Dish for 'out of market' questions..

[JerseyMatt]

I recently moved from NJ to the midwest, and one glaring realization I had was that I would no longer be able to get my Devils games. What I want to do is buy the equipment (Vip722k) and activate an account using my dad's address in NJ. I had spoken to several CSRs at Dish and they assured me I could get MSG and MSG+ at my new address if I pay for the sports pack, but I'm pretty sure the Devils games would be blacked out going that route, right?

As far as I have read, the NY market local channels are not spot beamed, so I should get them, including the regional sports nets, right?

I know there has to be a phone connection for certain features. I do not have a landline, but I do have broadband.. Do they location check the IP your receiver calls in from? Would I be OK hooking that up or should I just leave it out and not use those features?

What type of dish should I get? I used to work for a DirecTV installer about 10 years ago, but I know a lot has changed since then, and I know there's 2/3/4 orbit setups now. What would I need just for a basic setup with HD, NYC locals, and maybe a premium? No international or any of other goofy crap.

Since I will own my equipment, will I need to sign a contract? If I don't, are there still new customer promos to be had? Can I sign a year to get the 24.99 or 29.99 packs instead of having to agree to pay an extra year at full price? I would have no problem having the dish active only during hockey season if it came down to it.

OR, would it be possible just to get Center Ice without any other programming? This might be a cheaper way to go (since I already have cable but they don't offer Center Ice), and it should also get me the HD feeds (since Dish is still fighting with MSG over HD, but it is supposed to be included in Center Ice).

i think that's all my questions for now.. Depending on the answers I get, I may have more..

thanks!

 

[Doc6666]

Doing it with the purchased receiver you would have to pay a sat access fee per month. You can get the locals with that for 9.99 or so. The big drawback to getting Center Ice is that the number of HD games is very limited. Just a guess on how many are in HD would be maybe 33%.

 

[JerseyMatt]

What do you mean 'sat access fee'? Wouldn't the package I pay for cover my 'access fees'? Is that basically them screwing you into paying a lease fee on a receiver you own? Or do you mean a fee for not having a package, just Center Ice?

And I know MSG/MSG+ provide an HD feed for Center Ice (but Dish can't offer it in open package, it can only be watched on CI), so it should be available, no? I'd only be getting it specifically for the Devils games, which would be on MSG. Anything else that I happen to watch is bonus.

 

[Doc6666]

What do you mean 'sat access fee'? Wouldn't the package I pay for cover my 'access fees'? Is that basically them screwing you into paying a lease fee on a receiver you own? Or do you mean a fee for not having a package, just Center Ice?

And I know MSG/MSG+ provide an HD feed for Center Ice (but Dish can't offer it in open package, it can only be watched on CI), so it should be available, no? I'd only be getting it specifically for the Devils games, which would be on MSG. Anything else that I happen to watch is bonus.

You need a monthly minimum package or you get stuck with the sat access fee.

For the HD games on Center Ice, there were nights that had 6 or 7 games and only 1 or 2 were in HD. And if I remember right the games on Versus weren't available on Center Ice those nights either.

 

[JerseyMatt]

Hmm.. Good to know.. Anyone have input on my other questions?

 

[JerseyMatt]

Anyone? Which dish should I get?

 

[JerseyMatt]

Ummm hello? 300 views and no one can help me?

 

[whatchel1]

2 things

Ummm hello? 300 views and no one can help me?

We have no real idea where you live so we have no way of knowing what dish you need. BTW the NYC locals are on spotbeams so you will not get them any where W of say 200 miles away from it (300 at the most with a larger than normal dish like a -9 meter). The SD's maybe be conus off either 110 or 119 but not the HD. The access fee is the same one that leased units pay. It has to do with the fact you are only subbing to a very small package. Depending on where you live it would mean that you would either be Eastern or Western Arc. We have to know the area you are in to find which dish.

 

[JerseyMatt]

I'm about as close to the geographic center of the US as you can get without trespassing. Somewhere in central Kansas. The NYC locals aren't my main concern, if they're SD, so be it. It wouldn't be a dealbreaker, it would just be nice to keep tabs on what's going on back home in the news.. I can pick up my local locals OTA. The only reason I'm doing this is for the Devils games.

Which way I do it depends on what works out cheaper for me. If I can get some kind of deal that works out cheaper than what Cox is charging me without a contract or a 1 year contract, I have no problem dropping Cox and just going with Dish. I just don't particularly care for the idea of this "you have to sign up for 2 years but we only give you the special price for 1 year" bulls#!t.

How much is this 'access fee'?

From what I understand on the OTA locals, as long as I have the OTA module in the receiver the OTA channels get integrated right in the channel guide? There's no switching inputs or any of that other wonky stuff we used to have to do anymore? And it'll pick up any ATSC broadcast the antenna grabs, including the .1/.2/etc channels, right?

 

[SaltiDawg]

....
From what I understand on the OTA locals, as long as I have the OTA module in the receiver the OTA channels get integrated right in the channel guide?

The Guide info is available only if you subscribe to your locals. If you do not subscribe to your locals, all OTA channels show "Digital Service" as the guide info. If you receive other OTA stations other then the ones you also receive by satellite, the guide info for those additional channels also is shown.

In the hypothetical case where you are receiving locals via sat from NYC while actually in Kansas I really am not sure what will happen as far as guide info when you scan and add the channels local to you in Kansas.