DirecTV will not cooperate

[en_ter_prise]

I bought a new HD TV for my son and DirecTV will not lease me a new HD receiver unless I sign another 2 year commitment!
Can I purchase a HD receiver from EBAY and use it with my current card from my standard receiver?
I currently have HD with a DVR on another TV in my house, so I do have the HD dish installed.

[Justin23]

You always have the option to purchase the equipment at full cost if you do not want a commitment.

J

[Jon J]

I bought a new HD TV for my son and DirecTV will not lease me a new HD receiver unless I sign another 2 year commitment!

The receiver is subsidized by DirecTV therefore the new committment. Ask DirecTV about paying full price to avoid the committment.

Can I purchase a HD receiver from EBAY and use it with my current card from my standard receiver?

Probably not and the receiver you buy from ebay may well be leased.

I currently have HD with a DVR on another TV in my house, so I do have the HD dish installed.

If you are receiving HD from DirecTV then you will not need another dish for the new receiver. If you do not have an HD capable dish, then you must have one.

[Mike Bertelson]

I bought a new HD TV for my son and DirecTV will not lease me a new HD receiver unless I sign another 2 year commitment!
Can I purchase a HD receiver from EBAY and use it with my current card from my standard receiver?
I currently have HD with a DVR on another TV in my house, so I do have the HD dish installed.
Welcome to DBSTalk. :welcome_s

This is one of those things that triggers the commitment.

I'm not saying that it's right but I get the feeling that since they are giving the HD-DVR so "cheap" that it would require a commitment.

Even if you find one one and purchase it at full cost when you activate it will likely tirgger the 2 years.

Maybe someone else will have better info for you. :grin:

This has been a much debated issue with numerous threads. You might try searching through them for some more information.

Sorry I can't be more helpful but Welcom to the forum. :)

Mike

[LarryFlowers]

You want to be very careful about buying DirecTV equipment from eBay... many have purchased only to find out the seller had no right to sell the unit and you get burned.

[mikeren1]

what i was told by DTv is that when I "activated" my new hd reciever I commited myself for 2 more years...This was on a reciever I purchased from CC.....

[say-what]

what i was told by DTv is that when I "activated" my new hd reciever I commited myself for 2 more years...This was on a reciever I purchased from CC.....
You didn't "purchase" the receiver at CC, you paid the upfront lease fee, same as you would had you ordered one from DirecTV without any additional discounts.

Now, the OP could buy an HR21-pro for something like $600-$700 and that would be an owned unit - as for a new commitment, I'm not sure, but I don't think it triggers one. You could also pay the same for whatever HR2x they're currently sending.

As for access cards - they can only be used in the receiver they're assigned to.

[Ryan415689]

Even if you purchase a new hd box and and do not have the 5lnb dish, you will need one installed... with a commitment.

[BattleZone]

I bought a new HD TV for my son and DirecTV will not lease me a new HD receiver unless I sign another 2 year commitment!
Can I purchase a HD receiver from EBAY and use it with my current card from my standard receiver?
I currently have HD with a DVR on another TV in my house, so I do have the HD dish installed.

Most HD receivers you'll find on eBay are obsolete; they only decode MPEG2 HD signals, and very soon, DirecTV's HD will be 100% MPEG4.

Very, very close to 100% of H20, H21, H23, HR20, HR21, and HR22s are leased, meaning they remain the property of DirecTV and by policy cannot be transferred from one account to another. You are required to return leased receivers if you deactivate them, and DirecTV will not activate non-returned receivers from one account onto another account.

Assuming you got a new, never-used receiver, it would also be leased and carry a commitment upon activation.

The ONLY way to "own" a receiver is to buy it directly from DirecTV at full MSRP price (about triple the up-front lease fee). Owned receivers do not come with a commitment.

There is also the HR21 Pro, which is available from a few retailers for about $600. These are all "owned", and carry no commitment, and have several "pro" features not available on standard receivers.

As others have mentioned, one of the trade-offs for leasing equipment with a low up-front lease fee instead of having to buy it at full price (4 years ago, folks were paying $1000 for HD Tivos from DirecTV) is that you have a programming commitment. The money has to be recovered somehow.

[blc]

I bought a new HD TV for my son and DirecTV will not lease me a new HD receiver unless I sign another 2 year commitment!
Can I purchase a HD receiver from EBAY and use it with my current card from my standard receiver?
I currently have HD with a DVR on another TV in my house, so I do have the HD dish installed.

I have purchased two HR20-100 boxes on Ebay. You must verify the ID# with DirecTv to make sure it is an owned unit. If you see an "owned" or "not a lease" HD DVR on Ebay, send a question to the seller asking for the receiver ID# and then call DirecTV and give them the number to verify that it is indeed owned and not leased. Also, verify that the receiver has been deactivated from the prior owner's account so that you will not get hit with charges the prior owner may have incurred. You will have to get a new access card for $20 from DirecTV when you activate the receiver on your account. You should not have a new committment with owned equipment and be certain the csr activating it for you verifies that it is listed as "owned" on your account. I have seen several HD DVR receivers listed as owned on Ebay--you just have to be diligent and persistent because they are few and far between. From what I understand employees of Directv get owned equipment that many of them sell once they move on to new employment. Also, commercial accounts have owned equipment (or used to) and those sometimes show up on Ebay. At any rate, I have had success and actually purchased owned HD DVR receivers cheaper than I could lease them last fall when DirecTV wanted $200-$300 each for leased units.

[bobnielsen]

Check for dents in the box, in case it fell off a truck.

[nevea2be]

If you buy a HD-DVR outright do you still have to pay the $5.99 fee to use the DVR recording abilities? Or the additional $9.99 to receive the HD signals through it? Would there be any additional fees or would you be able to use it just for the purchase price of the receiver?

[David MacLeod]

If you buy a HD-DVR outright do you still have to pay the $5.99 fee to use the DVR recording abilities? Or the additional $9.99 to receive the HD signals through it? Would there be any additional fees or would you be able to use it just for the purchase price of the receiver?

I believe this depends on your package.

[paulman182]

If you buy a HD-DVR outright do you still have to pay the $5.99 fee to use the DVR recording abilities? Or the additional $9.99 to receive the HD signals through it? Would there be any additional fees or would you be able to use it just for the purchase price of the receiver?

You would still have to pay those fees (unless you have the Total Choice Plus HD DVR package) plus the $4.99 fee to mirror programming.

The DVR fee and HD Access fees are per account, not per receiver, however.

[nevea2be]

You would still have to pay those fees (unless you have the Total Choice Plus HD DVR package) plus the $4.99 fee to mirror programming.

The DVR fee and HD Access fees are per account, not per receiver, however.

So by us having a Premier account then we would only be looking at the 4.99 fee since we already have a DVR and HD?

[paulman182]

So by us having a Premier account then we would only be looking at the 4.99 fee since we already have a DVR and HD?

You are correct.

[nevea2be]

That's great. Thanks :)

[evan_s]

Buying VS leasing a receiver has 0 effect on your monthly bill no matter what the situation. The only thing an actual owned receiver should buy you is no contract extension.

[ajc68]

Buying VS leasing a receiver has 0 effect on your monthly bill no matter what the situation. The only thing an actual owned receiver should buy you is no contract extension.

So the million dollar question is... Is it cheaper to drop $600-700 on an owned DVR that doesn't extend your commitment and isn't under warranty if something goes wrong, or just pay the early termination fee if for some reason you leave before your contract is up?

[BattleZone]

So the million dollar question is... Is it cheaper to drop $600-700 on an owned DVR that doesn't extend your commitment and isn't under warranty if something goes wrong, or just pay the early termination fee if for some reason you leave before your contract is up?

The ETF is $480 the first month, and drops by $20 each month. If you pay the normal, full $200 lease fee, your total equipment + ETF is $680 if you cancel the first month, $560 if you cancel after 6 months, $440 after a year, and $200 anytime after 2 years.

To answer the question, you have to figure out how long you intend to keep the service and how important it is to you to own the receiver (which is useless without service).