What is this for sale in EBAY?

[philhu]

What is this unit?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=61386&item=5777890246&rd=1

It sure looks like a Voom DVR? I asked the guy, he said DSR-550, but it has BUTTONS!

 

[Ilya]

Looks like a regular DSR-550 to me. All VOOM STBs have buttons!

WARNING: The ad does not state whether the box was activated or de-activated, so it may or may not work at all!

 

[bryan27]

I now have 12 functioning DSR-550s. Thank you e-bay my holiday shopping is done.

As Ilya pointed out make sure or confirm with the seller that the STB does indeed function for OTA. I've seen people win new unactivated ones still sealed in their box. To add insult to injury these are going for more than the used ones (of course the used ones are more valuable). I've also seen sellers that say, "I've heard it works for OTA", "I don't know anything about these boxes." Stay away from all those and also stay away from ones that have glitzy pages as these tend to be former VOOM dealers or 2 bit sellers.

The craziest listings I have seen are ones that tell you to call your cable company to activate programming and ones that actually give information on how to subscribe to VOOM and how great the VOOM service is!!!!

If it says some thing like "I used this unit until VOOM went dark and still received locals when I unpluged it" then snatch that sucker.

In other observations the price going for the STBs are going up rather steady. Two weeks ago they were going for $15-$25, last week $35-$45, and this week they are now going for as high as $65. The number of listed STBs available have also been going down the past few weeks.

 

[lilyarbie]

The word is out on the old receivers.........

People are now getting word on the receivers that they have the capability to decode OTA ATSC HD broadcasts. I think prices on these will keep inflating until they reach the $100 mark. I predict they'll reach this point by the end of the summer, but who knows. A jump from 30 something dollars to around 60 is double that figure in only a week's time. In my opinion, I the total value worth of these receivers would be about $125. If they had the ability to display PSIP guide information, then I would say they would be worth $150-$175.

 

[bratboy]

You can probably get your local HDTV channels with this box if you have an antenna

Doesnt sound like the box was being used when Voom went dark so iffy. At least I can look forward to maybe some emegency coin if needed as I have 3 of these that all work with OTA (starts watching Ebay to see when stock low n prices higher hehe)

 

[enoree]

I got 2 ACTIVATED boxes, both work fine for OTA. total investment $1 plus $57 for my 1 month of VOOM before they went dark. I can hang on to them until the price goes up or maybe until E* decides that they would be good for the MPEG-4 upgrade.

 

[rkrenicki]

I can hang on to them until the price goes up or maybe until E* decides that they would be good for the MPEG-4 upgrade.

Dish will never activate a DSR550 on their system, it would be a poor business move for them to do it. why let you use something you have for free, when they can sell (or lease) you a new box and make money?

 

[enoree]

I sold one of my activated boxes last week for $100 so as of now I have made money from being a Voom subscriber, plus I got a $9.15 credit on my last bill(I won't hold my breath waiting for that check).