Berkshire and Direct tv

[89tta500]

We have Directv with the genie and 2 slave boxes. Works great can watch all channels even outside with just power. As far as local channels you can call Directv and change your service zip code. We have done it a few times in a month then returned back to our original zip with no issues.

[Photo Lab]

We also have Direct TV, as Dish turned out to be a pain for us. We now have Direct at home also. direct has a new receiver system, which they just upgraded us to at no charge; which uses one main receiver with "Genie" remotes at all other TVs outside the main one. It is very small also. And, this may help you when changing channels from another room: Direct's current remotes operate using RF to communicate with the receiver, so you don't have to be looking toward the receiver for it to work. The functions it furnishes for your other AV gear is via infrared so of course, "you gotta be there".

[Oscarvan]

Originally Posted by Photo Lab

And, this may help you when changing channels from another room: Direct's current remotes operate using RF to communicate with the receiver, so you don't have to be looking toward the receiver for it to work.

GENIUS! Based on an earlier post I was shopping RF x-mitters, but after reading this I did some experimenting and YES..... it works two rooms away on my DirectTV Genies!

So I have the dish on the roof of the bus..... Now all I need to know is which box to bring out of the house!

Are we sure the mini's don't work by themselves? I can't take the Genie as it would leave my house sitter without TV.... bad idea.

[Oscarvan]

OK, follow up. No, the minis don't work by themselves. Called DTV and a VERY nice young man, in his words, "worked the system" and got me a standalone (as in non Genie) HD DVR for $49. As it is listed as "In the house" it will be box #5 in the "5 boxes for $7 each" plan that I have. I should be all set with that.

[pmsherman]

We've been using DirectTV in our 2011 Georgetown for five years. The way our rig is set up however, we can't watch two different shows on different televisions because there's no way to isolate the sound between them. Our rig is also not wired for HDMI. We also spend around six months a year traveling in the Georgetown. We can't change the DirectTV service address because we have an adult daughter who lives in the house and we don't want to disable the service at home when we're traveling.

After a couple of years of moving one of the DVRs from the house to the RV, we bit the bullet and obtained a separate DirectTV account for the RV. The new account came with a Genie box and, because it's for a mobile "home", we're eligible for DirectTV's Distant Network Service (DNS) (additional fee) which gives us access to all of the national networks wherever we are located in the US.

I solved the "no HDMI cabling" issue by using a wifi HDMI transceiver set. This allows us to route the HDMI signal to any of the televisions.

Phil

[ceedog]

jfred,

A lot of info here but not much that speaks to your original question.

I have Dish in my Berk. It's hooked up thru the 'Matrix' which means when you want to change the channel in the bedroom (while using the sat) you have to go into the living area & change it there.

You do not have to access the back of all of the Tv's when installing the Dish box when using the 'Matrix' but you can get an additional box for the bedroom area at an additional cost. You may have to get Dish/Dealer to install that box depending on your level of expertise.

I use Dish because you only have to pay for the months you're using it not year round as with Direct-TV. Some folks use Direct-TV in their coach because they have it in their home & can just add the additional box to the account.

I can only get my local channels when close to home, but can get local channels when I'm out of the area by going into the menu & changing my location to wherever I'm staying.

I have a Winegard antenna (don't know which model), & having installed numerous satellite antennas in a past life, most can be set to whichever service provider you choose by flipping a switch or two on the antenna.

Hope this helps.

[Bobbyj]

We have had both Dish and DirectV. Glad we now have DirectV. We always had to call Dish to get the unit working and the cost was over $70 each month. Even the pay as you go was not recognized by Dish. I received several "late payment" charges from their billing dept, who could not understand their own system. Each month the bills got higher in spite of several calls to all levels trying to get them to understand I was not using the system during the winter months. Anyway no problems with DirectV. Great HD and only $7.00 per month.

[SEAYALL]

Originally Posted by joet19711

Yes, understood. I am still looking for this genie/mini genie ?

Google directv / genie

[BamaBob]

Just curious here: Do all Berks come with a Matrix box?

If so, it may be the answer to some of the questions posed. Ours connects up to 4 devices (we have a DirecTV box (hooked to the Winegard Trav'ler), Apple TV, the DVD, & A ROKU). Using the matrix you can serve any of the 4 devices to any of the TVs in our unit (Dash, Living Room, Bedroom, Outside).


In addition, you can switch any of the TVs over to the Antenna and receive OTA HD TV.

[Oscarvan]

OK, DirectTV man showed up at the house this morning. I was out working, and wife was there to receive the box. Man would not leave box. Had to install it...... Wife said it's for an RV you don't do installations in RV's as per your people, you were just going to leave it. Nope, wouldn't do it. GRRRRRRR!

[joet19711]

Originally Posted by Oscarvan

OK, DirectTV man showed up at the house this morning. I was out working, and wife was there to receive the box. Man would not leave box. Had to install it...... Wife said it's for an RV you don't do installations in RV's as per your people, you were just going to leave it. Nope, wouldn't do it. GRRRRRRR!

Hummm... Here is how ours worked...

Purchased receiver from Wyngard..shipped to my house.
I hooked up..
called Wyngard and thru them and DirectV they activated it and service was added to my existing home service.
It was painless...(for a change)

[Oscarvan]

Unit came with dish already on the roof.......

DTV man coming back this afternoon. This time I'm home and the 12 gauge is behind the door. He is NOT leaving with that box.....

(Just kidding folks.......)

[rracer5]

OK, here we go.....my 2 cents worth.

I guess I'm "old school" because even though I've read several post here on this subject, "matrix", "genie" & "mini-genie" confuse the crap out of me. If I could only see one all hooked up, I would then understand how it works, but anyway...... When we had our stick & brick home, I had 4 DirecTv receivers (1 DVR). When we sold, I took the receivers with me. Our 5er has 3 Tv's. 2 of them have direct satellite coax connections. I just hooked up a receiver at each Tv (livingroom & bedroom).
On top of my basic bill, I just pay the extra $7 for the second receiver (BTW, we elected not to use the DVR because we didn't use it enough at home to warrant the extra $10/month HD/DVR fee).

Now, as for local channels, it depends on how you want to get your "news & local info". I saw a post earlier where a member has the "RV mobile" package for national feed of CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX etc. but I understand that can be $$$. I too used to change my "service address" quite often when we moved from place to place. Quite by accident, I found that if you choose a "major market" for your service address ie; New York, Los Angeles, for local channels, their beam is quite large (maybe even nationwide?). Last fall we were in NY and I changed service address to my daughters house. I have not had to change it since. We have been from there to PA, MD, Va, TN, NC, SC and still get all major networks from NYC (of course, you'll get "news" etc. from the NYC metro area). I guess I'll find out in the spring when we start travelling further away from NYC just how far it works.

As for interrupting your service;
Since we are at a park for the winter that provides free cable, we decided to save a few dollars and "suspend" our DirecTv service. It was easy, just called and they suspended our service for up to 6 months per year (just call them back to reactivate). And unlike what I've heard from DISH customers, no hassles & NO MINIMUM FEE TO KEEP ACCOUNT OPEN! Since I suspended my service mid way through the month, I have been carrying a "credit" on my account for the past 3 months!

Sorry if this was so long. It's just my experience over the past 8 years RV'ing with DirecTv.

[Oscarvan]

Well, that was a fun day......

DTV man showed up, and I said:"OK, give me the box and you're on your way...." He said:"I can't do that, I have to install and activate it".

I explained in very "to the point" terms that I've had multiple conversations with the company, that already one day of our time had been wasted, and that I was tired of the incompetence and would he please read the work order.....

Lo and behold.... the WO said:"Leave box with client".....

He became more cooperative at that point and said, OK then. So he scanned all the codes, made me sign things on his iPhone and then offered to activate the subscriber card.... (the credit card like thing that goes into the box and authorizes it's use, linked to your account)

I took him up on that..... ERROR:"Card already in use....." Say what?

The short version is that he couldn't get it going after some time on the phone with the mothership, and ended up going to base and getting me a new box, activated and all. Had I tried this on my own I would have been in a world of pain....

OK, so now I am in possession of a woking HD/DVR..... I hope. I will know when I try to hook it up next time we're on the road.

[joet19711]

Oscar,
You might want to hook it up in your drive way and get the Antenna up and make sure the SWM box is working and watch some TV to make sure there are no problems, before you head out on the road.

Joe

[Oscarvan]

Yeah, I thought about that. Problem is I have a Christmas dinner to cook and serve, three days of traveling on Monday, dinner at my parents Wednesday night, three more days of traveling on Thursday, I have to put a dolly together without instructions, sort through the pile of stuff that came out of the basement of my fiver to see what I need to load into the Berk, and do a similar process with all the kitchen stuff and then I need to pack clothes line up the whole rig in the driveway and THEN we hit the road New Years day......for about ten days.

The term 10 gallons of stuff in a five gallon bucket comes to mind.

Soooooo, the DTV box is in the closet and somewhere I will have a day of nothing on the road and play with that and I will be prepared for an hour or so of telephone hell. And if I don't get it going I'll live. We've done with broadcast TV and interwebs for entertainment so far, we can last another two weeks.

[joet19711]

Originally Posted by Oscarvan

Yeah, I thought about that. Problem is I have a Christmas dinner to cook and serve, three days of traveling on Monday, dinner at my parents Wednesday night, three more days of traveling on Thursday, I have to put a dolly together without instructions, sort through the pile of stuff that came out of the basement of my fiver to see what I need to load into the Berk, and do a similar process with all the kitchen stuff and then I need to pack clothes line up the whole rig in the driveway and THEN we hit the road New Years day......for about ten days.

The term 10 gallons of stuff in a five gallon bucket comes to mind.

Soooooo, the DTV box is in the closet and somewhere I will have a day of nothing on the road and play with that and I will be prepared for an hour or so of telephone hell. And if I don't get it going I'll live. We've done with broadcast TV and interwebs for entertainment so far, we can last another two weeks.

Man, sounds like you got a lot going on. Hope you are going south.

Well if you run into trouble give me a call, I may be able to sit in mine and

help you out. I will be here thru the holidays . So try and have a Merry

Christmas..

Joe

[Oscarvan]

Thanks, Merry everything to you too.

Yes, we're going South. A few days of Dinney for my sweetie and visit a few friends in those parts.

[BamaBob]

Originally Posted by Oscarvan

OK, DirectTV man showed up at the house this morning. I was out working, and wife was there to receive the box. Man would not leave box. Had to install it...... Wife said it's for an RV you don't do installations in RV's as per your people, you were just going to leave it. Nope, wouldn't do it. GRRRRRRR!

HUH!?

Originally Posted by Oscarvan

Thanks, Merry everything to you too.

Yes, we're going South. A few days of Dinney for my sweetie and visit a few friends in those parts.

I just don't understand that, We ordered DirecTV from Costco (to go on our Winegard Trav'lr in our Berk) DirecTV cam out to our RV site and installed the box, checked it out, and even programmed the remote so it would control the LG TV & the Sony DVD.

The only catch was we had to give DirecTV a physical local address (which should be no problem with you Oscar, you have a S&B)

[SEAYALL]

Originally Posted by Oscarvan

OK, DirectTV man showed up at the house this morning. I was out working, and wife was there to receive the box. Man would not leave box. Had to install it...... Wife said it's for an RV you don't do installations in RV's as per your people, you were just going to leave it. Nope, wouldn't do it. GRRRRRRR!

Been with directv for many years, one thing is certain you'll get a dozen different answers to one question