Which Satelite bundls make the most sense?

[IT_Burnout]

I would like to run this by the folks with way more satellite knowledge then I. I did do some searching and reading on satellite receiver bundles before asking all of this. But I still would like to float my thoughts here on-air before purchasing in case someone sees something I am missing, and can make a suggestion.

The DW and I plan on spending most of our summers the next few years in our 5th wheel traveling around the US and some Canada time too. DW has her list of her late night shows she likes to record so she can watch them in the morning with a cup of coffee. Not planning on both TV’s in our 5th wheel hooked up to this, just the one TV set in our living area. BTW the 5th wheel has a separate input outside and jumpers inside to avoided the amp for satellite service.

I am thinking of purchasing this Winegard Pathway X2 Satellite Bundle on Amazon its little cheaper there than buying it from Dish. I was thinking this unit because according to Dish it has the Mode A and Mode B Eastern\Western Arc setup. Which should be a bit more flexible for our travels. From what I have read you can hook it up to a expansion drive to use as a DVR.

Now for my questions. Do I need to purchase this specific Expansion Drive from Dish? Does it have any proprietary magic going on it? Or can I just pick up and any USB drive and hook it up? Can the receiver handle a bigger the 1 TB drive? Would a generic drive have to be formatted in any special file format if I didn’t get it from Dish? Also if I can use a generic drive do I need one with an external power supply or can I use one that just gets its power from the USB cable? They seem way cleaner to use not having a wall-wort or power supply in the AC line. Do you see anything wrong with what I am considering here? Any benefits (more technical support) by purchasing this from Dish as opposed to Amazon? I am hoping this is just a quick plug and play setup. But I was just reading a post by another member that looked like he was having some issues with a similar setup. But it was hard for me to determine that because I haven’t messed with one of these at all.

My career has been as a technical person, building, setting up, and loading file servers on networks for the last 20 years. So I can generally wing it with things of this nature. Although every time I say something like that I wind up eating those words.

Thanks you in advance for any feedback anyone can share.
Bob

[IT_Burnout]

MrWizard, thanks, good to know info. I would have tried to swing the drive over to my laptop to watch something with headphones at some point. Save some head scratching on that.

I see from your profile you are running an ATT Mobely, I am going to PM you with a couple related questions if you don’t mind?
Thanks Bob

[MrWizard]

just be advised..unless things have changed
what ever you record on a sat dvr will be encrypted and NON-transferable
external drive makes no difference, you won't be able to play it on the pc, or convert it to another format, use the biggest drive you can, so you have room to keep those special movies/ programs etc..
if you save a lot stuff, you will have to delete something sometime

there used to be some third party after market receivers that would take the sat card and save video in a non-encrypted format
don't know if they are still available

[IT_Burnout]

Yes it is real sweet deal, I really didn’t notice any reference to it on the Winegard sites either, but I only nosed around for a few minutes. So I just added the gear to the cart and cut and pasted from Ford truck guy’s discount code “PORTABLE100” and applied it and bingo I got the same price as he did. I would have paid $100 more and never known anything about it.

I am ordering the mini tripod for it at Amazon’s site and a 2TB USB drive for DVR use.

[ford_truck_guy]

Tizi wrote:
How long is that deal good for? Smoking deal.

Don't know, just was thrilled to run across it !

[Tizi]

How long is that deal good for? Smoking deal.

[IT_Burnout]

Everyone thank you so much for the feedback, I feel like I am not making a bad choice here, and a generic 2 T drive should work without the external power supply.

“Ford truck guy” a special THANK YOU to you. I took your advice and went over to Winegard's site and pulled the trigger on the bundle and got the $100 off like you did, great deal. I maybe PM’ing you when I get everything collected together after familiarize myself with things, if (or should I say when) I run into problems. I took note of what you said about working off the western arc, I will roll your experience into my setup procedure.

This site is great, it so nice to not have to invent the wheel on everything. No matter what you want to do someone have been there and done that, and is willing to share good advice that saves tons of frustrations.

Thank you everyone, safe travels.
Bob

[ford_truck_guy]

We just purchased the Pathway X2 and Wally combo directly from Winegard.. We only paid $399.00 for the combo after their portable coupon that they offered..

It took me 3 days and close to 10 total tech phone hours to set up... If you have an issue, PM me, and I will tell what I had to do...

Long story short.. I had to find the 3 western arc sats, get a good signal, and do the download off them, then I can get either arc...


Product Quantity Price/Ea Total



PA6002R Pathway X2 Portable Satellite TV Antenna & DISH Wally HD Receiver 1 $499.00 $499.00
$100 Portable Coupon: PORTABLE100 ($100.00)
Shipping: Free FedEx Ground Shipping $0.00
Sales Tax $23.94
Total $422.94



Note: Purchase of a DIRECTV receiver is considered a lease from DIRECTV. Cancellation of service requires that receiver must be returned to DIRECTV under the lease agreement.

If a product appears to be damaged in shipping please refuse the shipment from UPS and call Winegard Technical Support at 1-800-788-4417.

[azjeffh]

I'm currently using Western Digital 2TB USB hard drives on our VIP 211z's without issue. Dish recommended an externally powered hard drive for my receivers but I found it not necessary.

Would think the Wally would have the same result.

[TechWriter]

IT_Burnout wrote:

I am thinking of purchasing this Winegard Pathway X2 Satellite Bundle on Amazon its little cheaper there than buying it from Dish. I was thinking this unit because according to Dish it has the Mode A and Mode B Eastern\Western Arc setup. Which should be a bit more flexible for our travels. From what I have read you can hook it up to a expansion drive to use as a DVR.

X2 is a good choice because of the Western/Eastern Arc coverage you mentioned, especially where you're located. For hard drive choice, I'll defer to others.

[K_Charles]

I use a hard drive from an old laptop with our dish VIP211. it will format it when you set it up.