TracStar SV-360

[BenC]

I almost forgot to comment on the AM-21. I was orginally told by DirecTV that it would be an add-on off-air tuner for both the HD DVR units (hr-21, hr-23, hr-whatever) AND the HD non-DVR units (h-21, h-22, h-23, etc). The latest I have heard is that they intend for them to be added on (via the USB port on the back of the receiver) ONLY to the DVR units. To make matters worse, the DVR units don't work that well in a motorhome. They are very "finicky" about wanting to see both satellite inputs, and to be locked onto all the satellites all the time. Setup is a nightmare to get right as well. Good luck if you chose to install one on a single satellite in-motion dish. God help you if you have both the Slimline 5 and an inmotion dish, intending to go back and forth with the DVR. You'll have to go back through the setup 20-minute ordeal each time you switch to get all the channels. Sorry for the news, but I have to be honest. Good luck.

[Kevin Erion]

I have 2 Pro series DirecTV receivers with DVR and a Trac Star in-motion dish. We had to get the extra box to allow 2 receivers and I am OK for the time not getting HD signal. I have not had any issues that I am aware of when traveling and the in-motion works very good. My opinion is the Trac Star in-motion system works much better than the KVH. I had a new KVH on my old bus and this bus has the Trac Star so I got the back to back on the two. The one plus to the Pro series receivers is the built in cooling fans. I had lots of over heat problems with the older units and no internal cooling fans.

[jelmore]

BenC, we have HD DISH through a KVH R5. Any experience with that? Seems lately that the antenna drifts off the signal sometimes, particularly on 129. I understand that KVH offers a 129 switch device that addresses that, but it is only applicable on the west coast. I'll pass along anything I find out from KVH, but thought you might have some knowledge.

[BenC]

My experiences with the newest KVH products are limited. In the last 3 years, we have installed TracStar or the more widely distributed Kingdome (has Tracstar's patented coaxial slip-ring for the "unwrap-free" operation). Also, the 129 degree satellite of Dish Network only covers the western half of the country. The 61.5 degree satellite is used to cover the easter half. I have heard that complaint lately, though, regarding KVH not staying on satellites while both underway and while stationary, but haven't had the opportunity to troubleshoot and get into the problem. Thanks for the update.

My biggest beef with KVH versus the TracStar (which I do prefer and recommend) is that updating is required so frequently with KVH, and often a hardware (components in the dish) changes are required. The military spawned TracStar has been so much easier to work with. I am not familiar with how you described the receivers you have. Do you know the model number? The biggest thing DirecTV did to reduce heat was to take the integrated off-air tuner out of the unit (black boxes do not have one, the older silver boxes do). That's where the AM-21 came into play for those who desperately needed the off-air tuner portion. Because of the TracStar slit-ring design, the use of signal modulation became their trademark. One coax (RG-6) passes dc power to the dish, data from the controller to positioning portion of the dish, and the two descrete LNBF signals from the feed horn. The extra box, or De-stacker separates the two distinct modulated LNBF signals from the single coax running from the dish itself.

[merle&louise]

Uh yeah, I got that!

[Kevin Erion]

Ben, The receiver boxes with the built in fans are HR21P. These are HD-DVR units and work GREAT, helps get the heat out of the box!

[mike kerley]

BenC, On the contrary, we have three dual input units, two are HD DVR's one SD and have both the slimline 5 for stationary and an older KVH dome for inmotion. Boxes work fine. We switch back and forth every week when traveling. No issues at all. I always switch the A/B switches to select the dish I want to use, then power up the dish to find the appropriate satelite or satelittes depending on in motion or stationary. Multiswitches provide addional cable ports for up to 8 outputs. I've never had to "reset" a receiver because of a lost input or signal.

[Mark3101]

A few notes about satellite television from DirecTV:

1) the "110 adapter" is a Tracstar systems item, allowing the dish to know when you are selecting a channel on the satellite at 110 degrees. It is, however, at this time virtually obsolete. DirecTV has very little programming on satellite 110 right now. I am sure this will change in the near future.

2) There is NOT currently, and will not be in the forseeable future, ANY in-motion dish that receives HD programming from DirecTV. The reason:
DirecTV, in the last 1-1/2 years, launched two new satellites to convey their HD service channels. Due to bandwidth considerations, they chose Ka band rather than Ku, which is what all the other satellites in the western hemisphere receive and beam back to earth. To receive the signals from these new satellites, Directv put out the Slimline 5 dish, with separate LNBF's for the Ka frequency spectrum built into the feed horn. As well, they look at all five DirecTV satellites. 99, 101, 103, 110, and 119 degrees Longitude.
In-motion dishes have only a small parabolic reflector and a single LNBF. They were able, up to that point, of switching between different satellites. Now, however, since the LNBF's are different for the 99 and 103 degree satellites (the new Ka band Sat's), they cannot receive the signal. They can still switch to 110 and 119 degree satellites and receive whatever DirecTV choses to put on these satellites, but can NOT receive signal from 99 and 103, the HD satellites.

Note: Dish Network chose to keep the extra satellites they put into space on the same frequency band as all the rest, hence, you CAN receive HD and all SD channels via in-motion on Dish Network.

Hope some of my rambling helps clarify the current satellite television issues of today.

According to Tracstar tech support, the 110 adapters are totally obsolete today. I removed mine when I updated to a couple of new HR21Pro DVR's last week. I also learned that the newer receivers firmware takes away the ability of the Tracstar system to switch between 101 and 110 or 101 and 119. You must now use the round 18" dish setting with the newest firmware to get reliable service with the Tracstar equipment. I also told both of the DirecTV receivers to use only ONE of the satellite ports and that seems to work well so far. I also got the Pro series receivers because of the cooling fans in the units. My old silver receivers got so hot they started to melt the access cards, hence the replacement. We are leaving tomorrow for about a 10 day trip and I should have a real good test of the new receivers and the Tracstar dish.