Direct TV Connection

I can't sleep without the TV on. I don't watch much TV on the boat but without the background noise I toss and turn all night.
 
quote:
Originally posted by biglar

In 2008 I bought the big, expensive Winegard auto DirecTV dish for my RV and installed it myself. Big, heavy, awkward (until mounted) but when I pulled into a campground (or boondocking site), I just pushed the "on" button, then went ahead with leveling, hookups, etc. The thing would turn on, seek and find the satellites and lock on. It was almost spooky to watch the thing - like a blind robot groping at the sky. When done setting up, I'd go inside and DirecTV was up and running.

I had no problems with any company, no problem with moving each day, no problem with billing. That thing is a dinosaur now - much smaller and less expensive units are available now.

I started off with one of those little portable dishes that you aim yourself and don't think I ever did get a decent hookup with that awful thing.

quote:
Originally posted by Double D

Direct is a nightmare....I had an account with them for years on my old motorhome. It was a seasonal account specific for a motorhome. EVERYTIME we moved to a different campground we had to call customer service ....be on hold for 20-30 minutes..... and have them adjust my " home address " making the campgrounds zip code my new address.....then wait until they send a fix over the air so I could get my service. A month ago we trade in our motorhome for a new one and I will NEVER use Direct on the new coach. I'd rather have nothing then to deal with them again.

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I had a King Dome auto seek satellite antenna mounted on the roof of the coach that would do all that....but the service would be locked onto my home address ( Florida ) programing until I called and waited until they upgraded my location to get local/paid programing. So much for.... "watch TV while driving down the highway ".... feature also.
 
The other advantage to buying from solid signal over direct is you can pick the type of box.
I wanted a box that had RF remote capability but was not HD and also had a DVR.
When I called Direct, to get that box from them I had to add DVR service and HD, both a upcharge for the ordered box.
With solidsignal I didn't, I just paid for another receiver on the account.
So that is the other perk
 
Solidsignal is the way to go to order new boxes.

I use Slingbox as well. I have cable modem and the dock and 4G LTE aircard when away from dock.
 
Thanks all. I have three or 4 boxes on board. The real question is will they allow me to start a new account with them. My brother is coming to boat on Saturday and we will contact them with his info and see if we cant transfer.
 
I have M3 on our boat and kingdome on our motor home. We have had to deal with Directv for years now, but we did figure out their system. Firstly, with the KVH system, as said earlier, you will need a KVH control box. That box tells the dish where to point. Ours jumps between 101 and 119 for the local channels. The control box is hooked up to our Directv boxes which we own. They can be purchased without paying a monthly rental to Directv.

Our motor home's kingdome auto seeks the satellites. It is hooked up to an analog box we pay directv for. About $6 per month. BTW, once you get north of the Canadian border, it cannot get a signal. :(

Our house has the Genie boxes. We pay $6 for the second smaller box.

With respect to having to call and change your billing address, this is only if you want to receive local channels. Your beamed local channel are not available to you once you get around 100 to 150 miles from your home. They do not like constant changing of this. That is why some have had issues. If you can find an address that does not have local channels available, you can have them send you the East or West National Feed. These are not local, but you will get NBC, CBS, ABC, etc.

Directv does have a mobile department just to handle boats and RV's. Don't let them tell you they don't. However, they will not assist with the KVH control box.

I hope some of this info helps.

Ken
 
Hank,
I have a dock neighbor that only subscribes in the summer.

Walter
 
My KVH model M3ST went on my Mainship the 1st year I bought it in 2006. At the time only Direct TV was available for that KVH model. I was always able to suspend the account for the off season.
Dave, thanks for the clarification it sounds like Hank has the KVH M3DX that uses an external control/ interface box (needed for Dish) then you can program the Radome for more than 1 satellite and use other than KVH receivers for Dish or Direct TV. Here is the link that talks about the conversion box on the model KVH M3DX. These also came in 2 flavors the linear or circular version which has to do with the polarization of the received signals.

Bill
 
That link ain't gonna work, Bill (unless you're the White House with lame security on your server). Wait, don't you have the same server at your office that Killary has? :-)
 
Thanks Kurt, I just noticed that the link won't work. I will fix the link in the morning.
Bill
 
While we're on this topic, I'm going to need a small marine dome/dish that's Dish compatible. I haven't researched yet. What's the latest/greatest on the market?
 
They only let you put a hold on the account for 6 months or at least the was there deal. We do the same thing in fact it should come on in May which should work for me.
 
Hank which KVH TracVision system do you have on the boat?
Bill
 
Originally posted by Billylll

Hank which KVH TracVision system do you have on the boat?
Bill
[/quote
Trac Vision 4. Have three boxes on board. Hopefully we can just have the existing boxes turned on with a new account.
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Ok....I think I will be ok on getting connected. However, as luck would have it, during the high winds, last night I lost my dome. Most likely it got loosened when it was shrink wrapped and is at the bottom of the river so I am looking for a replacement. From the best I can tell the diameter is 18". Hard to say what the vertical is but assuming it is roughly around 20". Anyone out there who wants to sell ?
 
quote:
Originally posted by Anchor Management

Ok....I think I will be ok on getting connected. However, as luck would have it, during the high winds, last night I lost my dome. Most likely it got loosened when it was shrink wrapped and is at the bottom of the river so I am looking for a replacement. From the best I can tell the diameter is 18". Hard to say what the vertical is but assuming it is roughly around 20". Anyone out there who wants to sell ?

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If you have to purchase new equipment, move to Dish. the customer service is terrible but you can get HD programing from a single satellite which you cant do with Directv. much less expensive equipment for a single sat signal. the new stuff with HD is night and day better on the newer LED and LCD TV's. the good news is that this may be covered under your electronics ryder on the boat's insurance policy.
 
Thanks. To clarify, I just lost the plastic cover(dome) from my satellite. The system is till very much working so I have no intention of changing. The problem is they get big bucks for a piece of crappy plastic so I was hoping someone had parts lying around so i did not have to buy new. The dome I need is the Trac Vision 4.
 
Look at Barren River's post in classified
 
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