Quote:
Originally Posted by hvnbnd
Thx. again Dave, any advice other than making sure the dish will support more than one tv, which dish?????????????
And I'm pro, Pepsi, but trying more water, Chevy all the way
|
Pepsi & Chevy...I'm no FBI profiler, but I think I could write a full dossier on a Pepsi/Chevy guy.
That's a great question about multiple TVs. One thing that isn't obvious about satellite is that you can't easily split the signal. The dish gets power from the receiver, so things like power boosters and cheap splitters cause big problems. That's why newer RVs have separate lines for cable & satellite.
So picking a dish shouldn't be too hard, but it's not simple either. The decision probably boils down to budget and provider. The dishes used to be brand agnostic (my first portable dish said Dish Network on it, but I used it with my DirecTV receiver). Not anymore though.
The most expensive dishes are permanently mounted to the roof of your trailer and automatically aim themselves. Awesome, but not cheap.
On the other end of the spectrum you have a portable dish, a portable mast, a compass, and lots of cussing.
Between those two extremes are the self-aiming (sort of) dishes that are about the size of a small cooler. They're a lot more affordable and they're pretty reliable. My understanding though is that they don't support HD yet, which would be a deal killer for me. They're easy to set up. You point them south and push a button to acquire the signal and then cross your fingers that nobody steals the device.
I reviewed one of the original portables for Toy Hauler Magazine back in 2008. Back then it was called VuQube, but they have been acquired by King Controls since then. Based on my feedback they added a second port for a second receiver and a loop for a lock. Here's a link to my old review:
VuQube_Article_Toyhauler_Magazine.pdf
We haven't invested in satellite for our new CR toy hauler yet. When we do, I think we'll save up and buy the more expensive roof mounted self aiming HD dish. In the meantime we're pretty happy with the free OTA HD channels and DVDs.
I guess a couple of disclaimers would be fair:
1) My expertise is kind of dated, because I gave up on watching satellite in the RV once we upgraded to HD at home and I couldn't use those receivers anymore.
2) I have more experience with the cheaper equipment. I've never bought the good stuff and don't know much about how it works...yet.