Direct tv or Dish

[Jgregg1988]

I am getting ready purchase a dish for my 5th wheel and I see all sorts of things out there about both. I would like one the gives me HD, DVR and 2 TV,s what's the best?

[vsheetz]

This is my experience, which may differ from yours if a greenfield and RV only scenario.

I first had a Dish Tailgater portable setup for the MH - with a pay-as-u-go account. Later moved the sticks and bricks house to Dish as well (replacing Cox cable and a TiVo). Installing the Dish Hopper/Joey system in the house, and retaining the Tailgater for the MH. This allows the MH to be only $7/mo additional to the home account bill. Also provides commonality of programming and usage making it easier to use and get the most out of the system. I really like the Hopper/Joey system - the whole house DVR is great.

[Wayne M]

First, there is no DOME antenna on the market that will receive more than 1 satellite at a time. Dish has 3 satellites so switching between stations is done automatically on most auto dome systems. But you will be stuck with one channel, or channels off of the same satellite. DirecTV does not provide HD to any present dome on the market, so it has been stated.

If you decide to go with a portable antenna system you will have full functionality depending on the antenna you select.

With that said, I have DISH network and I have the VIP-722 Dish receiver at the stick house. It is a DVR and HD capable. When we go on the road I take the receiver with me. I use a Carryout antenna from Winegard. It is a dome so has the dome restrictions. That does not bother me because DW and I both watch the same channels. The VIP 722, and other DISH receivers allow for RF connection to a back room television right off of the receiver, and splitters may be necessary depending on your configuration. I enjoy our DISH Network and HD.

Happy trails.

[450Donn]

What do you like? Sports? Then Direct is a better choice. I have never had Dish so I am a bit predijuce toward Directv, but it has workd well for us. DO not get a roof top antenna unless you never park in the trees. There are just too many places where a fixed antenna on the roof does not work and a portable antenna is a far cheaper option.

[docj]

The Dish vs DirecTV question is sort of like Ford vs Chevy trucks, there isn't a "right" answer. I happen to like the fact that even though both systems use 3 satellites to provide HD channels, with DirecTV only one satellite (at 101 degrees) is needed to receive all the channels in standard definition; with Dish the minimum number of satellites is two. In my experience, when trees get in the way, it is easier to lock onto one satellite than two.

As for roof mounted vs portable, in two and a half years of full-timing we have rarely been in places where we couldn't get reception with our roof-mounted Winegard Trav'ler. If someone's previous experience has only been with rooftop dome systems, there is no way they can appreciate how much better the Trav'ler is compared to those. I enjoy the fact that I need only push a button and a few minutes later I can watch TV and I don't have to worry about where to store the dish and tripod or the Tailgater.

[gday]

Originally Posted by Wayne M

DirecTV does not provide HD to any present dome on the market, so it has been stated.

That's correct. Unlike Dish, Directv uses the ka band for most HD transmissions which, at this point in time, cannot be picked up with a dish size included with any dome. Thus if you want HD and a dome, Dish is the choice.

-mick

[gday]

Originally Posted by docj

I happen to like the fact that even though both systems use 3 satellites to provide HD channels, with DirecTV only one satellite (at 101 degrees) is needed to receive all the channels in standard definition; with Dish the minimum number of satellites is two.

That's not quiet right. Full Directv SD coverage requires sat 101 and 119 and your Winegard Trav'ler supports both. For full DirecTV HD coverage you add sats 110, 99 and 103.

-mick

[FlyingDiver]

Originally Posted by gday

That's not quiet right. Full Directv SD coverage requires sat 101 and 119 and your Winegard Trav'ler supports both.

You only need 119 for foreign languages or some spot beamed locals. If you're getting national feeds, which is more common for an RV account, and english language, you only need 101.

And HD only requires 99 and 103, unless (again) you're getting foreign language programming or some locals.

[docj]

Originally Posted by gday

That's not quiet right. Full Directv SD coverage requires sat 101 and 119 and your Winegard Trav'ler supports both. For full DirecTV HD coverage you add sats 110, 99 and 103.

-mick

The 119 sat has spot-beamed local channels for smaller market cities and non-English programming. If you're not interested in any of those you won't miss not having it.

[Scarab0088]

Originally Posted by Wayne M

First, there is no DOME antenna on the market that will receive more than 1 satellite at a time. I enjoy our DISH Network and HD.

Happy trails.

This statement confuses me...is the Tailgater, Viewcube 2500 and Winegard Ansur not considered "dome" antennae?

The Ansur and Viewcube will fit all the OP's requests. They 2 tuner capable, portable, and can be mounted as well.

The Tailgater will only feed 1 receiver, so while that's what I have and I have the signal split to all 4 TV's - it won't do the 2 receiver thing.
For the second TV tuning, we use the signal from the OTA antenna as needed, not perfect, but it works.

Best of luck to the OP!

[gday]

Originally Posted by FlyingDiver

You only need 119 for foreign languages or some spot beamed locals. If you're getting national feeds, which is more common for an RV account, and english language, you only need 101.

And HD only requires 99 and 103, unless (again) you're getting foreign language programming or some locals.

Neither alters what is technical required for proper operation. Even your Trav'ler will likely hunt to 119 simply downloading the initial guide. If you are able to work with reduced sats based on your location and service subscription then fine. And no question that the referenced sats host spot beamed locals however, I do think "some" would be an understatement. For example, 119 hosts hundreds of locals from coast to coast:
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/directvusa119.html

I very much like having access to my locals if at all possible based on how far I'm driving - but maybe that's just me.

-mick

[faye]

Originally Posted by Scarab0088

This statement confuses me...is the Tailgater, Viewcube 2500 and Winegard Ansur not considered "dome" antennae?

The Ansur and Viewcube will fit all the OP's requests. They 2 tuner capable, portable, and can be mounted as well.

The Tailgater will only feed 1 receiver, so while that's what I have and I have the signal split to all 4 TV's - it won't do the 2 receiver thing.
For the second TV tuning, we use the signal from the OTA antenna as needed, not perfect, but it works.

Best of luck to the OP!

how did you split the receiver to go to 4 tv's. we need to do this .

[Scarab0088]

Originally Posted by faye

how did you split the receiver to go to 4 tv's. we need to do this .

I have the Dish ViP-211K receiver on the Tailgater: The single HDMI output goes to the main TV for HD. The COAX output is a simulcast of the same channel viewing on the HDMI, but in SD...

...So, the COAX cable output goes to a Box Of Many Buttons (BOMB) to split the signal to the other TV's on CH 3 or 4 as selected.
www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/2451996.pdf

The BOMB was part of my RV's original set-up for the SAT, DVD, VCR, OTA and Cable TV inputs...but it would be easy to add to any RV.

Also, I only have the one HDMI, but I have seen a HDMI splitter is made if you have more than 1 HDMI cable in your set-up.

Hope that helps.

[faye]

thanks, we will have to let our son look at what you did, neither of us are very techinical, we are paying for 4 receivers and a dvr recorder and it would certainly help lower our bill if we could do this. thanks