Mobile Streaming for TV

[KZVanh]

Originally Posted by SeektheSon1

Ok so if I bought FireTV, I could download the movies at home, and then use the FireTV at the RV to play them.....even without some kind of wifi? Just checking, cause that sounds like an interesting option.

You have to check what the requirements are depending on your service. I apologize if I made it sound so easy. Most services require a mobile device (phone, tablet, etc.) and it has to be offline in order to play. So you'll have to find a way to connect the device to a TV or an app to cast to another device.

[Mudfrog]

We have Directv at home. I didn't want to spend the money leasing an extra receiver for the motorhome so I opted to buy a separate dish outright and use the receiver from home. Ended up finding and buying an 18" single lng dish for $50 and got the tripod and coax off Ebay for less than that. It's been awhile but I know total cost was less than $100.

No HD and it only picks up 101 but that is the satellite that provides us most of the channels we like. The drawback is that we don't get the locals. However, they can usually be had via the amplified antenna anyway.

Just throwing this out as I wouldn't be surprised if a set up like this could be done with Dish. We're not full timing either it so this works out great for us.

As far as options for streaming, there's none that i'm willing to pay for. I'm a cheapskate and my very limited phone data plan wouldn't cover it at all. We would bring our Roku if we knew wifi would be available but most parks we go to rarely offer it.

[BodieJames]

We just went through this process on our new coach. We got Direct Tv service and the Roku. I bought a Sprint jet pack hot spot with 50 gb per month of high speed after that speed slows down.

Direct Tv - $75/mo- not impressed with all their programming. Use it mostly for local news. I just call them when we get to the next campground and change the “service” address using the campground address. Easy, they answer right away, are friendly. No problems.

Roku- we use it the most. PBS series, ABC, NBC, CBS shows. Plus YouTube...have to stay up to date on all the RV videos.

Sprint jet pack hot spot- $50/mo (includes device & service) went through 50gbs in 3 weeks so for one week had to use our cell phone hot spots...only 20 gbs. But I called Sprint and they said not to worry as unused data is carried over to the next month. So we budgeted our data and the second month we had 10gb high speed left which gave us 60 gb the third month. We are home now for 4weeks so 0 usage in month 4. So when we leave next month we wii have 60+50 (month 4) +50 new month = 160 go.

Just letting you know what we did. So far no problems.

[SeektheSon1]

Originally Posted by Mudfrog

We have Directv at home. I didn't want to spend the money leasing an extra receiver for the motorhome so I opted to buy a separate dish outright and use the receiver from home. Ended up finding and buying an 18" single lng dish for $50 and got the tripod and coax off Ebay for less than that. It's been awhile but I know total cost was less than $100.

No HD and it only picks up 101 but that is the satellite that provides us most of the channels we like. The drawback is that we don't get the locals. However, they can usually be had via the amplified antenna anyway.

Just throwing this out as I wouldn't be surprised if a set up like this could be done with Dish. We're not full timing either it so this works out great for us.

As far as options for streaming, there's none that i'm willing to pay for. I'm a cheapskate and my very limited phone data plan wouldn't cover it at all. We would bring our Roku if we knew wifi would be available but most parks we go to rarely offer it.

Reply: I hear ya, we don't want to spend too much if it can be done right and cheaper. It will cost us a bunch to get a new phone plan, (long story), so we will probably buy Dish's Dish antennae. Not cheap though. On the East coast, we have to have the more expensive Dish, they say, or we may not get good reception, and I think that Dish antennae is about 450.00. So the start up cost is there, but then the only monthly thing is 7.00 a month per receiver, and I can buy 69.00 refurbished receiver if I want, instead of new for 119. And I may very well bring one from home too for another TV. Just want to avoid ongoing costs that don't make sense for us. If we ended up with a different phone plan, I might consider unlimited data, but right now that is more than I want to pay. I'm thinking about getting Roku for home anyway, so I can just take that to the RV when we go out I guess. Sorry that your campgrounds have not had wifi. I'm not sure if it would stream well at a campground but worth a try. I guess I will find out what that is like when we finally buy our first RV. My brother in law's Class C RV came with an antennae of some kind, which has some channels that it picks up. He has no receivers and pays nothing for it. But I have no idea what he is getting and if that would be adequate for us. I guess if my RV came with an antennae like that I would try it before I buy more expensive equipment. Plus, there are always DVD's as somebody stated above. So, I guess that is always an option for some. Also, I like the idea of the Fire TV someone mentioned above, where you can download onto that device and play in your RV. If I understood that correctly, that might be better than Roku perhaps. I am pretty sure my husband would like to pick up the weekend baseball games though, haha. So, may have to go for the Dish too. : ) Thanks for your comments!!! All is appreciated and considered....

[SeektheSon1]

Originally Posted by BodieJames

We just went through this process on our new coach. We got Direct Tv service and the Roku. I bought a Sprint jet pack hot spot with 50 gb per month of high speed after that speed slows down.

Direct Tv - $75/mo- not impressed with all their programming. Use it mostly for local news. I just call them when we get to the next campground and change the “service” address using the campground address. Easy, they answer right away, are friendly. No problems.

Roku- we use it the most. PBS series, ABC, NBC, CBS shows. Plus YouTube...have to stay up to date on all the RV videos.

Sprint jet pack hot spot- $50/mo (includes device & service) went through 50gbs in 3 weeks so for one week had to use our cell phone hot spots...only 20 gbs. But I called Sprint and they said not to worry as unused data is carried over to the next month. So we budgeted our data and the second month we had 10gb high speed left which gave us 60 gb the third month. We are home now for 4weeks so 0 usage in month 4. So when we leave next month we wii have 60+50 (month 4) +50 new month = 160 go.

Just letting you know what we did. So far no problems.

Reply: I think that sounds reasonable. If we were full timers, I think that would be an excellent choice. As weekend warriors once a month or so, that would be more than we could pay with our home expenses. But an excellent suggestion on how to get it all! Would definitely like internet, but for weekends, I may just see if I can use the campground wifi. And if that doesn't work or not there, I will skip that luxury. I think as long as there is some decent stuff on tv, that will be ok for us. However, the jet pack is tempting, so who knows....could add it later! Thanks again for your comments. Us new and wanna be RV'ers need all the help we can get to find our way!

[Unicorn Driver]

I download Netflix, Amazon prime and BBC content to an android phone at home, I then cast it to a TV.

[SeektheSon1]

Originally Posted by Unicorn Driver

I download Netflix, Amazon prime and BBC content to an android phone at home, I then cast it to a TV.

Reply: that's interesting....another one I have not heard of. thanks!

[Brad2018]

I recently learned that Netflix downloads will expire 7 days after they are downloaded. Most from Amazon will expire in 30 days after downloaded.

[jarata]

I think what people are saying when your home download movies to your phone when your on the road connect phone to tv you don't use any internet,don't need dish direct or hot spot

That should be all you need

[Unicorn Driver]

New stuff is limited to 7 days. Last seasons stuff is much longer.

[79cvx20]

With https://www.playon.tv/ you record to your laptop hard drive and play it anytime, anywhere including airplanes. Not always perfect but you can record Netflix and Amazon Prime plus other subscriptions.

[Unicorn Driver]

So is Play on recording in real time?

[79cvx20]

Not sure but you can record subscriptions that you have to your laptop. Play back without Internet connection.

[79cvx20]

It is now approximately $30 for Lifetime which I guess that means they expect to be in business much longer.