KVH M1/M3 vs. Intellian i1/i2

I don't really care about the HD.
I am very happy with my I2.
It works great under way and at the dock.
For the price, its the best deal out there.
 
The president of KVH made $700K last year.
I buy American when its a good product for the money.
When the product cost is jacked up so some greedy CEO can make more for his big boat, then I will look at a cheap import!
 
So, in your opinion, what should he have made in order to win your business? Should the federal government step in and impose compensation limits so that more American citizens will buy American products because the CEO is not over paid, but paid a fair wage as determined by others? You know , "To each according to his need, from each according to his ability?" And do you know what the owners and execs of the cheap imports you are going to buy made?
 
John Akers was the CEO of IBM and he was about to ruin it. Drove the stock right into the tank. Yet he made tons of cash and had loads of options. Makes you wonder if it's ability or, timing and where you happen to be in life at the time.

Anyway. . . .

It's good to see the Ka Band and DirecTV relationship is finally being grasped. Understandably, leveraging existing DirecTV accounts is a good reason to stay with DirecTV. Besides, HD isn't all that important until you have a very large TV. Something most boats don't have. DirecTv recievers do support Svideo and HDMI interfaces which IMHO make up quite a bit of the difference between HD and Normal TV.

By the way, the Trackit TV (Follow ME) TV units cannot support the weight of the HDTV antennas that land based DirecTV recievers use.

So why does all of this happen?

I suspect it's because Ka bands (26.5-40 Ghz vs. 12-18 Ghz) are a much higher and therefor more directional frequency. The higher frequencies are required to carry the additional video information HD requires. Given the directional stability requirement due to the beam, the antennas have to maintain their position more accurately. In fact, the KVH rep at the NY Boat Show back in 2007 told me this;

quote:

Yesterday at the boat show I spoke with their rep. They are looking at it but the challenges imposed by the new frequencies are daunting. Where they used to be able to allow slop in alignment that was about 5 degrees, they need to maintain 1 degree now. As well, the LNBs are different. To squeeze all of this into a single unit poses significant challenge.
Don't hold your breath was the response I got to when it might be available. At this point it would seem that they have gotten to the point that they know they have a problem and don't have a plan to attack it.

Click to expand...


http://www.boatered.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=109934

This is why we can have our old circular dish on the boat at the dock, and flop around in the wind, and still have Sat TV even with the antenna tracking off. That will never happen with DirecTVs HDTV channels.
 
Don't hold your breath was the response I got to when it might be available. At this point it would seem that they have gotten to the point that they know they have a problem and don't have a plan to attack it.

OR, they want to make sure that all or most stock has been sold or moved through the channel before they would introduce something that may cause a major hit on their current product line
 
I'll partially go along with that but at the price they are selling the new stuff at, not many are going to opt in for it. Hopefully they get all the mega yachts to buy it and foot the cost of development so the unit prices will drop later. So please buy one ok? ;)
 
quote:
Originally posted by caltexfla

So, in your opinion, what should he have made in order to win your business? Should the federal government step in and impose compensation limits so that more American citizens will buy American products because the CEO is not over paid, but paid a fair wage as determined by others? You know , "To each according to his need, from each according to his ability?" And do you know what the owners and execs of the cheap imports you are going to buy made?

Click to expand...


Not looking to get into a pissing match over american made vs import. I buy american, I drive a ford and buy american when I can. I am driven by quality and price. When it comes to electronics, the import guys got us. I was in the semiconductor business for 20 years. We can't compete because our CEO's and technical people want too much money in their pockets. American companies need to realize that you don't have to pay someone a million dollars to do a job that a $200K a year person can do just as well.

KVH make a good product, I wouldn't be surpised if 90% of their components are made or assembled over-seas. So technically, they are not american made, they are american profited!
 
I hunted around a bit and was not able to find where they manufacture or assemble.
 
If you read their annual report, they say they do alot with china and mexico.
 
quote:
Originally posted by CurrentSea

If you read their annual report, they say they do alot with china and mexico.

Click to expand...


I suggest you read their annual report. Their manufacturing is in Rhode Island and Illinois. KVH happens to be the initials of the CEO and founder. His brother is co-founder and other members of the family work there as well. Yep, another one of those greedy family run entrepreneurial American businesses that still makes stuff here. The nerve!

Like I said, patriotism too often stops right at one's personal consumptive self interest. That's just the way it is. And in the interest of full disclosure, I have been responsible in one way or the other for the sale of literally tens of billions of dollars of foreign made electronics over the course of my career, so yes, I have exploited that American frailty myself. I remember warning RCA and Zenith in the early 80's to no avail...
 
George, we have been to this well many times. Fix the trade imbalance caused by artificial currency controls, environmental expenses, and government subsidies.
Then things will change in our favor. The more we ignore these affects on our country "for the sake of the global economy" the more we will lose.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Audrey II

Bob has there been any change to your service recently that you know of?

Click to expand...


Dave,
I am not sure what you mean by a change in service.
 
Bob according to others in this thread DirectTV has changed the satellite the transmit many of the HD channels. If you haven't noticed I'm guessing they have not moved many important channels. Therefore I would base my decision on this.
 
interesting thread but can someone explain to me why HD is so important on a boat... maybe at home in a huge room on a jumbo size TV but on a 40 to 50 footer?

i just dont' get it... I have standard directTV and it's fine...
 
quote:
Originally posted by PascalG

interesting thread but can someone explain to me why HD is so important on a boat... maybe at home in a huge room on a jumbo size TV but on a 40 to 50 footer?

i just dont' get it... I have standard directTV and it's fine...

Click to expand...

This is all I'm planing to do as well however it's nice to have options for the future.
 
I've had HD on my 30-footer for over 5 years now. Different strokes for differnt folks I suppose. I like good picture quality, and all I ever subscribe to are HD-only package.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Audrey II

Bob according to others in this thread DirectTV has changed the satellite the transmit many of the HD channels. If you haven't noticed I'm guessing they have not moved many important channels. Therefore I would base my decision on this.

Click to expand...


Dave that's my impression and we have their HD at home. Generally speaking they have duplicated the channels they can to HD versions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top