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Old 08-01-2018, 09:46 AM   #1
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State: Florida
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Dish or Direct

My coach is a 2014 and came with a satellite reciever. Any opinions on whether Dish or Direct is better? Also, what are the costs and do you have to sign a contract? We use our coach 4-5 months a year and don't want to pay for year round. I know these questions are better for the vendor's but I'm interested in opinions from some users. We are the 3rd owners of RV and the satellite reciever has never been used, makes you wonder. Also, our permanent home is a condo that has basic cable as part of our HOA fees, therefore I don't want to use Dish or Direct at home and pay double costs. Any thoughts?

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Old 08-01-2018, 09:51 AM   #2
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If you have a receiver, it will only work on provider it was manufactured for
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Old 08-01-2018, 10:07 AM   #3
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Okay, that makes sense. I was told it would work for either one.
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Old 08-01-2018, 11:13 AM   #4
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I think he may mean a satellite antenna, not the receiver. Some antennas will work for either, they just need to be set to the right configuration.

As far as DirecTV or Dish, Dish is the service that offers "Pay as You Go" plans where you can turn it on and off when you use it. DirecTV has no equivalent, you will be locked into a contract. Dish also has HD signals on most dome antennas whereas DirecTV needs an actual dish antenna for HD.
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Old 08-01-2018, 11:30 AM   #5
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Can you use Dish with different "homes" if you have portable antenna? We will retire soon, selling this B&M in Atlanta but still have a home in PCB. I would like to have one system and use it while on the road and when we touch down at beach house without paying double. Equally, we often spend the night out on the boat at Shell Island. Would be nice to have it there as well.
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Old 08-01-2018, 01:08 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton View Post
Can you use Dish with different "homes" if you have portable antenna? We will retire soon, selling this B&M in Atlanta but still have a home in PCB. I would like to have one system and use it while on the road and when we touch down at beach house without paying double. Equally, we often spend the night out on the boat at Shell Island. Would be nice to have it there as well.


We pay only $7 per month for our Dish receiver in our RV. Since we have Dish at home that was best for us. And yes, you can use it anywhere as long as you have a satellite dish and a receiver.
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Old 08-01-2018, 01:18 PM   #7
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It use to be that you could receive Dish or Direct with the same satellite antenna but a few years ago dish changed that and you have to have a dedicated Antenna now. I had to sell and buy a new antenna just so I could use Dish tv since I canned Directv. What I dont like about dish is your antenna is powered by the receiver. When we had directv it was powered separately so once you got it locked on signal you could unplug the antenna and stay locked on. Now if your power gets interrupted you have to go through the whole dang setup again. I thought dish would be a better option over direct..... now I now they BOTH SUCK! I didnt think customer service could be worse than Directv....wrong again oh and with directv you could take the receiver from your house and use it. With dish you have to buy a dedicated receiver which still belongs to dish even though you had to buy it
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Old 08-01-2018, 01:20 PM   #8
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We wanted to use this one; but it kept getting hung up under the bridges...

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Old 08-01-2018, 01:44 PM   #9
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DirecTV will allow you to stop or start your service up to four times a year without a charge. More than than and there is a significant service charge. The genie 2 and the HR-54 DVR receiver have all power supplies built into the receiver and the genie has a wireless four channel video bridge built in. DirecTV will continue to transmit SD TV signals well into the future from the 101 galaxy.
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Old 08-01-2018, 02:32 PM   #10
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I might mention that DirecTV does not charge anything for the antenna and LNB (Dish). So you can have have five portable or installed antennas on your travels. You only pay for the receiver/DVR, for each TVs client and for your programing package. We use the same equipment in the house and RV. The HR-44 receiver plays well with my ATT mobley so we almost always have an Internet connection.
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Old 08-01-2018, 03:36 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thor293 View Post
It use to be that you could receive Dish or Direct with the same satellite antenna but a few years ago dish changed that and you have to have a dedicated Antenna now. I had to sell and buy a new antenna just so I could use Dish tv since I canned Directv. What I dont like about dish is your antenna is powered by the receiver. When we had directv it was powered separately so once you got it locked on signal you could unplug the antenna and stay locked on. Now if your power gets interrupted you have to go through the whole dang setup again. I thought dish would be a better option over direct..... now I now they BOTH SUCK! I didnt think customer service could be worse than Directv....wrong again oh and with directv you could take the receiver from your house and use it. With dish you have to buy a dedicated receiver which still belongs to dish even though you had to buy it
Ah, not quite so. The Winegard Carryout G2+ lets users switch between Dish, DirecTV and Shaw (Canadian) for satellite service. It will do Dish HD but not DirecTV HD as it is a smaller dish that can only get one satellite at a time and doesn't have all of the LNB features of the larger dishes. This is what we have mounted on our roof and have used it in the past two years with both. The power inserter has dip switches to set your satellite provider.

Winegard Carryout G2+ GM-6000 RV Satellite Antenna
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Old 08-02-2018, 12:46 AM   #12
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We wanted to use this one; but it kept getting hung up under the bridges...

http://www.thorforums.com/forums/att...1&d=1533129644
Hahaha! I’m from Missouri, you have to show me.
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Old 08-03-2018, 01:32 AM   #13
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I have DirecTV at home and it cost me $5.00 a month for the RV.
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Old 08-03-2018, 01:42 AM   #14
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If you want Direct HD, there are some specific requirements. I have the SWM3 dish mounted on the top of the Gemini. Direct HD requires three satellites, which the SWM3 will automatically find and lock on. Its really pretty effortless, push one button and five minutes later its all set to go.
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Old 08-03-2018, 02:02 AM   #15
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My 2015 Palazzo came with Wingard traveler Slimline when we bought it so HD largest problem was getting box shifted to our account.
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Old 08-11-2018, 06:41 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jimespich View Post
My coach is a 2014 and came with a satellite reciever. Any opinions on whether Dish or Direct is better? Also, what are the costs and do you have to sign a contract? We use our coach 4-5 months a year and don't want to pay for year round. I know these questions are better for the vendor's but I'm interested in opinions from some users. We are the 3rd owners of RV and the satellite reciever has never been used, makes you wonder. Also, our permanent home is a condo that has basic cable as part of our HOA fees, therefore I don't want to use Dish or Direct at home and pay double costs. Any thoughts?
Like a couple others mentioned, (now) the antenna has to be matched to the provider (Dish or Direct TV). I believe there is no longer a universal antenna. We have Direct TV in our home and are supposed to be able to use our smart phone to watch our Direct TV DVR recordings when we go somewhere, but so far that has proven NOT true. I get it on my phone when home, and can connect the phone to the HDMI-1 on the RV TV to watch things, but we get nothing on the phone when we leave in our RV... My wife's parents had Dish in their home and purchased a separate antenna for their RV. Then they took the receiver out of their home to use in the RV when they went out.
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Old 08-12-2018, 12:45 PM   #17
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Satellite vs Cable on the road

If you already have cable, I suggest you look into Sling Box. We have been using this and receive everything on the road that we have at home including shows recorded on DVR. Sling Box sends the signal from your home to your RV via internet. You will need wifi. We use AT&T Unite hotspot for wifi when needed. It works great but we are usually able to get good wifi using WeBoost which boosts signals from the campground or other sources and makes them good, usable signals. If that doesn't work well, then we use the ATT hotspot. Another source we use is Fire Stick to watch Netflix and other apps. Also, we have Xbox which also uses apps like Netflix and Spectrum app (Cable app). It's good to have a backup plan or two (I hate missing a ballgame) and these are inexpensive in the long run and all are easy setup.
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Old 08-16-2018, 05:39 PM   #18
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Dish will not work with your antenna

I also have a 2014 model Palazzo with the factory installed dual system satellite antenna. When Camping World had Dish receivers on sale, I bought one and activated a Dish account. After trying for 10 days to get it to work, I finally found someone at Wineguard who told me that Dish changed the handshake for locking on to the satellite shortly in 15 (I think he said) and my antenna would never lock on the bird. In addition, the firmware in the receiver cannot be upgraded to work with the new Dish satellites.


In other words, you choice is either DirectTV or buy a new antenna.


Anyone want to buy an unused Dish receiver?
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Old 08-16-2018, 06:33 PM   #19
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wow, I wasn't aware that Thor ever offered any type of 'factory installed' satellite antenna on the Palazzos, just a 'sat prep', which I still have never found on mine.
I use a simple portable KingTailgater2 antenna for Dish that rides at the rear of the roof, right near the ladder, and just run the coax over the roof and down the slide seal into the bedroom to the receiver, which is a VIP211k. Works great.

were you the original owner?
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Old 08-18-2018, 05:47 AM   #20
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Originally Posted by pavemike View Post
If you already have cable, I suggest you look into Sling Box. We have been using this and receive everything on the road that we have at home including shows recorded on DVR. Sling Box sends the signal from your home to your RV via internet. You will need wifi. We use AT&T Unite hotspot for wifi when needed. It works great but we are usually able to get good wifi using WeBoost which boosts signals from the campground or other sources and makes them good, usable signals. If that doesn't work well, then we use the ATT hotspot. Another source we use is Fire Stick to watch Netflix and other apps. Also, we have Xbox which also uses apps like Netflix and Spectrum app (Cable app). It's good to have a backup plan or two (I hate missing a ballgame) and these are inexpensive in the long run and all are easy setup.
Sling box has been my answer too. Totally because I don't want to miss a game either --hockey in my case. I would be interested in another option while on the road (since I burn though data only plans for my Unite hotspot;-) So a really basic question: If I got Direct or Dish (which ever has pay as you go)…………….. could I tune into a hockey game broadcasted on my local station even while on the road? Nancy
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