Dish vs Direct

mugsytrpt · October 02, 2011, 06:54:03 PM

Hi Guys & Gals,

I am looking into hooking up my in motion sat. I did a search here and it seems to be dated. Please give me some pros and cons of Dish and Direct. Which one should I go with for reception etc...and for price. Just give me some ideas so I can make an educated guess as to which one to put on my bus. BTW...it will be service just for my bus and I can use my home address if I have to for service etc. Only other thing I need to say is I will need to have at least a couple of stations for my young girls (main reason for TV) to watch.

Thanks in advance for all comments.
James

Tevo · October 02, 2011, 07:00:47 PM

I have Direct but not in motion, and have never had Dish so I can't really compare the two. I do know that now Direct is running a free NFL ticket package, which is a nice deal. Also, if you're doing in-motion it's my understanding you can't do HD, FWIW.

Eagle Andy · October 02, 2011, 07:09:38 PM

I had Direct for alot of years and added a few channels and used it in the Bus and it seemed to work well, Then i went to cable in the house cause we wanted local channels. anyway now Ai think I'm going to go with Dish. I can buy the unit outright with no contract for 288.00 and turn it off an on as needed. Just my thoughts Andy

white-eagle · October 02, 2011, 07:43:04 PM

i've got dtv. requires only 1 satellite to get almost all channels. on the smaller TV's, hd is a waste imho. so i have a bubble on top, takes less than 2 min to get the sat tuned in, then i turn off the antenna because it has some battery draw for aiming. dish has to stay on so that it can switch satellites depending on which channel you watch. or you can buy the more expensive dish that points at both satellites at once. yes, that does get you HD also, but with less than a 30 " tv, no big deal.

again all this is imho. i'd go with dtv.

Dreamscape · October 02, 2011, 08:27:26 PM

We have had DirecTv for several years. Only about 3 years in the coach with DNS. Just installed our second DVR and works great. We have an older KVH in motion system, so far so good. Never had Dish, so can't compare. We have been very happy with any service questions and help.

Paul

pickpaul · October 02, 2011, 09:24:04 PM

Looks like TrakVision has in motion hi def now whichis good to know. I'm seeing a lot of their flat black receivers on bus roofs here in Washingtn DC but on looking on the site it is not high def and only works on direct tv...

http://www.kvh.com/Leisure/RV-Systems/Television.aspx

Cheers, Paul.

junkman42 · October 03, 2011, 08:11:36 AM

Mugs, I have one of the earliest trac vision units. I was told years ago that I would not to be able to continue to use it! I have to argue with the telephone help because the receiver is a now obsolete unit that has low speed outputs for the sat unit! But I always manage to get it up and running with a little persistence! It works perfect and I have had direct service for many years with no problems. The old units are viable and still work very well. If mine was not working I would have copilot problems so rest assured the old units work. Regards John L

Mike in GA · October 03, 2011, 09:05:34 AM

James- have had DirecTV for 10+ years and very satisfied with it. KVH bubble on roof. I will say that heavy rain interferes with the dome's effectiveness, but that's par for either service.
By the way, try to make the Southeast Bus Nuts' next rally, near you in Hoboken, GA near Waycross. Last weekend in October See link below for details. Many if not most attendees (50+ coaches) hace sats and love to voice their opinions!
www.southeastbusnuts.org
Cheers!
Mike in GA

luvrbus · October 03, 2011, 09:45:28 AM

We had Direct for years now we have Dish we always had a problem with Direct on their billing and local stations when we were out of town so far so good with Dish and when we changed the house over they gave us a free receiver and recorder for the motor home and we pay nothing extra we were paying Direct extra for the RV

good luck

wal1809 · October 03, 2011, 12:55:42 PM

I just went through the in motion sat hook up. We never could get Dish to work right in the bus. Half of the satelites were on one setting in the satelite and the other channels were on another. So esentially we could only watch one tv at a time and then had to set it to find the right satelite. We went with Direct TV and it was all she wrote for the problems. Short of telling you all the problems I'll just say it took a month and three service attempts until I got frustrated and told the indian lady on the telephone to jamb it. One telephone call to Directtv and one service call and done. Months and a bunch of calls vs a one time deal. DirectTV is the only way I am going for in motions. We have had it about a year and not one single bill problem or channel problem at all.

Oonrahnjay · October 03, 2011, 01:00:08 PM

Quote from: wal1809 on October 03, 2011, 12:55:42 PM(snip) DirectTV is the only way I am going for in motions. We have had it about a year and not one single bill problem or channel problem at all.

Can you get internet service through DirectTV/satellite? Thanks,

wal1809 · October 03, 2011, 01:17:34 PM

Quote from: Oonrahnjay on October 03, 2011, 01:00:08 PM
Quote from: wal1809 on October 03, 2011, 12:55:42 PM(snip) DirectTV is the only way I am going for in motions. We have had it about a year and not one single bill problem or channel problem at all.

Can you get internet service through DirectTV/satellite? Thanks,

Not that I am aware of, no. We had hughes.net at the house and it is slower than dial up during the day. At night it was faster than greased lightning. Now we use AT and T air cards for internet.

luvrbus · October 03, 2011, 02:08:11 PM

We did have problems when we went from Direct to Dish I found out you need a different little box from the satellite manufacture it has 6 satellites on it instead of 2 like the Direct that was our problem it works great in the mountains here in the west that was another gripe I had with Direct it wasn't very good here but great on the gulf coast and the plains

good luck

mugsytrpt · October 03, 2011, 02:17:20 PM

Hey everyone,

Thank you so much for the info. I am still in the process of looking, but you have certainly given me alot to think about.

Thanks again,
James

PS...Currently I am leaning towards direct but that may change when the process starts.

ruthi · October 03, 2011, 02:21:34 PM

Hi, we have direct. We tried the dish recently, and we paid the fee to get rid of them. It was a nightmare. We have the slim 5 inch dish on top of the bus. It works great. We havent had any problems with it. It doesnt get anymore issues with rain, etc, than the regular bubble. You have to use the 12 volt receiver, but, we use it in the bedroom and put a dvr up front, and it works great. Anyhow, I personally would not ever try Dish again, just my 2 cents.