Direct TV vs Dish TV

[ChollyB]

Originally Posted by TechWriter

Sounds like a Winegard Travler, right?

It was a Ford vs Chevy debate until DISH introduced the Hopper 3, a 16-tuner Whole House (or RV) DVR. The DirecTV equivalent, Genie, can't touch it.

We have the 211 system in the coach and the hopper at home. Does the hopper depend on wifi for signal transmission? If not, I'd love to bring it on the road. Normally wifi is minimal on the road so I haven't tried to disconnect and take along.

[Dale & Mark Bruss]

Originally Posted by ChollyB

We have the 211 system in the coach and the hopper at home. Does the hopper depend on wifi for signal transmission? If not, I'd love to bring it on the road. Normally wifi is minimal on the road so I haven't tried to disconnect and take along.

The Hopper can use the Internet for downloading some video and uses the Internet for reporting purchases. The primary mechanism for for video is satellite.

[Roosters 67]

If you install the Winegard Trav'ler for Direct, it can be converted to Dish with new dish, feed arm and LNB, Think the parts run about $300 for the conversion I believe. Albeit added cost but can go either way that way.

The Dish version cannot be converted to Direct from what I have been told and have read.

[Dale & Mark Bruss]

Originally Posted by millsrv

Both Dish and Direct are very aware that they have old technology and that on-line streaming is killing their business. When unlimited data arrives for 4G wireless, with Verizon for example, streaming video to your RV will be much better than Dish or Direct TV. Dish and Direct know they are loosing this battle.

The dream of unlimited Internet bandwidth across the country is decades away. Technology gets old only when there is a replacement and for a big chunk of this country, broadband Internet is in no position to replace streaming satellite video.

Little of what we watch could come over an OTA antenna.

Blaming the satellite services is a little juvenile. The cost of the service is in the programming content and the satellite guys have to charge just like the cable guys. The only way OTA is surviving is the fees that get from the satellite and cable providers.

If the Internet portals ever become the delivery for video content, you think it will be free? Seriously..

[1010]

Originally Posted by StuartS

& what does that mean ?

Also, I may want to stop service when not using the coach & someone said Dish has that option?

Maybe someone else answered this, but Dish will activate and deactivate your RV Dish receiver at no cost other then the $7.00 a month receiver fee. You are able to get the local channels where you activate the receiver. We are not driven to watch TV so packages mean little to us, cost does. Direct TV is currently offering a better deal for our home TV, but the savings will be lost to having the RV's receiver activated when we are not using it.

[normburgess]

Yes Dish has that option to turn on and turn off service

[Atom Ant]

Originally Posted by 1010

Maybe someone else answered this, but Dish will activate and deactivate your RV Dish receiver at no cost other then the $7.00 a month receiver fee. You are able to get the local channels where you activate the receiver. We are not driven to watch TV so packages mean little to us, cost does. Direct TV is currently offering a better deal for our home TV, but the savings will be lost to having the RV's receiver activated when we are not using it.

I'll embellish that a bit, Dish has two programs for RVs.

1) If you have Dish at home, you can add a 211 or Dish Wally receiver for $7.00 a month and keep it in the RV and get all the programming you get at home. They let you add the 211 or Dish Wally to your account, even if your home system is Hopper/Joey.

2) Pay as you go - you buy your own equipment and only pay for the time you use it. (1 month minimum recently added as a requirement). You used to be able to turn it on and off by the day and pay a prorated amount for the use providing you kept 1 month in advance on your account, but now it is a minimum of 1 month billing regardless of the amount of days or weeks within the month you used it.

I use a summer cabin type account, and I pay regular fees for the season, but I can shut if off over the winter and they charge a $5.00 To Keep Open (TKO) fee. Not the best, but it allowed me to use my Hopper without hassles from Dish who don't allow Hopper accounts for RVs because of issues with vibration and the hard-drive.

https://www.dishformyrv.com/

[DFord]

Well StuartS,

There's been lots of options and opinions given to your original post. I hope you've been able to make some sense of it all.

I'm a long time Dish customer and I'm not complaining. I have a simple set-up both at home and on the MH. I have two ViP211k receivers that I added external harddrives to so they can be DVRs. The 211 is an HD receiver that can be a DVR if you add an external USB harddrive. You can get HD free for life with a little talking to the CS agent and with a little more, they will "comp" the $40 one time charge to enable the DVR function on the receiver also. We have the "America's Top 200" program package ($79.99) plus a $7 month fee for the second receiver for the motorhome. The monthly bill includes $.03 for an FCC regulatory fee which makes our total $87.02 each month. I bought both receivers use off Craig's list for $25-50 each and even bought a spare to have in case one of the others acts up. The ViP211k includes a digital TV converter which allows you to receive and record local OTA TV signals the same as satellite programming. The only downside I know of for this receiver is the remote - it's infrared and I'd prefer UHF so I can lay in bed and control the receiver in the next room. The ViP211k was replaced by the ViP211z and lost the digital OTA tuner - I'd stay away from it. The tuner is about a $50 option.

When we're playing snowbird through the winter, changing local programming is just a call to CS away. If you're traveling, you can change them daily. If you're in an area where the spot beams overlap, you can pick which city's local you want to see by giving CS an address for a park near that city instead of the one you're closest to. While we were in Emerald Cove on the Colorado River across from Parker, AZ, the CS agent said I'd get the Los Angeles locals. Right away, I told the agent I had another address - at a park in Phoenix! No problem, they switched me the Phoenix locals and I gained an hour with all the programming. Los Angeles news doesn't come on till 11pm Pacific - too late for me.

I hear Dish now has a receiver that travels well that comes with a UHF remote and DVR function built-in. I don't know if it has a digital tuner.

I bought a Winegard GM1518 portable antenna used (from a fellow camper in the next site over) that ended up not working (they left before I figured that out) and I bought a second one another fellow camper even cheaper that did work! I sent the broken one back to Winegard and had them fix it. They actually repaired the board and only charged a couple dollars for the part (plus postage both ways, plus $70 labor, plus $50 for new power and coax cables). I mounted one on the roof and thought about selling the other - then I remembered all the trees I get stuck under during the midwest summers and decided a portable antenna would come in pretty handy also.

[Nonnaof Two]

Thanks for your post on DTV. Issues..
I'm new to the RV world. We have not hooked up our wineguard direct tv yet. I ccurrently have Direct tv in my home. Can I take my DVR receiver box and hook it up in the coach? I have two TVs in the coach. When I looked in the cabinet I see at least 4
Coax cables that don't seem to have any labels as to what they hook up to. I guess I have something call SWM as well. Previous owners said they just took the box from the house and hooked it up. I did call direct. Not much help. I did this in my driveway
Tv said it could not detect the dish. I did see shows that were recorded. Is that all I will be able to do? Leaving on our first big trip Monday for about a month. Any help you can provide is appreciated.

[DFord]

The quick and easy way I trace coax wires from the receiver compartment is to take a piece of coax a few inches long with a connector on one end. Strip a enough off the other end to short the shield with the center wire. Put it on the suspected ends/outlets of the other end of the cables. Test the wires in the receiver compartment with an ohm meter to find the one that's shorted. Then mark it for later identification.

[Sultan1966]

Getting ready to have Dish HD Winegard set up on our 2nd rig.
Also bought same thin sheet of steel recommended so roller doesn't hit roof material when it goes up and down.
This 2nd dish will replace old Kingdome in motion satellite which no longer works with modern satellite technology.
DISH HD will work with Hopper3 with Sling and joeys like it did in other rig.

[Nonnaof Two]

Originally Posted by DFord

The quick and easy way I trace coax wires from the receiver compartment is to take a piece of coax a few inches long with a connector on one end. Strip a enough off the other end to short the shield with the center wire. Put it on the suspected ends/outlets of the other end of the cables. Test the wires in the receiver compartment with an ohm meter to find the one that's shorted. Then mark it for later identification.

Thanks for the fast reply. When you talk about a 2 inch coax, would that be a spare piece I might have laying around? I don't understand what shorting is. Also what is the tester you mentioned? Where can I get one? Will I need to test all the cables. What in the world are they all for? It's a crazy small space I'm working in and the whole they come out of is small too. I don't want to pull them out, not that I could anyway.
Thanks again.

[augerdogger]

I have used a resistor/cable terminator and ohm meter with success but changing the terminator from cable to cable was a big pain. I pd over $300 for my multimeter but HF gives away multimeters. I broke down and bought a cable toner with multiple terminators for less than $25. I can put a different terminator on each cable and find the one I want.

[mchero]

Long time DTV user when at home but now we full time and winter in Quartzsite LTVA.
1k watts of solar on roof. DTV dvr is a huge power hog so i dumped DTV.
Went Dish with vip211z stb. Plug in ext. Hdrive and we have dvr. PathwayX2 on roof or ground if trees present. A whopping 40/month so i dont know where above poster comes up with priceing. Get locals w/o issues. Believe you will only get 2 or 3 over the air channels out here.