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I called the company to see if we could get 2 extra receivers so that we can get service in our 2 bedrooms.
They said due to security reasons we would have to pay full service price for each additional receiver. They said we could hardwire from the cable box to the 2 bedrooms, but then we wouldn't be able to watch different channels and this is more cumbersome of a process since we would be drilling holes and running cable outside of the home instead of using the wire already in place.
I was wondering if there are any other options? Are there "generic" receivers I could buy that would work with my dish for this purpose?
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No, there are not.
All signals must first go through the the receiver to be decoded, and then sent to each tv.
A few years ago there were aftermarket illegal receivers that managed to get all of the satellite channels. Security has been stepped up, and they are now totally worthless.
We're in GA. We switched from Direct TV to AT & T U-verse. We have wireless TV receivers, internet, and VOIP telephone all on one plan. The TV receivers are portable. You can set them up anywhere.
Anyway, you would need to get 2 recievers from the sattelite company. Maybe you can threaten to leave for some form of discount/ monthly rental fee. Then you would need to split your original feed from the sattelite to your current reciever.
These 2 new cables would need to go to the 2 new recievers and you are in business.
You could split the current feed from the reciever to the TV into the 2 rooms (mirroring), but then you are getting the same channel in all 3 rooms (probably not what you want).
I would suggest you wait it out until you are out of contract and either switch providers, get cable, or at least renegotiate with your current provider to get installation + 2 recievers.
How is your wiring (Coax) setup right now? How old is it? Do you know if it's RG6?
Do each of the runs from your rooms (living, bedrooms, etc) terminate at a single place (basement, utility room)?
Sounds like you want a Home DVR system. The main DVR sits in your family room (main TV), and then your bed room TVs would be able to watch recorded content from the DVR or watch their own live show. Is this correct?
If so, I'd highly recommend DISH's Hopper system. The Hopper is the DVR and brain. The Joeys are "thin clients" that go in your bedrooms, etc. For it to work without rerunning cables, you need all of your drops to go to a central place. You also need RG6 3GHz going to where the Hopper sits (usually main TV).
Here is a diagram showing you how it works.
It's confusing at first. DirecTV has a similar system now as well (RVU clients)
I chose cable over satellite for just this reason -- satellite companies in my area charge for each connection. Cable doesn't. For me, it's a big deal, as I often do recording for my classes, e.g. a week of prime-time TV programming on each of, say, 8 different stations (and I do this a couple dozen times a year), so I basically need 8 different TVs/recorders. With cable, I could set up a TV in each room in my house (9 rooms not including bathrooms, lol!) plus the basement plus the screened porch plus the garage if I wanted, and it doesn't cost anything extra. I could even split each signal in each room into 2 and have 24 recording sites. (No, I don't actually DO that, but I like that I COULD without being charged a penny extra! )
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