Which Dish receiver to you travel with?

realladyat57 wrote:
We have a Dish VIP 722 HD receiver at home but don't want to take it with us when we travel . . . Our main issue is that we want to travel with satellite TV with DVR capability.

I suggest you find a way to take your VIP722 with you. This is a 2-tuner receiver that can support two TVs -- one HD and the other SD --and serve as a DVR. A perfect RV combo.

However, none of the convenient automatic portables (Tailgater, Pathway X1, X2, etc) or the dome dishes (MiniMax, TracVision, etc) really support your 722.

To use your 722, you would need either a rooftop Winegard Travler (~ $1200) and/or an open-faced portable dish (like a DISH 1000.2 or 1000.4) which you would have to manually setup and aim each time.

If the cost or manual setup scare you aware, then opt for a VIP211 receiver with an automatic portable. I recommend the Pathway X2.

The 211 isn't much of a DVR, but with an automatic portable -- it's easy!

realladyat57 wrote:

Also, we heard from a source (not sure if it's reliable) that Dish will no longer install systems in RVs. Have any of you heard this? Are any of you aware of issues we might confront installing it ourselves? (DH is very handy but he's not done much with electronics.)

I don't think DISH cares one way or the other.

On the other hand, sat installers (both DISH and DirecTV) really don't like RV installs -- RV wiring is funky, hard to get at, and the owner is likely watching your every move.

Plus, local installers are probably totally unfamiliar with all (or any!) of the dish options (Travler, Tailgater, KVH domes, Pathway, etc, etc).

Instead of contacting DISH directly, I suggest you contact a local satellite TV installer. You may have to try a couple.

But do your homework (as you seem to be doing) before you call.

Finally, I RV with 2 Hoppers & a Joey. This is my DISH setup.