Sony Direct TV Plus Digital Satellite Receiver SAT-B55

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dsmith0429

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Sep 12, 2013
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Lake Placid, FL
Can this receiver still be activated? Sony Direct TV Plus Digital Satellite Receiver SAT-B55. If not, will it still be able to display the demo/info channels? Or can I still use the signal meter for setting up dishes? THANKS!
 
Can this receiver still be activated? Sony Direct TV Plus Digital Satellite Receiver SAT-B55. If not, will it still be able to display the demo/info channels? Or can I still use the signal meter for setting up dishes? THANKS!
Wow,
I'll take a guess and say, No it can't be activated any longer ... its about 20 years old.
Its mpeg 2 so you wouldn't get anything in mpeg 4 which is most of whats being used currently.
However, you may be able to use it for set up IF, the system lets you into the menus.
Now keep in mind, it is gonna see the 101 Only, if you can get that far.

It would be fun to play with to see just what you can do with it..

IIRC, its SD only. 99% accurate about the SD only, I'm thinking this recvr was around say 1998 maybe ...

You more than likely Can use it for an OTA tuner ...
 
That receiver has reached doorstop usefulness, I'd e-recycle it and move on, as Jimbo mentioned it is quite long in the tooth and no longer supported.
 
NO-Dated 1996 - By 2000 it was it was done guide change killed it - it can NOT be Activated.
 
NO-Dated 1996 - By 2000 it was it was done guide change killed it - it can NOT be Activated.
I knew it had Guide issues being mpeg2 only and was low on power available.
You'd also have to have the older style LNB Just to play with one I believe.

I have an H10 and an H20 in the closet, I probably should pitch some day.
 
I knew it had Guide issues being mpeg2 only and was low on power available.
You'd also have to have the older style LNB Just to play with one I believe.

I have an H10 and an H20 in the closet, I probably should pitch some day.

Way-Back in 1996 -AT&T bought 2% of Hughes (D*TV) as an employee of AT&T - We were given a Employee Discount package -2-Sony SATB55's 18"dish & 2 port LNB-

I replace them in 2003 with 2- RCA models as they were done.

I just retired a H20-100 (activated 2006) in may of 2017 - replaced it with a C61K -LOL!
 
Way-Back in 1996 -AT&T bought 2% of Hughes (D*TV) as an employee of AT&T - We were given a Employee Discount package -2-Sony SATB55's 18"dish & 2 port LNB-

I replace them in 2003 with 2- RCA models as they were done.

I just retired a H20-100 (activated 2006) in may of 2017 - replaced it with a C61K -LOL!
I didn't know we got a discount that far back ....
I went thru the RCA 222 and the next RCA version, a friend had the Hughes at the time back then .... another had the Sony version, each with different gui's, which people liked having at the time.

I also had as mentioned the HR10 and HR20 and a Sony HD100, then the HR24, HR44 ....

I too started with the very basic single LNB 18" then the dual, then added the Sat C for the first HD and on up ...

Way back in 2008 when att got involved with D* (they did the DISH thing for awhile before 2008) we as employees were suppose to get a $10 discount for being employees, I tried multiple times and was never able to get anything ... they always said you had to have an ATT cell phone (that was the bundle discount) I said it was an EMPLOYEE Discount, not a Bundle discount.
They could never get it figured out. :(
 
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I went HD in 2006 with a A-9 Dish with a 5LNB and I didn't get a HDDVR ( (2)HR-22-100) 2009 -2010 I changed out the A-9 for a Slimline with 5 LNB (still 4 lines down) 2017 Changed out to SWM 3 RB LNB with one line down -removed my swm16 used a 2 way swm to (2) 8 ways -for all my tuners -

MY 22's are still good as new But they are in bedrooms (not used much) Still have series links and record ahead 2 wks on a couple of channels -let them record and watch them over WH on my faster genie -so i'm not really plagued by any slowness :) prone to those models

in 1982 I had USSB service MS. ride Sat pushed into orbit got rid of that when they folded and didn't get back till 1996
 
I went HD in 2006 with a A-9 Dish with a 5LNB and I didn't get a HDDVR ( (2)HR-22-100) 2009 -2010 I changed out the A-9 for a Slimline with 5 LNB (still 4 lines down) 2017 Changed out to SWM 3 RB LNB with one line down -removed my swm16 used a 2 way swm to (2) 8 ways -for all my tuners -

MY 22's are still good as new But they are in bedrooms (not used much) Still have series links and record ahead 2 wks on a couple of channels -let them record and watch them over WH on my faster genie -so i'm not really plagued by any slowness :) prone to those models

in 1982 I had USSB service MS. ride Sat pushed into orbit got rid of that when they folded and didn't get back till 1996
USSB, you mean 1992 or was it around that far back ?

I had the C-Band stuff with a Chapperall recvr and whatnot before the D* and DISH came around ... loved watching the Live feeds.
That was probably from around maybe 1985-1995, in that area, I used Turner for my C-Band sub.
A whole year for $600 bucks, who'da thunk !

That price also included the Sunday Ticket when it came out (I've had ST one way or the other since its inception ...)
ST first bill I had was the whole year for $79 ....
I thought it was highway robbery when it went up to $99 !

Some of my memory is forgotten, but I thought that Sunday Ticket was available on C-Band 1st and then Directv .... wiki seems to say otherwise, maybe I had my C-Band a little latter than I thought....
I thought I had ST before D* was around, but maybe thats not accurate.

Info:
Apparently, I did have ther C-Band longer than thought, looks like ST started a few months after D* started broadcasting ... it was available on C-Band as well as D*.


NFL Sunday Ticket - Wikipedia
 
USSB, you mean 1992 or was it around that far back ?

I had the C-Band stuff with a Chapperall recvr and whatnot before the D* and DISH came around ... loved watching the Live feeds.
That was probably from around maybe 1985-1995, in that area, I used Turner for my C-Band sub.
A whole year for $600 bucks, who'da thunk !

That price also included the Sunday Ticket when it came out (I've had ST one way or the other since its inception ...)
ST first bill I had was the whole year for $79 ....
I thought it was highway robbery when it went up to $99 !

Some of my memory is forgotten, but I thought that Sunday Ticket was available on C-Band 1st and then Directv .... wiki seems to say otherwise, maybe I had my C-Band a little latter than I thought....
I thought I had ST before D* was around, but maybe thats not accurate.

Here you Go-

United States Satellite Broadcasting - Wikipedia

I got it in 1981 and they went bust in 1983 and the dish reverted back to the users in a court bankruptcy court - when they restarted I sold my dish and moved to a new house
 
Can this receiver still be activated? Sony Direct TV Plus Digital Satellite Receiver SAT-B55. If not, will it still be able to display the demo/info channels? Or can I still use the signal meter for setting up dishes? THANKS!

Thanks for the trip down memory lane :)
 
Here you Go-

United States Satellite Broadcasting - Wikipedia

I got it in 1981 and they went bust in 1983 and the dish reverted back to the users in a court bankruptcy court - when they restarted I sold my dish and moved to a new house

Ahh yes! When you had to get billed for your movie channels from USSB.

anyone remember Pegasus and the NRTC?

Oh how screwed up Directv once was.
 
I got the old Sony receiver FREE, so why not play around with it... And I came up with another idea for it, I'm going to gut it, and put the parts from a cheap unbranded FTA receiver inside. Just have to do some crazy rewiring or make a new backplate so I can use the RCA jacks, RF terminals, and transplant the IR for the remote. Why do you ask? Well, I have a complete Sony Home theatre system I bought 20 years ago, that the old receiver matches, so basically I'll have the looks, but with a new FTA receiver hidden inside... and I'm using an old 27" CRT Sony TV that was originally part of my original Home Theatre purchase as well, so going completely nostalgic for this project. I'll post pictures when I'm done with it.
 
I got the old Sony receiver FREE, so why not play around with it... And I came up with another idea for it, I'm going to gut it, and put the parts from a cheap unbranded FTA receiver inside. Just have to do some crazy rewiring or make a new backplate so I can use the RCA jacks, RF terminals, and transplant the IR for the remote. Why do you ask? Well, I have a complete Sony Home theatre system I bought 20 years ago, that the old receiver matches, so basically I'll have the looks, but with a new FTA receiver hidden inside... and I'm using an old 27" CRT Sony TV that was originally part of my original Home Theatre purchase as well, so going completely nostalgic for this project. I'll post pictures when I'm done with it.
I see you have nothing but TIME on your hands !
 
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