Satellite Receiver question

[GBRulz]

I am thinking of switching back to Dish Network because my 1 year deal with digital cable is over. Quite honestly, I don't watch enough TV to justify spending $70 a month for plan ol' digital cable.

My problem is that I have 4 TV's in my house. 5 if you count when I watch on my laptop downstairs. I don't want to have to rent a set-top box from Dish for every TV, especially when 2 of them are hardly used except when people stay over as they are in the spare rooms.

I know there is a way to watch TV in another room without a box. Someone told me this once but I can't remember how to do it.

I would like to rent 2 boxes from Dish for my 2 HDTV's and just capture that signal to the other 2 TV's. Any advice?

[Fosco33]

Get DirecTV - you'll still need a receiver - but they're free.

And you can get the Ticket.

[CaptainKickass]

Get DirecTV - you'll still need a receiver - but they're free.

And you can get the Ticket.

They are not free - there's a $5.00 per month charge for every additional receiver.

U can go out and get the $150.00 "free per view" black box that you would own. U have to fill out some paperwork agreeing to participate in their "test pilot" program for alternative television ratings...blah blah blah. But then all u need is basic cable or ONE sattelite feed that you can split as many times as u want to as many boxes as you own.

Also - if you wanna watch tv on your pc or laptop - google "slingbox".

That is all.

[GBRulz]

i'm going with Dish as they have at least twice the amount of HD channels as anyone else.

I have no desire to get Sunday Ticket. All I care to watch are the Packers anyhow.

So, nobody knows how to do what I'm looking for? I know a UHF remote or something is involved .....but I'm clueless after that.

[CaptainKickass]

You can just split the coax after one of the boxes, (u can buy a coax splitter for cheap at any hardware store) and just run coax to the other 2 tv's but you will be stuck with watching whatever is on the tv "with the box".

Otherwise - u need a box for every tv.

[Zool]

RF Remote Extender

http://www.nextag.com/Terk-Lfirx-55145409/prices-html

OR


RF Remote

http://www.avdeals.com/remotes/h890.htm

The RF remote will probably be easier for your application.

Put one box on each HD then have another box that splits to whatever TV's you want it sending signal to. All of the TV's will obviously have the same program.
These are just the first ones I found searching Google. Some DISH boxes come with an RF remote. It all depends on how much you are looking to spend.

[Partial]

i'm going with Dish as they have at least twice the amount of HD channels as anyone else.

I have no desire to get Sunday Ticket. All I care to watch are the Packers anyhow.

So, nobody knows how to do what I'm looking for? I know a UHF remote or something is involved .....but I'm clueless after that.

In theory, you could get an HDMI/DVI/Component switch box if such a thing exists, run that to each seperate TV, and then get the RF extenders for the remote control to work on each tv. This of course will only let you watch TV on one source at a time.

Otherwise, you could just buy a slew of used receivers. http://search.ebay.com/dish-network-receiver

[Zool]

i'm going with Dish as they have at least twice the amount of HD channels as anyone else.

I have no desire to get Sunday Ticket. All I care to watch are the Packers anyhow.

So, nobody knows how to do what I'm looking for? I know a UHF remote or something is involved .....but I'm clueless after that.

In theory, you could get an HDMI/DVI/Component switch box if such a thing exists, run that to each seperate TV, and then get the RF extenders for the remote control to work on each tv. This of course will only let you watch TV on one source at a time.

Otherwise, you could just buy a slew of used receivers. http://search.ebay.com/dish-network-receiver

You still have to get the signal to each TV. I'm assuming she doesn't want cords run on the floor.

[Fosco33]

Get DirecTV - you'll still need a receiver - but they're free.

And you can get the Ticket.

They are not free - there's a $5.00 per month charge for every additional receiver.

U can go out and get the $150.00 "free per view" black box that you would own. U have to fill out some paperwork agreeing to participate in their "test pilot" program for alternative television ratings...blah blah blah. But then all u need is basic cable or ONE sattelite feed that you can split as many times as u want to as many boxes as you own.

Also - if you wanna watch tv on your pc or laptop - google "slingbox".

That is all.

Yeah, you're right. I sorta meant you don't have to buy the dish and separate receivers. $5/mo is well worth it.

[Scott Campbell]

i'm going with Dish as they have at least twice the amount of HD channels as anyone else.

I have no desire to get Sunday Ticket. All I care to watch are the Packers anyhow.

So, nobody knows how to do what I'm looking for? I know a UHF remote or something is involved .....but I'm clueless after that.

I had the same issue as you did. I had one receiever hooked up to three different tv's (coax coming off the receiver ran to splitter, which then ran coax to each of the 3 tv's), and I controlled the receiver from anywhere in the house with the included RF (radio frequency) remote. RF remotes can work through walls. IR (infrared) remotes require line of site, so they won't work outside the room it's paired AV equipment resides in.

You can't watch different channels on 2 of the tv's at the same time, because there is only one channel at a time coming out of the lone receiver in this setup. The question I have in your case, is can your SDTV's display the signal coming off your HD Dish receiver. If not, you'll need a SD receiver for your two SD sets.

I own that remote that Zool displayed in the IR version - the 880. The 890 RF/IR model is $250 plus. You can get RF remotes a lot cheaper than that, but the Harmony line is built to turn on 4 or 5 components with the press of one button, and can replace a whole bunch of remotes. I'm a big fan of the Harmony line.

[Scott Campbell]

Also - if you wanna watch tv on your pc or laptop - google "slingbox".

Slingbox works on Treo cellphones now.

[GBRulz]

The question I have in your case, is can your SDTV's display the signal coming off your HD Dish receiver. If not, you'll need a SD receiver for your two SD sets.

How do I find this out? 3 of the 4 TV's are HDTV's. The other one is some old piece of crap.

Now to what Partial said about buying used boxes.... would that work? Do I need a certain type of smart card to be included with it?

[Scott Campbell]

The question I have in your case, is can your SDTV's display the signal coming off your HD Dish receiver. If not, you'll need a SD receiver for your two SD sets.

How do I find this out? 3 of the 4 TV's are HDTV's.

I'm sure DishNetwork will know. It's not a hard question. I just happen to not know the answer.

[GBRulz]

I went ahead and ordered Dish Network with just 2 HD receivers. That is the most you can order from them without paying a lease upgrade fee of $200 for the 3rd receiver.

I will either go on eBay and buy a couple of used receivers for the other 2 TV's or figure out how to get the signal to them. It's not a big deal to take care of it immediately, they are only in the guest rooms anyhow.

[Guiness]

I'm not sure buying used receiver helps - if you've already got a subscription, adding a tv is $5/month, no initial fee for the extra hardware, IIRC.

I know you've already placed your order, but let me give you one piece of advice: GET A DVR!!!

You'll never be able to watch 'straight' TV again. I also see that Dish has a receiver (vip622) that lets you drive two TV's, one HD and on STV. I think it required the $200, but it'll (permanently) take care of one of the extra TV's as well.

Imagine having a VCR built into your TV with an 80 long tape, and you can instantly access the start point of any show on it. Shwing!