I only ask this because someone I know asked me this, and I wasn't sure. His situation is that he finally "cut the cord" and dropped Dish, but was surprised to find that even though his subscription was cancelled, his Dish receiver could still receive a very few channels that are (I assume) in "free preview" status. He asked me if a standard FTA receiver, or an FTA tuner card such as the type used with TVHeadend (made by TBS, etc.) could receive these free channels, since he will need to send his receiver back to Dish in a few days. I'm assuming that if a standard receiver (that has NOT been hacked for piracy purposes) can receive these channels then it is legal to watch them, and I know he's not attempting to do anything illegal, he'd just be interested in occasionally seeing a free preview channel when one is available, if it's possible to do so legally.
My first thought was that an FTA receiver probably could receive them as long as you had one of the older Dish LNB's that feed the signal directly to the receiver, without expecting to go through a switch of some kind, and also assuming you could figure out which satellite has the preview channel. But then I realized that even though the previews are free, they might still be encrypted, and that maybe only real Dish receivers can actually view them. I don't know which is the case, so I thought I'd better ask before I give incorrect information!
I hope I'm not stepping on any toes by asking about this. I see there are a couple of threads on this subject that are very old (probably from the analog era) so I'm hoping for current information. If I had a pizza pan dish hooked up here I'd just try it and see what happens, but I don't so I can't.
My first thought was that an FTA receiver probably could receive them as long as you had one of the older Dish LNB's that feed the signal directly to the receiver, without expecting to go through a switch of some kind, and also assuming you could figure out which satellite has the preview channel. But then I realized that even though the previews are free, they might still be encrypted, and that maybe only real Dish receivers can actually view them. I don't know which is the case, so I thought I'd better ask before I give incorrect information!
I hope I'm not stepping on any toes by asking about this. I see there are a couple of threads on this subject that are very old (probably from the analog era) so I'm hoping for current information. If I had a pizza pan dish hooked up here I'd just try it and see what happens, but I don't so I can't.
Have to admit, a very interesting bunch of people. I like the ones on Satguys and do not like the ones that have their carts sideways in the isles in the grocery store.....
