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Topic: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades (Read 980 times) previous topic - next topic

Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

I am getting ready to start an email dialogue with Jeremy Rocha regarding the updating of our A/V equipment. We presently have DirecTV with a single receiver in the front. It is 2008 technology, no HD and we can only watch OR record one thing at a time ... no bells or whistles at all.  The original Bose Boat Anchor CD/DVD/Tuner died. We need to replace that and the speakers that go with it.  The existing VHS is going out the window because there is no use for it.  I intend to replace the existing TracStar In-Motion dome system with a Winegard Travel'r Slimline.  So ... my questions/thoughts ....    Is the Slimline the correct model to get HD, multiple feeds in, etc? I am thinking that I can use the old DirecTV box (or even just one of the tiny ones) in the rear of the coach for the bedroom TV, add a new box with HD in the front that has the capability of doing more than one thing at once (such as record one program while watching a different one). Do I want to consider DishNetwork at all??  I like DirecTV and have had zero issues with their service in the last 5 years.  A new tuner and speaker system, DVD player and a way to add auxiliary things like Wii or games should not be hard, right?  I am rather a bonehead with this stuff ... Jeff is worse.  I don't want to miss out on something because I am too dumb to think of the right question!  All advice is welcome. 

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #1 –
I love my traveler. No other choice. Sending Bose in for repair will be cheapest and easiest, they will repair, but try to sell you ne'er unit first. Wine guard can see three birds at once so can do hd. Direct will have a receiver that does multiple record while playing live stream. Good time to consider dish option if interested, since traveler is specific to provider.

Good luck!

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #2 –
Carol, we purchased the Trav'ler DirecTV Slimline KU/KA SK-3005 model.  This link will tell you which Trav'ler you need (as Tim says, it is provider specific):  TRAV'LER Automatic Multi-Satellite HDTV Antennas - Winegard.  And yes it does do HD for both DTV and Dish - and multiple feeds.  In the installation manual (http://www.winegard.com/kbase/upload/2452133_travler_3005.pdf) it has this caveat:  "The SK-3005 will support up to four receivers. It can support more receivers with a DIRECTV multi-switch."  So, you could do two DVRs (two feeds each). ^.^d

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #3 –

The SK 3005 slimline would be the one - Amazon consistently has the best price, no shipping.
Winegard SK-3005 TRAV'LER Gray DIRECTV Slimline KA/KU Multi-Satellite TV

Up to you if you want to do dual receivers - I would recommend at least one DVR. Direct TV has a Direct Connection wireless kit that allows you to use your IPAD\Tablet to control receivers, stream data etc. You need a wireless network but that's easy. Costco has a wireless (not IR) HDMI add on that can push the signal from one TV to the other 200 feet through walls - on sale last week for 170.00 - there are others. You can also get HDMI converters to allow you to run Cat 5 wiring.

There's lots of neat things to do - you don't have to restrict yourself to an RG59 cable connection.

As an Amazon Associate Foretravel Owners' Forum earns from qualifying purchases.

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #4 –
Add a multiswitch and you only need one cable per DVR.

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #5 –
Excellent!  I am an Amazon Prime member ... use it all the time.  Have heard iffy things about sending the Bose in for repair ... there is apparently not much of a guarantee that it will stay fixed for any length of time.  Too bad that the speakers are so proprietary.  Jeremy Rocha is going to make some recommendations and shoot me some model #s  ... now I can begin making comparisons.  Thanks, ALL!! 

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #6 –
sent my Bose to them out of my 2000 3+ years ago - use it full time - still going strong - reason I stuck with original unit and a repair was cost plus hassle regarding subwoofer and proprietary wiring (their new stuff not even compatible with my OEM Bose.....

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #7 –
Carol and Jeff.... regarding the subwoofer.... one reason I pulled it out was that it was too "boomy" for my taste and I could not seem to control it well from the Bose unit.  So I put another subwoofer (controlled by a Yamaha receiver in the cabinet over the driver's seat) in where the Bose had been (under the kitchen counter) and it did the same thing....boom, boom, boom.  I finally realized that the subwoofer was making the whole cabinet into a vibrating bass unit.  Once I pulled it out of there, its been fine.  Now it sits behind the passenger seat.  Something to think about if too much base is a bother. 

It was a pain to replace the cable (Bose's will not work with other SW units).  I think I bought a 45' long cable from Monoprice.com.  It was not too much of a pain to run, but I never did get the old Bose completely cable out. 

George

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #8 –
Carol,

Keep the connectivity technology in mind as you're looking at different equipment.  HDMI, S-Video, Component...  Make sure you have enough of the needed kind.

Know what your TV has because that will come into play - Wii is component (red/white/yellow); I'm not sure about Wii U.

We use our Bose only for audio now - no S-Video input on our front TV so we have a separate BluRay/DVD player feeding it, and have the TV's sound output routed through the Bose.  The only reason we haven't replaced the Bose is because it still works for audio (but some kind of replacement is on the "wish list"....)

Michelle

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #9 –
We have an SK1000 (I think) and brought one of our Dish Hopper and Joey unts from the house that we didn't use much anyway. Had to buy an extra "node" to wire it up but now we can get the same great reception and DVR in the coach we get in the house plus watching DVR or live on one TV while watching something else on the other and recording at the same time. It is the ultimate system far as I can tell and we've tried it all.

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #10 –
We had the Traveler installed right after we bought our FT and it was one of the best options we ever got.  We had always had DISH, got the DVR and HD and had no problems with it.  We also replaced the Bose with a Sony home theatre system that "talked" to our replacement Sony LED/LCD TV.  It was great!  Another option we got right before we sold our FT was the JACK low profile TV antenna for off air reception.  Wish we had gotten it a lot earlier as it pulled in many more local stations than our Wineguard, plus never had to be raised or lowered.

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #11 –
We have been very happy with DirecTV for the last 5 years, and I love having both the East & West coast feeds.  It may be worth my while to contact Dish and see what they would give me to switch over ... but if I don't like it, I am stuck.  I did get one suggestion to look at the RF Mogul system.  That may also be an option.  Any people able to chime in on that?? 

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #12 –
I have had a motosat (now mogul) for 5 years. we have used it
all over the u.s. and canada, with no problems.  however if touring
mexico is in your plans, it is does not work there.

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #13 –
Pricier than Winegard

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #14 –
Hi Carol! I've been working on this (mostly in my head) for quite a while. It's a difficult problem with a lot of possible solutions. I started small with just a carry out dish on a tripod and the VIP211k from Dish network. Bought the dish from Amazon (Winegard DISH Dish 1000.2), the tripod from tv4rv.com Heavy-Duty Tripod, the satellite receiver from ebay. I can't run the cable thru the coach coax since the satellite signal doesn't make it thru the amplifier. Currently we are running the coax along the side of the coach and thru the passenger window! Redneck engineering at it's best! I'm just using the speakers on the TV currently but plan to tie into the coach audio speakers somewhere down the road. We went this route because it was the cheapest way to get started while I explore the ultimate solution.

The carry out dish is a pain to setup and store but I've heard plenty stories about people driving around the park trying different spots looking for a signal that I wanted to have the flexibility of the carryout. We really like being in the trees so willing to trade a little pain with setup to be there. We don't brother to setup unless we are staying put for a couple of days. I use the Dish for my RV app on my iPhone to determine if I have a clear shot at the sky before deploying the tripod/dish. We haven't ruled out a roof mount yet. Being able to pull in and just push a button has a lot of appeal.

I talked with Jeremy about solutions and in order to keep the amplifier for the OTA he said that I could install a 2 way switch that would allow me to route around the amplifier. The disadvantage of this is that I have to pick satellite or OTA and have to hike (all the way!) to the bedroom to switch between them. (my life is so hard!) :) I quizzed Jeremy about installing an a/v receiver and he said we could do that and just run everything thru it. The problem with that is that if I wire the speakers into the receiver I would have run the receiver off the inverter to listen to music when driving down the road. I haven't decided what route I'm going to take. Everything is a compromise. :( I may just install another exterior cable connection in the wheel well by the passenger window and run it straight to the satellite receiver. At least I won't have to run it thru the window that way. I'll worry about audio later. <soapbox>Foretravel techs need to have a little more salesman in them and not just be order takers! I want to know all possible solutions not just what I ask about. I know there is stuff out there that I don't know about that might be my ultimate solution! Grumble, grumble...</soapbox>

I've just taken the next step and bought a new in box Hopper off of ebay for $300. Direct from dish they are $450 if you already have service. The great thing about the Hopper is that you can record up to 6 channels at once and automatically skip commercials in primetime TV on ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. The commercial skipping is putting Dish in some legal trouble. We'll have to see how that plays out in court. The other great thing is you can have extensions (Joeys $99 from ebay) off the Hopper for other TVs. You send the signal wirelessly or hardwired with cat 5 cable. I plan to use one in the bedroom and hardwire it so that it doesn't hog network bandwidth on the wireless. You could also use another Joey for an exterior TV. That doesn't have much appeal to me but you never know.

If anyone has ideas/suggestions I'd appreciate hearing from you!

This probably didn't help you much Carol but at least I was able to think out/organize some of my thoughts.

see ya
ken

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #15 –
Quote from: kenhat –
Hi Carol! I've been working on this (mostly in my head) for quite a while. It's a difficult problem with a lot of possible solutions. I started small with just a carry out dish on a tripod and the VIP211k from Dish network.

I talked with Jeremy about solutions and in order to keep the amplifier for the OTA he said that I could install a 2 way switch that would allow me to route around the amplifier. The disadvantage of this is that I have to pick satellite or OTA and have to hike (all the way!) to the bedroom to switch between them.

Ken - have you tried the 211k's internal OTA tuner?  We use ours with our amplified Jack antenna and it works great.  There's a little programming dance you have to do to clear, rescan, and store the OTA channel capture, but it works well for us if we're staying in an area for a week or more.  No 2-way switch required. 

Michelle

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #16 –
@Michelle That would work fine. OTA works thru the amplifier.

The issue is that the satellite signal cannot go thru the amplifier. The 2 way switch Jeremy is suggesting would allow me to hook the dish coax to the coax outlet on the rear bumper using the house coax instead of running the dish coax the length of the coach and up thru the passenger window.

I'm not sure why the amplifier causes a problem. It works fine on the few parks I've been in that offer cable service. I remember seeing a youtube video showing how to wire around the amplifier in order to use the house coax but if I do that I lose the amplification of OTA. So it's not just a Foretravel issue.

Some of this may be due to the age of my coach. Did they have rv satellite in 92'? :)

Hope that makes sense...

see ya
ken

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #17 –
Ken, I think you will find there are two or three TV cables running from the amplifier area to the front of the coach. I simply installed a A/B switch in my closet, ran the cable from the utility bay input to the "in" on the A/B then ran a new short cable to the amplifier and another one to the extra cable to the front of the coach where I had the 211K. This bypassed the amplifier and allowed me to hook up the Sat antenna directly to the 211K that then connected to the front TV. The back TV then only received OTA and DVD.

I have since installed a 722K in the closet at taken the 211K out of the front of the coach. The "TV out" now goes to the VCR input on the amplifier under the floor of the closet so I can get the satellite signal on both TV'S. I will eventually run an HDMI cable to the front so I can get real HD on the front TV. We will be in NAC in January and if you are around I will show you the setup.


 

Re: Carol and Jeff's A/V equipment upgrades

Reply #18 –
@Kent I'm not a religious man but I'm praying I'm not here in January. I've been here since 11/2! Thanks for the input though. I'll have to check out the wiring in the closet. Were you able to access via removing a panel in the closet or thru the bedroom TV shelf?

see ya
ken