DirecTV/Dish Network and buying your own equipment

[antillean]

I've seen receivers and dishes for these networks on Craigslist, but I don't know how much you save by not renting- of course DirecTV and Dish don't say on their websites, and they don't give you an option not to get the equipment.

 

[Yreka]

One thing to keep in mind with buying used receivers..
A. Make sure the receiver has a card from an account in good order. If you get one that has a bunch of PPVs charged, or from an account that has a balance on it, you will be responsible for the balance before you can use the receiver.
B. you will still have to pay $25 to get the "old" card exchanged for a new one.. you send them the old card + $25, they send you a new card.. not sure what the costs are if you don't have a card at all, but I heard they are $$$.

*this is DTV, not sure about the dish.

 

[antillean]

Sounds like it's not worth it for DTV

 

[Thetech]

Originally posted by: antillean
I've seen receivers and dishes for these networks on Craigslist, but I don't know how much you save by not renting- of course DirecTV and Dish don't say on their websites, and they don't give you an option not to get the equipment.

I believe there is a way to tell them you already own the equipment, I know there are places you can legally acquire DirecTV equipment, a good place to discuss this stuff would also be www.avsforum.com

 

[Queasy]

You'll have to pay the $5 a month fee for the receiver whether you buy it yourself or lease it.

The main benefit to buying a DirecTV receiver right now would be to get one of the DirecTivo receivers. The TiVo receivers >>>>> than the DirecTV branded DVRs. Plus, they are easy to mod.

 

[nsafreak]

With Dish Network there really isn't a benefit to purchasing a receiver versus leasing one other than not being locked into a commitment. This is especially true if you get into purchasing the HD DVR model receivers. The only case I could think it would be much of a benefit would be if you were purchasing a DVR that does not have the DVR fee attached to it. Those would be the 501, 508 and 721 model receivers. Those receivers are not charged a DVR fee like other DVRs are with Dish Network so you'd be saving $6.99 a month with those. Keep in mind however that those are older model receivers and while they are still being supported there are not a lot of new features being added that I've seen.