HD/Direct box
 

I have a question for people who have purchase either a Direct system or a HD/Direct box! Since I am not really interested, at least at this time, in Direct tv, but rather wish to purchase a HD decoder box, I am running into the problem of wanting to purchase such box, but the Direct agreement that you have to sign up for, is holding me back. Anyone out there bought either a HD box and not subscribed? Sales person as B&M CC told me, (off the record) that no one really follows up on such, since CC says contact Direct, and Direct says contact CC!! Anyone with any experience with this situation?

Out of curiosity (and perhaps ignorance) - why, if you're not really interested in Direct TV do you need an HDTV/Direct box? Why not just buy an HDTV STB?

Janitor, because at this time I am not switching from cable to dss, but may in the near future, at which time I would activate a subscription. So, at this time, I am interested in OTA HD for now.

Ahhhh - I understand said the nearsigted, bent over, old crone. Nice to think ahead on such an expensive purchase.

Now (again - probably out of ignorance) have you considered that at some point in the future that the Dish network may be the one to beat for HD? Not that I believe they are. But in the name of doing research for future use, it seems this info is part of the picture.

Try purchasing the box off e-bay or finding one in the classified section at hometheaterforum.com or avsforum.com. I asked at Best Buy about the DST-3000 and the salesperson told me I didn't need a contract to buy that model. Of course this was 2 months ago before DirecTV started the "no card in the box" policy. I would suggest though if you are going to spend the money to get the DirecTV box you might as well mount the oval dish and sign up for the $6.95 package to watch HDnet. Good Luck!

My understanding is that you do not need a contract with direct tv to buy one of these boxes. What happens is that if you don't activate your directv service within 30 days, they nail you for $150. Or send a few big guys to break your kneecaps. So essentially, I'm paying full price for a box that I can only partially utilize, and for that, I'm being penalized another $150... Not sure if you can call up Directv and ask if you can hack apart the box and turn in the card to avoid getting nailed.

Of course, the cool thing would be a nice HD OTA only box like the sensory science/loewe one. But at less than $1500.

I know for a fact the RCA DTC-100 can be purchased for under $500 which is both a Direct TV and OTA HD tunner. It does not require activation of a Direct TV subscription

Check these sites for it:



You could also do a search on here or the home theater forum for the DTC-100 for more information on it - I use this model and other than not being able to stack other components on top of it, I am completely happy with it.