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  1. #1
    Big Traveler JCZhome's Avatar
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    TV for full timers.....Direct or Dish?

    Getting the 376Th ready for us to go full time once I retire in a couple of months. Technology challenged so we don't have a clue.

    We do not have either, currently. Talking to the guy at the RV shop yesterday....explained what we want....we have 3 TVs and would like to be able to watch two different channels at the same time in the bedroom and living room and also want to be able to record our regular programs. He told me that both Direct and Dish had the ability with a DVR to meet our needs and that both also offer HD. A ball park figure for either, installed, here in San Diego.....approx. $3,100.

    He also said that either dish, you just push a button and hold the button down and the dish would raise and seek out the satellite. Is it really that simple?

    I do know that Direct has more to offer for sports but neither of us are much for spectator type sports.....believe it. I'd rather be riding my Harley than watch a ball game.

    Those of you that are full timing with the considerations I've outlined above, please tell us which you would go with and why (other than sports)?
    SOLD my 2017 Momentum 376TH being pulled by a 2014 Ford F-350 Lariat, FX-4, Crew Cab, Longbed, Dually. Not pulling the 5er, catch me on my 2013 CVO Harley Ultra Classic.

    Map = states that we've stayed at least one night in our RV.

    http://visitedstatesmap.com/image/AR...TNTXUTWYsm.jpg

  2. #2
    Site Team Second Chance's Avatar
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    If you'll search the forum, you'll find dozens - if not more - of threads pertaining to this. Reading through them, you'll also find many pros and cons as well as conclusions. We are Dish because we can get HD on a portable antenna and a month-to-month account aimed at RVers. Neither company has good customer service.

    Rob
    U.S. Army Retired
    2012 F350 DRW CC LB Lariat PS 6.7
    2020 Solitude 310GK-R, MORryde IS, disc brakes,
    Sailun LRG tires, solar, DP windows, W/D
    (Previously in a Reflection 337RLS)
    Full time since 08/2015

  3. #3
    Big Traveler JCZhome's Avatar
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    Thank you Rob. I did go through the first five pages of "Full Timing Your Grand Design RV" and while I did find posts about satellite TV, I did not find answers to my specific questions.

    We have read on this forum and others but it's convoluted to somebody that's technology challenged. Some mention this and that but don't have HD or are not able to watch more than one channel at a time, etc. so I thought I'd lay out very specifically what our goals are and hopefully there'll be others that had/have the exact same goals that can share with us. I've even read that if you have HD that you can't watch different stations on different TVs at the same time? We want to do this just one time and so thought we'd lean on others experiences and we've not found the answers to our questions in other posts.

    Considering that we're going to be going full time in a couple of months....not sure the month to month would be important. Wouldn't we be using it every month or is there something that we're missing? I mean do full timers go for periods of time without satellite TV?
    SOLD my 2017 Momentum 376TH being pulled by a 2014 Ford F-350 Lariat, FX-4, Crew Cab, Longbed, Dually. Not pulling the 5er, catch me on my 2013 CVO Harley Ultra Classic.

    Map = states that we've stayed at least one night in our RV.

    http://visitedstatesmap.com/image/AR...TNTXUTWYsm.jpg

  4. #4
    Big Traveler arhayes's Avatar
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    We have neither, but one thing to keep in mind is that a fixed antenna will restrict where you can be parked. We've seen many folks changing sites, etc because they couldn't "see" the satellite for the trees. With a portable antenna, you have options.

    We just use over the air TV for free which is all in HD, or cable in the parks that offer it. In our 3 years of full-timing, we have had more than ample shows available. We do also carry some DVD movies for bad weather and can stream shows if there's something we wanted to see. Today, for example, we are near Fargo, ND and have 12 over the air HD channels available.


    Alan
    Alan and Kathleen
    2015 Momentum 380TH (RVD2)
    2014 Ford F350 Dually (Stormtrooper)
    2012 Honda Goldwing Navi/ABS (Land Speeder)

  5. #5
    Long Hauler bertschb's Avatar
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    You'll get lots of arguments in favor of both. We have DirecTV at home so we just grab our DVR and take it with us on the road. As others have said, there are lots of good threads on this topic. To answer one of your questions - yes, with an auto-aiming dish it really is as simple as pushing a button. It's pretty cool!
    Brian & Kellie
    2020 Solitude 310GK-R, FBP, 1,460w solar, 540ah BBGC3, MORryde IS w/disc brakes
    2020 F-350 Platinum SRW Powerstroke Tremor, 60g TF fuel tank, Hensley BD3-F air bag hitch

    Previous setups:
    2019 Solitude 373FB-R, 2019 F-350 Platinum DRW Powerstroke, Hensley BD5 air bag hitch
    2016 Reflection 318RST, 2016 GMC 3500 Denali SRW Duramax, Hensley BD3 air bag hitch

  6. #6
    Site Team Second Chance's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JCZhome View Post
    Thank you Rob. I did go through the first five pages of "Full Timing Your Grand Design RV" and while I did find posts about satellite TV, I did not find answers to my specific questions.

    We have read on this forum and others but it's convoluted to somebody that's technology challenged. Some mention this and that but don't have HD or are not able to watch more than one channel at a time, etc. so I thought I'd lay out very specifically what our goals are and hopefully there'll be others that had/have the exact same goals that can share with us. I've even read that if you have HD that you can't watch different stations on different TVs at the same time? We want to do this just one time and so thought we'd lean on others experiences and we've not found the answers to our questions in other posts.

    Considering that we're going to be going full time in a couple of months....not sure the month to month would be important. Wouldn't we be using it every month or is there something that we're missing? I mean do full timers go for periods of time without satellite TV?
    The comment above about portable ("carry-out") antennas is a valid one and why we chose to go that way. We use a Winegard Pathway X2 antenna with a Wally. The X2 will support two receivers, but the programming on both receivers must originate from the same satellite. This is because the portable antennas are single-LNB units and only pick up one satellite at a time - although the X2 does that and switches between satellites automatically. We only have and watch one TV, so it's not an issue for us. We have a hard drive connected to our Wally which makes a DVR out of it and it records our favorite shows when we're not around or when we want to watch a previously recorded show and skip through commercials.

    As for going periods without satellite TV, we've already had it happen and plan on a month of that in 2018. The two months we were volunteer camp hosts in the Pisgah National Forest, the tree canopy was too thick for satellite reception... even with a carry-out antenna! Next year, we plan on putting our rig in storage and spending a month in Cuenca, Ecuador. We can just deactivate the account for these periods. We also just use over-the-air (OTA) TV when I don't feel like setting up the antenna for a one-nighter when we're it "get somewhere" mode.

    I don't know anything about Direct TV, but we chose the "Dish For My RV" account because you cannot change locals and get them outside your home service area with a fixed "home style" account. DTV has DNS service where you can opt for either LA or NYC locals all the time. The time zone issues don't appeal to me with that setup.

    As Alan mentioned, DVDs are good, too - especially for movies. There are RedBoxes almost everywhere and you can't beat the price.

    Rob
    U.S. Army Retired
    2012 F350 DRW CC LB Lariat PS 6.7
    2020 Solitude 310GK-R, MORryde IS, disc brakes,
    Sailun LRG tires, solar, DP windows, W/D
    (Previously in a Reflection 337RLS)
    Full time since 08/2015

  7. #7
    Big Traveler JCZhome's Avatar
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    A big help already Rob. Appreciate it.

    What is a Wally?

    I'm confused about the X2. You say it will support two receivers from the same satellite. Then you say the X2 switches between two satelittes automatically? So it looks like the X2 does both? And will either of those options get us two separate channels (two different TVs) at the same time?

    There's a consideration that I hadn't thought of.....being under a canopy of trees for a long period of time. We've only been out a couple of times but both places did not have any mature trees.

    FWIW, we've not used any of the three TVs yet. It currently has the previous owners Apple TV hooked up and we don't have the access to get in to that. We were just biding our time until we got our own satellite system installed.

    I did hook up a cable from the pedestal to the jack marked "cable in" however, that didn't seem to have any affect on the TV inside. I just assumed it was/is because he had his Apple TV hooked up.
    SOLD my 2017 Momentum 376TH being pulled by a 2014 Ford F-350 Lariat, FX-4, Crew Cab, Longbed, Dually. Not pulling the 5er, catch me on my 2013 CVO Harley Ultra Classic.

    Map = states that we've stayed at least one night in our RV.

    http://visitedstatesmap.com/image/AR...TNTXUTWYsm.jpg

  8. #8
    Site Team Second Chance's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JCZhome View Post
    A big help already Rob. Appreciate it.

    What is a Wally? A Wally is a Dish 2xx series single-tuner receiver .

    I'm confused about the X2. You say it will support two receivers from the same satellite. Then you say the X2 switches between two satelittes automatically? So it looks like the X2 does both? And will either of those options get us two separate channels (two different TVs) at the same time? Only if the two channels are on the same satellite. The X2 is a single LNB (the node that catches the signal) antenna and can only pick up one satellite at a time. If you change to a channel that's on a different satellite, the X2 re-aims itself.

    There's a consideration that I hadn't thought of.....being under a canopy of trees for a long period of time. We've only been out a couple of times but both places did not have any mature trees.

    FWIW, we've not used any of the three TVs yet. It currently has the previous owners Apple TV hooked up and we don't have the access to get in to that. We were just biding our time until we got our own satellite system installed.

    I did hook up a cable from the pedestal to the jack marked "cable in" however, that didn't seem to have any affect on the TV inside. I just assumed it was/is because he had his Apple TV hooked up. If it was cable from your house, you would need a cable box on the TV inside the rig. You also have to turn the antenna amplifier off in the rig for the cable signal to pass through. Otherwise, the TVs only get the signal from the OTA antenna.
    See above.

    Rob
    U.S. Army Retired
    2012 F350 DRW CC LB Lariat PS 6.7
    2020 Solitude 310GK-R, MORryde IS, disc brakes,
    Sailun LRG tires, solar, DP windows, W/D
    (Previously in a Reflection 337RLS)
    Full time since 08/2015

  9. #9
    Big Traveler JCZhome's Avatar
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    Thank you!
    SOLD my 2017 Momentum 376TH being pulled by a 2014 Ford F-350 Lariat, FX-4, Crew Cab, Longbed, Dually. Not pulling the 5er, catch me on my 2013 CVO Harley Ultra Classic.

    Map = states that we've stayed at least one night in our RV.

    http://visitedstatesmap.com/image/AR...TNTXUTWYsm.jpg

  10. #10
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    Started full timing starting the 1st of this month.
    I went with dish because it's what I was currently using. One thing to consider right now is direct tv if you are an AT&T customer. They have free streaming from your phone enabled hot spot.
    I bought a dish 1000.2 satallite dish. The carry outs don't work with the hopper reciever. You'd have to get a wally and add the DVR. The direct tv carry outs don't support HD from what I understand. You'd have to get the expensive dish for that.
    I plan in the future to get the fixed satallite dish. Aiming the 1000.2 was a real pain.

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