I have to update the receiver settings for the type of dish I’m using.

Bingo
once you’ve changed the setting once, is pretty simple task

Pete Bauer wrote:

JJ – I just dropped Directv. Sending my boxes back in this week but they made no mention about the dish. If I don’t need to return it, you can have it.

Thanks, Pete ! I’ll take you up on that offer.

-J.

Great info guys! I do have the set up where there is one main box (Big one) and 2 other small boxes. I do believe they are linked together. Also, I do have the HD package. But don’t care if I lose the HD up north.

-J.

If the mini boxes don’t have a slot for your access card or a coax input marked “satellite in,” then you won’t be able to use them unless connected to your main receiver. Those mini boxes are only designed to communicate with your main receiver box, not directly with a dish.

I believe you’re going to need to buy an additional basic receiver with an access card from DirecTV. They’ll try to convince you to take an additional mini Genie box instead (I think they support up to 4 at one time), so be prepared to explain why you want a separate receiver which is a step backwards from the current technology.

Pete Bauer wrote:

they made no mention about the dish.

When I dumped them two years ago, they said they needed it sent back. They sent me a box, I called them and told them to get someone out here to remove it from my roof, they said it was my responsibility. Ok fine, I crawled up there, un-bolted it and on my way down, my foot slipped and I decided to tossed it off my roof instead of falling. Shattered the receiver in pieces. Threw all the pieces in the box and they never charged me.

More great info! P2F – Can I assume it would be possible to just take the main box on those times it is needed at the cabin? I don’t see a need to have it with on every weekend trip. But more on the times when me and my wife are up for the week or long weekends. (Leaving no one at the house to watch TV.)

Thanks again!

-J.

I think that’d work just fine Jon. Look up your receiver model number and then find out which dishes are compatible. Make sure the used dish comes with the mounting bracket and hardware or I think you’ll have a tough time getting it properly positioned.

Good luck!

When you’re ready to save 75% on cable/satellite let me know. I can help you setup streaming cable for less than $40 a month. You can use multiple devices in multiple locations.

Of course you’d need broadband internet at the cabin.

biggill wrote:

Of course you’d need broadband internet at the cabin.

No go for me. If I had internet at the cabin, I’d just watch youtube shows!

-J.

When you cancel your dish all they want is your receivers and the eye off the dish on the roof. If you just have the dish with no eye on it I don’t think it will work. I have scraped many dishes cause they have no value without that eye.

joe_the_fisher wrote:

When you cancel your dish all they want is your receivers and the eye off the dish on the roof. If you just have the dish with no eye on it I don’t think it will work. I have scraped many dishes cause they have no value without that eye

Huh. I’ll have to double check with DTV now. On the letter I got last week only request the DVR boxes back. Nothing else.

I have had Directv @ my house & cabin 200+ miles away since the early 2000’s, Auctions & rummage sales for the dishes, said I needed an extra receiver for the spare room, works well. If you don’t want to mount the dish permanently, put it in a lawn chair facing south. I’ve used this set-up in deer camps too.

Pete Bauer wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>joe_the_fisher wrote:</div>
When you cancel your dish all they want is your receivers and the eye off the dish on the roof. If you just have the dish with no eye on it I don’t think it will work. I have scraped many dishes cause they have no value without that eye

Huh. I’ll have to double check with DTV now. On the letter I got last week only request the DVR boxes back. Nothing else.

Pete,

I dropped Direct last summer. All I had to send back is the receiver, mini boxes, and remotes. Dish stayed on the side of my storage barn.

Pete Bauer wrote:

Huh. I’ll have to double check with DTV now. On the letter I got last week only request the DVR boxes back. Nothing else.

When we moved a few years ago, DTV told me to leave the dish behind, so I did. Our buyer bitched about it at closing.