New Source of TV While on the Road

[Healeyman]

We've Had Dish Network Sat TV in the house for over 20 years.

Years ago, I'd take a spare dish and the home receiver and go through the pains of setting that up (aiming the dish) so that we would have more than the, wherever we were, local channels.

That was such a PITA that we almost totally stopped watching TV at all.

A couple of years ago after we both got new Samsung S8+ phones, I installed the "Dish Anywhere" app. At least then I could watch some TV programs on the small phone screen.

About a year ago, I got a long HDMI cord so that I could pipe video from my laptop to the TV. That was better.

A couple of weeks ago, it struck me "See if you can pipe video from our phone to the TV". I went to Amazon and bought a $12 cable that plugs into my phone and to an HDMI cable.

The cable just got here, so I plugged my phone into the HDMI and into the Living room TV. I loaded the Dish app. and BINGO! I got a bright, clear, full screen image, and sound, on the TV.

Now, with our Verizon unlimited data plan, from ANYWHERE, can access our home Dish Receiver to see any Dish programming LIVE or anything that we have recorded on the receiver's DVR. The phone DOES charge while plugged into the TV.

This is sure gonna beat having to buy a Sat dish and mess with the programming and dealing with changes to the Dish account.

We go out in the RV next weekend. I can't wait.

Tim

[jorbill2or]

Sling prices just went up as most of the streaming services have . Sling offers almost no locals ( that’s why they are cheaper and very limited channels) , but if they are the ones you want ??

[az99]

wanderingaimlessly wrote:
Using Sling for $25 a month instead of what dish charges you, and I got a free TV dongle for signing up for 2 months.

So for that $25 you get all the same channels as a Dish package? And locals? How about the DVR? How much is your unlimited data plan? I don't think you are comparing apples to apples. 🙂

[Bigbird65]

I have DirecTV at home and a portable dish we use on the road. When time is short or I am too lazy or tired to set up the dish I can get all of the channels in our DTV plan using the DirecTV app on my AT&T Samsung GS5 phone. The big advantage is that watching TV this way uses NO data on my phone plan, therefore no additional cost. However, I certainly don't want to watch TV on that tiny screen. So, I wirelessly connect to the Samsung 32" smart TV using Screen Mirroring. I do connect the charge cable to the phone.

[Gonzo42]

Would this setup work with android (google) phones?

[valhalla360]

Campfire Time wrote:

Healeyman wrote:


Now, with our Verizon unlimited data plan, from ANYWHERE,

Tim

Try that in the Kewenaw Peninsula in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Pretty much no cell service for any provider north of Houghton/Hancock. :B

Pretty neat way to watch TV though. When we had TimeWarner I thought about something similar when they came out with their watch anywhere app.

Yeah but on a forested camp site on the wrong side of the hills, satellite isn't going to work either.

[Campfire_Time]

Healeyman wrote:


Now, with our Verizon unlimited data plan, from ANYWHERE,

Tim

Try that in the Kewenaw Peninsula in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Pretty much no cell service for any provider north of Houghton/Hancock. :B

Pretty neat way to watch TV though. When we had TimeWarner I thought about something similar when they came out with their watch anywhere app.

[garyemunson]

We use an automatic "Tailgater" dish on the RV roof and use the same box in the house and RV (Wally). Just 1 bill. Fiddled with using the phone but living out West, just too many camping opportunities that are beyond good cell data range. Sat is always there.

[austinjenna]

We also use Sling and Tivo so we can watch what we recorded from home. I use an HDMI cable and never had a problem with throttling that it affected anything.

[valhalla360]

Unless you insist on hi-def, throttling usually isn't an issue. For movies, this can be an issue but for TV, we usually don't care.

Pretty much all newer phones can cast and most newer TVs can receive.

[Retired_JSO]

chrisguld wrote:
RE: casting to the TV vs using HDMI. Most unlimited data plan are only unlimited for data used on device ... On the phone. When you plug an HDMI cable to the TV you are still only using data on the phone -so far so good. When you "cast" to a smart TV or a Chromecast device, that is traveling over the internet, using data off device, because each piece (phone and TV needs to be connected to the same wifi)
Miracast is an exception, it travels directly from phone to TV without a wifi connection.

As far as I know, all smart cast is done by Bluetooth, not WiFi.

[chrisguld]

RE: casting to the TV vs using HDMI. Most unlimited data plan are only unlimited for data used on device ... On the phone. When you plug an HDMI cable to the TV you are still only using data on the phone -so far so good. When you "cast" to a smart TV or a Chromecast device, that is traveling over the internet, using data off device, because each piece (phone and TV needs to be connected to the same wifi)
Miracast is an exception, it travels directly from phone to TV without a wifi connection.

[Bill_Satellite]

Healeyman wrote:


Now, with our Verizon unlimited data plan, from ANYWHERE,

Tim

Well, that is ANYWHERE you have cellular service. But maybe when you are in areas off the grid you don't want to be watching TV anyway!
You will also want to find out where the limits on your unlimited plan kicks in. There are few non-commercial 4G truly unlimited plans left. I am lucky to have the Mobley SIM in a HotSpot as it appears to be truly unlimited and unthrottled.

[jcpainter]

RobWNY makes a VERY valid point. All "unlimited" cell plans will slow down after XXX amount of high speed data has been used. They may throttle, or they may be "network managed".

Be sure you understand the fine print of your "unlimited" plan.

[bob_nestor]

You can also use a FireTV Stick and install the Dish Anywhere app on it. That gives you access to a bunch of other free stuff like movies and old TV programs. I used this setup with my AT&T Mobley last summer and was able to stream my home TV channels, all my Dish channels and get the free stuff too. The Mobley is unlimited data but it's old technology. I rarely saw problems with streaming and some months I pushed close to 150G. The only real dropout I experienced was when the City tore up my cable at the house.

[wanderingaimles]

Using Sling for $25 a month instead of what dish charges you, and I got a free TV dongle for signing up for 2 months.