Switch Direct TV to ROKU

[GIjoe]

Originally Posted by cte202

We currently use Direct TV for our travels. Friends say we should switch to a streaming system like ROKO.

Has anyone done this and what are your yeas and nays for doing such a switch?

We have a TCL ROKO TV and we love it. We use our Spectrum mobile phone for a hot spot and so far we've not had any problems. The good thing about Spectrum mobile is they use the Verizon towers however the cost is only $45 a month unlimited using the one phone as a hot spot. The other phone is $14 a month. Huge savings over the Verizon plan we used to have. Spectrum simply switched out the sim cards on our Samsung S21's!

[Wayne5700]

We switched our home service to Dish when we found out that adding the RV is only $5/month. We saved $600 over our old cable service (which constantly increased prices every year). With the $600, we put in two TCL Roku TV's, joined Family Motor Coach Assc to get their $50/month WiFi hotspot "Moxie", and went with Consumer Cellular to get the ability for unlimited hotspot from the cell phone itself. We almost always have enough options to watch TV a lot.
Our RV came with a built in Dish antenna which we don't use. We use a portable Dish antenna. On out last 10,000 mile trip, we found that we would have lost the ability for Dish at least half the time because of trees and obstructions. Moving the antenna around is the only way to go for reliable sat TV.

[Steve 716]

The problem is throughput when traveling. T Mobile is great but they don't provide enough bandwidth for streaming so we use DirecTV.

[Joedarock]

A few years ago, my DirectTv dish on my 40' pusher broke and I replaced it with a Dish TV unit and service. It works pretty good but is very finicky about nearby obstacles, trees, etc.. Further, I find most of the content is infomercials, Dish's own promotional channels, etc. I decided to throw in the towel on satellite and move over to streaming. I got a $25/mo unlimited mobile service from Visible and a Roku streaming stick. Visible uses the Verizon network, so coverage is excellent. I have a Visible 5G phone with a router WiFi behind its WiFi Hotspot. I have special script in the router that bypasses the Visible limitation of one device on a router.With that setup I get thousands of "channels" from virtually any streaming service, including Roku, Amazon Prime, HBO, etc. I also found ways to get my local channels and major network channels. A bonus is that I have multi-user WiFi for my passengers as we roll down the road. This setup works so well, I'll probably cancel the Dish satellite service.

[Chief6722]

Any streaming service is only as good as the WiFi or Internet access and we’ve not had great luck so far. I invested in a high-end cellular antenna w/built-in modem and new matching router that is pretty amazing at the house. Hopefully it’s fairly close to the same but I’ll have DishNetwork also with the cell towers still being overloaded. Dish also has “Pay as you Go” so it makes it much easier/cheaper!

Be aware of throttling for streaming depending on who your service is with.

[Dave n Deb]

not sure about direct tv we have direct stream and a roku everything works off the roku device and one plus also you can record with the direct stream god forbid the wife miss her soaps lol you can get beat up for that

[chuckie0204]

I use Firestick where ever I go. I have been able to run off the campground wi-fi most of the time. At home I have xfinity and can get that on my Firestick. It ran me about $30 and has its own remote. And yes you can get Netflix and Prime plus other pay and free channels.

[BlueDog2]

I switched to Roku and love it. If you have a smart tv in your coach you can download the app. If not, you can buy the stick and plug it in to your TV.

[Joedarock]

Originally Posted by WagonMaster

I get way more than 80% satellite coverage from Directv with my 100' of coax. With a portable dish and proper tripod it's pretty easy to set up. I can do it in about 10 minutes. Many times using compass heading I've been right on the satellite without any adjustments. Of course, in order to make directv economical I haul it to the lake house and use it in the RV along with being my main provider at home. In the rare event I'm too lazy on a one night stop I'll stream if I can get a decent cellphone signal. Like I said, the only way Directv pricing makes sense is if you use it in place of cable at your prime residence and take it with you to the remote locations.

VISIBLE cell service is $25/mo for truly unlimited data and voice. Since they use the Verizon infrastructure, the coverage is pretty good. Initial setup is quite consumer friendly and requires no IT skills.
Most of my RVing is touring so we seldom stay at campgrounds, preferring to boondock at Walmarts, etc. Putting out a portable dish wouldn't work for me.

Joe

[Wild Buckeye]

We use FUBO$70 a month plus other streaming services,Netflix.Amazon,etc.Good for when you have signal.It is on smart tv and Iphone.Phone has unlimited data.I download some episodes and movies for when signal is not good.Or just go out and look at the stars.FUBO gives us live TV for sports and such.

[UP2LATE]

We have been using streaming for years. Previous setup was DirectTV. I installed 2 Roku players in the RV. One for the front TV and one for the bedroom TV. Both share the same subscriptions we have on the home Roku (Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC, etc.). Got rid of the DVD players. The Roku sort of acts like a media center for the TVs. I am using the Starlink ethernet adapter with the Starlink RV kit. That ethernet adapter is connected to a 5 port ethernet switch. The outputs of the ethernet switch go to the front Roku, front TV, computer, and NAS. Everything else uses the WiFi from the Starlink router. Starlink currently has unlimited data so that works well with streaming. Streaming and Roku are setup to do some buffering by design. I chose not to use the Roku that might be in a TV because I wanted to be able to swap out the TV and/or Roku as needed. I have done that a couple of times. Starlink download speeds have been between 100 and 200 with 120 to 150 the average range for the last couple of months. The Jetpack or hotspot on phones are backups for internet. I use Flagpole Buddy Starlink Kit to attach the satellite to the rear ladder. Sometimes I Velcro the satellite to the front awning arm for better satellite visibility. Hope this helps. Ed

[jeddpearl]

As others have said, we also have ROKU and love it. We have Verizon and have a hot spot. We subscribe to Netflex, HULU and Amazon Prime. You don't have to pay for any channels if you don't wish to, as ROKU has many free channels to choose from.
Again as others have said, you need to have good or at least fairly good Wi-Fi.

Good Luck!

[docj]

Originally Posted by UP2LATE

We have been using streaming for years. Previous setup was DirectTV. I installed 2 Roku players in the RV. One for the front TV and one for the bedroom TV. Both share the same subscriptions we have on the home Roku (Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC, etc.). Got rid of the DVD players. The Roku sort of acts like a media center for the TVs.

We are in sync with everything you stated having followed practically the same steps. We have been very satisfied with Starlink for video streaming and it handles 4k streams on our new UHD TV without a hiccup.

The only time we every notice anything out of the ordinary when streaming with Starlink is when we are watching a live event such as one of the local TV stations' evening news broadcasts. We use YouTube TV to get our local channels and it is clear that live news broadcasts aren't buffered. So if you get caught in one of Starlink's periodic 5-20 second outages you might have a few seconds of buffering before the stream resumes. That doesn't happen with the network news broadcasts which are actually pre-recorded and, as a result, are fully buffered.

Other than that, for us Starlink has been nearly flawless.

[ArkRVHog]

Originally Posted by wildmandmc

I forsee this as one of my biggest problems coming in the future. Trying to get wife to do the Full-timing for at least a yr, after we sell house. House/Rv all have the Roku and Hulu. Currently comcast allows 1.2terabytes of data. =1200gb. i'm usually around the 600 gb a month. When and if i do the FT, i prob be a lot over that 600. Have had dish tv prior, but living in fla, storms ect do damper things.
I was 100% all in on doing the FT, until i saw this thread. lol

Very simple....IF you have an unlimited data plan on your cell phone (and good cell connectivity where you are camping) stream YouTube TV and any other apps (Netflix, Prime, HBO Max) thru your phone and connect to your TV via a lightening cable assuming iPhone (phone to TV HDMI.) Works great...as long as you have a solid cell signal. And our WeBoost helps with that.

Otherwise, easy to run out of data using your phone as a hotspot to connect your Roku or other streaming device. You'll stream at 720dpi using my phone method but unless you have a 60" TV, that will probably not matter.