Direct tv or?

[A.J.]

What do u have for your news and info while on the road?
We have the direct tv box hooked to our sat. dish but, don't have it activated.
Before we do so, what does everyone else use and how do you like it?

 

[bushpilot-TC]

Ive got trac-vision but dont use it....we're cable subscribers (for now), at home & ive been reluctant to subscribe just for the coach.

were pretty fed up w/ cable and are thinking of making the switch.
I dont have the hi-def dome, and id be happy w/ conventional (lower) resolution...if i could just take a box to/from house/coach when we travel....that way i can avoid additional "outlet" subscription fees.

does anyone know if a direct tv hi-def box can be used w/ a low def KVH Trac-Vision dome ?

 

[bushpilot-TC]

for TV we currently rely on a WineGuard RoadStar 2000 its "good enough", if youre w/in 35 or 50 miles of a broadcast antenna it works damn good (and i dont have to worry about lowering it).

it gets great HiDef (over the air) and our flat screens (inside the coach) dont require any D/A conversion.

our "basement" TV is the original Sony (analog) Tube...its a great tv, lots of contrast so you can watch it in bright sunlight (ive found some flat screens arent bright enough for outdoors). the basement Sony requires a D/A converter...I had to modify the outside tv/trim a little to place the D/A converter in the trim panel - but it was easy enough & it works well (even gives you program info and forward looking program schedules).

we TRY not to watch too much TV when camping....the whole idea is to get away from it all (or as much as you can in a luxury coach ....so we find that the OVER THE AIR antenna & local (HD Tv) gives us plenty of insight to the weather & local news.

 

[hot rod]

All we have so far is the crank up hdtv antenna from winegard. HDTV Local Television Channels in Your RV - Winegard Sensar As noted by Don it is also "good enough" when we are near a city, and the signal is quite nice for being limited to broadcast tv. We have also been looking into a satellite, when we go to the Keys in December and January our campground in Marathon does not have cable, and the only on air channel we can pickup is a spanish language station out of Miami. So we spent a month watching a lot of dvd's last year. It get's dark at 5:00 that time of year, so tv in the evening keeps the entertainment budget down to concentrate on the great things you can do in the daytime there. We have not been able to talk to anybody with experience with either of the 2 satellite companies, and were also hoping for some input before plunking down cash on the equipment. I do know one of the satellite companies has a deal for Rv'ers where you can prepay by the month and turn it on and off as you like, which sounds like a good deal as we definitely don't want to be locked into a year round contract. Any experience out there?

 

[bushpilot-TC]

Dish offers a Month to Month subscription (actually i think it might be 3 months at a time w/ no contract or obligation etc)....its no less than a regular subscription per se but at least youre not locked in.

what ive discovered w/ friends (who have sat)...in campgrounds, unless youve got a pretty good / clear shot of the sky, youre gonna have a tough time obtaining the link.

ive used our sat dish once or twice (to test it) - but most of the campgrounds we've been in have at least some shade/cover & TREES.

im starting to wonder if (when camping) a portable sat dish wouldnt be better...on more than on occasion friends have had to move theirs out to the campground road edge to get a link (cant do that w/ a dish thats mounted on your coach and parked under trees)

the folks at PPL are pretty knowledgable about sat tv & the options....you might wanna call them & get their thoughts and ideas

 

[Bob86ZZ4]

We have Directv at home. We have a in motion tracking dome on the coach. We don't have any high def. When we go on the road we take the directv box out of the bedroom and put it in the coach. Works great. When I get a couple hundred miles from home we no longer get the local broadcast channels on the sat box. When we're set up in a park someplace and want local channels I have a digital antenna that I attach to the rear view mirror with a bungie cord and plug into the system. Works pretty good. Agree a lot of sites don't have a good view of the satellite. Best would be using the tracking dome on the roof for on the road and open site use. Then if you are set up somewhere and don't get a sat view take out a portable dish and long cord and use that. Wire up a jack into one of your storage bays for plugging it in easy. I'd probably get one of those view cubes since they don't require any setup. Place it out on the ground and it'll find the satellite for you.

 

[bushpilot-TC]

Bob -

The receiver that you share between coach & home...is it a high def capable recv'r or a standard (low) def receiver ?

BTW i do a simular thing w/ XM Radio...i share one (pioneer digital) XM tuner between the Coach, our Jeep/dinghy & our f350 (i only drive one at a time, why pay for 3 tuner subscriptions).

 

[Bob86ZZ4]

No high def anything for me. I'm too cheap to pay for it. I think I remember reading somewhere that you could use a high def box hooked up to my in motion standard def dome and it would work but only standard def signal it would pick up. Sorry I don't have a high def. box to hook up to it to try it. Maybe some day when I'm parked in front I could borrow a neighbor's high def box and try plugging it in to see what it does.

 

[40's rock]

I'm looking at them, we are leaving for the Rubicon trail late August and 3 days straight on the road each way would be too much for my hi-tech kids....

The in-motions get HD with DISH, but apparently Direct TV uses a different band for their HD so no one has an in motion (that I have found) for Direct TV. I have both HD and std Direct TV boxes...will report back once I have install my in motion.

 

[bushpilot-TC]

just got this in email -

 

[40's rock]

Picked up an in motion from camping world on internet sale...will see how it works. I will just take the standard def box from the house along with a 47" flat screen...kids will be pacified.

 

[Frontrunner]

We have Direct TV with an in motion satellite. It's SD with a built-in receiver. However I've used a HD DVR in the past without issue. The system works great. I also have a portable auto tracking Vu-Cube in case my signal is blocked. If you need your TV, like me, Direct TV is a great choice.