Anyone know a place I can buy some DirectTv access cards for my HD receivers?

I'm having problems with mine and the bastards at DTV want to charge me $70 to send someone out to look at my receivers and tell me my cards are bad. Then they want to charge me $20 for each card and I need 3 cards. Soooooooo... $130!!! I don't think so. I can probably buy 3 new recievers for less.

So anyone know where I can get some access cards??



BREW

 

When you say receivers...are you talking about the receivers you get from DirectTV for your video?


They suck then.

 

Thats what I mean!!!



BREW

 

Only place you can get them is DirecTV or with a new receiver. Except for the pirated ones. Which if you have, DTV will come after you big time.

 

We switched from Dish network to Dtv last Christmas.
Mainly because We wanted to upgrade and add 3 more receivers and DishNetwork wanted $500+.

I have 1, D10-300
2, D11-300
1, D11-500

I started with 4, D11-300

The living room receiver has gone out 3 times
My daughters bedroom receiver has went out once.

The dishNetwork receiver we have was 5 years old when we switched and I have no doubt if I'd switch back and needed it, it would still work today......

IMO Direct TV receivers are crap, and I hate the program guide user interface. The search feature sucks, the program guide layout on the D10-300 and D11-300's are hard to read, program descriptions suck.

They have replaced them all with out problems... I call in to tech support, let them walk me through all the trouble shooting processes that I'd already done. They say Ok we're sending another one out, just package that one back up and send it to us when you get it.

Seems like one time it was even the access card that went bad and they sent a whole new receiver.

 

This is true.

I just switched from Dtv to cable. I have never had cable until now, and to be honest, I kinda like it better. I don't have to deal with Dtv anymore which is nice. And I have cable in EVERY room in the house at no extra charge. And even though I have to rent the box and what not, I get the up to date system at no charge whenever they come out. Not like the HD DVR box that I bought from Dtv that is now outdated. I'm just out the money for that thing. I don't think I will ever go back to a dish...

 

They don't support their own equipement?

WTF?

 

Well did you try ebay for them?Type in p4 or p5 card and you should find some.Also there is no pirated cards, because there is no public hack for them.
Here is a auction

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-4-New-DIR...QQcmdZViewItem


http://cgi.ebay.com/Hughes-Direct-TV...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Well I love my Direct Tv.. I absolutely HATE Communistcast and will never go back to cable as long as they are around. Ughh...don't get me started.

I've never had any major problems with DTV. I ave one card that is acting up right now so I want to replace them all since they are all about the same age. I just don't want to pay a $70 service fee on top of $60 for three cards.

I'm not looking for any illegal / pirated cards either. I just want to replace what I have and was trying to find a place to get them at a good price.

Matt...next time you upgrade get the H20's. It's been a great receiver for me and the guide is easy to use, and fast to.

bbarber,,,thanks for the links.


BREW

 

Brew, what makes you think it is the card? Sometimes the receiver will not recognize that there is a card in the slot. Rebooting, either the red button or unplugging, usually corrects it.

 

I had what looked like a receiver failure on my DishNetwork receiver. After resetting it several times and calling DishNetwork twice, they decided that the unit was bad & scheduled an appointment to come out and look at it. I ended up cancelling the appointment. Someone at work suggested unplugging the receiver for at least 15 minutes, then plug it back in and power it up. ( I left it unplugged for about 1 & 1/2 hours while I mowed the yard). When I turned it back on it worked perfectly. This might not resolve your problem, but it don't cost nothin.

 

If hard shut down and boot doesn't fix it

If you go
menu> settings>set up

At the bottom on the left hand column of options there is a "Reset"

Reset everything is basically like formatting the receiver, you are flashing the circuit.

All your settings including favorites will be lost, you'll have to go back in and customize it back to your liking.

If that don't fix it, then it's is either bad receiver or possibly a bad card.

 

I've reset the one in the living room at least once if not twice every week for the last month. The one in my bedroom has been reset once, maybe twice in the last month and the one in the family room has not been reset ever.

Living room TV is on all the time, bedroom TV is on about an hour to 2 hours a day tops and the family room TV is hardly ever on for TV, it's mainly used for movies on dvd.

It's all pointing to the cards since I've done the reset, unplugged them for a while and rebooted and it works fine for a while. Plus, it looks like the chip on the card has a burn mark in it.

I'll buy some cards off ebay and see if that does the trick. If not, Ill just buy a new receiver for the living room and replace the other 2 as needed. The last thing I need is some dude with dirty boots tramping thru my house, messing with my equipment.


BREW

 

Could be the cards or could be the receivers.
One may be a card and the other the receiver.
Did they not offer to send you another receiver(s) through tech support? The new receivers are new receiver + new card, no worries then both are covered.

One warning about buying from Ebay, especially with the luck you've had on internet purchases in the past. You don't know if there is an outstanding balance on that card. If there is, then you would have to pay the other persons balance before you can activate that card on your receiver..... If the person has ran up $1K bill in PPV ****, then the card is worthless, it's cheaper to buy a new receiver.

 

If you buy cards off ebay you are taking a risk that D-TV may not program them. I can't even switch cards between boxes here in the house. It says that the card doesn't match the box, and will not do anything until I put the right card in the box.