Satellite Info Please

[Rosie]

Can anyone give me some tips on the best brands of stationary or in motion satellites. I have been looking at the KVH and King Dome.
Thanks, Rosie

[TomCat]

Nick is one of our satellite guru's and a dealer for a major manufacturer.

I'm sure you'll hear from him once he has a chance to read the board.

HTH

Jay
87 SaftLiner

[sivrtnge2]

tracstar

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Can anyone give me some tips on the best brands of stationary or in motion satellites. I have been looking at the KVH and King Dome.
Thanks, Rosie

Hi Rosie,

Which programming will you be useing? Direct Tv, or Dish?
Do you want Standard, or HD quality?
How many recievers do you need?

Thanks
Nick-

[jjrbus]

I have had a King Dome stationary unit for 2 years. I use this with Dish network. I have had no problem with the quality of the unit. I had to call customer service one time, there response was excellent!!!
Mine is a manual system. It does not find the satellite automaticly. Depending on the channel package you buy, you may have to mannually change sattelites when channel surfing. King also has in motion and automatic systems.
I also carry a portable dish with 150 foot of cable. No matter how much you pay or how sophisticated your system is, they dont work behind buildings or under trees!!! If I am sitting for more than 2 days I always set up the portable.  YMMV Jim

[white-eagle]

if you are going to have Directv and want high definition, none of the bubble types will work in the near future.  you will need something like Winegard's Slimline sd-3005 which has 5 lnb's and hold's up to 8.  totally automatic.  they run around $2000 + install.
KVH nor kingdome sell anything that will do highdef.
The slimline also has 4 connectors so you can have 3 receivers and a DVR if you wish.  obviously, you can split those to handle additional receivers.

(full disclosure requires we mention that we are a satellite dealer/installer for Winegard/Hughesnet/KVH/Directv and others.  )

[Cary and Don]

We got high def at home.  The installer gave us a real ear full on satellite and High Def.  We have Directv.  You are not receiving 1080.  They are not transmitting in 1080 and will not in the near future.  They don't have the band width.  So if you have a tv that shows 1080, the receiver is somehow taking their signal and transforming it.  Directv's high def is actually 720. He said that the picture would actually be better if the tv was set to 720 because the box wouldn't be converting the signal.  If you use a high def dvd, the picture will be 1080 and have a lot better sound.  It seems also, that if your tv is under 40", you probably won't be able to tell the difference in the 1080 and the 720 picture.

So much for paying a fortune for HDMI for Directv.

Don and Cary
GMC4107
Neoplan AN340

[redbus]

Check out Motosat Freedom.
Nice features
Nice price
Easy install

[white-eagle]

redbus usually isn't, but this time he is right (just joking, Terry).  The freedom is a nice unit.  but it doesn't do Directv HD either.  Not saying you have to have HD, but i am making sure you understand that bubble systems can't do HD becuase of the KA band lnb soon to be required, that they don't have inside.

as far as quality, there is definitely a difference in HD versus non-HD, both in sound and visual.  My TV's are both under 30 inches, so the std vs enhanced vs high definition isn't worth the money to me, but my brother swears by his picture quality as does my son. 

[Zeroclearance]

Folks I have been a long time lurker...   

I have a KVH slimline A5 system on my H345..  I have 3 receivers in the coach and want to make the change to HD..

KVH says that this unit will not accept the HD signal with Direct TV but with Dish and a upgrade to a A7 system it will work.

The question that I have is, what is correct or are we stuck with 480p?

[white-eagle]

no you are not stuck with 480p.  if you do upgrade your TV or if you already have an HD television, you will see a higher resolution screen and better stereo surround sound.  a new HD receiver from Dish and the upgrade to your KVH will give you HD (1080) or EDTV (720) resolution Dish HD on your new HD television. 

as i said and KVH confirmed, you'll need to switch to Dish to get HD on a bubble system.  If HD is important to you, then get the upgrade to the KVH, change to Dish and get the HD tv's if you don't have them. 
Dish doesn't have, and won't have, as many HD channels as Directv because they don't currently have the capability that Directv does with their new KA satellite.  But they still have a lot on Dish.

[Zeroclearance]

Thanks Tom..   I guess I need to rip the A5 off the roof and stick it on the "bay" and upgrade to the A7 series..  I'm told today that the A5 won't work with the Dish HD system.

[white-eagle]

b4 you rip it off the roof, keep in mind that you are already on Directv, your picture is good and you may be able to live without HD. 

or you may want to consider either a Winegard or a Motosat antenna with the large automatic 5 lnb system that will lock onto all the satellites directv has, and can have up to 3 more lnb's on the same antenna when needed.  both Motosat and Winegard use the modified antenna from Directv, but there is a little difference in cost and weight.  Winegard is much less heavy and expensive, about 20# and $300.

depends on KVH upgrade cost compared to new Directv antenna vs getting Dish and a bubble .

We also do seminars on DTV requirements for Feb 2009.  I'm a government certified DTV Deputy  .

[H3Jim]

Manasst,

Several questions along this line.

I do not currently have a satellite system, and do not spend a lont of time in the bus each year, no more than 3 or 4 weeks out of the year total.  As such, I do not want to start up another monthly bill for service, or if I do, I want to keep it as low as possible.  Internet access would be a real plus although I do have an IPhone now.  I get cable for free, since a relative works for them.

Acquisition cost is not a big one, but monthly service charge is.
I don't mind waiting, if something better is on the horizon (pun intended)
I really want Hi definition.

Do you have any recommendations?

Last question, will the converters from analog to digital have a channel changer on them and the TV must be tuned to channel 3 or 4, or will they just convert the entire channel spectrum and the user will use their TV set to select channels?  If the former, will have remotes?

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi ZeroClerance,

I have the A-7 on my coach and KVH has used my coach as a demo unit many times now. I have alot of extra equipment onboard

to recieve Direct Tv HD with my A-7. It works, and in 1080 but, they are going to switch me over to Dish in september because

they claim Dish will be the leader in HD channels real soon.

I will keep you informed
Nick-