Directv?

[Smurf]

We have decided to go with Directv in our TT. We also have them for our home satellite. We will be getting the walley receiver from Camping world along with the satellite. We are going with one that sits on the ground or small pedestal. My question is which satellite to do with? There are several choices, King, Playmaker, Wineguard, Tailgater, etc. etc. Does anyone have a recommendation?
Thanks for Input!

[bdreinv]

There is something about the Walley that seems to have a problem.Like it needs multiple Satellites to function.I think there is a more basic model that needs one Satellite.Just need to find the thread.

[Grumpy]

I always used Winegard. Just remember that you will only get standard def stations with DIRECT using a portable automatic dish. Only way to get HD is with the Traveler roof mount or a tripod mounted dish.

[Cyclops69]

I have a tailgater. When it works its a good system. Problem is in wooded campgrounds it doesn't do well as it needs line of sight. Also very effected by the weather and rain. That being said I have had no mechanical issues with it and most of the time it mounts on my rear ladder. (found a cool ladder mount for it on Amazon). I use dishformyrv.com and have no complaints. I am finding that more and more campgrounds offer cable with your site lately so that may be something to consider also

[blujay40]

Originally Posted by Smurf

We have decided to go with Directv in our TT. We also have them for our home satellite. We will be getting the walley receiver from Camping world along with the satellite. We are going with one that sits on the ground or small pedestal. My question is which satellite to do with? There are several choices, King, Playmaker, Wineguard, Tailgater, etc. etc. Does anyone have a recommendation?
Thanks for Input!

Am I missing something here? "walley" (aka: Wally) receivers are Dish network receivers and won't work with DirecTV. Are you sure that's what your getting?

[Smurf]

Originally Posted by blujay40

Am I missing something here? "walley" (aka: Wally) receivers are Dish network receivers and won't work with DirecTV. Are you sure that's what your getting?

No your not missing anything. I was wrong, we are going with Directv, we are not getting the "walley" (aka: Wally). we are getting the directv receiver. Any response on the satellite dish itself?

[Rustysocket]

Very happy with my Traveller dish. Best option out there for directtv and HD.

[blujay40]

Originally Posted by Smurf

No your not missing anything. I was wrong, we are going with Directv, we are not getting the "walley" (aka: Wally). we are getting the directv receiver. Any response on the satellite dish itself?

If you are looking to get High Def channels and tend to camp where there aren't a lot of trees in the way, the Travl'er is by far the easiest, but the most expensive as well, 1500.00 give or take. It also is mounted permanently to the roof of your RV.

Second option for HD would be a tripod setup with a Slimline dish. This will allow you to move the dish around your site to get a good sightline to the satellites, but will also require some learning on how to align the dish and may not be something many will want to mess with for just a day or two camping trip. A website named TV4RV.com can supply everything you would need to get this up and running. I have about 150.00 in my setup.

Finally, there are the carryout domed units that can only supply SD signals with DirecTV and watching TV on more than one location at a time can be problematic as they can only access one satellite at a time. So if this is a concern, then they may not be for you. The upside is that they are a lot easier to setup and use and align themselves. Downside to these is that it is possible they will become a large paperweight in a year or two if ATT/DirecTV holds to their schedule of deimplementation of their Mpeg2 SD signals sometime in 2019. These carryouts, in their current configurations, cannot reliably receive the newer Mpeg4 signals DirecTV is now using for most of their programming and the manufacturers are still waiting to see if DirecTV will follow thru on this before making any statements about viability of these going forward or if there will be anyway to upgrade them to keep them working. From discussions I have had with at least one tech from one of the manufacturers, modifying these to provide a reliable mpeg4 signal would make them much larger, heavier, and more expensive than the current iterations are. Basically, they would probably be looking at putting a Travl'er in a dome.

I personally have both a slimline dish and tripod setup to use on our more intermittent camping trips and a pole mounted slimline dish on our seasonal lot. This lets me take a receiver or two from our house and just use them in the RV as needed. Also, if you travel outside your "spot beam" for local channels, which can vary by market, you will lose your local channels no matter which solution you choose without calling DirecTV and having them change your "service" address while leaving your "billing" address alone.

HTH

[groundhog72]

If you have a cell phone signal where you camp. The amazon firestick is a great way to watch tv too. I have been using one with only 1 bar on my mifi without any issues.

[cekkk]

Re the paperweight comment, our Tailgater was purchased when they first came out, has seen us through five snowbird seasons and many weekends. I just used it for a week ending yesterday. If it were to fail now I'd buy another tomorrow. Setup consists of screwing in the cable and setting it on the ground for short stays or attaching it to the ladder for the longer outings. I will say that trees are seldom a problem in the campgrounds that we utilize.

[goducks]

A good dish pointer app for your smart phone goes along way towards finding the best spot to put a portable sat dish. I've been able to thread a sat signal through some thick trees where we camp.

[blujay40]

Originally Posted by cekkk

Re the paperweight comment, our Tailgater was purchased when they first came out, has seen us through five snowbird seasons and many weekends. I just used it for a week ending yesterday. If it were to fail now I'd buy another tomorrow. Setup consists of screwing in the cable and setting it on the ground for short stays or attaching it to the ladder for the longer outings. I will say that trees are seldom a problem in the campgrounds that we utilize.

I understand what your saying but if Directv stops broadcasting in mpeg2 in 2019 like they announced they would the carryouts that currently get Directv will no longer have a signal to receive, period.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by blujay40

I understand what your saying but if Directv stops broadcasting in mpeg2 in 2019 like they announced they would the carryouts that currently get Directv will no longer have a signal to receive, period.

According to a TV expert the receiver is what needs mpeg 2 or 4 not the antenna. Just like the new digital TVs. At FORT WILDERNESS their HD cable is mpeg4 so the older flat screens don't get any channels. The newer TV tuners receive 2 or 4.

If what you're saying is true DIRECT will have to change out every LNB on every house in the country.

[blujay40]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

According to a TV expert the receiver is what needs mpeg 2 or 4 not the antenna. Just like the new digital TVs. At FORT WILDERNESS their HD cable is mpeg4 so the older flat screens don't get any channels. The newer TV tuners receive 2 or 4.

If what you're saying is true DIRECT will have to change out every LNB on every house in the country.

Hey Grumpy,

Although what you say about the receivers is true, the replacement of the LNB's as well as the larger reflectors (aka: slimline/travl'er)) to mpeg4 compatible ones has been in process for years, at least in our homes, which is what DirecTV really is only concerned about.

And as for the last few remaining homes (and carryout users) that still are using "R" series receivers (SD/mpeg2 only), or the much smaller, round reflectors with the single feed horn, those are the only ones left that will need to be addressed or just allowed to die when the mpeg2 signals they are designed to collect, goes away.

The fact is that most that use DirecTV in their RV's, have it at home and already have upgraded equipment there. They then just move one or more of their home receivers to their RV when needed. I am sure there will be a few RV'ers that will get notified that their equipment will no longer be supported (aka: in motion domes that are on a separate RV account) but for the vast majority of us, DirecTV isn't going to warn them that their carryouts will no longer work since that equipment is not registered in their systems. That falls on Winegard, King, etc. to notify it's customers and up until now, there has only been "crickets". I strongly suggest anyone concerned about this, do what I have done a half dozen times in the past year and give them a call and see what they have to say.

Many think that if you don't want HD, you don't need the Slimline dish on your house, on a tripod, or a Travl'er unit but HD isn't the reason. It's because mpeg4 signals are even more prone to rain fade, heavy cloud cover, etc. than the older mpeg2 signals were and therefore not only need a mpeg4 compatible LNB but a much larger reflector like the slimline dish to not only be able to collect enough signal to provide a (cough,cough) "reliable" signal to the receiver, but be able to access the three mpeg4 sat's DirecTV uses at 99, 101, and 103. Right now, DirecTV is still simulcasting many channels on mpeg4 and mpeg2 but THAT is what's changing in 2019 when they stop all mpeg2 transmission to the CONUS (continental US). There will still be "SD" channels (aka" lower resolution) on DirecTV but both HD and SD will be broadcast exclusively on mpeg4 after next year.

So lets go down the rabbit hole. Will it be possible to "hack" your carryout and replace the mpeg2 LNB with an mpeg4 one? Or better yet, Winegard and King come out with an "upgrade kit"? Maybe, maybe not. Things like the angle of reflection and the placement of the feed horn in the LNB as well as even having room under the dome for the current iterations of mpeg4 LNB's in the market will all play into that. But let's say for the sake of argument, it's an easy swap out. That still doesn't mitigate the much smaller reflector used in the carryouts.

One tech from Winegard told me last year when I enquired about a possible "upgrade kit", that given the current state of technology, you would basically have to build a Travl'er in a dome. He further stated that a unit like that would not only be much larger than current carryouts, but much heavier and at a MUCH higher price point.

At the end of our conversation, he stated that the only "sure thing", at least for the near future, is if I wanted to use a carryout setup, to subscribe to Dish network, who still broadcasts everything in mpeg2 and is planning to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. He didn't specifically use the term "paper weight" in reference to current DirecTV carryouts, but the inference was there.

I myself would love to get a DirecTV carryout to use when traveling between our home and our seasonal site 1500 miles away, but I am not ready to toss 500.00+ into that abyss and the longer we hear "crickets" from Winegard and King about an mpeg4 compatible carryout with the transition closing in, the more positive I become that when DirecTV ends mpeg2 broadcasts next year, that one of two things will occur. Either Winegard and King pull a rabbit out of their proverbial hats and find a way to upgrade the existing units, or there are going to be a LOT of "unhappy campers" on these forums and boards by the end of next year.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by blujay40

Hey Grumpy,

Although what you say about the receivers is true, the replacement of the LNB's as well as the larger reflectors (aka: slimline/travl'er)) to mpeg4 compatible ones has been in process for years, at least in our homes, which is what DirecTV really is only concerned about.

According to numerous articles on the web that switch occured years ago (one written in 2005) by both DISH and DIRECT the only required upgrade was the receivers for HD

The WINEGARD carryout will receive DISH HD which is mpeg4 off of multiple satellites, but doesn't work with DIRECT HD.

So I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens in 2019.

[cekkk]

Originally Posted by blujay40

I understand what your saying but if Directv stops broadcasting in mpeg2 in 2019 like they announced they would the carryouts that currently get Directv will no longer have a signal to receive, period.

I'm sorry I didn't make it clear. The tailgater, I believe, only works with a Dish receiver. And it does get HD.

[edatlanta]

Originally Posted by goducks

A good dish pointer app for your smart phone goes along way towards finding the best spot to put a portable sat dish. I've been able to thread a sat signal through some thick trees where we camp.

I did the same thing two weeks ago. The only good spot was shooting between two big trees. I only had about a 2' spot for it to work. Too far one way and no sat 101 and too far the other way no 103. It was close, but without my sat finder app it wouldn't have been possible to even know where to start.

But my dish is a slimline on a tripod.

[Rock]

For u experts. I have direct at home and will be taking my DVR to my summer camp upstate NY. I plan on buying the swim antenna set up on tripod. U can buy either SW3 or the 5. Which is easier to set up and will the change in 2019 effect either of these?
I still have my dish pathway and receiver but up at my camp it is near impossible to get signal (to many high trees).So I will be seeing if direct is any better, the locals say the satellite is higher and easier to pick up.

We dry camp and run gen for a few hours in evening and the pathway would look for satellites everytime power was turned on and was a crap shoot even in the same spot. That is the downside of an auto locate system.
Rock