DISH Tailgater on the way...

[go6car]

Originally Posted by DrJMB

I have the tailgator also and want to control TV from each TV to change channels. Which option did you go with and does it work?

Went with the Actiontec (got it locally at Best Buy), or Amazon has it if you scroll up further in this thread I have the link there.

So far, so good. A very, very, slight delay with changing channels from the bedroom, but at least I CAN change channels from the bedroom! Better than nothing, for sure!

[Hugh R]

As I research it more, I'm tending to lean towards the Tailgater by Dish. $500 one time fee and then pay for monthly service. I assume at the $50/month rate for their basic, which is fine.

If I use to six months of the year that's about $1,700 over the first 2 years.

I'd have to keep Time Warner cable at home for phone and internet, and the drop in price from going from their cable TV to Dish or Direct isn't that much. The automatic satellite seeking is a nice feature.

[NO3putt]

We pay $39 for Dish top 120 plus taxes, but we own the dish and reciever so there is no other charges for pay-as-you.

[Hugh R]

If I were to switch to Dish at home, if I get a certain receiver, I can apparently put it in the RV for no monthly additional charges, as I interpret it.

[NO3putt]

We just purchased the 211k reciever from CW that works great with the tailgater. Just did the math at $7 a month fee vs $149 to buy. Would double check with dish, maybe even in writting that home service is allowed in a rv. Know many do use home unit in rv but not sure what dish will say when you travel out of your home area and want to change you service address to get local channels.

[Roll]

Originally Posted by NO3putt

Know many do use home unit in rv but not sure what dish will say when you travel out of your home area and want to change you service address to get local channels.

Direct TV offers an add on box that lets you pick up local channels from your current location (via your bat wing) and pump them through the DTV DVR in the coach. In this way you can get the national network broadcasts though not your specific home local channels.

The only other way to get the national networks that I know of is to register your DVR with DTV for either East Coast or West Coast national broadcasts. You have to complete an application and have it approved according to Fed law. And of course there is a charge for all of this.

I have the $25 box from DTV and it works great. I enter the zip for the area I am in and all the local channels show up on my DVR schedule via the sat. I can select the local channel from my DVR and watch at will. The signal for a local channel is piped in through the bat wing and appears in HD just like the sat signals. It all works seamlessly and there is no monthly charge other than the normal $5 a month I pay for this DVR. (so far)

Roll

[Hugh R]

I have a TV in each bedroom plus one in the garage and one at an outside bar. I have Time Warner Cable and only pay for an HD box for the Living room and Master bedroom. I get standard definition on all the others, which is fine. It just me and the wife now, but if house guests visit, I want them to be able to watch some TV in their room, even if its only standard definition. So six TVs at $7/box for each TV is $42/month for rooms that I won't be watching TV at all. Versus free, so to speak, with TW Cable. I'm thinking I'll just go with the Tailgater and pay the $40 or so per month for when I use the RV.

Question, I couldn't find an answer on the Dish website. Do they bill for the Tailgater on a rolling 30 cycle, or calendar month to calendar month. For example, if I used it this weekend June 29 and 30 and again next weekend (July 6 and 7) , would it be one month or charges or two?

[go6car]

Calendar month, I believe.

Also - if you go this route, they had a new subscriber discount (that I didn't see advertised anywhere). Make sure you ask for any latest promotions when you sign up!

When you get your actual equipment, there are a bunch of flyers packed in there that give you a special/dedicated RV-related phone number to call for anything. Hang on to that too, since it's a lot easier to deal with these RV-dedicated folks if you have any questions or issues.

Good luck! Can't really go wrong with either satellite provider and it's nice to have so many options in different kinds of dish set ups!

[1nshort]

Originally Posted by Roll

Direct TV offers an add on box that lets you pick up local channels from your current location (via your bat wing) and pump them through the DTV DVR in the coach. In this way you can get the national network broadcasts though not your specific home local channels.

The only other way to get the national networks that I know of is to register your DVR with DTV for either East Coast or West Coast national broadcasts. You have to complete an application and have it approved according to Fed law. And of course there is a charge for all of this.

I have the $25 box from DTV and it works great. I enter the zip for the area I am in and all the local channels show up on my DVR schedule via the sat. I can select the local channel from my DVR and watch at will. The signal for a local channel is piped in through the bat wing and appears in HD just like the sat signals. It all works seamlessly and there is no monthly charge other than the normal $5 a month I pay for this DVR. (so far)

Roll

I use my home unit when traveling in the rv, works fine, i just enter the local zip code and do a reinitialize to aquire optimum angle for the local area (automatic of course).. What I don't understand is why would you want to change your billing address so you can get the 'local' channels from satelite? Just use the antenna that came with your rv! Dish charges $5 or $10 (can't remember which) every time you initiate a service change.

[NO3putt]

We have had DISH pay as you go for about 2 years and never have been charged a change of address charge. I think it's becuase that is it a RV account, not a home account and we don't change the billing address, we change the "service" address. We get a better picture from the satellite and usually more local stations using the satellite. I think the service charge is due to a home account vs a RV account.

[1nshort]

Oops! Meant to say service address. If you take a home unit with you, you don't have to change the service address to get the better picture. You just reinitialize the receiver by going into setup and re-initialize the receiver by entering the zip code that adjusts the dish aim with new skew and angle settings in autoseek between the receiver and dish (yes they do 'talk' in binary to each other). When you get home you repeat the process to retweak your receiver to the home area settings.

[DrJMB]

Curious which receiver is $25 for DTV

[DrJMB]

Miss read that not a receiver but a local channel box

[DrJMB]

What is that special RV phone number? It seems my RV dealer kept the coupons and other data you mentioned. Cannot get Tailgator to get satellites. Mine is right next to one that works perfectly but mine loses signal every 10 minutes.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by DrJMB

What is that special RV phone number? It seems my RV dealer kept the coupons and other data you mentioned. Cannot get Tailgator to get satellites. Mine is right next to one that works perfectly but mine loses signal every 10 minutes.

Are u using dish network?

[DrJMB]

Yes dish

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by DrJMB

Yes dish

Pm sent.

[go6car]

Originally Posted by DrJMB

What is that special RV phone number? It seems my RV dealer kept the coupons and other data you mentioned. Cannot get Tailgator to get satellites. Mine is right next to one that works perfectly but mine loses signal every 10 minutes.

I just sent you a message as well. Hopefully you'll get up and running without interruption soon!!

[Hugh R]

Just got the DISH Tailgater today, plugged it into a house TV to make sure it worked before I try installing in the Coachmen. Works great.

Hooking it up to the RV tomorrow, I hope. I believe I have co-axial cable from the DVD player to the TV. It seems to me the best thing to do is take the co-axial input to the DVD player and plug it into the Tailgater receiver as satellite input and plug an HDMI cable from the receiver into the HDMI on the TV in the living room. Then use the TV inputs to select co-axial or HDMI, when I want to switch between the DVD player and the Tailgater. Should I get some kind of HDMI splitter and try running a long HDMI cable to the bedroom? I'd just buy another DVD player for the bedroom.

Any thoughts?

[Hugh R]

OOPS,

Just saw the link to the Amazon.com : Actiontec My Wireless TV WiFi / HDMI Multi-Room Wireless HD Video Kit : Electronics

For about $200 I'm going with this.