Marina TV systems

P

PJS

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With the proliferation of HD TV's on boats I'm wondering what other marinas are doing to provide an HD cable signal to boats? Our marina provides non-HD channels but pressure is growing for HD. From what I've heard the HD signal cannot be distributed to boats without having each TV hooked up to a cablebox and it may require upgraded wiring to the boats. Any experience with this?
 
Sat dishes are cheap now and so small they can be installed on smaller boats making dockside TV service obsolete.
 
I have not seen the price drop that much on sat dishes. KVH's new "TV" line is still well over 2 grand for the smallest dish uninstalled. Intellian is in the same price range for their entry level dish.

I keep thinking that someone will have a clearance sale on the old "M" series but I have not found them as of yet.

KVH recently had a rebate offer but the unit had to be sold by an authorized dealer. The cheaper prices of new units offered by the ebay sellers did not qualify for the rebate.

So...I don't see them getting that cheap yet. Maybe someone can point me to a deal.
 
quote:
Originally posted by PJS

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Let's see you want fast free Internet delivered via WiFi yet I'm unsure if you have an external WiFi Omni antenna and at a minimum a bridge unit. Now HDTV each set must have a box otherwise I'd suggest Dish Network and a satellite in motion dome for your boat. To have all the creature comforts of home on a boat costs $$$'s big boat bucks. I'm joking around with you please don't take this post as a stab at your posts.
Bill
 
We have cable outlets at each power tower. I get several hundred HD channels and only switch to my HD antenna when I cruise.
 
quote:
Originally posted by The Other Gary

We have cable outlets at each power tower. I get several hundred HD channels and only switch to my HD antenna when I cruise.

Click to expand...
In Canada isn't cable TV considered a public utility unlike in the US? This means it might be subsidized where it's not in the US.
Bill
 
The on-dock cable hook-up is dead at our marina. With a Gomex antenna, I get four chaneels, three in Spanish, one I've never heard of, and one showing B-movies from the 30s and 40s. I recently replaced the 1997 TV/VCR in our Cruisers with a flatscrren TV from home. It wasn't worth the effort! We're just 65 miles from the antenna system in NYC and this is all I can receive. Hy
 
quote:
Originally posted by Doc

So...I don't see them getting that cheap yet. Maybe someone can point me to a deal.

Click to expand...


What do you consider a deal? I have in my possession a SeaTel 1898s unit with new Dish Network receiver that is HD (the unit can feed one HD TV and one SD TV at the same time with two built-in tuners). It belongs to John (jmeirhofer). He couldn't take it from MD to CA with him so I've got it in storage at my office. The 1898s is a complete unit and comes with the guts of another one for spare parts (dome top missing from the second unit). Make me/him an offer and if it's reasonable, it's yours.

FYI: I've been a Dish Network subscriber since 1997. Their HD content is very good. Pricing is fair. For my house, ski condo, and boat I pay about $90/month for locals, HD, Epix, Cinemax, etc.
 
Mixman,

Thanks very much for the offer but I want new equipment. I just threw away a C3 that could have been fixed for $800.00. When it broke again, who knows?

Warranty is pretty important to me but the absolute latest technology is not. The new KVH TV series can be controlled by your phone or tablet. The one step older, M series, uses a remote which is fine with me.
 
quote:
Originally posted by The Other Gary

We have cable outlets at each power tower. I get several hundred HD channels and only switch to my HD antenna when I cruise.

Click to expand...


Can you hum a few more bars about how that works?

Do you have a cable box on board? If not, can you say how each HD channel made available through the pedestal? Resolution is 720 or 1080 on all those channels? And so forth...

-Chris
 
quote:
Originally posted by Doc

Mixman,

Thanks very much for the offer but I want new equipment. I just threw away a C3 that could have been fixed for $800.00. When it broke again, who knows?

Warranty is pretty important to me but the absolute latest technology is not. The new KVH TV series can be controlled by your phone or tablet. The one step older, M series, uses a remote which is fine with me.

Click to expand...
Doc having sold my original KVH M3 TracVision and then being lucky enough to find a 10 out of 10 slightly used M3 for $1300 plus a $400.00 mounting system for it was a huge plus for my Gulfstar.
Otherwise you can only get the new wireless IP versions which are nice but I have enough wireless signals to contend to on my vessel I actually prefer running RG-6 to the 2nd Direct TV box. I'm happy enough with digital TV and considering my new to me vessel will probably only have a 12vdc 23" flatscreen (LED TFT) satisfies my needs just fine.
Bill
 
Cable is not a public utility in Canada. Rogers cable is a for profit company and each dock occupier can sign on with them or not as they please. I choose to have cable tv and internet supplied by them and own my HD box. I spend about $80/mo for 150 channels 1080, movie and sports networks plus 80 gigs of internet per month. Since I also have my cel phone with them it qualifies for bundling. As a full time liveaboard this works well for me. I also record a number of movies and save them for watching when I cruise and have only the HD antenna which gets only about 6 to 20 stations depending on where I am. When I built these dockominiums eight years ago I invited Rogers to wire the docks for future users and they have just completed wiring the new dockominiums as well. They are fiber optic to the shore and then regular cable to each power tower.
My other option was Bell Fibe but Bell wanted to be paid for installation while Rogers was comfortable with investing for future business.
 
A cheaper option if you only want service at the dock is to put a dish on a piling. Most marinas allow it.
 
BillyIII,

Read it. Confirmed my research on price.

Pascal,

The boat is behind my house. I usually watch TV in the house (Direct TV) . What I am looking for is someone that knows of a way to find a deal on a new sat antenna for the boat. Clearance sale or discounter. I am frugal, not cheap, regardless of what my friends say.
 
Doc you should be able to add a 2nd receiver off your house account for something like $5.00 a month. I think there are plenty of good used KVHM1 or M3's out there check E-Bay and the classified on many boaters boards. I'm not convince that HDTV delivered via satellite to a boat is worth purchasing a new unit for?
But that's just me...
Bill
 
BillyIII,

I took my house Direct TV unit to the boat for years and it worked just fine with my C3. Texas, Knoxville, Maine, NYC, you name it, it worked.

I have thrown the C3 away and am now in search of a brand new, with warranty, unit at the best deal possible. I am hoping that someone here can point me to a good buy.

I am planning to do the loop in the Spring.
 
I've had a KVH M1 for many years now. Came with the DirecTV box which may by HD or not. I have the advantage that the very little growing up I ever did was with radio and imagination. I think HD is great but I don't need it to follow a game or put me to sleep. I do well with "classic radio" (channel 82) on Sirius Radio. Maybe that's just old. I dunno.

Anyway the M1 was under $2 grand and easy as pie to install.
 
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