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View Full Version : Can you rent a dish for a day or something



SoCalDukeFan
11-28-2010, 11:28 PM
Fortunately I have a year or two to figure this out.

My wife has two sisters, one a big sports fan, one not so much. By longstanding tradition they have a party on New Year's Day and the Rose Bowl game is usually watched by some.

Well the one sister and her husband somehow survive with just over the air TV. My understanding is that starting in 2012 the Rose Bowl goes to ESPN. If we have the party at her house, how do we watch it? Can you rent and hook up Direct TV for a day?

Thanks
SoCal

Pacer
11-29-2010, 11:15 AM
If you have a DIRECTV dish lying around (I do)... or buy one... you can set it up anywhere on a tripod if you are tech savvy (You'll probably want an older one in that the newer it is, the harder it will be to get right, but not so old as to not get HDTV)... if you have a Directv box on your account, you can unhook it and take it with you. Plug it in to that Dish you set up and it should work... If you get a problem at any point wanting you to dial in, just unplug it and allow it to reset.

Highlander
11-29-2010, 11:49 AM
If you have a DIRECTV dish lying around (I do)... or buy one... you can set it up anywhere on a tripod if you are tech savvy (You'll probably want an older one in that the newer it is, the harder it will be to get right, but not so old as to not get HDTV)... if you have a Directv box on your account, you can unhook it and take it with you. Plug it in to that Dish you set up and it should work... If you get a problem at any point wanting you to dial in, just unplug it and allow it to reset.

I'd invest in a slingbox and connect it to your TV at home. As long as you have high speed internet connections in both places, you're set, and you're only out around $100.

Pacer
11-29-2010, 12:17 PM
I'd invest in a slingbox and connect it to your TV at home. As long as you have high speed internet connections in both places, you're set, and you're only out around $100.

Yes, that's a better option.. and you aren't really "out $100" because the slingbox is useful going forward, which has value as opposed to an extra dish.

4decadedukie
12-04-2010, 08:13 AM
Many current ESPN football games are simultaneously carried on ESPN-3/360 (and I would wager the Rise Bowl would be), if viewing on the computer screen is satisfactory.

ivduke
12-07-2010, 08:25 AM
I'd invest in a slingbox and connect it to your TV at home. As long as you have high speed internet connections in both places, you're set, and you're only out around $100.

What are the chances of them having high speed internet if they only have over the air TV? It would seem unlikely, although not impossible.....

SuperTurkey
12-07-2010, 09:05 AM
What are the chances of them having high speed internet if they only have over the air TV? It would seem unlikely, although not impossible.....

Fortunately, high speed intarwebs are only a cellular data card + laptop away. Whether that will be sufficient to stream sporting events at a reasonable framerate is another matter.

alteran
12-07-2010, 11:17 AM
What are the chances of them having high speed internet if they only have over the air TV? It would seem unlikely, although not impossible.....

Not as remote as you might think. It's not just Luddites that use OTA, some of us tech-saavy folks are just tired of the ever-increasing TimeWarner / Comcast tax. I still have high-speed internet, though.

I basically figured out that everything I want is either OTA or online, with just a handful of exceptions-- the glaring one being ESPN, of course. I just wasn't willing to pay essentially 70 dollars a month to get it.

ESPN3 seems to be shrinking that glaring hole, though.

SoCalDukeFan
12-07-2010, 07:52 PM
What are the chances of them having high speed internet if they only have over the air TV? It would seem unlikely, although not impossible.....

I will find out about the connection speed.
These are academics, two college profs, who don't watch much TV and get great over the air reception.

SoCal

juise
12-07-2010, 09:09 PM
Not as remote as you might think. It's not just Luddites that use OTA, some of us tech-saavy folks are just tired of the ever-increasing TimeWarner / Comcast tax. I still have high-speed internet, though.

I basically figured out that everything I want is either OTA or online, with just a handful of exceptions-- the glaring one being ESPN, of course. I just wasn't willing to pay essentially 70 dollars a month to get it.

ESPN3 seems to be shrinking that glaring hole, though.

I have lived in my house for five years without having a day of cable thanks to my overpriced Comcast internet connection (I curse them every time I pay a bill). We get beautiful over-the-air HD that is great for NFL and March Madness, but watch everything else via computer-to-TV HDMI connection (ESPN3, Hulu, Slingbox) or wirelessly with Netflix.