Need a rcvr for our RV...best practices?

[kgarvey]

Just had a 6 week terrible experience with DISH. Need to know best practices for setting up a receiver in our RV. We have two D* receivers in the home, one with DVR and one without. Should I just take one of those on the road with us? I'd prefer to get a receiver that has 2 tuners, one for the front TV and one for the rear TV. DISH has receivers that do this. Does D* have such a receiver? If so, what's the model? Does D* offer a 'travel plan' of some kind, where we can suspend service for the RV receiver when the RV is not in use?

If available, please give me some keywords so I can search this forum for this information.

Thanks for any help.

KG

 

[jdspencer]

DirecTV doesn't have a receiver that has two tuners which output separately.

The experts with RV knowledge can now check in here.
Or call DirecTV.

 

[schneid]

Depending on your budget, I'd add Whole Home DVR (MRV) and then duplicate that setup in the RV. It will allow you a single wire connection to the bedroom (which should be pre-wired) and allow you to watch recordings from the DVR in the living area.

The other solution is take the DVR on the road, use an RF remote, and split the HDMI out into two feeds, one to each TV.

Although old, HR20's are a good RV choice as they will tune and record OTA stations too.

 

[Jimbo]

Depending on your budget, I'd add Whole Home DVR (MRV) and then duplicate that setup in the RV. It will allow you a single wire connection to the bedroom (which should be pre-wired) and allow you to watch recordings from the DVR in the living area.

The other solution is take the DVR on the road, use an RF remote, and split the HDMI out into two feeds, one to each TV.

Although old, HR20's are a good RV choice as they will tune and record OTA stations too.

MRV is rather elaborate for the RV, but it would work.

Personally, I would share the extra room and the RV recvr.

IF they decide to sign up for a RV agreement, it will be a separate account and the bill would be double.

 

[Aridon]

Just set up the DVR in one room and use a repeater to broadcast that through the RV on the installed RG6 in the walls.

Dish > Receiver > to TV via HDMI or component in living room

Receiver > composite cable to rf modulator (buy a cheap one at Walmart for $15) > to cable jack on wall. This will send the DVR signal to any cable jack in the rv.

http://hometheater.about.com/cs/dvdlaserdisc/a/aadvdrfmoda.htm

Make sure it has composite inputs (red white yellow) so you can get signal from the DVR and RG6 out (so you can send the signal over a cable wire through the rv on channel 3).

Use the RF remote to control the DVR from anywhere in the RV. Just change it from IR to RF.

Just make sure the power to the roof top antenna is off or it will scramble up the signal from the modulator.


Just remember that Satellite signal doesn't like splitters. RV makers use tons of splitters. So you need to make sure the Dish (LNB) to the DVR is clean without splitters. Once you plug the RF box in the wall those splitters will work in your favor and send the signal to every jack in your RV.

 

[schneid]

MRV is rather elaborate for the RV, but it would work.

Personally, I would share the extra room and the RV recvr.

IF they decide to sign up for a RV agreement, it will be a separate account and the bill would be double.

Agreed but MRV is the only way to do it with existing RV coax unless they wanted to go with two DVR's and a SWM dish. Two receivers and a SWM dish would work too I guess. The mixing of equipment has got complicated when it comes to SWM, B-Band converters, power inserters, and band-stop filters. each setup would be different.

For me, I'm going to split the HDMI and go that route.

Because of the lobbyists, getting "full" programming in an RV for the working stiff isn't easy or cheap.

 

[schneid]

Just set up the DVR in one room and use a repeater to broadcast that through the RV on the installed RG6 in the walls.

Dish > Receiver > to TV via HDMI or component in living room

Receiver > composite cable to rf modulator (buy a cheap one at Walmart for $15) > to cable jack on wall. This will send the DVR signal to any cable jack in the rv.

The RF Modulator - DVD player - RF Modulator Connection

Make sure it has composite inputs (red white yellow) so you can get signal from the DVR and RG6 out (so you can send the signal over a cable wire through the rv on channel 3).

Use the RF remote to control the DVR from anywhere in the RV. Just change it from IR to RF.

Just make sure the power to the roof top antenna is off or it will scramble up the signal from the modulator.


Just remember that Satellite signal doesn't like splitters. RV makers use tons of splitters. So you need to make sure the Dish (LNB) to the DVR is clean without splitters. Once you plug the RF box in the wall those splitters will work in your favor and send the signal to every jack in your RV.

This is okay if you don't want HD or Dolby sound.

 

[Aridon]

This is okay if you don't want HD or Dolby sound.

Just not in the bedroom. The living room would still have it.

 

[Jimbo]

How many jacks do you think this RV has in it ?

In most cases there is a Main TV jk and a Bedroom jk.

All the coax usually comes to one location in the Main TV area where the antenna booster comes into play.
Open up the Antenna booster panel, look around and remove any splitters.

I would go with a basic Slimline set up, No SWM ....

Take from SL3 to recvr, and use a converter to go from Component to coax to feed the bedroom.

 

[Aridon]

I've always ran the cables one time directly from the outside to where the receiver wll be so I never had to worry about an extra splitter or not getting both tuners working. Once run, usually through the storage bays, you never have to screw with it again. Then you only need two jacks, the one near your tv and one in the bedroom. All pre installed and now worries about splitters in the way.

That's what we did on our tt when just starting out and when we ordered our mh we had them add all the wire runs custom so we could have more flexibility off of our SL5.

Regardless, an hour of running two rg6 cables from outside to where the dvr will be is easy work and everything will work just like in a house.

 

[schneid]

How many jacks do you think this RV has in it ?

In most cases there is a Main TV jk and a Bedroom jk.

All the coax usually comes to one location in the Main TV area where the antenna booster comes into play.
Open up the Antenna booster panel, look around and remove any splitters.

I would go with a basic Slimline set up, No SWM ....

Take from SL3 to recvr, and use a converter to go from Component to coax to feed the bedroom.

That is the way mine is setup. I added two new Sat In jacks from my non-SWM Slimline. Not decided yet whether to use the existing BR coax, or pull in a split HDMI, or DECA it. Using the existing coax with an RF converter is easiest.

 

[kgarvey]

Hmm. Thanks to all who posted. Some of this I understand. Some I don't because I haven't been keeping abreast of sattellite wiring, etc.
The RV has a roof dish (King Dome). It has two feeds that come into the receiver compartment. With the dual tuner (Dish), I connected each of the dish feeds to separate tuners in the receiver. There are no 'jacks' involved. The output runs from the receiver to the source selection box (DVD, SAT, ANT, VCR, CAB). The output from that box goes to the TV. When I select SAT, I believe all other wiring is not in play, and that I have a direct connection from the receiver to the TV. The distribution box has a separate set of selections for the rear TV. With a single tuner, when SAT is selected in either front or rear TVs, the remote for DISH 'knows' which tuner it is operating and therefore each TV has separate remote control. This will not happen with any DirecTV receiver since they do not have dual tuners.

Can we start at the beginning then? What is the cheapest way for me to get a DirecTV receiver into the RV (forgetting about the rear TV for now)? Will I have issues just taking the receiver from the house bedroom into the RV and setting it up there? Does DirecTV 'care' where my second receiver is, meaning do they want more $$$ because I'm moving the receiver around? Once we figure this out, we can tackle the best way to get a separately-controllable signal to the rear of the RV.

Thanks for your help

 

[schneid]

Will I have issues just taking the receiver from the house bedroom into the RV and setting it up there?

NO

Does DirecTV 'care' where my second receiver is, meaning do they want more $$$ because I'm moving the receiver around?

NO

Your dome will not do HD. The only roof-mount that will is Winegard Trav'ler. $1500 or so.

You will lose locals if drive out from under your spot beam.

DTV will require a second full-price account if you want Distant Network Service.