Switching access cards on receivers

This may be a stupid question, but when I got my Tivo, a free
installation of my old receiver was done into another room.

Prior to installing Tivo, I had 2 recievers in the house installed in
two locations, so now I have 3. Since the third is in a guest bedroom, I
opted not to have the receiver in there activated, since it was an extra
$5 a month.

I suggested to the DirecTV customer service that an easy solution would
just be to pull the card from the activated second unit (not regularly
used either), and put into the guest bedroom one when guests stayed over.

She said this would screw up the service and cause all kinds of problems.
The second unit is a late model Hughes, and the third is my older, but
superior, Sony. I'm assuming the access cards are constructed
identically.

Was I getting the straight scoop from her?

TIA

"Kurt" wrote in message
...
This may be a stupid question, but when I got my Tivo, a free
installation of my old receiver was done into another room.

Prior to installing Tivo, I had 2 recievers in the house installed in
two locations, so now I have 3. Since the third is in a guest bedroom, I
opted not to have the receiver in there activated, since it was an extra
$5 a month.

I suggested to the DirecTV customer service that an easy solution would
just be to pull the card from the activated second unit (not regularly
used either), and put into the guest bedroom one when guests stayed over.

She said this would screw up the service and cause all kinds of problems.
The second unit is a late model Hughes, and the third is my older, but
superior, Sony. I'm assuming the access cards are constructed
identically.

Was I getting the straight scoop from her?

TIA

It depends... Not all access cards are compatible with all receivers.. Also,
it's typically not their policy to transfer access cards between receivers..
Once activated they are "married" to their receiver.

In article ,
"maharg18" wrote:

"Kurt" wrote in message
...
This may be a stupid question, but when I got my Tivo, a free
installation of my old receiver was done into another room.

Prior to installing Tivo, I had 2 recievers in the house installed in
two locations, so now I have 3. Since the third is in a guest bedroom, I
opted not to have the receiver in there activated, since it was an extra
$5 a month.

I suggested to the DirecTV customer service that an easy solution would
just be to pull the card from the activated second unit (not regularly
used either), and put into the guest bedroom one when guests stayed over.

She said this would screw up the service and cause all kinds of problems.
The second unit is a late model Hughes, and the third is my older, but
superior, Sony. I'm assuming the access cards are constructed
identically.

Was I getting the straight scoop from her?

TIA

It depends... Not all access cards are compatible with all receivers.. Also,
it's typically not their policy to transfer access cards between receivers..
Once activated they are "married" to their receiver.

I know it's not their policy- they would love me to pay another $5 a
month, just wondering if I can do this without problems on my end.

What"s the worse that could happen if I did this?

Thanks!

"Kurt" wrote in message


I know it's not their policy- they would love me to pay
another $5 a
month, just wondering if I can do this without problems
on my end.

What"s the worse that could happen if I did this?

Nothing will get messed up, but it won't work either. The cards and
receivers are married, and thus won't work with other units that aren't
their "partner".

Kurt wrote:
I suggested to the DirecTV customer service that an easy solution would
just be to pull the card from the activated second unit (not regularly
used either), and put into the guest bedroom one when guests stayed over.

Wouldn't it be just as easy to move the receiver? If guests stay over
often enough that this becomes a problem, you could activate the receiver
as you need. I have one receiver that has been activated and deactivated a
couple of times. I haven't paid any fee, or been told there are any
restrictions. You can even do it via the web.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

Wouldn't it be just as easy to move the receiver? If guests stay over
often enough that this becomes a problem, you could activate the receiver
as you need. I have one receiver that has been activated and deactivated a
couple of times. I haven't paid any fee, or been told there are any
restrictions. You can even do it via the web.

Or run the RF channel 3 output from the receiver to the guest room. And when
they're visiting put in an IR remote extender (terk makes one) and let them
control the box from their room. So you'll end up with two cables coming into
the receiver's room. One for the dish and the other for the output to the other
box(es). I've pulled mine back to a central location so I can easily re-connect
what's needed in different locations.

Also, there's such a think as a diplexer that will feed an RF (channel 3) signal
and the satellite along one coax cable. You need one on each end. I did this
for the output from the Tivo to a room that has it's own DirecTV receiver. This
way the room can watch what's on the Tivo via channel 3 or watch it's own stuff
off the receiver.

-Bill Kearney

In article ,
wrote:

Kurt wrote:
I suggested to the DirecTV customer service that an easy solution would
just be to pull the card from the activated second unit (not regularly
used either), and put into the guest bedroom one when guests stayed over.

Wouldn't it be just as easy to move the receiver? If guests stay over
often enough that this becomes a problem, you could activate the receiver
as you need. I have one receiver that has been activated and deactivated a
couple of times. I haven't paid any fee, or been told there are any
restrictions. You can even do it via the web.

That's what I've been doing. Thought there might be an easier way

In article ,
"wkearney99" wrote:

Wouldn't it be just as easy to move the receiver? If guests stay over
often enough that this becomes a problem, you could activate the receiver
as you need. I have one receiver that has been activated and deactivated a
couple of times. I haven't paid any fee, or been told there are any
restrictions. You can even do it via the web.

Or run the RF channel 3 output from the receiver to the guest room. And when
they're visiting put in an IR remote extender (terk makes one) and let them
control the box from their room. So you'll end up with two cables coming
into
the receiver's room. One for the dish and the other for the output to the
other
box(es). I've pulled mine back to a central location so I can easily
re-connect
what's needed in different locations.

Also, there's such a think as a diplexer that will feed an RF (channel 3)
signal
and the satellite along one coax cable. You need one on each end. I did
this
for the output from the Tivo to a room that has it's own DirecTV receiver.
This
way the room can watch what's on the Tivo via channel 3 or watch it's own
stuff
off the receiver.

-Bill Kearney

Great input, but far too much work to make this easy.