Dish or Directv - Best satellite to purchase

This topic is always similar to Ford verses Chevy. If you want HD and no set-up hassle then the Winegard Traveler is the choice for the satellite. If that is the case that leads you towards Direct as the simplest solution.

The programing is similar enough that it will not make any real difference except for sports - there Direct has a distinct advantage.

If you have one or the other already at your house, then logically go with what you already have. In my case, I was with Direct so took an already owned DVR/Receiver to the coach and activated it. I also already had a Traveler on the roof. 6 dollars per month extra. Changing locations to get local channels is a simple step with Direct - do not know about Dish,

If you have to start from scratch on all of this AT&T is having some darn good specials for phones with data and Direct TV packages. If you need a new phone and can live with AT&T that might be an economical way. The satellite of course is over and above any Dish/Direct TV activation and installation costs.

Check AT&T discount programs form the company you work for or retired from. In my case - 25% off each service.

Dish Network does use multiple satellites. 2 mostly on the East Coast and 3 in the Western US. DirecTV uses 3 throughout the US.

Bill.Satellite wrote:

LVJ58 wrote:
If I'm not mistaken Direct TV receives their signal from a single satellite whereas I believe Dish Net receives their signals from 2 different satellites depending on the channel you select.

We use Dish Net on our coach with a stationary automatic satellite antenna and sometimes when we change channels there's a slight delay while the antenna automatically seeks out the proper satellite for the channel we selected.

Good luck with your choice and safe travels...:)

Actually, you are mistaken. Both DirecTV and Dish use 3 satellites to receive all of their programming if you wan to receive all of the programming. With DirecTV you can point to the 101 satellite and receive the majority of their programming but none of this is in HD. With Dish you can also point to only 1 satellite and receive most of their programming and it is in HD (129) or 72.7 on the East Coast. Dish uses 2 separate sets of satellites for East Coast and West Coast to complicate things a bit more. If you are using a dome style antenna you will not be able to receive ANY of the DirecTV HD programming as the 101 satellite is the only signal it is capable of receiving.

Thanks for the clarification Bill, insofar as the sat antenna on our coach goes into seek mode sometimes when I changed channels I was under the impression that signals were coming from 2 different satellites. We live in the West, NV.

The sat antenna on our house picks up all channels.

Thanks again for the clarification and safe travels....:)

LVJ58 wrote:
If I'm not mistaken Direct TV receives their signal from a single satellite whereas I believe Dish Net receives their signals from 2 different satellites depending on the channel you select.

We use Dish Net on our coach with a stationary automatic satellite antenna and sometimes when we change channels there's a slight delay while the antenna automatically seeks out the proper satellite for the channel we selected.

Good luck with your choice and safe travels...:)

Actually, you are mistaken. Both DirecTV and Dish use 3 satellites to receive all of their programming if you wan to receive all of the programming. With DirecTV you can point to the 101 satellite and receive the majority of their programming but none of this is in HD. With Dish you can also point to only 1 satellite and receive most of their programming and it is in HD (129) or 72.7 on the East Coast. Dish uses 2 separate sets of satellites for East Coast and West Coast to complicate things a bit more. If you are using a dome style antenna you will not be able to receive ANY of the DirecTV HD programming as the 101 satellite is the only signal it is capable of receiving.

We like Direct only because we spend 6 months at a RV park that provides cable. There for I can put my Direct at home on Vacation and have no Bill for 6 months. A savings of $130,00 PER MONTH.

If I'm not mistaken Direct TV receives their signal from a single satellite whereas I believe Dish Net receives their signals from 2 different satellites depending on the channel you select.

We use Dish Net on our coach with a stationary automatic satellite antenna and sometimes when we change channels there's a slight delay while the antenna automatically seeks out the proper satellite for the channel we selected.

Good luck with your choice and safe travels...:)

If you are starting from scratch, there are a few options to consider. I would also check to see if there are any channels in the various packages that are "must haves" like some sports networks. There is a good comparison tool at http://www.satellitetv-deal.com/directv-vs-dish-channels.html that shows the differences between DirecTV and Dish.

We have had both. Since we currently have DirecTV at home, we are using DirecTV on the road. We also have a dome that allows us to switch between providers (the Winegard Carryout G2+) but as others have said, DirecTV does not have HD channels using a dome antenna. Since Dish has Pay-as-you-go we can always change the antenna settings and change out receivers to watch Dish if we choose. We are big sports fans and like to watch our teams when possible.

Our dome is mounted on the roof of our MH, many prefer the portability of some domes to be able to use them even when parked in the shade of trees. Again, how much do you want to watch TV?

We also have streaming services such as AppleTV and Roku with our unlimited wireless plan, so there are lots of options.

Lots of options and food for thought.

msmith1199 wrote:

RoyB wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
We have only had Direct and up until their being bought out by ATT I would have said I liked Direct better.

I was going to put in a comment about DirecTv and ATT now offering SAT TV over the internet - No dish required...

Haven't really heard anything bad about this yet but maybe there is a hitch other than lots of data required to watch SAT TV over the internet...

This idea kinda appeals to me to be able to do this...

We dropped SAT TV when the National Broadcast folks came out with the Digital OTA TV in 2009 I think it was... being doing the local HDTV signals from the local towns using the BATWING antenna ever since then... When we had Directv we could only get standard mode broadcast quality from them but it was neat to bring along a portable dish setup and a SAT RCVR from the home account and watch DirecTV SAT TV all over everywhere we was at......

Roy Ken

This is probably fine on the East coast, but come out West and some of our best camping places are in the mountains and in other locations where you aren't going to get an over the air signal. That is unless you speak Spanish. For some reason you can always find a Spanish language station over the air no matter where you are. So if you want TV out here, you pretty much need Satellite.

I don't think it is abailable over the air. I think the poster is referring to over the internet. You are correct then that it does require a subscription to dtv and a good internet connection and the ability to stream a lot of data. An unlimited data plan would be helpful.

RoyB wrote:

donn0128 wrote:
We have only had Direct and up until their being bought out by ATT I would have said I liked Direct better.

I was going to put in a comment about DirecTv and ATT now offering SAT TV over the internet - No dish required...

Haven't really heard anything bad about this yet but maybe there is a hitch other than lots of data required to watch SAT TV over the internet...

This idea kinda appeals to me to be able to do this...

We dropped SAT TV when the National Broadcast folks came out with the Digital OTA TV in 2009 I think it was... being doing the local HDTV signals from the local towns using the BATWING antenna ever since then... When we had Directv we could only get standard mode broadcast quality from them but it was neat to bring along a portable dish setup and a SAT RCVR from the home account and watch DirecTV SAT TV all over everywhere we was at......

Roy Ken

This is probably fine on the East coast, but come out West and some of our best camping places are in the mountains and in other locations where you aren't going to get an over the air signal. That is unless you speak Spanish. For some reason you can always find a Spanish language station over the air no matter where you are. So if you want TV out here, you pretty much need Satellite.

The Trav'ler is awesome but not for those on a budget (or faint of heart). $2000+ installed is about average. I also have DTV, a Trav'ler and a Genie which I would not give up. But that's not really what the OP is looking for.