Forum Discussion

goducks10's avatar
goducks10
Explorer
Nov 18, 2014

Dish or DirecTV?

Looking at getting some sort of satellite next spring. I currently have DirecTV at home. I've never had Dish.
It boils down to wanting an HD picture. I know you can't cheaply get HD with a sat and DirecTV. Only Dish has HD with portable sats. Question is how hard is it to get HD with a DirecTV satellite? I've read it's really hard and after talking to the guys setting it up at our house they also say it's pretty tough without an expensive sat finder.

Next thing is monthly costs. We wouldn't always be using the service. So keeping DirecTV at home and going with Dish would cost about $40.00 a month I think. If I keep my DirecTV and use a home receiver then it would be no different than home use.

Not sure if I want to switch to Dish. That would be the easiest thing to do but I've heard a few cons on their equipment. We had Comcast for awhile before getting DirecTV and the software Comcast uses is horrible. DirecTV is simpler to navigate and set/delete programs IMO.

For those that have had both are they really that much different?

So it boils down to keeping DirecTV and trying to setup a portable dish or switch to Dish and go with a Winegard or Tailgator.
  • RoyB's avatar
    RoyB
    Explorer II
    Nov 18, 2014
    Don't forget all of the NATL BROADCAST stations transmit in full high def mode. You can get all of these for free from the local towns using your OTA BATWING antenna...

    Roy Ken
  • 2oldman's avatar
    2oldman
    Explorer II
    Nov 18, 2014
    goducks10 wrote:
    I've read it's really hard and after talking to the guys setting it up at our house they also say it's pretty tough without an expensive sat finder.
    If you've followed any posts on here about this you'll know it does take practice, but is quite do-able. And no, you don't need an expensive meter. That's just how the DTV techs are trained.

    Aim DTV SWM post
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    Nov 18, 2014
    You have direct at home/ Take the receiver with you from home. As for dish costs, it can run from a couple hundred for a complete manual setup to a couple thousand for an automatic roof top setup. We have and carry both. most of the time I setup my ground antenna. I spend maybe 250 dollars including a heavy duty tripod and enough coax cable and fittings to make what I wanted. I have since converted to a SWM system with a new genie and wireless slaves at home. This will be out go setup next spring when we leave again
  • williamp321's avatar
    williamp321
    Explorer
    Nov 18, 2014
    I have direct and use a slim line dish and i do have HD channels. Most of the time in setting up the dish i have very little problem.I fine Satelite 110. from there i go up and down on the dish and i can fine 119 and 101 with out much trouble. I never use a meter. I do use my IPhone compass. Good luck.
  • BB_TX's avatar
    BB_TX
    Nomad
    Nov 18, 2014
    If you only use it a few months out of the year, dishformyrv.com has a monthly plan you can start and stop as often as you wish.
  • Crabbypatty's avatar
    Crabbypatty
    Explorer
    Nov 18, 2014
    I've brought Dish over the road for years. I think it comes down to the package of channels that interest you. I take my hooper from home and bought a used dish and put it on a tripod. I sometimes can be a real pain to locate satellites. I am probably going to buy a winegard x2 in the spring to automate that function. I am going to mount it on the ladder and bring the tripod in case we go to a cg in the trees. I do enjoy local channels to get the local flavor and replaced my batwing with a Jackd antennae. Brings in many digital channels.
  • Idaho_Joe's avatar
    Idaho_Joe
    Explorer
    Nov 18, 2014
    Jeez......Whatever happened to the old days of climbing the telephone pole and tapping into your neighbors cable?? LOL
  • Bill_Satellite's avatar
    Bill_Satellite
    Explorer II
    Nov 18, 2014
    It's really a no-brainer! You have DirecTV....use it.
    To get HD you need an open faced antenna either mounted on a tripod or a fully automatic roof mounted unit. Start out with the tripod and if you don't like spending 20-30 minutes at each new location getting setup you can spend about $1800 for a roof mount. Time and money are sometime interchangeable and you need to figure out which is more important to you.
    If none of that sounds like any fun, you are still going to have a high expense if you want to go with Dish unless you want to also convert your house over to Dish. Paying for both services (even when it's only when you travel) makes no sense at all.
  • goducks10's avatar
    goducks10
    Explorer
    Nov 18, 2014
    BB_TX wrote:
    If you only use it a few months out of the year, dishformyrv.com has a monthly plan you can start and stop as often as you wish.


    Thought of that but I will only be watching if off and on for maybe 8 months. Might only watch it for a game or race once in awhile. Didn't really want to pay $45.00 for one race or two football games.

    It's looking like the easiest way is to cancel DirecTV and get Dish tv and use one of the portables. $7.00 extra a month for a receiver that I could use at home if needed.

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