Moved and no Directv

[Ken Allison]

I've recently moved and found to my dismay that I don't have access to the
DirecTV satellite. I had just bought a Hughes dual tuner a few months ago
and it is now useless. Is there a way I can still use this receiver for Tivo
without DirecTV? If not does anybody have a suggestion as to what model I
should look into for Comcast Cable TV? Or another company have satellite
access that isn't SE. I need one that is more easterly.

By the way -- I am going to sell the Hughes (if it is useless to me) and my
Sony Sat2 DirecTV receiver. Anyone interested?

[Rod Smith]

In article <G0_Ma.4614$I8.2388@rwcrnsc53>,
"Ken Allison" > writes:
>
> I've recently moved and found to my dismay that I don't have access to the
> DirecTV satellite.

You don't give details of your situation, so it's impossible for me to be
sure, but people sometimes think this and are mistaken. A common problem
is an installer who comes out for a "free" installation, takes a look at
the setup, decides it would be too hard/time-consuming to do a proper
job, and so says "you can't get the signal." If you're basing your claim
on a survey done for a "free" installation, particularly if the installer
just spent a minute or two and came to the conclusion, then get another
opinion. Even if there's no signal because of tree blockage or the like,
there may be ways around the problem, like trimming the tree or mounting
the dish on a high pole. Note that standalone (SA) TiVos are more
expensive than DirecTiVos, and you'll pay more for the monthly
subscription, so even if tree trimming or mounting on a tall pole is
expensive, it may be nearly as bad, or even worse, to trade in your
DirecTiVo for one or more SA TiVos.

OTOH, if you're in, say, a north-facing apartment in an apartment tower,
and so have absolutely no clear line of sight to the satellites, your
conclusion is probably valid. (Even then, though, there might be
alternatives, depending upon your building's construction and the
policies of the owners. For instance, if you could run a cable from a
south-facing neighbor's apartment who has DirecTV, you could piggy-back
off of your neighbor's dish.)

> I had just bought a Hughes dual tuner a few months ago
> and it is now useless. Is there a way I can still use this receiver for Tivo
> without DirecTV?

No. DirecTiVos contain no analog TV tuners; they can *ONLY* receive and
decode DirecTV signals.

> If not does anybody have a suggestion as to what model I
> should look into for Comcast Cable TV?

AFAIK, all standalone (SA) TiVos work equally well with all cable TV
providers, with the exception that AT&T-branded models include code for
serial-port control of the Motorola digital cable boxes that AT&T uses in
some areas. I believe AT&T's cable operations were recently bought up by
Comcast, but I don't know the details. I don't know if the AT&T-branded
TiVos are still available, or if the serial control remains an option.

> Or another company have satellite
> access that isn't SE. I need one that is more easterly.

AFAIK, the 101 degree position is the most easterly of the "prime"
satellite positions. Dish Network uses 119 as its primary position,
although I believe it puts some locals on a satellite that's to the east
of 101. Some of the Canadian providers also have positions to the east of
101, IIRC, but getting them in the US is of uncertain legality, and the
last I heard, TiVo didn't provide programming data for them, so you'd
need to either hack a TiVo (as Canadian TiVo owners do) or use some other
type of DVR.

--
Rod Smith,
http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking

[dold@MovedXandX.usenet.us.com]

Rod Smith > wrote:
> opinion. Even if there's no signal because of tree blockage or the like,
> there may be ways around the problem, like trimming the tree or mounting
> the dish on a high pole. Note that standalone (SA) TiVos are more

Someone in the hills near Santa Rosa has his cable draped between two trees
crossing a major road, so that he could get some view out amongst the tall
trees.

As you noted, landlords or some other controlling entity have more impact
on the lack of availablitiy of satellite signal than the dish itself.

[dold@MovedXandX.usenet.us.com]

Dave Tavres > wrote:
> So - pass it on - ONLY buy the stand-alone units. I'm afraid more and more
> people will end up buying the packaged boxes, and the stand-alones will fade
> away - then we'll ALL be screwed...


Aha! I knew there had to be some ulterior motive.
There's no technical reason to avoid the DirecTivo.

[MegaZone]

"Dave Tavres" > shaped the electrons to say:
>So - pass it on - ONLY buy the stand-alone units. I'm afraid more and more
>people will end up buying the packaged boxes, and the stand-alones will fade
>away - then we'll ALL be screwed...

Paranoid much?

DirecTV is still a minority provider. At least with DTiVos TiVo gets
some money. The *real* threat to TiVo are non-TiVo integrated cable
box DVRs like the SA8000. If Joe Consumer can get a dual-tuner
integrated DVR from their cable company for $5/month and no up-front
purchase, well, it makes it a much harder sell for TiVo.

-MZ, CISSP #3762, RHCE #806199299900541
--
> Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me..
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-755-4098
<URL:http://www.megazone.org/> <URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/> Eris

[Rod Smith]

In article >,
"Stephane Beaudry" > writes:
>
> Now if by some miracle (and I am pretty sure it's out of the
> question) tivo could get their software on the Cable PVRs, life would be
> awesome.

I've not been following it all that closely, but I've heard some talk
about emerging standards for digital cable TV, the idea being to enable
manufacturers to sell TVs with digital cable-ready tuners, much as they
came out with analog cable-ready tuners a few years ago. If this happens,
digital cable boxes will become irrelevant; TiVo will be able to sell
set-top digital cable-ready TiVos (essentially, digital cable boxes with
TiVo software) and/or license the software for inclusion in TVs with TiVo
features.

As I say, though, I've not been following this very closely. I don't know
how close we are to seeing such standards, or even if they're really
likely to be finalized. Still, I don't think it's quite "out of the
question."

--
Rod Smith,
http://www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking