Changing Sat TV from Directv to DISH

[Joe Hogan]

Recently I have stopped the Directv subscription due to unending issues with the service. Since I am not a full timer the Directv service would be stopped between trips even though I paid with an auto withdrawal to Directv. Consequently at the beginning of every trip I would have to call Directv and reauthorize the account. Several times I attempted to get help from a technician at Directv only to end up with hours invested only to find no one familiar with a mobile application of the Directv service.
This said, when the service operated correctly, the picture and sound were excellent.
Now I am considering switching to DISH and the DISH mobile account that I've heard is very good for RV applications. According to Winegard there are only two parts that need to be changed, the dish, $25 and the LNB, $255. The Slim Line system, otherwise, is compatible. Of course I will need an account and "box" from DISH.
Anyone experienced swapping out these parts? Reading the instructions it does not appear to be very difficult.
Thoughts on DISH picture quality and general reliability? Problems turning a monthly account on for a trip and off at the end?

Thank you.

 

[BuckyII]

Following, same situation. Cancelled DirecTV and will be switching to Dish before next summer's trip.

 

[CoreyinWP]

I have a good friend who did this swap. He said it was easy and is pleased with Dish. I cancelled DTV as well last March and used streaming services since. Much happier than with DTV.

 

[deaton]

We switched to Dish after many years with Direct back in 2016.

We had just finished building our retirement home on the Texas Hill Country and I called Direct to have them come out and get a new dish for the house and crank up the install on the RV. Like over a hundred other folks I know, we had been moving the Genie to the coach before each trip for years and doing it all with one Direct TV account.

So the tech shows up and I explain what we need and he tells us, “Well you need two accounts.” I knew that had always been their policy, but I couldn’t help asking if he thought we could be in two places at once. He replied, as expected, that he didn’t make the rules but since AT&T had taken over, they were serious about enforcement of that policy.

I explained that I was equally serious about not paying twice for the same service and I sent him packing. Then I called Dish.

We had a Traveler on the coach and I ordered the parts as described by the OP. I think the total for new Dish and the new LNB was less than $300. Install was easy.

The Dish tech came out and put a dish on the house and got service going in the coach and did it all on ONE account.

The service has been excellent. They do have that annoying habit of shutting your receivers down if they don’t get used for thirty days, but it is pretty easy to get them restarted. You can do it with their app, but I usually just call their Customer Service, which is about 1000% better than Direct.

Dish does not have NFL Sunday Ticket, but from what I read in the WSJ, Direct may be scrapping that deal after next year anyway. It’s a huge loss leader for them and the NFL is expected to demand more bucks when the contract comes up for renewal. As more and more people abandon satellite and switch to streaming, the numbers don’t add up.

Dish also lost HBO about six months ago, but you can subscribe for that directly for the same monthly price Dish was charging.

IMO, the Dish Hopper is superior to the Genie. The storage capacity is far greater and you have 16 tuners instead of five. Don’t ask me why you would ever need 16 tuners.

So long as you pay the $7 a month per unit, Dish does not care how many tuners you have on your account. I have a Hopper and two Joeys in the S&B and two Wally’s in the coach (when I have a coach). You can turn receivers off and on at any time with a phone call.

Dish Anywhere App lets you pull down shows recorded on your Hopper at the S&B and you can also download shows to a portable hard drive and play them from your Wally on the road.

The Dish CS folks seem to be far more savy than Direct regarding RV issues and they appear to have a real interest in our segment if their business. AT&T OTOH doesn’t seem to give a hoot.

 

[Neal]

I ordered my coach with DirecTV misled by my salesman about the starting/stopping option, honest mistake I'm sure. While at Newmar I had the RV company that does their installs, they are out of Elkhart, convert me to Dish. Parts and labor cost me around $700, I'm sure I took it up the pooper being at Newmar so I'm sure it can be done cheaper. You just need the parts as @deaton described above so yes, it can be done, I have really enjoyed DISH and got the new remotes (54.0) they just came out with that uses voice command (via Google Home which I don't use but it was easy to setup). Dish has an app that makes changing locals easy using your location, starting/stopping service is easy, just don't pay the bill then when ready you pay again.

I was concerned in the beginning DirecTV may be better but I am glad I made that decision to change early on after all I've read and what's going on.

I have the Wally boxes, I don't know the differences in the boxes but recently looked at them but realized the wally is probably best for me but the higher end boxes look cool. I also realized I didn't need separate boxes for the front and bedroom so next time around I'll make sure the wiring is done as needed to have a single box for all zones.

In the end, it's all going to streaming as you know. Subscriptions is where the money's at in this day and age and the networks, programming (HBO etc.) know there's big money to be made by serving direct to the consumer.

 

[deaton]

One more detail.

If you go Dish and want a Hopper in your coach, it is NOT plug and play with a Traveler. There are other DVR’s in the Dish lineup with one or two tuners that are plug and play. You can also plug a portable disk drive into a Dish Wally and watch one show while you record another.

That said, you can use a Hopper with the Traveler but it calls for a couple of adapter boxes. Not too $$. There are extensive technical docs on that other forum that will show you exactly what to do if you want to go that route.

You can also go with an RF Mogul Dish antenna which is plug and play for both DISH Hopper or a DTV Genie. It costs a few hundred bucks more than the Traveler, but s more robust and field repairable.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Stuart W]

The good thing about ordering a Direct Tv traveler is it can be converted to Dish. This is not the case if you start with Dish, you would need to replace the entire $2000 Traveler to get to DTV.

 

[deaton]

The good thing about ordering a Direct Tv traveler is it can be converted to Dish. This is not the case if you start with Dish, you would need to replace the entire $2000 Traveler to get to DTV.

This is true.

Winegard has no path for migration for the Traveler from Dish to Direct.

 

[Jabber Jaw]

When I bought my 04 Mountain Aire, November 2018, I knew very little about RV's & even less about "satellite" TV, as I've always had cable in my S&B. The 04 had an old KVH satellite, but I removed it, bought a DISH Playmaker, & 2 211Z receivers. Hooked up the satellite, no problem, contact Dish & they help me through the "set up" process. Then I got a big surprise, the 04 had no cabling to the rear to run a second receiver. I messed with it, but in the interim, decided to order the 2020 Canyon Star. So when I sold the 04, I gave the owner both 211's & let him know that he would have to run a second "coax" from the satellite to the bedroom if he wanted a 2nd receiver. He still has just the front TV on DISH, but is very happy.

So, now to the 2020. When ordering it I added the Wineguard 1000 (I think) open face satellite receiver. And ordered 2 DISH Wally's from DISH. While at Napanee for "CPU" on the 2020, the "tech" hooked up the Wally's, we took it back outside, parked it in our "slot", & called DISH. In about 30 minutes, both receivers were "set up" & operating properly. Very happy with the DISH RV program, & will expand beyond the basic package when we leave for Florida. I am not a tech savvy person, but can operate front & rear TV's, getting separate channels, and no issues.

Now, all I have to do, is figure how to get the RAYZAR automatic "OTA" to work correctly. It will scan, find many stations, but I cannot get them to show up on either of the 3 TV's. I know that outdoor & living room work together, but I cannot get the channels. Plus, I am not sure that I know how to properly get the Samsung TV's to "scan" for channels. There are lots of wonderful "electronic" gadgets in the Canyon Star, but do to "operator" error, can't seem to get them all to work. Hopefully I can get some "technical assistance" while at Tampa "Super RV Show" and Newmar Rally.

I hope I'm not the only one that has these issues, but everyone else seems to have all their "electronic gadgets" working fine!

 

[deaton]

The Rayzer can be a pain to operate but it also can deliver excellent over the air TV when properly set up. There are basically two steps to using the Rayzer -

1. Turn the unit on by pressing the button on the top left. Once that is lit, press the button on the top right. The unit will begin a scan for nearby signals. This can take from one to five minutes. When finished, it will show a number on the front which indicates the number of stations it has found.

2. Assuming it has found at least one station, you now have to set up each TV you want to use separately. When traveling, we usually just set up the one in the living room so we can watch local news and the basic networks. But you can setup all three or four of your units if you wish. To setup each TV you have to use the remote to set the TV to the over the air antenna as the signal source. We had Sony units on the 17 DS we just sold and we will have Samsung on the ones in our new coach but right now, without a couch, I can’t give you detailed instructions. But once you have the proper source selected for the TV, you run that TV’s Setup Channels task and it will connect to the Rayzer, read the data about each available channel, and set it up. Repeat for each of the other TV’s.

If you can’t get this figured out before you get to Tampa, I’m sure you can get it addressed there. We went to the Tampa show and Newmar Tampa rally when our coach was new in January of 2018. Our Rayzer was dead at the time. Newmar advised that Winegard was having issues with bad motors in the Rayzer. The next morning, a guy showed up from Winegard and installed a new one on our coach. It worked just fine for the next two years and we sold the coach last week.

 

[Joe Hogan]

Paid the $300+ cancellation fee to AT&T/Directv. Happy to be done with AT&T. The Directv base subscription cost was set to increase to $80/month. This program comprised of No local channels or major network, lots of foreign speaking channels, QVC et al, and reruns. And endless discussions with AT&T "CS".
I'll wait until we are scheduled for another long trip before considering a switch to DISH. YOUTUBE and Netflix really fill the time I devote to the tube. However, Gail enjoys some shows on Network TV so we may have to find a way to watch them.

 

[Neal]

I'm at Palm Creek at Casa Grande, AZ. I've seen a dish mobile unit here. So it seems when you're at a decent CG you can have someone come to your coach and do what you need. I paid $700 when at Newmar for the Elkhart RV SAT people to come change my DirecTV to DISH and bought two wally boxes. Money well spent. I wasn't sure if it was the right decision as I felt DirecTV may be better but I've been very pleased with DISH from their ease of local channels via smartphone app, very easy to call or live chat. Glad I made the change. Dish seems where to be from what I'm hearing these days.

 

[Joe Hogan]

Neal have you stopped by the Dutch Bros coffee shop on Florence or LGrande on Pinal? I am wondering if the coffee is as good as the hipe.
Last time I was in Casa Grande was in the 70s, that town has changed from a dusty old farming/cow boy town.

 

[Neal]

Neal have you stopped by the Dutch Bros coffee shop on Florence or LGrande on Pinal? I am wondering if the coffee is as good as the hipe.
Last time I was in Casa Grande was in the 70s, that town has changed from a dusty old farming/cow boy town.

Didn’t know about it. I’ll check it out when back in January.