I am considering buying an H20 receiver on Ebay. I would not activate it right away, but would hook up an antenna to it and just use it to watch OTA channels. The question is will the H20 work in OTA mode even if it's not hooked up to a dish and/or activated?
H20 as OTA receiver only
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Bummer. Thanks for the replies though. I will try to figure something else out. I just don't want to fork out $4.99/month for a receiver that only gets used once in a while (guest bedroom). Could I just inactivate the receiver when I don't use it and reactivate when I do need it?
Here is a link to eBay with some ota digital stb's.
ota atsc, Satellite, Cable TV, Televisions items on eBay.com
OTA without the H20
If you want to watch the OTA channels run the RG-6 cable straight to your HDTV from the antenna.
Or, if you can find any of the older MPEG-2 only D* HD boxes on e-bay - those older units do NOT either need activated or a dish signal to do OTA only.
Can't you activate the receiver to post it to your account and then deactivate it, but keep it on your account? This would remove the DVR functionality (of DVR models obviously), but let OTA pass through, wouldn't it?
If it's on your account, you're going to pay the $4.99 fee for it, and you'll have to go through the whole access card thing, etc, to get it on the account in the first place.
And, they'll probably still consider it leased, so if you deactivate it, they may ask for it back...
If its active, im not sure it has to be pointed at the dish, but it does have to be active
This probably sounds silly and very low tech, but it worked for me before I got my HD package. I bought my HD tv earlier this year way before I ever got HD (just had regular D*), and hooked up a pair of rabbit ears (remember those?) to the antenna input on the tv, ran the tv through an OTA channel scan, and ended up picking up seven digital signals, two in 1080i, in addition to my regular OTA SD broadcasts. Since the NBC local is in HD, I still switch to that on Thursday nights since I don't get D* HD locals and I gotta see Tina Fey in all her glory.
Yeah most all sold now have a built in OTA digital tuner. Easy to do and cheap also.
The only thing you lose versus hooking it up to the D* box is the channel guide info
NOT necessarily, if your new TV has it's own guide - my Sony SXRD has the free TV Guide & it works on both analog/digital stations...
that is true, mine does, I meant intergrated into the D* guide.NOT necessarily, if your new TV has it's own guide - my Sony SXRD has the free TV Guide & it works on both analog/digital stations...
Which if all you are wanting is OTA and no sat service not a big deal.
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