I currently have sd in my rv. I want to go to HDTV. I would like to have the dish attached to top of rv as the current sat is. What would be the best equipment to purchase to receive directv hd. Thanks for any info. This is all new to me so I'll really appreciate your help. I currently have an in motion tracvision sd system.
Need info on switching from SD to HD in RV
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The answer(s) have a lot to do with what you want to accomplish.
First, how important is the in-motion feature to you? With today's technology you have to let that go if you want HD. The only two manufactures of RV automated dishes, that I am aware of, are MotoSat and Winegard. Both are for stationary use only (since the dish is exposed and would not withstand the wind from driving).
Second are you going to change both tvs to HD? If so you need to have two receivers; one for each TV. (I mention this since our rig has SD and the satellite connection drives both the front and rear TVs with rf coax and you only get one feed. There is no rf feed for HD.) Converting both would mean making room for a receiver box in the bedroom. This needs to be fed with RG-6 coax, not the RG-59 you have there now.
Next, is the age of your RV. Do you have RG-6 or RG-59 wiring going to your front room satellite receiver? If it is RG-59 you will need to replace all this with RG-6. Your installer will do the work, but you need to be aware of the additional expense that will be involved with this.
Of course, there is the issue of changing out your current TV's. I would assume you have already looking into that. If not, search rv.net and similar sites for posts about how others have done this. A lot of folks have done it with great results. But, it does take some planning or a lot of money to have someone redo all the cabinet work around the existing TV.
There is no simple "one size fits all" answer to your question. It all depends on what you really want to accomplish with the transition. If you ask a more specific question regarding what you want to accomplish it would be easier to give a better answer to your question.
First, how important is the in-motion feature to you? With today's technology you have to let that go if you want HD. The only two manufactures of RV automated dishes, that I am aware of, are MotoSat and Winegard. Both are for stationary use only (since the dish is exposed and would not withstand the wind from driving).
Second are you going to change both tvs to HD? If so you need to have two receivers; one for each TV. (I mention this since our rig has SD and the satellite connection drives both the front and rear TVs with rf coax and you only get one feed. There is no rf feed for HD.) Converting both would mean making room for a receiver box in the bedroom. This needs to be fed with RG-6 coax, not the RG-59 you have there now.
Next, is the age of your RV. Do you have RG-6 or RG-59 wiring going to your front room satellite receiver? If it is RG-59 you will need to replace all this with RG-6. Your installer will do the work, but you need to be aware of the additional expense that will be involved with this.
Of course, there is the issue of changing out your current TV's. I would assume you have already looking into that. If not, search rv.net and similar sites for posts about how others have done this. A lot of folks have done it with great results. But, it does take some planning or a lot of money to have someone redo all the cabinet work around the existing TV.
There is no simple "one size fits all" answer to your question. It all depends on what you really want to accomplish with the transition. If you ask a more specific question regarding what you want to accomplish it would be easier to give a better answer to your question.
Bob, thanks for your reply. The in motion thing is not important at all. That's just what was there when I got the RV. The first thing I need to figure out is what kind of satellite I need to get to switch to for the HDTV, where to get it, and then the receivers (for both front and back). Yes, my wife and I have been looking at new HDTV's, but are waiting until I see ABOUT what it will cost for satellite, receivers etc. This is something we want to do if the cost is not too much. I was thinking somewhere around 2 to 3 thousand to get it changed over. I hope I'm not far off.
The sd system we have now locates the satellite and really is pretty simple to do. Hopefully the new equipment will not be too difficult to operate. We are not full time RV'ers but we do go south for the winter, after Christmas, so this is something I want to start on around springtime. By the way, we have a 2004 Damon.
The sd system we have now locates the satellite and really is pretty simple to do. Hopefully the new equipment will not be too difficult to operate. We are not full time RV'ers but we do go south for the winter, after Christmas, so this is something I want to start on around springtime. By the way, we have a 2004 Damon.
Kokomo,
You CAN do this in the price range your looking, all depends on what you decide to use as a dish.
There are many options out there.
You say you want one that goes on top of the RV, you'll have to consider where you park the RV if thats the case as Line of Sight is critical.
Like mentioned above Winegard and MotoSat do them, I think KVH does as well.
For the ones on the RV, expect to pay $1400 on the low end.
Some have the reflector exposed others are a dome so there's nothing exposed.
When you start looking, make SURE that it handles the DIRECTV HD, lots of them handle HD, but they use a different sat for the HD, Directv uses the 99 and 103 for the HD programming, most HD set set up don't handle them.
I was recently looking at Camping World and they claimed to have the "Traveler" that handles D*, but I don't remember what was involved in it.
I think this is the same one here :
SK-3005 TRAVELER RV DirecTV Slimline LNB SATELLITE TV ANTENNA
$1699 is Members price at Camping world
http://www.campingworld.com/shoppin...imline-ka-ku-multi-satellite-tv-antenna/37343
IF your going to get the HD DVR, make sure you have 2 runs of coax to the recvrs, I'm pretty sure the ones shown are not the Single Line set ups.
You CAN do this in the price range your looking, all depends on what you decide to use as a dish.
There are many options out there.
You say you want one that goes on top of the RV, you'll have to consider where you park the RV if thats the case as Line of Sight is critical.
Like mentioned above Winegard and MotoSat do them, I think KVH does as well.
For the ones on the RV, expect to pay $1400 on the low end.
Some have the reflector exposed others are a dome so there's nothing exposed.
When you start looking, make SURE that it handles the DIRECTV HD, lots of them handle HD, but they use a different sat for the HD, Directv uses the 99 and 103 for the HD programming, most HD set set up don't handle them.
I was recently looking at Camping World and they claimed to have the "Traveler" that handles D*, but I don't remember what was involved in it.
I think this is the same one here :
SK-3005 TRAVELER RV DirecTV Slimline LNB SATELLITE TV ANTENNA
$1699 is Members price at Camping world
http://www.campingworld.com/shoppin...imline-ka-ku-multi-satellite-tv-antenna/37343
IF your going to get the HD DVR, make sure you have 2 runs of coax to the recvrs, I'm pretty sure the ones shown are not the Single Line set ups.
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Jimbo,
The last time I chcked, all the domes were SD only. They don't make the domes large enough to hold the slimline dishes.
Bob
The last time I chcked, all the domes were SD only. They don't make the domes large enough to hold the slimline dishes.
Bob
KokomoCat,
I would suspect that you only have one satellite receiver feeding your two sets currently. You also probably have a Winegard switcher that runs 12v to your standard antenna as well as switching your antenna and satellite rf (eg channel 3) signals to your back TV. That setup does not work with HD. You need to have a separate satellite receiver in the bedroom for HD in the bedroom.
For a two room RV installation, I would not be surprised to see the bill for the dish antenna and installation to run at least $2000 itself (since there is some definite rewiring that has to occur for the bedroom TV. Plus, you need access to the back of the bedroom TV to connect the receiver. You would probably shave about $300 off this cost if you just keep SD in the bedroom, and drive it with a rf converter from the front satellite receiver (similar to the setup you have now).
The receivers only (no DVR) are $100 each plus programming and extra room fees. Recorders are about $200. Then there is programming. I am assuming you have DirecTV now since you are on this forum. You would just have to upgrade to HD ($10/mo) plus DVR charge(s) if you get the recorder.
You need a separate estimate on what it would cost to get the TV's installed. Costs there vary wildly depending on the modifications you want to make to your coach.
As an aside, I don't know what I want for our coach yet so I just bought a SWM Slimline dish (to mimic what we have at home) and an inexpensive meter to aim it with. Total out of pocket was about $300. It takes a few minutes to setup, but for now I am happy with the outfit. I just take one of the house DVRs and put it in the RV when we are on the road. I would really like to put a 32 inch HDTV in our rig, but that would probably take about $4000 to $5000 worth of cabinet work to make happen. I just am not ready to put out that kind of money for the conversion.
Bob
I would suspect that you only have one satellite receiver feeding your two sets currently. You also probably have a Winegard switcher that runs 12v to your standard antenna as well as switching your antenna and satellite rf (eg channel 3) signals to your back TV. That setup does not work with HD. You need to have a separate satellite receiver in the bedroom for HD in the bedroom.
For a two room RV installation, I would not be surprised to see the bill for the dish antenna and installation to run at least $2000 itself (since there is some definite rewiring that has to occur for the bedroom TV. Plus, you need access to the back of the bedroom TV to connect the receiver. You would probably shave about $300 off this cost if you just keep SD in the bedroom, and drive it with a rf converter from the front satellite receiver (similar to the setup you have now).
The receivers only (no DVR) are $100 each plus programming and extra room fees. Recorders are about $200. Then there is programming. I am assuming you have DirecTV now since you are on this forum. You would just have to upgrade to HD ($10/mo) plus DVR charge(s) if you get the recorder.
You need a separate estimate on what it would cost to get the TV's installed. Costs there vary wildly depending on the modifications you want to make to your coach.
As an aside, I don't know what I want for our coach yet so I just bought a SWM Slimline dish (to mimic what we have at home) and an inexpensive meter to aim it with. Total out of pocket was about $300. It takes a few minutes to setup, but for now I am happy with the outfit. I just take one of the house DVRs and put it in the RV when we are on the road. I would really like to put a 32 inch HDTV in our rig, but that would probably take about $4000 to $5000 worth of cabinet work to make happen. I just am not ready to put out that kind of money for the conversion.
Bob
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