Remote direct tv reception

[BOB OLINGER]

Is there any way to spin off my home direct tv equipment for occasional use at remote locations such as a cabin or tailgating? I realize I'd need to take a receiver from home and will need a compatible dish. Any recommendations?

[Lee Schierer]

I know Drect tv has options for RV users that allow them to get reception wherever they park. The receiver won't know where you are if you are resonably close to home and aim a dish at the satellite. You may not be able to access pay per view channels without a phone connection.

[Lee Koepke]

years ago, we had an RV we would tailgate with and a separate dish mounted on a tripod. since we parked in the same spot every week, I drove three screws into the asphalt to mark the location, and set up the dish pretty close to perfect every time.

that WAS years ago, so I am not sure if it would still work, but my friend (whose dish it was) didnt have any 'traveling' plan or anything

[mickey cassiba]

Lee, unfortunately the last of the winter Texans left last week, or I'd ask. I know most of them use the dishes with their MHs. I don't know if they have a special plan or not.

[Wayne Hendrix]

I have in the past taken a receiver from home and hooked it up someplace else with no problem. Granted at the time I didnt have it hooked up to internet or a phone line and was hitting the same satellite so I dont think there was anyway for them to know I was moving it.

[BOB OLINGER]

OK, the use of a Slingbox was recommended on another site. Do any of you know anything about these??

[Pat Germain]

Contrary to what the satellite TV providers might tell you, a phone line connection is not required. You can even do the pay-per-view thing without the phone line.

If you move your receiver and dish, you'll have to re-point the dish each time you set it up. This won't be too hard as long as you have a good idea of the direction to the satellite from wherever you are. And, unless you're travelling a very long distance from your home, you should be able to keep the angle the same.

[Matt Meiser]

OK, the use of a Slingbox was recommended on another site. Do any of you know anything about these??

Do you have a good broadband connection at the remote location? And that doesn't include satellite or 3G or any option that has low usage limits.

[Bryan Morgan]

OK, the use of a Slingbox was recommended on another site. Do any of you know anything about these??

I use one, it works fine if you have anything above a 1 meg connection (at your house and wherever you are receiving the stream) but it might be easier to just take your receiver. It works anywhere as long as you have power and a dish pointed in the right direction. I'm not sure about any TOS violations but its your stuff and physically it will work fine. It does not need to be connected to a phone or internet line to work.

[Curt Harms]

I could be mistaken here but I thought that if you had an account with more than one receiver, you had to have them hooked up to a phone line. Directv could check that they were all hooked up to the same phone number. That way, 4 people couldn't get together and one person have an account with 4 receivers which were really in 4 different neighborhoods.

[BOB OLINGER]

No, our cabin is too remote for broadband. The only internet option is the mobile card (5MB).




Do you have a good broadband connection at the remote location? And that doesn't include satellite or 3G or any option that has low usage limits.

[Joe Angrisani]

No, our cabin is too remote for broadband. The only internet option is the mobile card (5MB).

Just to play the other side, Bob, I gotta ask: Why ruin it??? Leave the technology behind and enjoy all the real stuff! As just one example, binoculars and a dark sky beats TV everytime. :)

[BOB OLINGER]

Hi Joe,

Good point.


Just to play the other side, Bob, I gotta ask: Why ruin it??? Leave the technology behind and enjoy all the real stuff! As just one example, binoculars and a dark sky beats TV everytime. :)

[Wayne Hendrix]

I could be mistaken here but I thought that if you had an account with more than one receiver, you had to have them hooked up to a phone line. Directv could check that they were all hooked up to the same phone number. That way, 4 people couldn't get together and one person have an account with 4 receivers which were really in 4 different neighborhoods.

I have two receivers and they arent hooked up to a phone line. I dont even have phone at home. One is hooked up to the internet but the other is not hooked to anything. They have never said anything to me about it.

[Rick Potter]

My daughters live in CA, and have a condo in AZ, that they spend about a week a month in for business. They took one reciever from home out to the condo, which already had a Direct TV dish set up. It works fine. They pay for this extra reciever in their home plan.

I had a new dish installed at my home a couple weeks ago, and asked the installer if this would work for me (in my travel trailer). Here is what he told me:
"As long as you have a currently registered card and box, and you don't mix HD with regular equipment, it will work fine".

As far as the phone line goes, it is needed for billing, and pay per view stuff, but you don't need one on each TV. The daughters do not have a phone line at all in the AZ condo. This naturally means they can only get their basic service with no movie channels or PPV when in the condo.

At our house we have several tv's and only one is hooked to the phone line for billing purposes. All the tv's have DVR's and they work just fine (we do not subscribe to movie channels or PPV). To clarify...5 tv's with DVR's, on 3 seperate dishes, total of 1 hooked to phone line. For only $75 they put one of those dishes on my detached shop.

Hope this helps.

Rick Potter

[Bryan Morgan]

As far as the phone line goes, it is needed for billing, and pay per view stuff, but you don't need one on each TV. The daughters do not have a phone line at all in the AZ condo. This naturally means they can only get their basic service with no movie channels or PPV when in the condo.

It doesn't need to be hooked up to a phone line for anything. I don't have a home phone and get movie channels and PPV and it works fine, bills fine. The really old models used to have to be hooked up to a phone to submit PPV ordered directly from the unit and download guide data. I found this out by getting an ancient DirecTV DVR from my friend and stupidly hooking it up to a phone.... at that time it submitted all the PPV stuff he ordered and I got nailed on my bill (which he paid for of course).

[Matt Meiser]

The rumor I've read is that the receiver will let you order PPV for a period of time without communicating. But for the OP, if you take it back and forth that won't be an issue if he even wants to watch PPV. From what I've seen DirecTV won't confirm or deny anything on this topic.