I have cable now with Two HD TV's and the only reason I would consider getting Dish is if I could grab one of the HD DVR receivers from the house and put it in our RV ( 5th wheel) with a tripod dish for long week-ends. I guess hopper is out of the question because of RV satellite hook-up problems.So, if I can use one of the DVR's from home in our RV, which DVR's should I get?
HOME AND RV
- Thread starter zztinker
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A ViP211 series and a tailgater dish might be best for you. No dish aiming. Works with Western Arc. Simple and small.
The 211K works best for the RV. You can add and ext hard drive for $40 and make it a dvr without the monthly dvr fee. Dish also sells a tailgater dish that works with the 211K and auto tunes the satelites. Check it out. Here is a link: DISH Tailgater Portable Satellite TV | My DISH Support
I thought of that, pay as you go, I think is for minimum of a month, that could be $40 to $50 ...for a week-end. Is this true?
As I read your OP, you'd be looking to switch from cable. I'd get a 722k & a 211k w/ external drive for the house, and then take the 211 with you when you camp. Or if you can get by with a single sat. tuner on the main house TV (if you hook up an antenna that would give you an off-air tuner as well) two 211's would save you the DVR fee. Personally I think the extra things you can do with a 722 (On Demand, Sling Adapter, independent feed of a separate SD TV, PIP) are worth the extra $6 a month you'd pay.
As you stated, stay away from the Hopper/Joey if you have an RV.
As you stated, stay away from the Hopper/Joey if you have an RV.
Dish does not recommend any receiver with an internal hard drive for RV use, plus most RV's are not wired properly from the manufacturer.
Dish will not allow you to have both a Hopper/Joey and any of the VIP series receivers together. So you cannot have a vip211k to take camping if you have the Hopper at home.
There are part time RVers who might move receivers between a sticks&bricks house and the RV. But there are also full-time RVers who only live in their RV.
Hence you statement is too broad.
Dish has never made a statement about internal hard drives in an RV. With 6 years on the road, no disk failures in the DVR nor in the multiple PCs in the RV.
But you are correct about usual RV roof satellite dish wiring. But it is easily fixable and those using ground tripod dishes accommodate that with the additional wiring.
For a full time RVer, the Hopper is an excellent addition and I am happy with mine.
And a part time RVers on this forum has set his trailer up with a Solo so he can move his Hopper and a Joey between his house and trailer.
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Thanks for the reply. I would rather use the hopper in my RV if I can. My 2010 5th wheel does have a satellite connection outside that goes to the TV in the living area. I don't care about the bedroom.So from what I have read here I could Take the hopper from the house and use it in the RV. What ground dish ant. would I need to get?
If you take the Hopper from your house, the Joeys in the house are useless.Any timers set will not record while traveling. If anyone is left at home the will not be able to watch tv.
PS hard drives work fine in the camper and while traveling.
PS hard drives work fine in the camper and while traveling.
Its just my wife and I so if we're RVing no one is home. It's the good life all the nester are gone...
You should get a 1000.2 dish unless you are on the East Coast, then a 1000.4. Get a good tripod with adjustable length legs like the HD Tripod from TV4RV.com. Adjustable legs make it easier to get a level vertical mast on uneven campsite ground. You might want to consider the whole package. A good meter makes life a lot easier, especially one that generates a 22KHz tone to select the 119 LNBF for aiming.
Given the typical wiring in an 5th-Wheel, there is a coax from the Antenna Amplifier plate in the living room to the bedroom TV. Flip that over to feed the Joey. If you want to be able to switch to OTA (until the OTA tuner for Hopper becomes available), use a good quality coax switch between the Solo and the antenna plate to that bedroom cable.
I would get another Solo and leave it installed in the trailer. Less set up that way. Just a cable to the Hopper and a cable to the Joey.
You Hopper timers will work until you leave the spot beam area. Then the Locals will not work, but the rest of your channels will.
Here is a link to my web pages on Satellite TV, which includes my Hopper installation, drawings, photos.
Given the typical wiring in an 5th-Wheel, there is a coax from the Antenna Amplifier plate in the living room to the bedroom TV. Flip that over to feed the Joey. If you want to be able to switch to OTA (until the OTA tuner for Hopper becomes available), use a good quality coax switch between the Solo and the antenna plate to that bedroom cable.
I would get another Solo and leave it installed in the trailer. Less set up that way. Just a cable to the Hopper and a cable to the Joey.
You Hopper timers will work until you leave the spot beam area. Then the Locals will not work, but the rest of your channels will.
Here is a link to my web pages on Satellite TV, which includes my Hopper installation, drawings, photos.
Holly molly, I just looked a little closer at your set-up, that is realy great. I'm 73 and doing my best to stay up with all the great electronic stuff that's out there.
Brussam said:
Great info. I'm going to start traveling. Does the hopper support ptat for the hd nationals transponders dish offers for mobile accounts (LA big 4 locals)?
At the current moment no. It hasn't been defined as this is a permanent no or something that will be enabled later.
One of the issues I see at the moment is that only the West Coast DNS channels are HD. Now couple that with where your service address is which establishes the EPG times and probably affects the PTAT timers. So unless you are in the Pacific time zone where the EPG time would match up with the HD channels. This is a theory I haven't tried yet
Currently my Service address is in the Central time zone and the HD channels happen at 10:00 PM - 1:00 AM CDT so PTAT doesn't work.
Understood. It would be great if they would do it. You would have the week's prime time on disk for viewing between nighttime setups.
For 5 year, i set up the dishes (TV & Internet) at each stop, even just an overnight. It didn't take that long.
A couple more things. You will need two coax inputs the the trailer for the Hopper. Most RVs have two coax inputs, one marked Satellite and one marked Cable. The Cable one usually goes to the antenna amplifier plate where is is switched with the antenna feed. You cannot use this cable. I guess you could disconnect it from the antenna plate and extend it.
I recommend adding additional coax inputs. Depending where the Hopper is (like the slide) and the coax inputs are (usually a fixed wall) you might be able to add the additional coax input near the original, and locate the Solo in that area if there is space behind the inputs and use the original cable from the Solo to the Hopper since you do not plan on taking a Joey also.
Otherwise just go through the wall near the Hopper. If I had to do that, I would put a double coax plate there.
While you adding a coax input, the typical TV coax inlet plate with the flip down covers do not have 3 GHz coax barrels, Replaced then with 3 GHz barrels (blue or black centers). They are a little longer so the cover won't close fully but the coax inputs will be protected. The lowest price I found for 3 GHz barrels in Amazon. 10 for .99 plus postage. They are like $6 for one at Lowes.
Also, when buying coax for connecting the dish. Do yourself a favor and get solid copper core dual RG6 cable. The stuff at Home Depot and Lowes is only copper plated. Solid copper core wire isn't always marked as such so look for a rating of "swept for 3 GHZ." I would up getting solid copper core wire online. Because we were using satellite Internet at the time, we carried (2) 100', (2) 50' and (2) 25' sets of wire. I have gone as far as 175'. I like not to use any more length than I need.
A couple more things. You will need two coax inputs the the trailer for the Hopper. Most RVs have two coax inputs, one marked Satellite and one marked Cable. The Cable one usually goes to the antenna amplifier plate where is is switched with the antenna feed. You cannot use this cable. I guess you could disconnect it from the antenna plate and extend it.
I recommend adding additional coax inputs. Depending where the Hopper is (like the slide) and the coax inputs are (usually a fixed wall) you might be able to add the additional coax input near the original, and locate the Solo in that area if there is space behind the inputs and use the original cable from the Solo to the Hopper since you do not plan on taking a Joey also.
Otherwise just go through the wall near the Hopper. If I had to do that, I would put a double coax plate there.
While you adding a coax input, the typical TV coax inlet plate with the flip down covers do not have 3 GHz coax barrels, Replaced then with 3 GHz barrels (blue or black centers). They are a little longer so the cover won't close fully but the coax inputs will be protected. The lowest price I found for 3 GHz barrels in Amazon. 10 for .99 plus postage. They are like $6 for one at Lowes.
Also, when buying coax for connecting the dish. Do yourself a favor and get solid copper core dual RG6 cable. The stuff at Home Depot and Lowes is only copper plated. Solid copper core wire isn't always marked as such so look for a rating of "swept for 3 GHZ." I would up getting solid copper core wire online. Because we were using satellite Internet at the time, we carried (2) 100', (2) 50' and (2) 25' sets of wire. I have gone as far as 175'. I like not to use any more length than I need.
