Sony SAT-HD200 -- difficultly buying in Circuit City/Tweeter

[jg0001]

I tried to buy the Sony SAT-HD200 at a Circuit City near me and (1) they didn't believe me when I said it could be used for OTA only (if desired -- meaning Sat Dish not req'd), (2) they were completely unable to sell it to me without a DirecTV contract (I "could" buy it, but if I didn't activate the sat card within 30 days, they were 'authorized' to charge my credit card $200). Tweeter store said the same thing (in PA).

Now, I found 3 places online ALL of which would sell me the same unit for the same price ($799) without any need to sign up for DirecTV. Unfortunately, none of them had it in stock and only one (Crutchfield) has a good return policy. (their website lists Nov25 as the next date for the HD200)

I called a Circuit City in PA (outside Philly, in Springfield), and they said that it was illegal in PA to bundle in such a way, and the salesman said he could "get around" the screen which requests credit card info for the DirecTV contract. Anyway, I sent my mother (who lives near the store, I'm hours away) to pick it up for me, and it took two visits, but eventually she walked out of the store with the unit and no contract.

Anyone else encounter a problem like this?

(BTW, can anyone tell me the Radio Shack # for the double bowtie antenna I keep hearing about? Their website totally sucks for searching.)

[Fritz]

DirecTV has a stranglehold on receivers sold with DirecTV capability. I am guressing part of the reason is that they don't want people to buy a receiver for the purposes of re-programming the included card, which is what the $150 "fine" is for not activating a new reciever with DirecTV.

I have heard one of the drawbacks of the HD200 is that the APG doesn't work without DirecTV activated, but I'm not certain if that's a big deal or not. IEEE support is also not available in a DirecTV enabled receiver per DirecTV's rules.

If you don't want DirecTV you could save a few bucks by getting a Samsung without DirecTV support... or just get the service. Their programming offerings are far ahead of any cable subscriber.

[rob vazquez]

call dtv and say that your buying the receiver because your using it for ota hd.see what they say.had a friend say the same thing and was able to buy it without the dtv charging cc.

[muncey]

i bought the hd200 the first day it was available. tweeters didn't make me sign an agreement. when i called directv a couple of weeks ago, after i bought the oval 3 lnb dish, directv said i had to sign up for a year contract, i said BS, after talking to the salespersons supervisor and getting the same story i told them to not charge my card for anything and hung up the phone. i went to the website and could find no info about the agreement. i called back 15 minutes later and got the same story again, well they have a special for new subscribers where you get 2 receivers and a dish for $49 if you sign for the agreement so i told the sales guy fine i'll sign the agreement but i want the 2 receivers and dish, he said i was not a new customer because my name was in their computer, once again i said this is BS, he put me on hold for 5 minutes and came back and said they will waive the one year agreement, i said ok then.
i feel sorry for anyone that has to deal with these boneheads.
just get the 2 receiver deal and sell them with the cards, should be able to get something for them.
muncey