Direct Tv in a RV.. Fun.. Yea right.. - RV-Dreams Community Forum

The Junkman · RV-Dreams Family Member

Direct Tv in a RV.. Fun.. Yea right..

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

Steve take the box from your house, let an independent installer hook you up.....I Think....G

PD CFK · RV-Dreams Family Member

Steve, for the first two years all I did was move the two house receivers, (both HD DVR) to the RV. Once the RV is set up you just push the button to raise the Winegard Slimline and it locks onto all the satellites for the same selections I have in the house. Two independent HD DVR's just like in the big house.

About a year ago I had WI-FI installed in my big house and some SWM features including the SWM LNB. This now requires me to change the antennae type in settings when swapping from one location to the other. No big deal at all, and I still get all the channels as if I were in the big house.

Yours may not be that simple since you said you had a SWM antennae, there are additional boxes/splitters required with a SWM system. Good luck.

FYI: in 3.5 years, only twice was the antennae, mounted on top of the fifth wheel, not been able to get all the Direct TV stations.

I don't feel I'm abusing any regulations since we're paying for using the Direct TV service either at the big house or the little house, not both.

Rob_Fla · RV-Dreams Family Member

That sure sounds expensive for watching TV.

Sushidog · RV-Dreams Family Member

Most RV parks I've researched offer free cable (or maybe $1/day for cable) and free WiFi. Unless you are planning on boondocking a lot and must have Sat TV at all costs, as free over-the-air broadcast TV (antenna based) providing local news and weather won't do, and you-re willing to pay then go for it. This is not within my meager FT budget. TThough I do enjoy direct TV now (at about $75/mo.) I will have to forgo this extravagence for the lifestyle I desire.

Chip

Rob_Fla · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have Dish pay about $75 a month too and get all the TV I can stand to watch :)

Camper Chronicles · RV-Dreams Family Member

TV is a big part of our life too...but I am hoping it is much less so when we get out on the road. The problem is all our favorite shows are on HBO and Showtime and to get those Chanel's you have to go premium packages. It's a real shame HBO go and Showtime Go ( which I use when traveling all the time and work great) are not available as standalone services. Anyways we are talking through all the options including downloading shows or renting and sticking with the basic. Haven't worked it all out yet but for some folks (ourselves included) at least starting out this is a big decision point.

Appreciate the info

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

One option we are kicking around is not having satellite TV at all, and directing the funds or a portion of it toward buying additional bandwidth on our internet service. $80 dollars of Satellite service buys an extra 16GB on Verizon with an existing 4GB share plan or 20GB for $90 a month from Millenicom. IF we already had 20GB of data budgeted, we'd now have at least 40GB/month... that's a lot of video, etc. Yeah we would miss live events, but some local TV over the air might be available , the rest could be streamed.(depending local reception) My current work schedule has me in bed before some of my favs come on TV but with On Demand(comcast) or netflix etc I can watch them at my leisure when I want. By watching the stuff I want this way, I avoid the mindless plunking myself on the couch and just endure whatever is on. I also find I'm getting more things done with my new free time. Just a thought. Everybody has different viewing needs smile

FWIW, Brian

-- Edited by biggaRView on Sunday 27th of July 2014 01:05:32 PM

Glenn West · RV-Dreams Family Member

Steve, we use the portable sat dish. We can park under trees in summer and get satellite. We do use Dish. We get more tv than we need. $79.00 monthly. With the portables we are limited on boxes, no recording. We bought our own DVR and use it. Cheaper that way too.

-- Edited by Glenn West on Sunday 27th of July 2014 12:01:56 PM

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

40GB is not "a lot of video". It is about 5 hours a day of H.264 at 720p according to http://www.stardot.com/bandwidth-and-storage-calculator. MJPEG (common) uses 5 times as much data. 1080p uses about twice as much.

BiggarView · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bill, I didn't say it was for everyone. Not even sure is it right for us. We are not big TV watchers these days anyway, some vids and some streaming music now, mostly browsing, downloading books, and email and we are between 7GB and 20GB, that leaves some room for a few movies and TV shows just on the data we would be paying for. Add in some CG wifi, libraries here and there etc. and for now it seems we could be just fine. This particular "pie" is only half baked at this point and a lot could change by the time we hit the road. We already have an extensive music collection stored digitally, and more than a few movies & books also thanks to unlimited internet here at our S&B. Use it while we have it. smile

I also hear you on 40GB, it could easily get burned through in any given month. As an example, when we signed up for Amazon Prime, I watched/streamed over 200 episodes of Stargate SG1(yeah I'm a junkie) in less than a month, then we streamed 2 dozen movies and the first 3 seasons of Downton Abbey in the second month before season 4 was aired on PBS. I wish I had paid attention to that data usage... it had to be high and obviously I couldn't do that in the scenario I'm suggesting. For not being heavy TV users... we binged on the newness of Amazon Prime, we have since settled back to our usual routine. biggrin biggrin biggrin

Sorry, Terry, did not mean to stray off the Direct TV angle of the thread... Just offering some outside the box thinking to the discussion as an option.

-- Edited by biggaRView on Sunday 27th of July 2014 02:37:28 PM

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Not a problem, Brian. Your scenario is still a viable option for some.

Terry

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

40 GB a month isn't much if you're watching movies with it.

sdman · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just want to respond to the roof top Direct TV seeing through trees, this is not true. We are frequently in a site that we get little (one sat) or none. It doesn't take a lot of limbs in the way to make a big difference either. For us, this is not a problem for just a couple of days. However it would be a problem if we were set up for a month or more. The only time we were having an issue with trees and we were set up for a month we could still get sat 101 so we could get the SD stations with Direct TV so it was OK. We don't carry a tripod/dish yet and we have been FT for 2 years now. I guess TV is not a real big deal to us, but we also have most of the time been able to get either Direct TV or OTA TV with the batwing. The very few times we haven't been able to get any TV we just did something else for a day or two.

D and M · RV-Dreams Family Member

Steve,

When I picked up my rig at RVs For Less, Directv came there and did the install. One DVR with Genie connected to my slimline dish.

Dave

D and M · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVs For Less installed the dish and I called the 800 number for Directv and scheduled a regular install appointment. Directv shows my service address as the RVs For Less address but they show my PO box as my mailing address. This seems to have worked well so far. I am thinking about changing my address to my daughter's in Denver hoping that would always get me the Denver local stations. That way I'd get the all the Broncos games ;>)....just doing some more research to make sure there are no problems in doing so.

D and M · RV-Dreams Family Member

Directv had trouble finding the right coax connected to the Traveler so they put a dish on the fence to get it working (no additional cost). RVs For Less then connected it to the Traveler and I kept the other dish for my portable.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

This may be helpful to some:

It is not illegal to take a Direct TV receiver from you home or fixed address and use it in the RV. Direct TV could care less.

The “illegal” issue concerns getting the networks (CBS, ABC, Fox, etc.) direct from satellite ALL over the United States, not just the local stations. IF you want network service (called Direct Network Service or DNS for short) you must sign some papers that say the receiver / antenna is ONLY used in the RV. The form is on the Direct TV site. This is an FCC, government requirement. (Why is not the issue – it’s the law.) You may not have DNS at a fixed (home / building) location. This has nothing to do with getting the local channels from a particular area via satellite. The illegal part is putting a receiver with DNS at a fixed, non-mobile location.

If you want DNS so you can get CBS, ABC, Fox, etc. network service throughout the 48 states go here:

http://www.directv.com/learn/pdf/DNS_Vehicles_Aff.pdf

Fill out the form and follow the instructions. This is the form necessary for DNS in addition to your regular Direct TV service. Do this AFTER you have regular Direct TV service working.

As pertains to getting a signal when there are trees: With the Winegard Trav’ler antenna you can manually tell it to only seek satellite # 101. (It’s in the manual to change from multi-satellite to manual - one satellite seeking.) The 101 satellite has everything on it programming wise but only in Standard Definition. The High Definition comes from satellites 99 and 103. Now, it can find the 101 satellite a lot easier than the other two satellites 99 and 103. But when it does find 101 many many times 99 and 103 will come in as well as they are so physically close. “It depends.” Works for me 95% of the time and I’ve been doing this a very long time.

Anyone interested in more details of this might like to do a search for Direct TV or satellite TV. There have been numerous threads that have outlined much of this over the years in detail.

Direct TV works extremely well on the road and is the most flexible system for RV use due to needing only one satellite to get programming albeit in SD and the fact the HD satellites are so close to the SD bird. The installation for a Travl’er SWM-3 to Direct TV receiver is one cable simple to each receiver. When asked I recommend the HR-24 (or HR-23) DVR receivers. They boot quickly and are the least complicated to install with the single wire requirement from the antenna to the receiver.

Bill

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

My mother-in-law just had an interesting experience with her new motorhome, a Winnebago Sightseer. It came with HDMI as the only TV connection. That meant she needed an HDMI DirecTV DVR, which is designed for HD. But her dish on the roof was SD, not HD, and the house DirecTV service was also SD. It took extra time and effort to get a waiver to use the HD DVR just for SD.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

bjoyce wrote:
My mother-in-law just had an interesting experience with her new motorhome, a Winnebago Sightseer. It came with HDMI as the only TV connection. That meant she needed an HDMI DirecTV DVR, which is designed for HD. But her dish on the roof was SD, not HD, and the house DirecTV service was also SD. It took extra time and effort to get a waiver to use the HD DVR just for SD.

Bill:

Thanks interesting. I run the HD DVR on an 18” antenna with SD reception all the time in really bad places with obstructions. Are you saying it was difficult to get the HD DRV initially authorized without the two HD birds? Or was it that you didn’t (I wouldn’t either) want to pay the extra for HD that couldn’t receive or enjoy. (There can be some guide data download issues when you can't see all the birds for extended periods of time.)

Just curious as to the exact snag.

Thanks

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bill and Linda wrote:
bjoyce wrote:
My mother-in-law just had an interesting experience with her new motorhome, a Winnebago Sightseer. It came with HDMI as the only TV connection. That meant she needed an HDMI DirecTV DVR, which is designed for HD. But her dish on the roof was SD, not HD, and the house DirecTV service was also SD. It took extra time and effort to get a waiver to use the HD DVR just for SD.

Bill:

Thanks interesting. I run the HD DVR on an 18” antenna with SD reception all the time in really bad places with obstructions. Are you saying it was difficult to get the HD DRV initially authorized without the two HD birds? Or was it that you didn’t (I wouldn’t either) want to pay the extra for HD that couldn’t receive or enjoy. (There can be some guide data download issues when you can't see all the birds for extended periods of time.)

Just curious as to the exact snag.
Thanks

DirecTV would not authorize the HD DVR without HD service in the house, which is actually my sister-in-law's house. Neither the RV or house has an HD dish, so paying extra for something they could not use was a sticking point. The DVR is working fine recording SD and they did provide a waiver from DirecTVs policy of HDMI receivers and DVRs only working with HD service. My mother-in-law blames La Mesa RV for the mess, since they installed the SD only automatic dish and blamed her existing DVR for being "too old". An independent RV tech figured out they needed HDMI, so we wonder how La Mesa tested the dish? DirecTV tried to send the DVR to the house first, since the house needed to be upgraded first. La Mesa stopped taking her phone calls, since they did not want to pay to replace her SD dish with HD. A total mess.

I understand why Winnebago went with HDMI wiring, it saved them money, but the dealer and RV tech had not seen it come from the factory before.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Thursday 31st of July 2014 07:55:12 PM

-- Edited by bjoyce on Thursday 31st of July 2014 07:58:23 PM

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

bjoyce wrote:
Bill and Linda wrote:
bjoyce wrote:
My mother-in-law just had an interesting experience with her new motorhome, a Winnebago Sightseer. It came with HDMI as the only TV connection. That meant she needed an HDMI DirecTV DVR, which is designed for HD. But her dish on the roof was SD, not HD, and the house DirecTV service was also SD. It took extra time and effort to get a waiver to use the HD DVR just for SD.

Bill:

Thanks interesting. I run the HD DVR on an 18” antenna with SD reception all the time in really bad places with obstructions. Are you saying it was difficult to get the HD DRV initially authorized without the two HD birds? Or was it that you didn’t (I wouldn’t either) want to pay the extra for HD that couldn’t receive or enjoy. (There can be some guide data download issues when you can't see all the birds for extended periods of time.)

Just curious as to the exact snag.
Thanks
DirecTV would not authorize the HD DVR without HD service in the house, which is actually my sister-in-law's house. Neither the RV or house has an HD dish, so paying extra for something they could not use was a sticking point. The DVR is working fine recording SD and they did provide a waiver from DirecTVs policy of HDMI receivers and DVRs only working with HD service. My mother-in-law blames La Mesa RV for the mess, since they installed the SD only automatic dish and blamed her existing DVR for being "too old". An independent RV tech figured out they needed HDMI, so we wonder how La Mesa tested the dish? DirecTV tried to send the DVR to the house first, since the house needed to be upgraded first. La Mesa stopped taking her phone calls, since they did not want to pay to replace her SD dish with HD. A total mess.
I understand why Winnebago went with HDMI wiring, it saved them money, but the dealer and RV tech had not seen it come from the factory before.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Thursday 31st of July 2014 07:55:12 PM

-- Edited by bjoyce on Thursday 31st of July 2014 07:58:23 PM

Bill, thanks for the clarification. That’s as I thought it would be but wanted to make sure. Seems I've read other reports about the RV dealer you mentioned – none good. I agree, doubt they actually tested the complete antenna system. Few RV dealers and OEMs really understand TV / entertainment systems. They are an afterthought. Some do, but a very few based on the number of times I’ve had to rewire people’s rigs so they work as designed.

As for the HDMI only wiring – yes, I hate to say it but it’s time to move on from composite and component cables as well as “stereo” audio cables. So I do understand why RV OEMs would move in this direction. I actually have a TV set that only has an HDMI input. That’s it.

Glad Direct TV offered that waiver.

cheryls-other-half · RV-Dreams Family Member

If I'm understanding correctly, you need a new tap for the antenna.

Radio shack should have a 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 (or 4 to one) coax splitter, that would be helpful..

cheers