Now for some follow-up questions.  With our change from home to RV, we are also getting a DVR.  Are there any issues with being able to watch one show and record another with a satellite system antenna such as the Vu Cube?  Would there be a better system for the Direct TV systems?

Thanks again.

Terry

Terry,

We have the VuCube.  You can not record one channel and watch another at the same time . You can not watch two different TV's.

You need to purchase a different dish.  Bill's answer is one solution and he is very knowledgable about it.

With all the wires and hookups in our MS, I called in "the wiring guy" in town, had him come hook everything up and explain it all to me how it works.

Wingard makes a nice NON-HD fully automatic antenna which can feed two receivers including a dual channel record Direct TV DVR.  The Winegard TRAV'LER DIRECTV Triple LNB antenna; a roof mounted fully automatic antenna.  In a full-time environment I would consider this more expensive but much more convenient, IMO, fully automatic system.

However, if you only want SD, I can say for sure that with a little practice the “$30” 18” dish can be set up in no time and it can feed either two receivers or a dual channel record DVR.  IMO, the other “mid-line products, such as the “Cube” cost too much for the trouble of running the cable and setting them up outside each time, including the potential of someone “taking” the somewhat expensive cube when you might be gone.

Bill

Bill, I actually agree with you.  I’d purchase the 5 satellite Ka/Ku so you can get HD later.  The 3 LNB Ku is too close in cost to the SK-3005 SD/HD automatic system.  But Terry specifically said didn’t want and HD, so I obliged.  But in the same thought, I think the Cube is too expensive for a 1 satellite finder dish you have to run cables to and deal with. As you commented, most rigs don’t have two cables to an outside connector, so you have to deal with that issue – like running one, or two, through a window.  I’ve just never had a problem finding one satellite in about 2 minutes and for the cost difference between a Cube and a “$30” antenna I just wanted to make that comment and option.

Now, if someone is trying to find a satellite without a meter physically at the antenna, that’s a lot harder.  But if you do this often with a meter at the dish, it’s a snap as you know.  So, just offering options.

Safe travels

Bill

My backup external sat dish is the 18" oval and it does everything except HD. I bought mine for $25 at a satellite store, they were used dishes from their customers. I hate setting it up, but when my roof mounted Slimline Traveler is blocked by trees it's nice to have the option to setup the portable. Unless you know how to wire up your receivers to the dish I would stay away from the new SWM dishes. They are a bear to align since you can't use the old meters to "find" the sat, and the one wire between the dish and inside the coach could make inside wiring a real disaster. My guess is your external plugs for sat #1 and sat #2 are setup to feed the front and rear TV. If that's the case then the 18" oval should be a snap to hook up.

Note that with DirecTV you must run a cable from each receiver to the sat dish.  If the receiver is also a DVR then that reciever will require 2 cables be run to the sat dish.  So if you put a DVR in the front of your rig and plain jane receiver in the bedroom you will need 3 cables run to the sat dish.  The 18" oval can accept 4 cables so that will work.  The problem will be getting 2 cables to the DVR, you can't split the cable.  The SWM setup can handle 8 connections, but you may have an issue getting a cable to the non-DVR receiver in a different room. 

The SWM setup uses 1 wire between the sat dish and inside your rig.  That one cable then goes to a special splitter to break out the 8 channels.  But because it's inside your rig you have to figure out how to run the cables to the receivers.