Okay. This is going to be a lengthy first post but hopefully you all can sort out some of my confusion. Here is my situation -- I'm currently a cable subscriber here in Pasasdena, Maryland (zip code 21122). i've been on a promotional rate since moving into my townhouse a year ago. the deal i'm getting now is expanded basic cable (one step down from digital) plus cable modem for $40 per month. the promotional rate ends in 2 weeks and then my price essentially doubles. so i've been exploring other options. directv is more expensive and the nfl sunday ticket doesn't interest me so dish network seems like the way I want to go.
one up front question: one of our televisions is really old -- it's not cable ready. the way we get cable on it is by hooking it up to a vcr and piping the cable through the vcr. will this present a problem with dish network? can i send the dish network signal into the vcr and watch tv that way?
now, i called dish network and they told me I could the America's Top 60 with the Baltimore local channels plan on four tvs with the DVR for $40 per month -- that's $30 per month for the plan + $5 for an additional receiver + $5 for the DVR. With this plan, i'd be getting one 522 and one 322 (we have three tvs and I have a tv tuner pci card in my desktop).
next question: can i get the dish network signal on my tv tuner card like I currently do with my cable signal?
i really want to get fox sports net south and my only way for me to do that is to first pay an extra $5 per month to subscribe to America's Top 60 Plus so i get my local regional sports network (comcast sports net) and then once I'm a Top 60 Plus subscriber, I can get all of the regional sports networks (RSNs) for another $6 per month. this seemed like pretty much a done deal until i talked to my brother in Raleigh, NC. here's what he told me:
he has a friend who also lives in raleigh. both my brother and his friend are dish network subscribers. the friend has a house in raleigh and a vacation home in the mountains of western north carolina. the friend purchased a satelite dish and a second receiver at target, called dish network to activate the second receiver (so he pays an extra $5 per month for this), and then installed the dish at the vacation home in the mountains. so now he's got dish network service at both his home in Raleigh and at his vacation home in the mountains and instead of having to pay for separate service at both locations, he pays $5 extra and gets the service at both locations.
my brother seems to think that he and I can do a similar thing -- he can call up and activate some receivers and i can install both a dish and the receivers at my house here in maryland. my wife and i are both from raleigh so we'd love to have the raleigh local channels again. and fox sports net south is the local RSN in Raleigh so I'd be able to get it without having to subscribe to all of the RSNs.
What sort of thoughts to you all have about this? Is this feasible (ie, can i even get the raleigh signal from my location in maryland?)? is it legal? have people done this sort of thing in the past? if i was going to try and do this, i'd have to buy some receivers. what sort of receivers would you recommend? i know that the 322 and 522 are only available to new lease subscribers but i know very little about the differences between the other models of receivers. is there a website somewhere that explains what the features are for the various receivers? what would people recommend? if i buy a used receiver on eBay, does it need to come with a card? or will dish network supply a card if i buy a receiver that doesn't have one?
my mother is a former dish network subscriber and she's got a dish-500 and two old 3900 receivers laying around at her place. i know that the 3900s are not dual tuner receivers like the 322 and 522 but that doesn't really bother me as much as you might think. my brother says that i can hook up two televisions to each 3900 but i have to watch the same thing on each television and that i can only use the remote in the same room as the receiver. so suppose i've got tv1 and tv2 hooked up to one of these 3900s and these tvs are in different rooms and the receiver is next to tv1. it is my understanding that if i'm watching tv2 and i want to change the channel, i have to walk to the room where the receiver sits and change the channel there and then go back to tv2. is this correct? if so, that would be okay for me -- my first and second tvs are never on at the same time (so there would be no conflict between users wanting to watch different channels on each at the same time) and my 3rd tv is right next to the computer that has the tv tuner.
one final issue i want clarification about is whether or not the receivers need to be connected to a phone line. my brother doesn't have a land line -- he uses only his cell phone. so obviously none of his receivers are hooked up to a phone line. but the rep at dish network told me that both the 322 and the 522 would have to be continuously hooked up to a phone line or else i'd have to pay an extra $5 per receiver. is there a way to know which receivers are required to be hooked up to a phone line? if i wanted to get a receiver that did require the phone line connectivity, would dish network notice and/or care that i was in a non-Raleigh area code?
that about covers my questions right now. thanks for any help.
one up front question: one of our televisions is really old -- it's not cable ready. the way we get cable on it is by hooking it up to a vcr and piping the cable through the vcr. will this present a problem with dish network? can i send the dish network signal into the vcr and watch tv that way?
now, i called dish network and they told me I could the America's Top 60 with the Baltimore local channels plan on four tvs with the DVR for $40 per month -- that's $30 per month for the plan + $5 for an additional receiver + $5 for the DVR. With this plan, i'd be getting one 522 and one 322 (we have three tvs and I have a tv tuner pci card in my desktop).
next question: can i get the dish network signal on my tv tuner card like I currently do with my cable signal?
i really want to get fox sports net south and my only way for me to do that is to first pay an extra $5 per month to subscribe to America's Top 60 Plus so i get my local regional sports network (comcast sports net) and then once I'm a Top 60 Plus subscriber, I can get all of the regional sports networks (RSNs) for another $6 per month. this seemed like pretty much a done deal until i talked to my brother in Raleigh, NC. here's what he told me:
he has a friend who also lives in raleigh. both my brother and his friend are dish network subscribers. the friend has a house in raleigh and a vacation home in the mountains of western north carolina. the friend purchased a satelite dish and a second receiver at target, called dish network to activate the second receiver (so he pays an extra $5 per month for this), and then installed the dish at the vacation home in the mountains. so now he's got dish network service at both his home in Raleigh and at his vacation home in the mountains and instead of having to pay for separate service at both locations, he pays $5 extra and gets the service at both locations.
my brother seems to think that he and I can do a similar thing -- he can call up and activate some receivers and i can install both a dish and the receivers at my house here in maryland. my wife and i are both from raleigh so we'd love to have the raleigh local channels again. and fox sports net south is the local RSN in Raleigh so I'd be able to get it without having to subscribe to all of the RSNs.
What sort of thoughts to you all have about this? Is this feasible (ie, can i even get the raleigh signal from my location in maryland?)? is it legal? have people done this sort of thing in the past? if i was going to try and do this, i'd have to buy some receivers. what sort of receivers would you recommend? i know that the 322 and 522 are only available to new lease subscribers but i know very little about the differences between the other models of receivers. is there a website somewhere that explains what the features are for the various receivers? what would people recommend? if i buy a used receiver on eBay, does it need to come with a card? or will dish network supply a card if i buy a receiver that doesn't have one?
my mother is a former dish network subscriber and she's got a dish-500 and two old 3900 receivers laying around at her place. i know that the 3900s are not dual tuner receivers like the 322 and 522 but that doesn't really bother me as much as you might think. my brother says that i can hook up two televisions to each 3900 but i have to watch the same thing on each television and that i can only use the remote in the same room as the receiver. so suppose i've got tv1 and tv2 hooked up to one of these 3900s and these tvs are in different rooms and the receiver is next to tv1. it is my understanding that if i'm watching tv2 and i want to change the channel, i have to walk to the room where the receiver sits and change the channel there and then go back to tv2. is this correct? if so, that would be okay for me -- my first and second tvs are never on at the same time (so there would be no conflict between users wanting to watch different channels on each at the same time) and my 3rd tv is right next to the computer that has the tv tuner.
one final issue i want clarification about is whether or not the receivers need to be connected to a phone line. my brother doesn't have a land line -- he uses only his cell phone. so obviously none of his receivers are hooked up to a phone line. but the rep at dish network told me that both the 322 and the 522 would have to be continuously hooked up to a phone line or else i'd have to pay an extra $5 per receiver. is there a way to know which receivers are required to be hooked up to a phone line? if i wanted to get a receiver that did require the phone line connectivity, would dish network notice and/or care that i was in a non-Raleigh area code?
that about covers my questions right now. thanks for any help.
