Satellite TV

[sailorboy1]

Looking for feedback for satellite TV on the boat.

What service are you using? Good/bad and costs about them?

What satellite dish antenna are you using? There seems a huge range of them.

There are antennas for use when not moving that are a lot less expensive than the one for when moving, are they going to be OK while anchored or on a mooring? I don't plan to watch TV while underway, just when "stopped".

[sailorboy1]

I see a fair number of TV satellites on boats. Odd that none read CF :-(

[blue otter]

Ok.......I bought Intellian because it provided HD tv through dish.....dish stinks and 4 months ago than changed all the software and every dish customer had to get , load, and get working new software.......dish can never help you because you will never get anyone on the phone who knows anything about their own service.......Intellian techs are helpful but my system still does not lock on......Intellian has told me that directv is much better.......even when it works right I still don't get had....go direc tv never dish

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I see a fair number of TV satellites on boats. Odd that none read CF :-(

To busy watching Fox News..?

[valhalla360]

We have used direct TV with their standard dish for several years.


When docked, it takes a couple minutes to re-aim and it's fine.


For anchor, we have a "follow me tv", which rotates the same dish side to side but not up and down. We don't typically anchor in locations with large waves so it works fine. It was several years ago but was only around $900.

[a64pilot]

I have had a KVH TV5 for over a year, we have Dish as we already had that at home and it cost $5 to add a receiver.
However Direct TV has a slightly better area of reception towards the Bahamas.
You have to have 110 VAC as there is no 12 VDC receiver anymore. It is best to just buy a receiver instead of renting one, they are cheap, add a portable disk drive and you have a DVR.
Ideally the KVH will work better if connected to your GPS and a heading sensor, but mine has worked fine without being connected, you do have to tell it the Latitude though, but that is easy through their App, It is A Wifi device and will connect to a computer or phone, Ipad etc. I'm sure having heading and position speeds satellite acquisition but not tracking, but it will acquire a sat in about 30 sec or so without heading and position
Shop around prices vary greatly, I mean greatly as in thousands of dollars different.
At least the TV5 will receive great High Def in what amounts to storm conditions that make you uncomfortable to be below, it is different than a home system in that it can only receive one satellite at a time and there are three satellites and it takes a few seconds to change over, it is more sensitive to rain than a home system is too.
Only one receiver can be the master and determine which satellite to tune without buying another expensive box, but your smart phone of Ipad etc can change the satellite to tune, so when we go to bed I use the phone to change satellites if we change to a channel that is on another satellite and that way I do not have to have the additional expensive box.
I believe KVH is one of the better brands, it has been one of the easiest to install, most trouble free electronic things I have put on the boat.

Call Sue at KVH sales, she knows her stuff

Oh, be careful buying used KVH as the series before the TV series, the one with the 12 VDC receiver is no longer supported.

Second edit, a KVH will work with either Dish or Direct TV and other overseas systems, however they do require different receivers, it uses standard off the shelf receivers, I bought mine off Amazon for about $50, you can of course run multiple TV's off a splitter, but of course can only watch one channel if you go, we have kids on board, so I spent $50 and bought a second receiver, it is an additional $5 a month per receiver though.

[AnchorageGuy]

For decades we have had satellite via DirecTV and using a Track-It, formerly Follow-Me tracking system. It works well for us either at anchor or tied to to the dock, but not under way. For any system to work at anchor, the system will need to be able to maintain pointing the dish at the satellite as the boat swings and at times the swing can be pretty fast. The Track-It has done very well. You will have to accept standard definition service as all of these dishes will not receive HD for DirecTV. Some of the systems work with Dish HD. The Track-It uses a regular dish but the DirecTV slimline, used for HD, is too heavy for the unit. Keep in mind when buying expensive equipment that DirecTV will phase out standard definition by 2019 and many of these dishes may very well no longer work. There is already issues with Dish since they made changes to their satellites and many systems will no longer lock on unless you get a software upgrade. Some systems will just no longer work with Dish. Be sure and talk to the manufacturer of your choice before you make any purchase and beware when buying used equipment. Hope this helps. Chuck

[Kenomac]

Don't be concerned with sat. TV. After you're on the boat full time for a couple of months you'll develope other interests. Then you'll wonder why you wasted so many years watching it during your land-based years.

After our second summer on the boat, we discontinued all cable services at our house and have never regretted not wasting the money.

Purchase an $80 two tera bite portable hard instead, then start trading shows with fellow boaters.

[Hunter34StPete]

I set up a DVR on my boat this summer. I went the ultra "low cost" option but in Tampa Florida area I pick up 53 channels over the air. Couple that with a TIVO DVR off eBay for $50 bucks and I will never pay for TV again. The downside on the "free" side is you don't get ESPN and you'll need to stick with either NBC, FOX, CBS, ABC, and other local programming. But truth be told you still can't keep up with all the quality free content aired. And build up a backlog for longer cruises when your out of range. TIVO does charge a monthly $9.99 unless you buy the unlimited DVR off eBay which costs a little more. Or for the computer savvy you can build your own free DVR with a laptop.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Looking for feedback for satellite TV on the boat.

What service are you using? Good/bad and costs about them?

What satellite dish antenna are you using? There seems a huge range of them.

There are antennas for use when not moving that are a lot less expensive than the one for when moving, are they going to be OK while anchored or on a mooring? I don't plan to watch TV while underway, just when "stopped".

The question. I know about streaming, renting/swapping DVDs, HD local antennas, no evil TV, books, card games, etc. etc.

[J Clark H356]

I had a KVH Trackvision 4 for 13 seasons and this spring it was discontinued by Dish when they upgraded satellites. I had very few issues with it. I occasionally had to upgrade the software. Since I have Dish at home, the cost is just Ike adding another TV at home. I replaced it with a TV 3, a 14.5 inch dome versus the 18 inch I had before. This one has HD capability and covers just slightly less area than my old model did. It also has a wifi connection to my IPad and IPhone and I can do the updates myself. We watch news and weather and follow Tennessee football. Our first Tennessee football game of the season is tomorrow night so we are heading for the boat early afternoon tomorrow so we get there for the 6:00 PM CDT kickoff. We also like to watch movies. TV isn't as good as it used to be, but we still like to have it.

My wife watched the Today show in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico and kept her normal routine. Cruising in different areas is easy as you just call Dish, give them an address of where you are or your new destination and they switch you to the local channels for the new area. Takes about 5 minutes, but your plan has to subscribe to local channels in your home area to get that feature.


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