DirecTV Equipment

[upstech76]

I recently purchased a new TT. I am looking at canceling my cable subscription and going to DirecTV for HD service at home so that I can take a receiver with me on the road. I would prefer to stay with the round 18" dish on the road to simplify aiming. So for HD service at home and SD service on the road what receivers should I be looking for? I know the basics of I have to obtain another dish for the RV but will the HD receivers work in SD with an old dish?

[deandec]

I use the DTV Genie h34 and a slave for HD at home. The shared SWM dish also serves my SD receiver at home.

For the motorhome, I have an SD DTV in motion dome. It is set up for using either my HD receiver (one lead wire) or my SD receiver (two lead wires) either in SD mode.

By using the SWM8 multiswitch and power inserter antenna lead setup on the MH, I can also send signal to additional receivers (HD or SD) should I so chose.

Or, I can use a portable dish to enjoy HD and 5 channels recording at the same time.

[docj]

Bobbo wrote:

Bobbo wrote:

docj wrote:
This won't be a problem for you but there is a lot of misinformation out there about SWM as it applies to older dishes like an 18" round. You can most definitely use an 18" dish for SWM, all you need to add is a SWM8 switch and a PI-29 power inserter. The two output coax from the LNB go to the 13V and 18V terminals of the SWM8 and then one coax cable is connected from the switch to inside your RV where the PI-29 and the receiver would be located. The PI-29 is just connected into the coax line as if it was a feed-through (which, in a way, it is).

I'll let you know. I have an 18" round antenna at home and just ordered an SWM8, Power Inserter, and a pair of 1x4 splitters.

I said I would let you know, so I am reporting back.

My house has an 18" round Directv antenna. I hooked up a power inserter, a pair of 1x4 SWM splitters, and an SWM8 switch. I put caps on the hookup sites for the other 2 antenna inputs. I then removed the second cable going to my DVR.

I told my receivers that I had a 3 LNB Slimline dish and SWM. My standard receivers get all of my SD channels (that is all I am subscribed to). My DVR recorded 2 channels at the same time.

It works, no matter what Directv says.

Thanks for the update. It's always nice to know when something does work.

[Clay_L]

upstech76 wrote:
I recently purchased a new TT. I am looking at canceling my cable subscription and going to DirecTV for HD service at home so that I can take a receiver with me on the road. I would prefer to stay with the round 18" dish on the road to simplify aiming. So for HD service at home and SD service on the road what receivers should I be looking for? I know the basics of I have to obtain another dish for the RV but will the HD receivers work in SD with an old dish?

The H24 series and lower work with 18 inch round dishes and with Slimline SWM and non SWM dishes as well.

About three years ago when we upgraded our TV and upgraded Direct TV from SD to HD we used the H24 receiver with our motor home Winegard manual roof top dish and with the Slimline 3 non SWM dish at our summer location.
Switched back and forth with the menu settings.

Now we have a Traveler SK3005 non SWM rooftop dish on the motor home and a Slimline 3 SWM dish at our new summer location. Still switch back and forth with the menu settings.

The Sk3005 has to have a B Band Converter (BBC) in line and the Slimline 3 SWN has to have a power inserter in line.

[Bobbo]

Bobbo wrote:

docj wrote:
This won't be a problem for you but there is a lot of misinformation out there about SWM as it applies to older dishes like an 18" round. You can most definitely use an 18" dish for SWM, all you need to add is a SWM8 switch and a PI-29 power inserter. The two output coax from the LNB go to the 13V and 18V terminals of the SWM8 and then one coax cable is connected from the switch to inside your RV where the PI-29 and the receiver would be located. The PI-29 is just connected into the coax line as if it was a feed-through (which, in a way, it is).

I'll let you know. I have an 18" round antenna at home and just ordered an SWM8, Power Inserter, and a pair of 1x4 splitters.

I said I would let you know, so I am reporting back.

My house has an 18" round Directv antenna. I hooked up a power inserter, a pair of 1x4 SWM splitters, and an SWM8 switch. I put caps on the hookup sites for the other 2 antenna inputs. I then removed the second cable going to my DVR.

I told my receivers that I had a 3 LNB Slimline dish and SWM. My standard receivers get all of my SD channels (that is all I am subscribed to). My DVR recorded 2 channels at the same time.

It works, no matter what Directv says.

[mikestock]

Aside from the fact that the Slimline is much bulkier there is really no reason not to take one on the road. An SL3 is just as easy to set up as an 18" dish. All you have to do is preset the tilt, which is not too critical. That said, the SL5 is a different story but very few people really need the SL5.

[Bobbo]

docj wrote:
This won't be a problem for you but there is a lot of misinformation out there about SWM as it applies to older dishes like an 18" round. You can most definitely use an 18" dish for SWM, all you need to add is a SWM8 switch and a PI-29 power inserter. The two output coax from the LNB go to the 13V and 18V terminals of the SWM8 and then one coax cable is connected from the switch to inside your RV where the PI-29 and the receiver would be located. The PI-29 is just connected into the coax line as if it was a feed-through (which, in a way, it is).

I'll let you know. I have an 18" round antenna at home and just ordered an SWM8, Power Inserter, and a pair of 1x4 splitters.

[Sandia_Man]

We use our bedroom Directv HD receiver and purchased the same HD dish (Slimline 5) we have on our roof from Ebay, which we mount to a homemade stand delivering every channel we have at home, including locals if we're within a couple hundred miles of our residence as the spotbeam is quite large in our neck of the woods. By using the same HD sat dish we have at home, our HD receiver is already set up to the proper configuration simplifying the set-up process.

Go HD as we don't find it any more difficult to align the HD dish than when using the 18" round SD dish, simply adjust HD dish to settings indicated by Directv receiver. After leveling we use a $10 compass to point dish to sat 101 obtaining a better than 90% signal, all the other satellites come right in. Practice at home a few times to get the hang of it, we have the routine nailed down taking maybe 10-15 minutes tops. Even when an RV park offers cable, we readily set up our satellite dish as there is simply no comparison.

[JamesBr]

When I ordered for my house, I have the genie (thats what they now call it) and two HD boxes. I then added two SD only boxes. They came out and installed everthing on SWM at the house and activated the SD boxes as well as the rest of the system. I then removed them from the house, took them to the RV. Setup my dual LNB dish, connected them to the boxes, went into setup and changed it to the proper settings. Aimed my dish and enjoyed my programming without any thing complicated in the RV.

It is no issue at all.

If you want to order HD at the house and move them to the RV for travel, that you can do as well. You just need to go into the programming and set them to the proper LNB configuration without any need to deal with SWM.

[docj]

DirecTV HD receivers will work fine for SD, however, you will have to understand how SWM (single wire multiplex) affects what you do. I believe all new DirecTV home installations use SWM and some of the newer DTV receivers are SWM only and can't be used with the older multiswitch antenna configurations.

This won't be a problem for you but there is a lot of misinformation out there about SWM as it applies to older dishes like an 18" round. You can most definitely use an 18" dish for SWM, all you need to add is a SWM8 switch and a PI-29 power inserter. The two output coax from the LNB go to the 13V and 18V terminals of the SWM8 and then one coax cable is connected from the switch to inside your RV where the PI-29 and the receiver would be located. The PI-29 is just connected into the coax line as if it was a feed-through (which, in a way, it is).

In the process of setting this up you may find people, including some DTV installers, who tell you this can't be done with an 18" dish, but it really will work.