My brother wants to switch from cable to satellite, likely DirecTV, and he lives in a condo and have two questions.
1. Where can I find the best information on the rules for this? I know there are certain rules that protect when a person wants to install a satellite dish in an area such as this or an apartment.
2. His condo originally had a porch which was enclosed with glass into a sun room. Inside that room would be a great place to install it but will a satellite dish receive through a window.

As long as the window has full view of the satellites and there is no lead in the windows, yes.

As long as the window has full view of the satellites and there is no lead in the windows, yes.

I am bumping this because I am in a similar situation (I know this thread is old)

In the last 4 days, I have gone back and forth and back with 3 condo's (as in, deciding on where to live) and I 100% have decided on a place. I have no porch that faces the back but it doesn't matter as that is to the north.

My front window though does face the South and I was curious if DirecTV could in fact install in the apartment facing out into the sky. Do D* installers do that?

I don't know about your DirectTV installation question but I do wonder about low E glass. It's generally used on south facing(or all) windows and it's purpose is to reflect heat. Heat back in the house in the winter and keep heat outside in the summer. I don't think it's lead but I believe it's some type of very thin metal which is somehow smoked on the glass between the panes of a thermopane window.
You might want to try and check if the window is low E, and if so if that might block the signal.

I researched this topic 7 yrs. ago, but went with Comcast, which we still have today. Now, we would like to change to Directv. (I was just going to post a question about this topic.)

One can change the glass to acrylic, and that will let much more signal through. Of course, window size and angle of refraction are always issues.

My query is regarding our window, it is a double-pane glass window; I will try it first, as is, but if it doesn't work, and I am wondering if the a double-pane of acrylic will work or if being two windows will impair the refraction, regardless?

Also, I wonder if I can change out the windows from the frames, they basically have to be pryed out. (I could pay a window installer to do it, but I'd rather not.)

Lastly, what do I need to test this, without losing more than a few $, if it doesn't work out?

I've replaced most of the glass thermopanes in my house but only with the same type of glass. I'm not even sure if they make acrylic thermopanes?
Mine required digging out the wood filler covering the square nails in each corner on the outside of the window(I located the nails with a small magnet used for finding nails in studs). When I was done I had 4 pieces of wood and the bad pane. I installed the wood around the new thermopane window and used two gold sheetrock screws in place of the square nails in each INSIDE corner. Finally I filled the outer holes with white caulk to match the white paint.
Some windows may come apart easier than mine which are Caradco. Takes about 1hr/window. If you're windows aren't thermopane (sealed air between the two panes of glass) I doubt they would be low E, but then again I'm no window expert.
I hope we don't get in trouble talking about home improvements in this HDTV Technical thread;)

...what do I need to test this, without losing more than a few $, if it doesn't work out?

A number of years ago I wanted to switch from cable to satellite, but knew it was iffy due to many MANY tall trees on the south side of the house, going back two or three streets' worth.

DISH allowed me to order a receiver and dish, and I tried to set it up to test signal strength. (Did it during the time we had the most foliage, so's to have the worst possible conditions.)

Eventually had to pay for an installer to come by, because I couldn't get anything on the box.

He got there, took one look, and said "Are you kidding? Not in THIS neighborhood."

Because I'd done it all within a certain "grace period", DISH allowed me to return the equipment and did a refund.

I'm not sure where the DirecTV satellites are compared to DISH's, but if they're in the same general part of the sky, you might be able to do what I did. (Maybe even with DirecTV, but if not with DISH, just to test.)

You could also just pay for an installer to come by and do a site survey like I did, but then you'd have to pay for that...like I did.

Thing is, my results were RIGHT, even without calling the guy, so you might be able to find out on your own with just the receiver and dish.

If you need to find out the pointing angles for the satellites you need to see and maximum obstruction heights from your possible dish location you may want to check out http://www.dishpointer.com/. I found it very helpful in deciding where to locate my DirectV 5 LNB dish a year ago.

You could also just pay for an installer to come by and do a site survey like I did, but then you'd have to pay for that...like I did.


How would one set this up?

I am extremely doubtful that I will be able to get DirecTV but I do think there is a chance

So, this is probably a silly question, but I might as well ask.
I get very good V/UHF OTA reception from an indoor dipole/loop antenna in the basement of my house (the antenna is on a high shelf, near ground level). Is it possible for a dish get decent reception indoors - e.g. inside an attic? My wife and I are thinking about changing TV providers (currently on cable), but for aesthetic reasons, we don't want a dish installed on the exterior of our house nor sitting out in our yard.

I do have a gable vent on the South side of the house, so it's possible I could put the dish right next to that, if it'd help. The vent louvers are just vinyl siding material... thin and non-metallic.

Update -- after doing some searching, I've seen a few folks that have had success with an attic install. The key was that they had an attic window, which they were able to re-glaze with polycarbonate or acrylic. This makes me hopeful that I might have similar luck with my gable vent -- the only thing is it's got louvers over it (versus a smooth pane), and those louvers are vinyl (versus PC or PMMA). I wish there were a way to try it out and see what kind of signal strength I get.