# Can Dish tv be used with out satellite?



## MILLWORKER301 (Apr 8, 2006)

I am concidering buying a Dish Tv from someone that is a model HD34-300. I would like to know if this can be used like a regular tv by just hooking up my incoming cable tv to it like my old tv? I don't have satellite just regular cable. But the price on the tv is very good. I have read some about all kinds of settings on this tv. Am I going to have a problem? THanks ahead for all help.


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## Geronimo (Mar 23, 2002)

It was made to operate with a DISH HD receiver. I do not believe that it has its own tuner but it will accepta number of inputs. I hope that helps.


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## JLucPicard (Apr 27, 2004)

As Geronimo said, it is designed to be used with a Dish Network HD receiver. I don't know all the technical aspects, but it is not an HD TV, it is an HDTV Monitor. My understanding of that is that it does not have a built-in tuner. So any OTA or cable feed may not actually allow you to choose channels. It does have a Cable/Antenna input, but they recommend (of course they do) using the OTA tuner in the satellite receiver.

This may have been a question better asked in the Dish forum rather than in the DirecTv forum.


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## MILLWORKER301 (Apr 8, 2006)

Thanks for all of the great help. The person selling it says that an adapter can be purchased to accept HDMI cable. Do you know what that means too? I am leaning away from getting this. Thanks again.


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## JLucPicard (Apr 27, 2004)

HDMI is another way of connecting the input source to the Monitor. In order from worst connection to best, there is regular coax cable, then the composite cables (yellow, red, white), then S-video, then component cables (blue, green, red), then HDMI or DVI.

If I may ask, what kind of price are you getting on it? Doing a Google search, I've seen prices ranging from about $570 to $1000. Some of the lower prices I think were tied to first-time Dish subscriber deals.

Bottom line, I think to really get any use out of it you would need, at minimum, an HD Tuner box connected to an Over-The-Air antenna, assuming you're close enough to your local broadcast towers to receive the signal clearly. Or maybe subscribe to Dish.

I would definitley explore my options. For whatever money you'd be paying, you may have to take on additional cost to get any use out of it.

And please, if I'm off in what I'm saying, someone correct me. I want to be helpful, not give any bad advice.

Good luck, Millworker301, and by the way, Welcome to DBSTalk! A great place to find information. (And no, I'm not part owner  ).


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## dishjim (Oct 21, 2004)

if you use a cable box as your tuner you should be able to use the tv


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## Zarom (Jun 4, 2005)

MILLWORKER301 said:


> I am concidering buying a Dish Tv from someone that is a model HD34-300. I would like to know if this can be used like a regular tv by just hooking up my incoming cable tv to it like my old tv? I don't have satellite just regular cable. But the price on the tv is very good. I have read some about all kinds of settings on this tv. Am I going to have a problem? THanks ahead for all help.


There's a lot of info about this set on Dish's site as well as elsewhere, start here: http://tech.dishnetwork.com/departmental_content/TechPortal/content/tech/equipment/hd_monitor.shtml

I got mine in a combined purchase with a PVR 921. Compared with the 921, this Monitor is wonderful.

Mike


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## IowaStateFan (Jan 11, 2006)

Zarom said:


> I got mine in a combined purchase with a PVR 921. Compared with the 921, this Monitor is wonderful.
> 
> Mike


I got the same deal, but my experience was exactly reversed. The first monitor I got had some sort of error code permanently displayed. The second one lasted 5 months before it quit working. After lots (and I mean *lots*) of hassling with E*, they took it back, refunded my full purchase price, and let me keep the 921. While that may sound like a great deal, I did invest $450 into trying to repair it and was without a TV for 3 months while trying to get E* to do something. While my 921 has been far from perfect, it's been generally reliable.


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