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#279428 - 12/04/2006 22:16 Anyone have a old DirecTV access card?
matthew_k
pooh-bah

Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
I purchased a Samsung HDTV tuner on ebay and from my readings online it looks like I need a DirecTV access card in order to set it up to watch OTA hdtv, which is all I plan to use it for. Does anyone have one that they're not using in a drawer somewhere just because they don't want to throw it out?

Matthew

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#279429 - 12/04/2006 22:31 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: matthew_k]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
I think I might. Let me check...
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#279430 - 12/04/2006 22:37 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: robricc]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Can't find any. I think I may have one at my parent's house. If you don't get one before I see them on Sunday, I will get it for you.
_________________________
-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#279431 - 12/04/2006 23:37 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: robricc]
matthew_k
pooh-bah

Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
That'd be great. If not I can buy one on ebay and pay someone 10 bucks to ship it.

Matthew

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#279432 - 12/04/2006 23:47 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: matthew_k]
DWallach
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
I've got some old, defunct DirecTV cards. PM me your details and I'll mail them to you.

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#279433 - 13/04/2006 00:17 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: matthew_k]
The Central Guy
enthusiast

Registered: 18/03/2002
Posts: 225
Loc: San Diego, California USA
Hi Matthew,
I have 4 DTV receivers in use and through the registration process, I always thought that the way they init the cards marries the card to the receiver so that it cannot be swapped out or moved to another receiver.

So maybe in the case of the HD OTA reception, the card isn't accessed the same way as for DTV and it just needs something in the socket? Otherwise, if it does mimic DTV behavior, I don't think you can just plug in any old card....

Any thoughts? Thanks, Randy
_________________________
Happy owner of 2 Centrals, 2 Empegs Mk2a 160GB, 1 Empeg Mk2a 60 GB, a Rio Riot, 4 Rio Receivers, and two 1GB iPod Shuffles...

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#279434 - 13/04/2006 01:01 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: The Central Guy]
matthew_k
pooh-bah

Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
I have no idea how it works. This thread here is what I'm basing my assuptions on. The SIR-TS360 only cost my $70 shipped, so if it doesn't work out I'll ebay it and take a small loss.

Matthew

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#279435 - 13/04/2006 01:40 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: matthew_k]
lectric
pooh-bah

Registered: 20/01/2002
Posts: 2085
Loc: New Orleans, LA
The cards definitely ARE married to the recievers. Getting a defunct card will do no good.

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#279436 - 13/04/2006 04:42 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: lectric]
matthew_k
pooh-bah

Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
Quote:
The cards definitely ARE married to the recievers. Getting a defunct card will do no good.

I'm not trying to get any sort of directv service on it, all I need to do is get past the inital setup screen. At least one person in the linked thread on avsforum used a card from some other receiver to do exactly what I'm trying to do. I'm not sure it'll work by any stretch of the imagination, but it's what I'll try first.

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#279437 - 13/04/2006 12:11 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: matthew_k]
The Central Guy
enthusiast

Registered: 18/03/2002
Posts: 225
Loc: San Diego, California USA
After reading the thread, it sounds like you might be able to get this to work. I have two of that model Samsung receiver and they work pretty well. More prone to needing rebooting than my previous SD Sony receivers. But they've settled down lately, and I haven't had to reboot them in awhile... They also seem pretty sensitive to OTA signals, so that's a plus as well.....I hope it works for you...

Randy
_________________________
Happy owner of 2 Centrals, 2 Empegs Mk2a 160GB, 1 Empeg Mk2a 60 GB, a Rio Riot, 4 Rio Receivers, and two 1GB iPod Shuffles...

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#279438 - 18/05/2006 13:30 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: matthew_k]
DWallach
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
You should have gotten my old DirecTV cards by now. Did it work?

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#279439 - 18/05/2006 14:00 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: DWallach]
matthew_k
pooh-bah

Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
Quote:
You should have gotten my old DirecTV cards by now. Did it work?
\
It worked perfectly. Unfortunatly I didn't try it without the card, so I'm not sure if it would have worked without it, but I'm fairly certain it wouldn't have. It makes a great $60 HDTV tuner, as it has inputs for standard cable and the antena (along with the satelite connection). I havn't had any issues with it at all. I only use it a few hours per week though, so the bugs I've read about may crop up. The only thing that would really improve it is a pass through resolution setting.

At this point I'm pretty happy with the setup. It all works nicely, the HD picture is beautiful, if somewhat wasted on the norma viewing distance. I'll write up all the components I'm using, as it has come together nicely as a budget system if you've already got the 2405fpw.

Matthew

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#279440 - 18/05/2006 14:16 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: matthew_k]
DWallach
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 3810
Quote:
the HD picture is beautiful, if somewhat wasted on the norma viewing distance

My father's 45" Sharp Aquos (1080p native) LCD showed me that you don't necessarily want to get any closer. You can see all the damn MPEG blocking artifacts on that set, even at a reasonable distance, while my older, fuzzier CRT rear projector set tends to hide the blocking artifacts, which I had previously convinced myself was just film grain. A little distance can be a good thing.

(And, for anybody looking to purchase one of these high-resolution panels, it's important to look for how good their post-processing is at smoothing/filtering out these sorts of artifacts. I imagine that newer sets will be better at this than older ones because Moore's Law allows them a lot more image processing horsepower.)

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#279441 - 18/05/2006 14:31 Re: Anyone have a old DirecTV access card? [Re: DWallach]
matthew_k
pooh-bah

Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
I havn't noticed any artifacts, but I expect my local PBS station isn't as compressed as satelite's hd chanels. Also cramming native 1080i into 24" makes it dificult to notice.

This monitor was mainly purchased to be a monitor for image editing, as Aperture eats screen real estate for breakfast, but I've become addicted to it. The TV aspect of it was a real bonus, but was a complication as everything has to have component out so it can be switched by the receiver. (It was also great that Dell was selling the monitor as a $450 upgrade to a system I was purchasing for someone else.)

Matthew

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