New and Easy HD Satellite TV system

[Bill Sprague]

Dish has a new product package: http://www.dish.com/tailgater.  

It is automatic, a lot cheaper than most roof mount systems, can be used as a DVR, does HD and can used on a month to month fee schedule.  You buy the antenna and receiver from Dish so you get single source support if it is not working correctly.  You do not need an installer.

It does not do "in-motion" and has a single tuner.  

I don't know how it handles local channels.  

[Edward Buker]

Looks like a repackaged VuQube system. This would have to be a KA band unit for Dish and I'm not sure if it would do non HD channels then. VuQube has been working on a HD Direct version but I would wait for some feedback on this one...

Later Ed

[Richard And Babs Ames]

We have a VuCube Direct for when the roof mount is blocked by trees. It works very well and gets easier to set up after a few times.

[Bill Sprague]

Looks like a repackaged VuQube system. This would have to be a KA band unit for Dish and I'm not sure if it would do non HD channels then. VuQube has been working on a HD Direct version but I would wait for some feedback on this one...

Later Ed

The product info says the antenna is made by King Controls, which could be who sells VuQube.  I don't know.  If it is, there might be some mounting brackets if you want to attach it to your ladder.  

The product info also says that the $500 package includes the antenna and  "HD Solo Receiver" (Model ViP 211k).  No other receiver works.  If you already have that receiver from your home, the price is $350.

It doesn't matter what band it runs on.  The receiver has holes on the back to plug in HDMI, component or RCA A/V cables.  That would pretty much cover any TV, SD, HD, analog or digital built after they thought 'normal' was two screws for 300 ohm flat ribbon going to rabbit ears.

There will always be some that want a tripod mounted dish with 5 LNBs that have to be hand tuned in three axis to get HD television.  Then there are some (like me) that spent $2000 to get an automatic dome on the roof that will only do SD.  Don't get me wrong.  In motion is fun when you want to keep The Weather Channel radar on the screen to steer around tornadoes and thunderstorms like pilots.

This is for a TV watcher that does not want fiddle with anything and wants it to work without spending a fortune.  

The interesting part to me is not so much how they simplified the technology, but how they simplified the contract.  There isn't one.  You just pay for a month at a time when you want to.

I'm guessing any repair to my KVH will cost more than buying one of these.  When it breaks, I will probably try one of these -- especially when I want to upgrade the motorhome TV to HD.

[Joel Weiss]

We have a Winegard Trav'ler for DirecTV HD and in 8 months we have had only 2 occasions when we couldn't get at least SD reception.  We've had people come over to ask "you can't possibly be getting reception here, are you?"  The acquisition time is remarkably fast.  I've considered a system for when this one can't see through the trees, but I can't justify the cost given the limited need.

[Edward Buker]

King controls does make the VuQube so it is a product from that line. The good thing is that means that there is several generations of experience in that product build already. I looked at the literature and it indicated that you can receive both SD and HD programming on this unit.

I thought for DirectTV  that HD was on a seperate band from the SD channels. I  did not think that the dish technology in this configuration could handle a dual band application but it would seem that they have figuired that out. Could be a good portable choice for those that have direct TV and want a supplemental system or just a portable stand alone system.

Later Ed

[Joel Weiss]

I thought for DirectTV  that HD was on a seperate band from the SD channels. I  did not think that the dish technology in this configuration could handle a dual band application but it would seem that they have figuired that out. Could be a good portable choice for those that have direct TV and want a supplemental system or just a portable stand alone system.

DirecTV's HD programming is on a different frequency band on 2 satellites at 99 and 103.  There is nothing to indicate that the VuQube can handle DirecTV HD; only the SD signals from the 101 satellite.

[Bill Sprague]

Some how I made this thread confusing.  It has nothing to do with DirecTV.  It is about a creative packaging of features from Dish -- the other satellite TV provider that is a little smaller than DirecTV.  Everything it does has been available if you piece together the parts and do the set up.  But, the ****combination***** of features and services that simplify being an RV customer is what is new.

What is creative and new is:
-Single source package of components
      (Neither DirecTV or Dish provided and supported automatic RV antennas. )
-The package handles any kind of TV
      (You don't need different receivers or different antennas to get HD or SD)
-It require little or no installation
      (No installer required)
-It is month to month without a contract
      (You can't get anything from DirecTV without a contract.  You have to send back the "leased equipment" if you suspend service for a month or two)
-It requires no manual aiming
-It can be a DVR if you want it to be
-It is cheap compared to other systems that automatically find the satellites