D* HDTV
I went on the net and looked around, and found a place selling a 3-room system for $370. This included a Hughes E86 HD receiver and two SD Hughes receivers. A 3 LNB dish and installation was included at this price. Since we have two HD monitors, I looked around and found an open box E86 at BB for $359, and bought it too. We are more than happy with the job the installer did, and overall quite happy with the picture quality on the non-HD channels as well as the obvious jaw-dropping pq on the HD ones. Most all of the places on the net offer the same deal, up to 4 rooms or so for about $370. They usually require a year subscription agreement to D* and require that all of the receivers you got as part of the package be activated. If you get any other receivers on your own, they must not be activated as the primary receiver, or you may face a penalty too. But, that was no big deal, I just listed the three receivers I got in the package first and then my own last on the list. The only thing to look for is that the 'professional installation' that is part of the purchase price is limited as to what is included. My installer told me they allow for 100' of RG6, the grounding block, etc., but do not cover costs for wall plates, fishing wires, and the like. I also did pay to have the dish mounted on a pole at the back of our yard just to make sure it had a perfect look at the sky, but it would have likely been fine on the end of the house. It was only $75 for the parts and labor to do the pole installation. He still was pretty darn nice and ran two dual-line feeds from the dish to the house, well over the 100' max yet did not charge me a penny for it, knowing that I was going to do the inside wiring and receiver installation myself as soon as he was done. I did also bury the wire run in the yard myself, and saved $65/hr for them to do it. I gave him an extra $10 too since he was a great kid and did a decent job for me (would have been $20 but the wife did not give me my allowance, lol). I am happy to make the change from nasty digital cable that cost nearly the same amount as satellite!
