Its been a long 4 years since I was with DirecTV . I am now having Comcast HD trial package for 6 months at very decent cost ...more channels than I really need but with only about 20 or so non premium HD channels . I am thinking of switching back to D* . I do have some questions though:

I am thinking of a 2 room installation with HD in the main viewing area and non HD in the other.

a) I have a HR 20 receiver . Do I still have to pay for the up front cost of $199 or just the fees for DVR activation.
b) Is the 5LNB dish necessary or a 3 LNB is all I need if I use my own UHF antenna for local HD broadcast ? What does the 5LNB Sat dish do besides getting local HD transmission ?
c) The house is prewired by the builder with 2 incoming cables from the desired Sat dish location to the whole house cable/tel/cat5 etc distribution panel. Am I correct in assuming that the installer will have to pull additional cables from the Sat Dish to the distribution panel and has to pull one additional cable to the main viewing area for HD?
d) I guess the older Sat receivers that I have like the DTC -100 is no good anymore for Sat reception except to be used as OTA tuner .

Tks

Its been a long 4 years since I was with DirecTV . I am now having Comcast HD trial package for 6 months at very decent cost ...more channels than I really need but with only about 20 or so non premium HD channels . I am thinking of switching back to D* . I do have some questions though:

I will take a stab at it:

I am thinking of a 2 room installation with HD in the main viewing area and non HD in the other.

a) I have a HR 20 receiver . Do I still have to pay for the up front cost of $199 or just the fees for DVR activation.

Activation fee only but the HR20 could be come a "lease" on reactivation and if you leave again, D* could ask you for it back.

b) Is the 5LNB dish necessary or a 3 LNB is all I need if I use my own UHF antenna for local HD broadcast ? What does the 5LNB Sat dish do besides getting local HD transmission ?

If you don't care about your HD locals and all of the new HD channels then a 3 LNB works. If you do care about HD locals and the new HD channels, then yes, you WILL need the new 5 LNB but it sounds like D* is installing those for free when you sign up. You can also buy the dish from a 3rd party for $99 dollars to get the Ka HD channels working correctly, you need an external signal meter. The on board meter isn't good enough for the MPEG4 HD channels.

c) The house is prewired by the builder with 2 incoming cables from the desired Sat dish location to the whole house cable/tel/cat5 etc distribution panel. Am I correct in assuming that the installer will have to pull additional cables from the Sat Dish to the distribution panel and has to pull one additional cable to the main viewing area for HD?

If you want 2 rooms and one will be a HR20, you will need more cable run. The 5 LNB dish has 4 taps so it can handle 4 runs. If you need more than 4 runs, then you will need 4 from the dish to a KuKa multiswitch and then as many as you need to your equipment. Again, it appears D* is installing all of that for free. Just tell the CSR when you order the number of taps you need and if it is over 4, you will need the KuKa multiswitch. The older style doesn't work with the Ka band HD channels.

d) I guess the older Sat receivers that I have like the DTC -100 is no good anymore for Sat reception except to be used as OTA tuner .

Tks

It is good only from the Ku channels, none of the HD locals nor the new MPEG4 HD channels, only the older MPEG2 HD channels.

1) You shouldn't have to pay any up front fees to sub it, depending on how you acquired it, it may be treated as a leased receiver. Basically to own it outright you needed to purchase it for $750.

2) The 5 LNB dish is required to receive broadcasts from the new sats which include HD locals, HD RSN and all the new HD national channels.

3) Depends on how many tuners you are feeding, the HR20 requires two feeds, are you planning on a second DVR or a non DVR tuner for the other room?

4) It's only good to pick up the original MPEG2 based HD channels and all of the SD channels plus OTA.

This receiver is an engrg sample with new access card . They have never been activated . Does that mean that if I cancel D* , I have to surrender the HR 20 rcvr?