There are commercial DCII boxes that do the free DCII mode channels, but I dont know anything specific on them. Maybe one or more of those commercial box gurus will pop in and lay it on us. I havent seen any 'deals' like there was a t one time on Fleabay, but that stuff runs in cycles.Last I saw you could get a 9xx for around tha same price as the retired commmercial units. There is a 920 on the Houston's Craigslist this week for $150 I think it was. A buddy I talk to on IRC bought a 905 for $65, dont recall if that was + s&h or not. Regardless, a good deal.
It's not so much about the expense, but the value and longevity. A 'good deal' is relative. How much would you spend to watch what is on DCII sub or free, for 2 yrs. a year, 6 months........no body knows but it is headed the way of analog, for consumers at least, if for no other reason than the consumer mindset is very HD driven and oriented, and 4DTV hardware and programming is not. Even the viability of DVB-S2 is even in question in terms of longevity. Getting into DCII these days is a heavy decision, unless youve got what most of us would call money to gamble with. I wouldnt trade mine, for much of anything, but I cant say if I were starting now, that I would do it again.
