Community Forums

wnytaxman · 03-09-2018, 12:15 PM

If this has been covered before I missed it so my apologies in advance.

I have been told that my rig comes standard with both the in motion and Travelers set for Direct TV. For various reasons, mostly the ability to turn the service on and off, we would want to go to Dish. Is this a big change? Can it be accomplished easily?

I believe some of you have converted your satellite receivers from Direct to Dish. How did that work out?

brobox · 03-09-2018, 12:23 PM

Ed, unless they changed, the Entegras comes with one or the other sat systems, but not both. If it has the standard dome. it will be DISH ready by changing the dip switches. You can check your purchase order and see if you paid for the Traveler upgrade. Which ever one is on your coach, they are set for Direct TV

Dale & Mark Bruss · 03-09-2018, 12:28 PM

The in-motion dish should be able to switch to Dish with a couple of switch settings.

The Trav'ler is a bigger task. There is a kit to change the Trav'ler from DirecTV to Dish.

You don't convert satellite receivers. You change receivers to the provider you want. To be able to turn the service on and off, you need to own the receivers to use the Dish Pay-As-You-Go plan.

wnytaxman · 03-09-2018, 12:29 PM

Chuck, I do have the Traveler upgrade which now I'm thinking may have been a less than wise move. We have never had satellite TV in the past so I'm learning all about it on an after the fact basis.

Bob_C · 03-09-2018, 12:38 PM

I can have Direct turn mine off when not using, but I don't.....

GeezerViz · 03-09-2018, 12:42 PM

My rig came with the Travl'r. I don't have service hooked up yet. I am also new to satellite. What have you found to be the benefit of Dish over Direct?

lowejug · 03-09-2018, 12:44 PM

My 14 anthem came with the in motion dome..
It takes either dish network or direct t.v
Take the dome off and change the dip switch .. codes in the manuals ..
In motion won’t broadcast in HD but that’s s the only reason to have the traveler... just depends probably how much you really watch tv in your motor home.. I have direct tv and actually prefer zipping on to Netflix that’s connected to my Mobley and enjoy that better.. unless you pay big bucks for all the channels from your provider it’s hard to find anything decent to watch... local news is about the only reason for us.. Netflix always has something good... jmo

wnytaxman · 03-09-2018, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeezerViz

My rig came with the Travl'r. I don't have service hooked up yet. I am also new to satellite. What have you found to be the benefit of Dish over Direct?

It sounds like both of us will be learning about this together. My understanding, which could be erroneous, is that Dish gives you HD on the in-motion and that Direct would not allow you to turn the service on and off. I have no particularly loyalty to one or the other as we have FIOS at home which works really well for TV service. The last time we had satellite service we gave up on it with even a slight snowfall knocking the service off.

brobox · 03-09-2018, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnytaxman

Chuck, I do have the Traveler upgrade which now I'm thinking may have been a less than wise move. We have never had satellite TV in the past so I'm learning all about it on an after the fact basis.

Here is Rob's step by step photo instruction on how to switch the Traveler over to DISH. In my opinion, well worth it for part time use. I have the Wally receiver purchased on Amazon for $79. https://www.amazon.com/Dish-Network-...70_&dpSrc=srch

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f278/dish...ml#post3299228

TXBart · 03-09-2018, 02:39 PM

In-motion dome receives Dish HD but Direct only in SD which is what drove us to Dish almost 5 years ago. The dome is very sensitive to precipitation even to include heavy dew which made us go with a Traveler in our new coach. Entegra doesn’t install a Dish Traveler, you have to mod it at the dealership. You can go Direct to Dish but not Dish to Direct, it has to do with drive motor sizes to move the larger Direct reflector. We own the receiver in the coach and simply suspend it when we’re not using the coach. We call Dish when we hit a new park and change our service address to get locals which knocks out locals at home if anyone is watching there. It’s easy to use the OTA antenna or park cable for locals. I’ve never had an issue getting Dish to change my locals though when you call after hours or weekend you may get someone that doesn’t understand what an RV or motorhome is.

hogdriver · 03-09-2018, 08:30 PM

I converted my factory Travlr to Dish. PM if you have questions, I can walk you thru it.

A giant part of the question involves which receiver you are planning to use. I bought a VP722K outright from a vendor like Solid Signal or even Camping World for about $140 and then ran for several years on the Dish “Pay as you Go” plan. You can get any package of channels you want and most are full HD. The only kicker is the way my classic was wired all the TVs had to watch the same show.

Last year I upgraded to a Dish Hopper3, which I love. It requires a two year contract. One of the advantages all the features like DVR and commercial skip as well as multiple receivers in the RV for individual channel choices. It does require a few more steps to upgrade but doable.

TXBart · 03-09-2018, 09:12 PM

Hopper2 doesn’t require any additional modification but you have to buy it, Dish told me they won’t warranty it in a motor home. I bought one then discovered it was ~1” too deep to fit in my AV cabinet. 2 is not as capable as a 3 but close enough for me.

Mike&Chris · 03-10-2018, 07:17 AM

We switched our home from cable to direct tv. This allows us to take the box from home and plug into the wiring Entegra installed with the traveler. We take the box and it’s electric cord, plug into the HDMI and cable cord in the Anthem and do the reverse when we return home. This takes about 5 minutes.

The only downside is having to call direct tv to switch addresses to allow reception of local stations when traveling. In many cases this is not necessary because we can use the tv’s digital antenna for local stations.

Fattman-Litlboy · 03-11-2018, 04:59 PM

We have Dish, Hopper with Sling, in our 2015 Anthem. Installed the Dish conversion kit for Winegard several years ago when Direct TV refused to change the local stations to where we travel. Dish is so simple...just call in and give them your location, and within 10min you have local channels. The only shortfall is that the three satellites (110, 119, 129) are lower in elevation on the East Coast and trees often interfere with the signal if they are close by.