Satellite TV Options

lwg · 08-29-2013, 04:09 PM

I know this has been discussed a bit in the past but I thought I'd post about my specific situation and get some advice from other "Redwood'ers". First off, I have never had Satellite TV in any house I've owned. Always had cable or nothing, haven't had cable in years as we primarily used Netflix. Now with the RV and the somewhat spotty speed issues with Internet Netflix is a luxury that I only get to enjoy every few months. That being said I think it's time to add Satellite to my list of experiences.

Now, I know there are several options for an actual dish and service. There's the Trav'ler which seems to be the Cadillac for RV Sat antenna's then the Roadtrip varieties, followed by ground mounted auto dishes all the way down to the old manually pointed model.

My questions.

1) Assuming I wanted an automatic dish for the roof is there a particular model you'd recommend? The Winegard Minimax seems to be the most reasonably priced roof mounted antenna but I'm not sure if it'll be taller than the AC's on the roof. Lets face it, we don't need any additional height to deal with!

2) Is there another dish or consideration I should look at?

3) Regarding Dish versus Direct TV is there a general preference for the RV world? I think one of them has an RV plan that works nicely, however with us fulltiming I'm not certain that's valuable to me.

I'm guessing that mounting a roof mounted dish is fairly simple on the Redwood since it's pre-wired. Just lay it out, screw it down and seal the holes up?

homeguy · 08-29-2013, 05:02 PM

My advice to questions 1 and 2 is to call both providers. Dish has a portable tailgater dish. it is not permanently mounted which is good and bad.

As for #3, do you like GM or Ford? It is strictly a matter of preference, I have found. We have used Dish for years and have had good luck with them. But I know others have not been as fortunate.

Jim & Mary · 08-29-2013, 05:45 PM

We installed the Winegard Travelr SK1000 (Dish HD) with the Hopper and 2 Joeys. This system works great and delivers a HD picture to all 3 TV's in our RL. The dish is entirely automatic with just one button push to power up and lock on to the satellites, and one button to shut down and stow. When stowed, it is not as tall as the roof AC enclosure. The only drawback is if you park in spaces where trees or buildings block your view of the southern sky. In that case you can take an additional tripod dish mount with 100 ft of cable to see the satellites. We chose this so we could take it with us and use it at home as well, bringing the boxes with us when we travel is easy.

lwg · 08-29-2013, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim & Mary

We installed the Winegard Travelr SK1000 (Dish HD) with the Hopper and 2 Joeys. Â*This system works great and delivers a HD picture to all 3 TV's in our RL. Â*The dish is entirely automatic with just one button push to power up and lock on to the satellites, and one button to shut down and stow. Â*When stowed, it is not as tall as the roof AC enclosure. Â*The only drawback is if you park in spaces where trees or buildings block your view of the southern sky. Â*In that case you can take an additional tripod dish mount with 100 ft of cable to see the satellites. Â*We chose this so we could take it with us and use it at home as well, bringing the boxes with us when we travel is easy.

We still have our residence in Oregon and are planning to go back there for the summers (when it's nice) so I can appreciate the tree issue. That's the one thing that's got me reconsidering the roof mounted one. However it's nice to have it secure up there and not worry about things.

Jim & Mary · 08-29-2013, 07:06 PM

You'll see people split about 50/50 on roof mounts vs portable tripod mount. I just didn't want to carry another big bulky thing in the basement that I may only use 5% of the time.

atom ant · 08-29-2013, 07:13 PM

SK-1000 and Dish for us. It finds the satellites while the jacks find level and I find the cooler!

rcflame · 08-29-2013, 08:12 PM

We have the tripod dish and have used it for 11 years full time. There are pros and cons to everything. Even though it takes a little longer to set up here are the reasons we go the way we do.

1. I don't need to generally worry about trees or other interference. With a long cable I can usually find a clear shot somewhere.

2. I don't have to put a large investment into a roof mount, or one of the portable self find units.

3. I am not locked into any provider. Since both direct and dish treat new subscribers better than their good long term customers, I switch every few years. This way I get the new subscriber rate for usually two years, and also get new updated equipment. I believe the roof mount and portable self find units are provider specific .

4. As for taking up room, I just take the 4 bolts that hold the dish to the lnb arm and mount, and it doesn't take up much room.

COLJDM · 08-29-2013, 09:23 PM

We have Directv at home with 9 TVs throughout the house and 8 boxes. We have a Wingard Sattelite Traveler on the roof of our 36FL and we take the boxes from the house when we travel. We are quite pleased with our arrangement.

SW1117 · 08-29-2013, 09:38 PM

Like has already been said, Dish vs DirectTV is just preference. My daughter prefers Dish and we prefer DirectTV. I like the Genie. It allows me to watch up to 6 recorded shows at one time. Now that is probably never going to happen, but with Football season here and the cooking shows I like to watch, it could be an issue with Dish as they (if I am correct) don't allow as many and they are restricted to certain channels. We have all 3 TV's connected and can watch whatever we want on any of the 3 tv's. We love it. We had DirectTV in the house, but not the Genie and I wouldn't be without it now that I have it.

We also decided on the Tripod. When we do travel (probably not for at least a year), we didn't want to worry about having to move the coach due to the trees. Much easier to find a spot for the tripod.

We got a great deal at $66 per month for more than we will ever use. Our bill at home was over $200. I am loving the low cost of living in the RV over the sticks and bricks!!!

Again, it is just a matter of preference.

Sharon

Oriana · 08-29-2013, 10:13 PM

In addition to Dish v's DirectTV we also have an additional variable - whether to get a US or a Canadian system.

Our preference is a similar arrangement used by Colonel John, with Shaw Direct. We would take the boxes out to the coach when we leave and return them to the house upon our return. Unfortunately Shaw's newest Satellite only beams a short distance over the border, which won't work for us as we plan to winter in the sunshine.

We are therefore now looking at a US system and at this time are leaning towards Dish, for 2 reasons. The Dish system is compatible with Bell should we eventually want to switch to a Canadian provider. On reviewing their programming it appears to be reasonably compatible, but Dish offers the monthly pay as you go plan. As we are not fulltime, this is a good feature.

Regarding the dish we are looking at the Winegard Traveller roof mounted model. As others have mentioned we could experience difficulty picking up a signal at time, but in the 36FL our basement is rather small, so storage is at a premium.

lwg · 08-30-2013, 01:15 PM

OK, in looking at the Winegard Trav'ler antenna's can anyone tell me why the Direct TV model (SK-SWM3)costs nearly $400 more than the Dish Model (SK-1000)? This pricing is from Amazon. That's quite a few months of service given that price difference. Just wondering if there is a technical reason for this like, one allows you to identify UFO's that visit you at night or something! Just kidding of course.

sinder · 08-30-2013, 01:43 PM

I have the Direct TV Wingard SK SWM3. I'm not sure why it is priced more, but I was told by Wingard that it was the very latest satellite technology tracking 3 satellites. They were introduced this past Spring timeframe. Our setup has worked very well.

johnboytoo · 08-30-2013, 02:16 PM

because they can charge more

tracking 3 sats at once is hard on the eyes !

COLJDM · 08-30-2013, 02:23 PM

We have the wingard slimline for directv and it works very well. Push one button, it locks onto 3 satellites and you are ready to go. With the GrandKids along it is not unusual to have 3 TVs going, each with a different channel

atom ant · 08-30-2013, 03:24 PM

Both Dish and Direct TV track 3 satellites, but Direct TV came up with some narley way to do it that put them behind the curve for years in RV antennas. When we bought our first satellite antenna, you couldn't get HD through Direct TV because Winegard didn't have the technology to make it work. Now that they do, it costs more than us simple but effective HD Dish Network folks.

One of the "cons" to Direct TV.

NW Snowbirds · 08-30-2013, 04:23 PM

Have the new DISH Tailgater and DISH receiver. Works great with HD programming. Sweet price and fully automatic. No complaints.

lwg · 08-30-2013, 05:56 PM

After doing a bit more research I'm starting to lean more towards the portable units and possible just a basic dish itself. I have a pretty good technical aptitude so I'm betting I could get it aimed. Sometimes we camp in the trees (like now) and I'm certain a roof mounted auto unit wouldn't pick up a satellite. Additionally I'm not sure my DW would be too keen on spending ~$1k-$1.5K on the equipment necessary for roof mounted satellite. Looks like I can get a basic setup pretty cheap and just know I'll be doing some aiming when we move every so often. I can always add the roof mount later.

atom ant · 08-30-2013, 06:04 PM

true, and then you would have both. I preserved my sat connections in the convenience center so it wouldn't take much to switch to a portable if I had trouble.

lwg · 09-11-2013, 05:12 PM

Another quick question. I think I'll end up going with DirectTV and was wondering about the Genie. If I was OK watching the same station in the bedroom as the living room would I need any additional devices or will a single Genie work for me? Basically trying to determine if I'd have to purchase a box to watch anything off of the satellite in the bedroom or if a single device in the living area would work for both TV's.

johnboytoo · 09-11-2013, 05:48 PM

In our case (at home) we have one dvr that can record up to 6 shows and 4 small 'clients' in the other rooms....
they are like 1"x4"x6" or so and work to control the dvr, and all ...

but, had to get a separate box for the rv @ $6 per month tacked onto our home bill...
but since I didn't want to go to another dvr,etc.. it only controls the lr and the br is OTA....(so far!)

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