Tracking Satellite System

[Dthomas9572]

Hello,
I am wanting to install a tracking satellite system in my coach. Visiting with my RV installer he recommends the KVH system. His reasoning is it was developed for the Marine Industry and has the best recording of keeping up with signal.
This system is $2100 ish versus a Weingard at $1100.00 ish. Does anyone have thoughts on this?
He also said Dish is the way to go as Direct TV does not have High Def Signals and Direct TV when it changes over to High Def all the existing units will have to be replaced.
Thoughts?
David Thomas
1998 Featherlight XL​

[freds]

I would wait another year for Starlink to be more widely deployed and have everything in one unit.

To watch TV on the go use an iPad and pre-download a NetFlix movie in the meantime.

[Gil_J]

Yes, KVH is a much better built and more reliable product and it's reflected in its price. There's no way I'd spend that money on a system designed for DirecTV. Both because of the lack of HD support and the uncertainty as to what AT&T is going to do when it shuts down its SD broadcast. DirecTV's customer service is, well, let me just say it is not customer service. Make sure it can be used on DISH if you go DirecTV. If you can get a KVH RV1 for $2,100 you are doing good. The terminal, not installed, is closer to $2,400 - $2,600.

[BGLogistics]

David I have a TV you can borrow :-)

[Dthomas9572]

Billy,

I love all the shows on ME TV. Your loaner will be perfect....I will feel like I did when I was a kid..

[BadFitter]

Another thing to consider is going to streaming. It is a little complicated to get a setup that includes an external antenna, router, and bus WiFi but once that is done it is very simple to use streaming devices like a FireStick or smart TV apps to receive all your programming. Streaming is seen as the way things are going, replacing traditional broadcast TV. While some will see this as an "early adopter" method, it is in reality very established.

Check to see if there is a "technology store" in your area that can advise you on an acceptable installation. There are dedicated websites that will keep you abreast of current providers and methods that will reduce your monthly costs.

Frequently we will not even carry our Dish Hopper and Joey with us, leaving them connected at home. We then can use the Dish Anywhere app in the bus to get all our home Dish channels. For music while on the road, Prime Music is really good. Netflix and Amazon Prime get a lot of use. We rarely travel in an area that does not have decent streaming coverage, but in full disclosure, we have a robust, multi-provider Cradlepoint router and roof mounted, high gain, cell antenna.

[Hoffman]

I would also suggest you consider a streaming solution. That's all we use any longer, abandoning the high initial and monthly costs for dish based systems and a much broader source of content. Each TV has an AppleTV attached that all log into the same Apple account, so content, apps, cost are all for a single account. No More vendor lockin, watch anything you want. Tennis Channel for my wife? There's an App for that. etc, etc.
As for the bus, Wireless throughout (except connecting the AppleTV to the TV itself is HDMI for ~2ft.) So I've been free to rip out all the old COAX cabling and mess, what a relief. There's probably 100+lbs of unneeded cabling and connectors leftover from an old bygone architecture.
Of course you don't need to use AppleTV; FireStick, Smart TVs, etc also work, but I chose AppleTV due to the richer content and app selection, and the ease to share my laptop screen to any TV in the 'house', a great tool for work and family zoom sessions.

As for Starlink, a great idea, but a bit early and can't be used without setting up the antenna, which would need to be stowed(currently) while driving. I'm optimistic the RV industry will have a solution for that soon, but way too early for that still. The Starlink dish tracks using phased array technology so no need to physically move the dish to track, this will be awesome for being a good solution while driving down the road. I'll definitely be getting one of these when it's a viable solution for an RV. Elon are you listening?