Anyone have anything to sell after upgrading to a HD DirecTiVo? I am not convinced that I want to buy any MPEG2 DirecTV HD hardware. I would like to see the quality on my TV first, although I already know I will probably get sucked in.

I have an RCA DTC-100, but it has VGA output, so I can't use it on my set with only component inputs. I was using it to see if it could pull in any OTA HDTV locals (I can't). But I am in the NYC DMA, so there is chatter that DirecTV will actually provide me with CBS, NBC, Fox, and ABC in HD over the satellite. Does anyone know if that's true. I suppose I could call DirecTV, but I don't want to get into a hard-sell situation with some crappy receiver.

OTA HD reception is something of a black art. You might want to use AntennaWeb to figure out how far you are away from your nearest broadcast towers and what sort of antenna you're going to need to pull in your stations. You could also spend the extra bucks on quality RG-6 wiring, earth-grounded filter blocks, or even an in-line amplifier.

That said, DirecTV does carry HD locals (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and I think PBS) for "east" and "west", but I don't know what the rules are about whether they'll let you tune those in. It might be that you need to live outside of the normal, official broadcast range or get an appropriate waiver from the stations. If you poke around the TiVo or AVSforum boards, you'll see various discussion on this.

For what it's worth, you can get a new HD TiVo for $600-650 (versus $1000 last year). If you go eBay, it looks like completed auctions for HD tuners are going anywhere from $130-$230. You'll also need a triple LNB dish, but DirecTV will give you one of those for free if you talk to the right person in customer service.

WARNING: if you get a brand new HD TiVo, there's a good chance you won't get the nice TiVo "peanut" remote control. These days, DirecTV is shipping out this completely awful slab thing. If you're buying a used HD TiVo, particularly on eBay, check which remote control you're getting.

I have the HD dish and multiswitch and all that. I only need a receiver. I need to see locals in HD coming over the dish before I pull the trigger on an HD DirecTiVo.

There is no chance of me getting NY locals over the air. Maybe some Hartford stuff, but who wants that?

I have a Samsung 160 that I don't use anymore. I hadn't thought about selling it so I don't have a price in mind. Make me an offer if you're interested. Maybe a trade? PDA's and GPS units are current things that tickle my fancy but I have a fetish for all gadgets.

Edit: I could use an LCD monitor.... just trying to think of random stuff that might be appropriate trade value. I'll add more if I think of it.

Average price on ebay seems to be $130. this one even ended at $83. I don't think you would want an LCD monitor that fit into that price range.

It has more value then $130 to me so I guess I'll hold on to it. I know you're a deal hunter so I figured you've probably collected lots of tech stuff that you don't use. I thought we might each have something that's more valuable to the other person. It was a long shot. Good luck.

I still have a perfectly good Samsung receiver that does a fantastic job of receiving DirecTV and OTA high def signals. I put it in the For Sale forum several months ago. I'll look up the link.

/me goes and re-reads the thread to make sure it's what you were really asking for...

Gah. Can't find my post. Dunno what happened to it.

Lemme look up what the unit is... Yup, Samsung SIR-TS160.

So is that the one going for 85.00 on ebay? Sigh. Should have sold it sooner.

What price did you have in mind?

I don't want to rip off a guy that's out of a job, but at the same time I don't want to pay what you may have paid (which may have been $500+). On the other hand, I'm sure the people on this board treat their equipment nicely. It's more of a crap shoot on ebay especially with how people pack things to be shipped across the country.

Quote:
ReplayTV 5040 with no subscription

I have one of those too thanks to whoever posted the link about those going for 50.00 I didn't even take mine out of the box.

Wow, that's impressive. I await the reviews of the device and its interface. I wonder what kind of capacity it'll have.

I currently have Tony's Samsung unit, so the search is over.

A word to the wise though... If you buy a DirecTV receiver that's old enough to not have a RID (or Receiver ID), and the original access card isn't provided, you may be up sh!t's creek. It has something to do with verifying the unit isn't stolen or from a delinquent account. Luckily Tony shipped it to me in the original box which had the access card number on it. If I bought something off ebay, I may not have been so lucky.

Wow, I didn't know that.

When I deactivated that unit, and activated my high-def tivo in its place, they told me to throw away the card because it was useless now. I thought I had left the card in the box and not bothered to throw it away.

Anyway, good info to have.

So how many over-the-air high def stations do you get?

I don't have an antenna to test with.
I own a Zenith silver sensor, but lent it to a friend. I guess I should try to get that back.

I was actually expecting to get basic cable over my cable modem line, but Time Warner figured out a bastardly way to not make that happen. Some people mentioned that with basic cable, they were getting HD locals in the clear, tunable with an OTA receiver. Time Warner wants $23 a month for 30 channels and no discount in my cable modem bill. No thanks. So, it seems I will have to wait for my new access card to arrive to experience some HD goodness.