Satellite and DVR on a budget

[okmunky]

Hi Y'all,

There are a lot of choices for satellite and DVR equipment available online. Can anyone help me figure out what I need to get non-HD TV and record a few programs when I am out. I am willing to trade some convenience for saving $. I've always had cable and satellite seems complicated and DirecTV and Dish folks are no help.

[wa8yxm]

Decisons, Decisions.. You have lot of them to make..

First: Do you want to go with over the air only (And occasionally park cable), or do you want satellite TV?

Advantages OTA: It's free,,, Park cable may be free, or not, depending on the park.

Disadvantage: Well.. sometimes you don't get much. or anything.. Where I'm at just now I get over 30 stations.. In another spot perhaps 20 miles away I get perhaps half that. In yet another spot I'm doing good if I can detect a signal at all.

To record for later viewing: I don't like doing it but I would suggest a TiVo. They are very good at this kind of thing... The reason I don't like TiVo is kind of like the old Beta/VHS thing.. Beta was the better standard, but VHS took the market. I use REPLAYTV units here in the wheeled house. One of these vintage DVR's have features TiVo still does not have, and the other has features TiVo did not add till fairly recently (Series 3). But they are no longer made so TiVo (#2 ability wise) is the best you can buy. Make sure it's ATSC compatible (Modern digital ota TV)

Satellite: You have choices,, Dish or DirecTV.. YOu need to do the shop round on these as you end up paying a bunch of money every month for these serivces. Both have advantages and disadvantages. and I'll cover a bit more in a second... Both will lease you a DVR, I'll cover those too, however I warn you I'm not up on the latest from DirecTV.... (or Dish) however a TiVo (or my Replays) will interface with the receivers and do the job as well.

Major advantage is TV most anywhere.. More on that under antennas.
Major disadvantage: Local (Network) stations are generally spot beamed, (Think of a spotlight on a stage,, same thing) if you drive out of the spot. no signal. You have to subscribe to "Distant Network Service" small additional fee every month (Like 10 bucks)

Antennas for Satellite TV:
There are basically 4 types... Rooftop Domes, Rooftp Dishes, Ground mount Domes (like the carryout or the VuCube) and Dishes.

Rooftop domes come in 2 flavors, "in Motion" and "Stationary" (Stationary only work when parked,, All the others are stationary only

Domes usually have a solo LNB, it may be a single (one output, capable of running one receiver) or a dual (2 outputs, can run a Satllite DVR or multiple receivers or both) Dishes are generally duals and may be more.. More under dish. The dome can see one satellite at time however.. With DirecTV non-HD, one is all you need, it's parked at 101 degrees west. by zero north/south by about 1/8 light second up.

For DirecHDTV.. A dome won't do the job. forget it.

For DISH.. they use two or 3 of six birds, Two for SD, 3rd is HD. (in both cases) three are over the pacific, three the Atlantic, SOME domes can quickly switch from 110 to 119 to the HD bird (I think that's 127) or the eastern group equivlant, but.... Not all can and some can only do two.. So if you get a dome make sure it matches what you need.. Also... NOTE that if you have two receivers or a dual input DVR and you want to record say My Lady's "Daytime Drama" (of which only 4 remain) this will be on 119,,, Halmark is on 110, so if you want to use the 2nd input to record that... No joy there.

Now dish antennas.

Dishes come in basically 4 (5) flavors.. DirecTV, DirecHDTV Dishnetwork, Dishnetwork HD west, and Dishnetwork HDeast.

You get the dish that matches your needs.. Nearly all dishes are dual-output so you won't have any problems with multiple receivers or DVR's..

YOU DO NEED A GROUND MOUNT antenna, this is not optional..

Here is why:

If you have a rooftop, dish or dome, and you park under the evil signal eating tree, or in the shadow of the signal blocking Building. Your rooftop dish/dome simply can not see the satellite.. In this case what I do is hook up the ground mount, Slap the two sliders from "A" for Above to "B" for Below on the A/B switch, reset my Directv receiver, and .. Point the antenna.. No problem at all.

Without that ground mount.. No signal at all.

When I get back to the point where I"m fully operational I'll be using single DirecRV receivers (Times 2) with the ReplayTV DVR's for the world's best television experience.. but alas... You can't get Replay any more.

[HobbyTalk]

For about $200 you can get a Dish 211K receiver, antenna and portable hard drive to turn the 211K into a DVR. If you want to get fancy you can get the Wingard Carryout portable dome antenna for about $600. You then contact Dish (more info at DishForMyRV.com: Mobile Satellite Dish Systems, Guides, Antennas, Receivers, Packages, iPhone Finder App & More ) to sign up for the pay-as-you-go service. This way you only pay for the months you use it and there is no long term commitment.

[Wayne M]

Everything costs extra, so your wanting to view non-HD will not cost extra, just the basic programming. You can go on-line and see which has what to offer, like sports packages, etc. If you want HD it will cost you extra for the package. If you want to add an external hard drive for recording to the 211 it will cost you a one time fee of $40 (So I have read.) For just SD viewing you do not need a sophisticated antenna system. A single LNB with dual output will feed two receivers. For DirectTV a single with dual outputs will be find for SD viewing since DirectTV SD is all broadcast on Satellite 101. Dish Network broadcasts on Satellites 110 and 119 and a two horn LNB would be better suited, but they are harder to tune in(point) until you get the hang of it.

Research, research! Good luck.

[paz]

If you want SD only, DirecTV is on only 1 satellite (101) so it is easier to aim the dish with a tripod mount as Wayne M says. A tripod mount will be a lot cheaper than a rooftop dish. The dish and LNB with dual outputs (required to watch one channel while you record another) are supplied free as part of the installation by Direct.

Be sure to check the program packages for both Dish and Direct. If there are specific channels you want and they're not included in one package, you may have to go to the next higher package to get them. On the other hand, the other satellite provider may include all the channels you want in their low-cost package.

You can sometimes also get a free tripod mount from the installer, but I found most installers (at least for Direct) don't have them. All they carry in their trucks are wall mounts. Besides, the tripods they do have are made for permanent rooftop installation, and they're heavy and harder to adjust. You can go with the free one if you can find one, but IMO you're better off buying your own tripod BEFORE they come to do your installation. When the installer comes, let him install the dish right on the tripod.

Some installers may balk at doing an RV. They won't run the cable through the walls or anything like that. On our original installation, the installer had to fish the cable from one front cabinet behind the TV to the front cabinet on the other side. He was OK with that, but I don't thing he would have done anything more.

You may want to get 2 flat video cables before the installer arrives to allow the cables from the dish to the receiver to pass through a window. You can also sometimes fish the cables through the seal for your slide out. The cable hookup can sometimes be used for satellite; but you'll only have one cable, and you won't be able to watch one program while recording another. Figure out how your going to run the cables before the installer gets there, and keep it simple. You can always find a more permanent solution later.

We picked up our current DVR for Direct at Best Buy for $99. They also sometimes offer free receiver if you sign up for a certain period. However, by buying our own DVR/receiver we get a $5 per month credit.