small satelite dish systems

There's a loaded question ...

DISHES
Generally the smaller dishes do not work here. The spot beams the DBS satellites use are very tightly focused on Puerto Rico and the signal strength drops off rapidly westward into the D.R. You'll need to buy a larger dish. Usually better to buy one here. Cost around $15K-$20K pesos.

RECEIVERS/LNB'S
DSS receivers, and LNB's can be purchased on the island. I have occasionally seen the receivers at La Sirena although not recently. And radio Shack in Santiago does have dual LNB's for sure. It is possible to buy receivers and cards legally on e-Bay and have them shipped here. There are also DSS resellers on the internet, be careful some are run by DSS to catch pirates. You can also easily tuck the receiver, LNB's, cards in your suitcase with you when you come.

SUBSCRIPTIONS
Strictly speaking subscriptions to services such as DSS are not available here. I have been told that Plaza Llama sells the equipment and Banco Poular offered or offers subscriptions to a small number of Spanish language only channles through DSS. You can subscribe using a US address and pay DSS for service and then just install the quipment here without telling them. This will get you most services, but you can not rent movies as you can not generally connect to a telephone line to have your unit call in purchases - they can tell by the area code/prefix the system is not in the U.S. or P.R. and will shut it off. Laws make pirating illegal here but they are not enforced. You would need to have an HU card (buy them off e-Bay legally to be safe with or without a receiver) and then purchase a device called an unlooper/programmer for about $100. Again, be careful, many sites that sell these have been taken over by DSS and they use the lists of people who order stuff there to file lawsuits! Then you have to find a service that supplies scripts for the card, and burn the card every time DSS sends signals through their downlink that destroy your program.

All in all the system will cost you maybe $500-$700 for the dish here, $100 or so for the receiver/card on e-bay, and then either whatever fee you choose to pay DSS in the US for semi-legal service or $100 for a programmer and $25-$50/month to a script writing service (unless you can write your own scripts).

Hope that helps!

DirecTV...

It seems like every bar here has DirecTV... how do they use it? My husband is bringing all of our equipment with him as I assumed we would be able to use it (3 receivers, tivo, dish etc.), did I assume incorrectly? We have 2 dishes.. a standard one that is free in the US and an upgraded one that is much larger (about 4 feet in diameter)... any information on directv would be helpful...

I think the minium dish size is six foot.

I'm no expert, but we do have plenty on DR1 that I'm sure will help you.

It's all above, GirlieGirl. Just read my previous post.

I doubt you'll have any luck with the smaller dish. The upgraded one ... maybe, but it would be highly susceptible to rain and sun fade. I use a six footer for TV.

If you're keeping your account active in the U.S. and paying your bill there in the states you shouldn't have any trouble - but once the HU cards PPV slots/limit is reached ... no more PPV purchases because you can't connect it to a phone line to dial out to DSS.

I am sure a lot of the bars are pirating. But maybe there is a business type service available internationally. Eddie? If you're listening care to enlighten me? If you can without giving away any secrets that is! We have DirecWay internet service for instance. Costs 3x what they charge in the U.S. but it is licensed and legal through Hughes here in the Caribbean.

P.S.
Get ready to get SOCKED for import duties if you take that dish with you. When I moved and brought two or three dishes - not TV they were for weather data networks I needed to connect my computers via satellite - they insisted they were for TV and inflated the purchase price from the real US$100 to US$1000 ... and then tried to apply the 100% tax on TV equipment (at the time it was 0% on computer gear which was why they tried very hard to put it in the other category on me!). That meant a dish that cost me US$100, cost me US$200 to ship and then they wanted another US$1000 in taxes! Be careful!

Leave your little dishes at home. They won't work here and if the customs people see it they will charge you a fortune for them. I once had a company ship me a 36" dish, (I had heard that it worked with another system) Anyway, I paid more than double of the value of the dish in Duty. BTW all that for nothing. At the same time they will nail you for duty on your receivers. If you have paid programming back home, you can continue here by having someone make your payments. The problem is PPV. With direct TV, you need to be connected to a phone line. There is only one way around that. It has been previously mentioned. You may want to look into Echo Star (AKA- DISH ). There are companies that offer activation from the US. If you want cetain PPV events, you call them and they order them for you. So far all posts with advice have been right-on.

German? French? Japanese???

I feel like I am submerged into another foreign language.. HU? PPV? I have no clue what they mean...

We were going to have DirecTV just keep billing our credit card as they normally do and paying that bill (which is sent to our EPS box) and just hook it up here with the big dish that we have (well considered small here!)

So this is not going to work? We were told by our lawyer that the duties would be relatively nothing because he is accquiring his dual citizenship this month and is not shipping the stuff until after it is accquired and we were told that all of those things since they are for personal use will be brought in at a very low duty because he is starting his home here. Is that incorrect?

So what would be the best thing to do and who to contact? Better to leave all at home (a shame... the tivo receiver alone was $300) and buy everything new here? If so what is the cost associated with that? Or should we bring most things and attempt to keep our US service? Sorry for making people repeat... but I am a very untechnical person when it comes to tv's and stuff... it took me an hour in the US at an electronics store to find my husband an rca cable that he sent me out to get, if that tells you anything.

Thanks again.

direct tv

yes what you propose will work very well here
Bring it all with you except the dishes.
actually that depends where you are going to live.
I saw the little dish work perfectly well in Constanza.
Here on the North coast you will need the 6 foot dish.
Buy the better quality american dish.
The better reception is worth the extra money.

Look, I've worked in radio and TV for nearly 30 years. I've installed thousands of dishes.

Doesn't matter if it's Costanza, Puerto Plata, or Bani, the small dishes just don't work. The only advantage to a mountain location would be slightly less water in the air to attenuate (absorb) the signal than in seaside locations. You need the SIX FOOT DISH. American, Dominican, Haitain, a reflector is a reflector there is no quality difference other than the amount of reflective area involved. The more the better the signal.

As to residency, aduana, etc. Go to the legal forum and post a query to resident DR1 legal guru Fabio Guzman. I have no idea. But knowing and seeing how things work down here even if you're entitled not to pay taxes you will be charged for them because I assume you look, talk, and act like Gringos. Get used to it. You WILL get socked big time for that dish if they find it and it WILL BE USELESS.

My advice would be leave the dishes at home. Buy something here. You still will have an issue with buying movies. You will NOT be able to purchase with the remote though you may be able to do so via internet or telephone. You will NOT be able to buy sports packages which require a constant telephone connection like NFL Sunday Ticket. DTV and the NFL use your phone number to verify that you are not using the device to view a game in a blacked out area.

Tom

Paul, the small dish you saw was not Direct Tv it was Direct TV latino.

Gotcha

well my husband does not look or act like a gringo... he is dominican... lived here most of his life... was just born in the US... anyway.... so I will bring the receivers and everything... scrap the dishes and buy new once we are here. We are really not worried about the pay per view... we never watch those anyway... he might be a little disturbed about the delahoya fight in september, but we can watch it out. It is the receivers I was mainly worried about because they were pricey. Now, where here do I get a dish and how much do they run?

Thanks again..

Satellite Dictionary (Abridged) for the Technically Challenged

DTV:
DirecTV

DSS/DBS:
Interchangeable with DTV but actually refers to a Direct
Broadcast Satellite or Direct Satellite System

PPV:
Pay Per View. Events you purchase individually with youre remote above and beyond your normal monthly subscription such as movies, sporting events, concerts, etc. Now can be purchased via internet or phone.

HU Card:
The little blue plastic card in the receiver that contains the program that unlocks that satellite signal and lets you see TV. And that lets DTV shut off your TV if you don't pay.

P4 CARD:
The card after the HU. Not widely used yet.

H CARD:
The card before the HU card. Not many left in service.

LNB:
The little grey thingy that sits on the arm in the center of your dish and with cable connecters that go to the "satellite in" on your receiver.

DUAL LNB:
Just like above but with connectors for two cables so you can connect two receivers simultaneously and watch programs in two rooms on two different channels at the same time.

PIRATE:
Someone who steals service by writing his own programs on the H/HU/P4 card that opens access to all channels on his TV. Sometimes called a TEST card.

YAY!

Xandu,

You should write books and stuff... so that is what LNB means... I think I got a wrong cable last time I went shopping then... LMAO!

is it worthwhile to bring the dual LNB?

Is it worth while to bring the dual LNB when coming to DR? The dish would be so obvious, but if we are shipping a household worth of stuff on intital residency setting up the home, will they really know what it is? Can it be incorporated into a local 6' or larger dish and save any $?

We are in a similar situation. 4 receivers one of which is a Tivo unit.

GG, as before, all responses are right on the money. But in addtion, you could purchase a "fixed card" here so that you may at any time watch the events and regular PPV although it could be pricey to buy it and pricey to maintain the service of having it fixed everytime DTV sends the signal to erase these type of cards. But hey, it's worth it.

wtf2001, regarding the dual LNB, I'm pretty sure you can bring it down and have it adapted.

Regading Tivo, it will NOT work, I've not tried it myself, but I've heard that because Tivo also uses the phone line to download information, your phone bills will skyrocket, not worth it. Instead you can purchase an Ultimate Tv once you arrive, which is basically the same as tivo but made by microsoft. It has been discontinued in the US but you can have it serviced here. Or buy one thru ebay. I've had mine for 6 months already, and it's the best money I've spent. Well that and my card programmer.

My Tivo isnt connected to a phone

Thanks for the heads up on Tivo. Is there any reason other than phone connectivity that precludes Tivo working? Mine is built into the direct TV receiver and I haven't had any challenges other than an annoying message on screen when I power it up saying I havent called in in 9 months. Everything else updates through the satellite info.

I will contact a friend of mine and get a response for you or I'll have him post an answer for you, regarding your tivo. Please give me the rest of the day for this as he is hard to get and I won't be in town through out the day.

If you have a Sunday Ticket account in good standing, DTV does not check if your phone line is hooked up (they say they do, but don't seem to check). To test this I've had my phone line disconnected for the past season, and nothing ever happened. If you use "test cards", one way to keep them safe is to use them ONLY when you are watching something in particular. When finished, remove, and insert the legal card. Do they really charge $DR 20,000 for a dish?

Mike