Satellite in Fish House - Direct or Dish?

[Nisswaguy]

So I'm finally moving to a place where I can buy either Direct TV or Dish Network. My previous home had too many tall trees to get a signal. To circumvent the problem, I had purchased a Dish Network receiver and piggybacked off a friends account. (Just added an extra receiver to their account and used my receiver in my fish house.)

Thanks to Lake Doctor, I was able to set things up and was watching Gopher Hockey and Wild games (once they finally got started!) all season long.

So I already own a Dish Network receiver, and I do enjoy HD in the fish house with my Wineguard crank up dish mounted on the roof of my Ice Castle.

My question is - with today's technologies, is there a reason to choose one or the other (Direct or Dish) in my home and also be able to use it in my fish house? Are there limitations with Dish's "Hopper" or Direct's "Genie" that won't allow me to use whatever receiver I choose in my fish house?

Pluses for me with Dish is that I already own a receiver, I'm familiar with tuning in my roof mount dish (THANK YOU AGAIN Lake Doc) AND I can get HD.

[ANPACMN]

You might want to look at the dish tailgater. I like Dish better then Direct TV myself.

[Nisswaguy]

I already have the dish for my fish house. A crankup Wineguard that's mounted on the roof.

[The_King48]

I have direct but I also have that in my house. I would go with whatever is cheaper.... I think its a ford / chevy argument.

If hd is important than go with dish.

[grasshopper]

I have dish. I'm a truckdriver and take it with me all over, then when I get home, it goes in my Ice Castle. I have the tailgater or view cube. both r the same. Works every where I go.

[LakeDocktor]

In my opinion, the crank up dish is useless unless your are watching standard definition on DirecTv. I have never liked the crank up dishes period! They are nice for portability, but that is about it.

I would look into a portable automatic unit. The VuQube and Tailgater are NOT the same. While they operate the same, you can only receive signal from Dish Network on the Tailgater.

If you are looking to receive HD programming? I would go with Dish Network and with an automatic dish or a HD Dish Network dish. The VuQube is HD compatible for Dish Network, but not DirecTv.

[minnesotathorn]

I had the wineguard crank up on my house. I could dial it up with direct no problem. switched to dish & it was a total disaster. I could not get the thing dialed in. my buddy has dish with a portable pod & he just sets it out & it finds the satellite with no problems. if I still had my house the pod would be my choice. he picked his up used for very little money.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

In my opinion, the crank up dish is useless unless your are watching standard definition on DirecTv. I have never liked the crank up dishes period! They are nice for portability, but that is about it.

I would look into a portable automatic unit. The VuQube and Tailgater are NOT the same. While they operate the same, you can only receive signal from Dish Network on the Tailgater.

If you are looking to receive HD programming? I would go with Dish Network and with an automatic dish or a HD Dish Network dish. The VuQube is HD compatible for Dish Network, but not DirecTv.

Very solid advice. I have Dish Network and the crankup Winegard w/digital antenna and the elevation sensor. It can take me anywhere from 1 minute to never to get satellite signal to work. I got fairly decent with it towards the end of the season last year. Each time I LakeDocktor's posts with tuning advice pulled up on my phone or iPad, so thank you LakeDocktor!

If I did it again, I'd go with one of the auto tune dishes for sure. Life is too short to be dinking around with satellite dishes in a fish house.

[Nisswaguy]

I ended up going with Dish. After 3 hours of an online chat with a Dish sales rep last night, I was assured over and over I could have a Hopper and Joey in my home and a Vip211 receiver using my Winegard crank-up dish on my "camper that moves" all on the same account and everything will work fine.

I went with Dish for a few reasons. A) I already own a 211 receiver. I can get HD in my fish house - which I also use as a camper during summer months. C) Thanks to Lake Doctor!... I know how to set it up and dial it in. ( http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2907187/Satellite_in_Fish_House ) D) I was assured I could use it all on 1 account.

For me, I mainly just use the tv in the fish house for watching sports. So I can tune into Dish Networks HD satellite that carries FSN and I am pretty much set. Time will tell if/how it all shakes out in the end. Hopefully I'm not "stuck" for 2 years!

[aanderud]

was assured over and over I could have a Hopper and Joey in my home and a Vip211 receiver using my Winegard crank-up dish on my "camper that moves" all on the same account and everything will work fine....

[Nisswaguy]

I know I won't be getting DVR'd stuff in the "camper". I'm a former Direct TV customer and I loved it when I had it. The tree's on my property at home grew too tall for me to get a signal so I had to go to cable. I'm now moving so I'm back in the satellite business. It took all I had to move away from Direct so this Dish thing will be an adventure for me. I piggy-backed Dish service last winter in the "camper" off a friends service - paying him the extra receiver fee. We'll see I guess.

[LakeDocktor]

I know I won't be getting DVR'd stuff in the "camper". I'm a former Direct TV customer and I loved it when I had it. The tree's on my property at home grew too tall for me to get a signal so I had to go to cable. I'm now moving so I'm back in the satellite business. It took all I had to move away from Direct so this Dish thing will be an adventure for me. I piggy-backed Dish service last winter in the "camper" off a friends service - paying him the extra receiver fee. We'll see I guess.

Before you get too excited for the switch to Dish, keep in mind that Dish Network's satellites are at a lower elevation than DirecTv. If you had tree issues with DirecTv, chances are that you will have more with Dish. Before anyone jumps up and down, I realize that they are pointed at a different azimuth, but in my experiences, many customers switch from Dish to DirecTv because of line of sight issues successfully opposed to the other way around.

[Nisswaguy]

Thanks for the heads-up. However, the place I'm moving to has clear sight of the sky in all directions.