I have been a DirecTV customer for decades and had it in motion in our last RV. Unfortunately when I went to have the dealer transfer my dome to my new RV I found out that DirecTV is discontinuing SD and no in motion dishes are available at a affordable price (under 10k) for HDTV for DirecTV. Looks like we will be switching to Dish.
I'm a newbie to RV, and was hoping to get a satellite solution integrated into my custom RV build. Forget that, apparently. Satellite shenanigans FTW. I'm currently (since 1987) a DirecTv customer, and have been "extremely" (emphasis) dissatisfied with every aspect of service and customer service since DirecTv was acquired by AT&T. There is "nothing" good to say about any experience we've had since the merge. Used to be able to replace a receiver with a phone call, have it in your hand the next day by FedEx, now they have to schedule someone to come out and verify that your unit is dead (after we have long already troubleshooted/reset/etc. ourselves). Can't order a movie on demand like we should, by just clicking on Rent; doesn't work now. Neither does ordering by text message... for some time now. Have to call in to order a film and navigate their atrocious phone menu just to order a film. Any service call of any kind gets you the India call center and phone tree navigation hell, and reps who are atrocious at resolving issues. The onscreen menu's have been "revamped" to be like Uverse, and they are worse now. The pause, back, and fast forward never stop where you want, and glitch constantly. I used to have AT&T phone and DirecTv satellite, and when they merged they totally screwed up the online log ins for their loyal customers who had both; wasn't able to do anything online for either service type for over a year, techs unable to resolve, couldn't do "anything" online for either, and finally I switched phone to Verizon to resolve the issue. They charge extra for 4k service, and then only offer one channel of travelogue content (and one movie on demand) to use it... for years now and counting. For months, they've had the CW channel offline in a contract dispute. Months. No MeTV, ever (yikes, right?) They just are terrible since AT&T, and I used to love DirecTv, was their strongest advocate. AT&T trashed DirecTv. Now, on to RV'ing. This video is 1 1/2 years old, and appears to be stale info. In speaking to DirecTv today, someone in India who assured me I'd hang up with full satisfaction, that in order to use your RV a weekend a month, or two weeks a month, or whatever, you have to have a separate essentially full price account for viewing it on your RV. That ended the call on a good note, she was correct, but in that I now have full motivation to end my relationship with DirecTv. Good day, she was correct. From what I can see... on Dishnet, it''s an extra $7 a month to view on the RV. No brainer? Still digging deeper, but this is probably the nail in the coffin for me and DirecTv. Have wanted to pull that plug for a year. They're miserably inept and terrible.
I've never used one, but I believe that Dish supports it. Here's a site that I found that advertises a motion system for Dish Network for RVs. www.dieselboss.com/in-motion-satellite-tv-for-truck-rv-winegard.htm
Great explanation of the subject matter. I have Dish at home and want to take my receiver from home when we go camping. We did this with our previous 5th wheel. The main reason we like to do this is because we like access to dvr'd shows that we previously recorded at home. The downside is having to transport it back and forth. I am wondering if there is an easy way to buy an external hard drive and down load the shows to the hard drive and just take it with us. I realize by doing it this way we would have to purchase another receiver and would this new receiver, with the pay as you go plan from Dish be capable of downloading dvr events from an external hard drive and play them back. I can't count the number of times we have parked and not received signal but with dvr'd shows at least you have something to watch. It may be that I'm making it more complicated than just continuing to move the home receiver back and forth when we go camping. Thoughts?
Rick, you can certainly get an external drive, but that won't solve your problem. You've got to have something (a receiver) to which you will connect the drive. It's difficult to keep separate receivers in the RV and the stick 'n brick because you have to change locals, and changing them in one place changes them in the other. The only reasonable solution would be to have Wally's on each end (house and RV), with an external hard drive that you would move from one place to another. Again, there are issues. Besides the local channel, you also have the issue of tuners. With a Wally, you only have a single tuner. If you've got to move a disk drive back and forth, why not just move a Hopper - which contains a drive? Suggest you talk to a local, independent installer to go over your best options.
The problem I had when I wanted my local Phoenix channels while raving in Dallas was when you call up Dish Networks and give them your zip code it changes how your DVR at home records. We lost all our future recordings from our home DVR while traveling down the road because Dish thought we were still in Dallas. You can not switch zip codes on the fly or you would not be recording while on the phone with Dish Networks. It's best to use your OTA antenna on the roof of your Rv for local channels instead of messing with your DVR zip code setup.
Yep. That'll surely happen if you leave your recording unit at the house. We took our entire setup with us. When we got home, we just moved the receivers (Hopper and Joeys) back into the house and connected the wires. Easy-peasy. And we always had all of our recordings and shows with us.
Hi Mike... For a new RVer that's never had any satellite use/experience at home (and we've recently sold our house); would you suggest the Wally or the Hopper for use with Dish network? We don't watch much TV. I have a TV in the RV living area, and a TV in the bedroom. Thx, Scott
Scott, if you want three tuners (watch two shows on two TVs and record another), then a Hopper is best. A Wally has only one tuner. You can, however, get an external hard drive to connect to the Wally (one-time fee of $40) to record shows when you're not using it to watch TV. A Wally is compatible with more types of antennas. For you, probably a Wally.
Hello Mike. I have a major concern. some years ago I had a sat.tv system, it seamed that in bad weather (rain, snow) the system did not work well. Is this the same with RV Sat. Systems or have they gotten better over the years
George, there's not major change - they still may not work well in bad weather. We've had a good overall experience with light rains, but in some of the worst rains (no snow for us yet!), we have lost signal for a little while. That's why I like having a system that allows me to record shows I like, and also to have all prime time shows automatically recorded for me. If the weather's bad and we want to watch TV, we either watch recordings or on-demand shows.
Mike hello, I have seen you on a couple of Facebook pages that I administer and have a question for you. I have a Winegard in motion sat system that was factory installed on a used (2014) RV that is presently set up for Direct. I love HD but as you know, in motion dishes do not receive Direct HD. I have Direct at home but am considering switching to Dish to allow for HD programing in our RV. My main concern with that is that recording while parked is a problem with the in motion type sats. Is it true that there are issues with watching one show and trying to record another due to the inability of the small motion sats to get multiple sat signals? Also we want to use at least 2 TV's in our coach and want to be able to watch different programs at the same time. What would you recomend in my situation? Thanks..Ray
I'm not that familiar with the in-motion units, but it certainly seems logical to me that a dish (in-motion) that is pointed to only one satellite at a time can only provide signals for that satellite. Now, if the receiver you're using has multiple tuners (like a Hopper), or if you have two single-tuner receivers connected to the dish with a splitter, then you would be able to record one show while watching another IF they're on the same satellite. The things you want are the things I wanted, so I got an independent installer to put in a Hopper and a couple of Joey's. My Hopper has three tuners (it's a Hopper Sling). However, the Hopper isn't compatible with the in-motion units. You'd need something like a Travler on the roof and/or a tripod-mounted Dish 1000.2 antenna to take full advantage of getting all of the HD possible on all three of the Western Arc dish satellites. Bottom line is that you should find a good, local, independent Dish retailer/installer who will come out to your coach and put together the system you want. The equipment isn't that expensive, and (IMHO), the same is true of the labor.
MIke, can you help me iwth this question? I am a full time RV'er. Id like to earn some additional income by teaching English, on the internet, to Chinese and Japanese students, What I like about it, is that you work early in the morning. Then we would have the rest of the day to tour the area. I would need to have 100% good voice and video contact. What equipment would I need (computer, antena) and internet service (we have Verizon for our phone) to accomplish this?
I recommend the new Verizon hotspot that's truly unlimited and costs $65 per month. Also consider a Weboost 4G-X cellular booster. Go to the Facebook group called Internet for RVers and Cruisers to get more info. Any good laptop will work. And go to Best Buy and get a good USB microphone. Good luck!
I have been a DirecTV customer for decades and had it in motion in our last RV. Unfortunately when I went to have the dealer transfer my dome to my new RV I found out that DirecTV is discontinuing SD and no in motion dishes are available at a affordable price (under 10k) for HDTV for DirecTV. Looks like we will be switching to Dish.
Why did I do just that? transfered my dish and direct to my new camper..must not have got the truth!
Thank You for helping me with Direct TV and Dish info...We just became full time RV's..Some RV places were down on there cable and internet..
I'm a newbie to RV, and was hoping to get a satellite solution integrated into my custom RV build. Forget that, apparently. Satellite shenanigans FTW. I'm currently (since 1987) a DirecTv customer, and have been "extremely" (emphasis) dissatisfied with every aspect of service and customer service since DirecTv was acquired by AT&T. There is "nothing" good to say about any experience we've had since the merge. Used to be able to replace a receiver with a phone call, have it in your hand the next day by FedEx, now they have to schedule someone to come out and verify that your unit is dead (after we have long already troubleshooted/reset/etc. ourselves). Can't order a movie on demand like we should, by just clicking on Rent; doesn't work now. Neither does ordering by text message... for some time now. Have to call in to order a film and navigate their atrocious phone menu just to order a film. Any service call of any kind gets you the India call center and phone tree navigation hell, and reps who are atrocious at resolving issues. The onscreen menu's have been "revamped" to be like Uverse, and they are worse now. The pause, back, and fast forward never stop where you want, and glitch constantly. I used to have AT&T phone and DirecTv satellite, and when they merged they totally screwed up the online log ins for their loyal customers who had both; wasn't able to do anything online for either service type for over a year, techs unable to resolve, couldn't do "anything" online for either, and finally I switched phone to Verizon to resolve the issue. They charge extra for 4k service, and then only offer one channel of travelogue content (and one movie on demand) to use it... for years now and counting. For months, they've had the CW channel offline in a contract dispute. Months. No MeTV, ever (yikes, right?) They just are terrible since AT&T, and I used to love DirecTv, was their strongest advocate. AT&T trashed DirecTv.
Now, on to RV'ing. This video is 1 1/2 years old, and appears to be stale info. In speaking to DirecTv today, someone in India who assured me I'd hang up with full satisfaction, that in order to use your RV a weekend a month, or two weeks a month, or whatever, you have to have a separate essentially full price account for viewing it on your RV. That ended the call on a good note, she was correct, but in that I now have full motivation to end my relationship with DirecTv. Good day, she was correct. From what I can see... on Dishnet, it''s an extra $7 a month to view on the RV. No brainer? Still digging deeper, but this is probably the nail in the coffin for me and DirecTv. Have wanted to pull that plug for a year. They're miserably inept and terrible.
i need a system that will work while in motion...any suggestions ?
I've never used one, but I believe that Dish supports it. Here's a site that I found that advertises a motion system for Dish Network for RVs. www.dieselboss.com/in-motion-satellite-tv-for-truck-rv-winegard.htm
Great explanation of the subject matter. I have Dish at home and want to take my receiver from home when we go camping. We did this with our previous 5th wheel. The main reason we like to do this is because we like access to dvr'd shows that we previously recorded at home. The downside is having to transport it back and forth. I am wondering if there is an easy way to buy an external hard drive and down load the shows to the hard drive and just take it with us. I realize by doing it this way we would have to purchase another receiver and would this new receiver, with the pay as you go plan from Dish be capable of downloading dvr events from an external hard drive and play them back. I can't count the number of times we have parked and not received signal but with dvr'd shows at least you have something to watch. It may be that I'm making it more complicated than just continuing to move the home receiver back and forth when we go camping. Thoughts?
Rick, you can certainly get an external drive, but that won't solve your problem. You've got to have something (a receiver) to which you will connect the drive. It's difficult to keep separate receivers in the RV and the stick 'n brick because you have to change locals, and changing them in one place changes them in the other. The only reasonable solution would be to have Wally's on each end (house and RV), with an external hard drive that you would move from one place to another. Again, there are issues. Besides the local channel, you also have the issue of tuners. With a Wally, you only have a single tuner. If you've got to move a disk drive back and forth, why not just move a Hopper - which contains a drive? Suggest you talk to a local, independent installer to go over your best options.
The problem I had when I wanted my local Phoenix channels while raving in Dallas was when you call up Dish Networks and give them your zip code it changes how your DVR at home records. We lost all our future recordings from our home DVR while traveling down the road because Dish thought we were still in Dallas. You can not switch zip codes on the fly or you would not be recording while on the phone with Dish Networks.
It's best to use your OTA antenna on the roof of your Rv for local channels instead of messing with your DVR zip code setup.
Yep. That'll surely happen if you leave your recording unit at the house. We took our entire setup with us. When we got home, we just moved the receivers (Hopper and Joeys) back into the house and connected the wires. Easy-peasy. And we always had all of our recordings and shows with us.
Hi Mike... For a new RVer that's never had any satellite use/experience at home (and we've recently sold our house); would you suggest the Wally or the Hopper for use with Dish network? We don't watch much TV. I have a TV in the RV living area, and a TV in the bedroom. Thx, Scott
Scott, if you want three tuners (watch two shows on two TVs and record another), then a Hopper is best. A Wally has only one tuner. You can, however, get an external hard drive to connect to the Wally (one-time fee of $40) to record shows when you're not using it to watch TV. A Wally is compatible with more types of antennas. For you, probably a Wally.
Thank you Mike :-)
Hello Mike. I have a major concern. some years ago I had a sat.tv system, it seamed that in bad weather (rain, snow) the system did not work well. Is this the same with RV Sat. Systems or have they gotten better over the years
George, there's not major change - they still may not work well in bad weather. We've had a good overall experience with light rains, but in some of the worst rains (no snow for us yet!), we have lost signal for a little while. That's why I like having a system that allows me to record shows I like, and also to have all prime time shows automatically recorded for me. If the weather's bad and we want to watch TV, we either watch recordings or on-demand shows.
Mike hello, I have seen you on a couple of Facebook pages that I administer and have a question for you. I have a Winegard in motion sat system that was factory installed on a used (2014) RV that is presently set up for Direct. I love HD but as you know, in motion dishes do not receive Direct HD. I have Direct at home but am considering switching to Dish to allow for HD programing in our RV. My main concern with that is that recording while parked is a problem with the in motion type sats. Is it true that there are issues with watching one show and trying to record another due to the inability of the small motion sats to get multiple sat signals? Also we want to use at least 2 TV's in our coach and want to be able to watch different programs at the same time. What would you recomend in my situation?
Thanks..Ray
I'm not that familiar with the in-motion units, but it certainly seems logical to me that a dish (in-motion) that is pointed to only one satellite at a time can only provide signals for that satellite. Now, if the receiver you're using has multiple tuners (like a Hopper), or if you have two single-tuner receivers connected to the dish with a splitter, then you would be able to record one show while watching another IF they're on the same satellite.
The things you want are the things I wanted, so I got an independent installer to put in a Hopper and a couple of Joey's. My Hopper has three tuners (it's a Hopper Sling). However, the Hopper isn't compatible with the in-motion units. You'd need something like a Travler on the roof and/or a tripod-mounted Dish 1000.2 antenna to take full advantage of getting all of the HD possible on all three of the Western Arc dish satellites.
Bottom line is that you should find a good, local, independent Dish retailer/installer who will come out to your coach and put together the system you want. The equipment isn't that expensive, and (IMHO), the same is true of the labor.
Thanks . Just the info I was looking for.
MIke, can you help me iwth this question? I am a full time RV'er. Id like to earn some additional income by teaching English, on the internet, to Chinese and Japanese students, What I like about it, is that you work early in the morning. Then we would have the rest of the day to tour the area. I would need to have 100% good voice and video contact. What equipment would I need (computer, antena) and internet service (we have Verizon for our phone) to accomplish this?
I recommend the new Verizon hotspot that's truly unlimited and costs $65 per month. Also consider a Weboost 4G-X cellular booster. Go to the Facebook group called Internet for RVers and Cruisers to get more info. Any good laptop will work. And go to Best Buy and get a good USB microphone. Good luck!
GREAT JOB YOUNG MAN.. THANK YOU...
Thanks mike! Great video!
Thanks, very nice info.
Directv