Community Forums

RickO · 08-28-2009, 02:17 PM

It's been a long, slow process but I'm closing in on completion of my HD conversion in my coach. I've replaced the 19" flat screen in the bedroom with a 32" Sony Bravia and the 27" Sony (110 lb) "brick" in the salon with a 37" HP Flat Screen. I ran a 50' HDMI cable from the entertainment center to the bedroom TV by fishing it along the same route as the factory harness... time consuming but not as hard as I had feared.

I then completed a job which Winnie should have done at the factory by fishing a second RJ6 coax cable from the roof satellite to the entertainment center. Winnie did bring the second cable from the sat, through the roof but then terminated it just inside the front cap so I extended it down the trim on drivers side, through the firewall and along the existing wire harness and into the entertainment center. Again, time consuming but not as bad as I thought it would be but it does tic me off that Winnie could have done this during mfg for a total cost of about $5 but instead I had to spend hours tearing my coach apart to do it... this, and their use of "old technology" (analog tv's) are really my only gripes about the manufacture of the coach.

I installed a single Directv HD DVR in the entertainment center and set up the remote to use RF rather than IR so we can control the DVR from anywhere inside the coach as well as from the outside entertainment center.

Since the DVR has only one HDMI output, I ran that one to the back tv so I wouldn't have to run the five cables required for use of component cables. I bought the 50' HDMI on ebay for $169. It's sold as a "Monster Cable" but was shipped from Hong Kong so who knows. I've tested this with recorded HD content and it works great.

The salon TV is connected to the DVR via component cables since that's the only other HD output and it's located only a couple feet from the TV below it.

The outside tv is connected to a standard def output using composite cables which I had to fish down through the wire harness exiting the bottom of the slide and into the entertainment bay below.

So, there's obviously only one piece of the HD puzzel missing... the dish. I plan to get a Winegard Slimline Travelr but my Winegard ASC-2003 has failed (what a shock!) and I'm trying to get my extended warranty contract to pay something on that which will reduce the cost of the new dish... hopefully.

I evaluated several different options to convert to HD but this approach seemed to fit our life style best. Our switchbox will no longer control the "sat" function but will still be useful for OTA or cable. While watching sat, we have to view the same channel on all tv's but that fits our viewing habits but others might like to take a different approach by using multiple DVR/receivers, multi switches, and running coax rather than HDMI.

And... this is the best part... in 30 days we'll be officially full timming!!!

Pigman1 · 08-28-2009, 02:55 PM

Sounds like you have it by the tail now. Our Allegro Bus came set up already and we've been enjoying it. Since we have Directv, we went with a Trav'ler 3005 to replace the King Dome in motion, and are pleased with the Winegard. I did a bit of wickering to get it to tune satellites below 15degrees elevation and it works fine for us when we travel in Alaska.

John
2008 Allegro Bus

ronharp · 08-29-2009, 07:57 AM

That is where a Dish dual tuner receiver would come in handy. I'm sure Direc will start shipping their new dual tuner just as soon as you complete your setup. lol That is what would happen in my case anyway.
Just a note for the future. Check out www .monoprice.com for your cable next time. The spendiest(new word?) 50' HDMI there is $79.
What the h***? I typed in the monoprice url without the current extra space and it(something) replaced it with a whole line in red of monoprice features/sale items that was clickable. Not at all what "I" wanted to put in the post. I guess I will pay more attention to that garbage in the future.

Ron

SCVJeff · 09-11-2009, 12:47 AM

Rick,
I don't know how far down the road you've gone with replacing your dead AS-2003, but I did mine in the beginning of the year, and Wineguard made me a swingin' deal on an SK-3005. They make no secret that the 2003 is a bad design, won't fix them, and want tham off the street. At the time the street price was around $1600, and after proving I owned the coach and when I bought it, they sold me the -3005 for a tad over $900. My guess is that your warranty company might consider a like for like replacement, and the SK-2003 obviously ain't it. That's why we decided not to deal with the extended warranty and just buy it.

RickO · 09-18-2009, 03:13 PM

Thanks for the insights guys and the tip on where to get cheaper cables!

While I don't yet have it in my grimey little hands, I'm supposed to pick up my coach this afternoon from the dealer with my brand new HD Slimline Travlr Dish! My EZ Care extended warranty covered $1199 for the dish plus four hours of labor so my cost of a new installed Slimline will only be about $600!!! I'm a happy camper.

RickO · 09-18-2009, 03:17 PM

Ron... the DirecTv dish IS a dual tuner DVR. It's their first generation HD DVR and it has a lot of bugs like very slow response time to input from the remote... but it does have dual tuners. We chose to install a single DVR unit to feed satellite signals to all three TVs because of our viewing habits. We almost never want to watch different shows on seperate TVs so it wasn't worth the cost of an additional receiver monthly charge.