Getting satellite TV, anyone got any tips or suggestions?

[Valkyrie-Favor]

How about this: pay me whatever you are paying your TV provider, and I will download every show you desire, copy them to a USB drive, and mail them to you weekly.

That's not a bad solution at all.

[gtmtnbiker]

I recently built an HTPC that has the Ceton InfiniTV (4 tuners) cable card to record my shows. I use a combination of Windows Media Center & VLC to play my media. It works for the most part but there are definitely bugs with WMC/Ceton. I was going to do the next step of getting rid of my other DVR that we rent from Verizon by streaming via the xbox 360 but I don't think the technology is simple/robust enough for my wife to deal with it.

One option you might want to consider is buying a DirectTV receiver that has TIVO built in along with the life time subscription. A quick google seems to show that this is no longer available. Bummer.

[fastbilly1]

As a sometimes user of Hughesnet, I feel for you and highly suggest using Zings generous offer. When I used it for an extended period of time, I had a friend let me use their house and cable modem as a point to download and used VNC to remote into that computer to setup new downloads. Once a week we would usually have dinner so I would come over and grab the files and it all worked out really well.

[BoringSupreez]

One option you might want to consider is buying a DirectTV receiver that has TIVO built in along with the life time subscription. A quick google seems to show that this is no longer available. Bummer.

Would a DirecTV receiver even work with Dish Network? I see them all the time on Ebay.

As a sometimes user of Hughesnet, I feel for you and highly suggest using Zings generous offer. When I used it for an extended period of time, I had a friend let me use their house and cable modem as a point to download and used VNC to remote into that computer to setup new downloads. Once a week we would usually have dinner so I would come over and grab the files and it all worked out really well.

I'm locked into a 2-year contract with Dish, and I can't afford two bills that size. According to what I've read online, the only way to end the contract prematurely without big fees is to be deployed in the military or die.

[Cronozilla]

Actually, if you sign up with DirecTV they'll pay your cancellation fee. Not that I'm really suggesting that.

And, no, you can't generally use DirecTV hardware with DishNetwork signals ... how will it decode it? They have rotating encryption codes. (Among other problems, like proprietary systems junk)