HDTV and KVH

Four Suns

Not a pot stirrer
TECHNICAL Contributor
Oct 4, 2006
10,533
Williamsburg, VA
Boat Info
2003 480 DB
Engines
QSM-11 Diesels
Anyone here have insight on the future of the current family of KVH antennas with regards to receiving HDTV signals? Right now if you want to recieve HDTV off DirectTV's 110 satallite, you have to buy this converter box that sells for about $850. I guess it bounces the aim of the dish between the two satallites depending on what you are watching. Anyone here have experience with one of these? How do you have 2 DirectTV set top boxes working in this configuration? Is it even possible?

The bigger question is what is KVH going to do with regards to Ku vs. Ka band. Right now, the only signals these KVH antennas can get is the Ku band stuff and their website says they have no plans to support Ka band. That's gotta be BS as alll the new satellites that DirectTV are launching are Ka band. The dishes for home use for Ka band are bigger than the Ku band. Anyone have insight into this?

I have a feeling my 18" KVH Tracvision 4 days are numbered and I don't want to go buy this converter box if thye announce something new 2 weeks after I buy it.
 
Not your question, but for now, it appears that DirectTV intends to continue offering both HD and regular signals since their program guide shows both.

We use DirectTV at home and switched to a HD receiver and DVR a few months ago. I can only imagine what a KVH antenna would look like if it were big enough to house the dish and LNB assembly. The dish itself is eliptical and about 24" across but there are 4 LNB's on a long arm as oppose to the short LNB arm and compact 18" dish with the old system.

I haven't heard about add-on convertor boxes for down converting HD signals but I have to wonder how it is going to work since DirectTV is using 2 satellites in 2 locations. I'm also hung up on the practicality of the cost and future support for the convertor box that sells for $850 and when my new HD DVR/receiver and dish cost $99 (it was an upgrade). That would tell me there is going to be a real skinny market for the convertor box.

With most A/V stuff like this, being an early adopter usually means you spend more because you have a do-over fairly soon..........I think I might just watch football in non-HD this year!
 
The HDTV converter box has actually been around for awhile and I believe it re-aims the dish on demand. Here's the info:

http://www.kvh.com/Products/product.asp?id=118

My concern is that this thing is near end-of-life and they'll release "new" kvh dishes that don't need it for a little bit more $$. I know all the high-speed Internet stuff by satellite (like Hughes Net and Wild Blue) uses Ka band so surely these guys have some plans to have some small elliptical antenna that can simultaneously aim at multiple satellites and support both bands... surely... Anything bigger than 18" on my boat would look silly.
 
Gary- reports from KVH indicate that they are not going to work on the Ka band sats. The converter box simply provides the KVH antenna with a tone that tells it which satellite to track (101, 110, or 119). Unlike the terrestrial based dishes, the KVH system will only track 1 satellite at a time. When, you have 2+ receivers connected to the KVH, they can tune different stations simultaneously, but both (all) stations must be on the same satellite. This is why you see multiple KVH units on the megayachts.... they are each tuned to track a specific satellite so the user will have the exact same experience as they have at home.
 
I just find it hard to believe they are "never" going to support the Ka band as that says they are going to get out of this business since everything new going up is Ka band.

I thought my boat was a mega yacht....
 
Historically, KVH has always been very tight lipped about their R&D and new models. I assume they do this to protect current sales. If I hear of anything, I will pass it on. I, too, am looking to change out my TV4. I'm about to do the M3DX, but I'm thinking I will wait for the Ft. Lauderdale and possibly Miami shows because KVH always makes announcements at these shows.
 
Matt,

What does the M3 DX give you that you don't already have with the Tracvision 4 antenna (other than it being smaller)?
 
It acquires very fast, switches between sats very fast, and maintains a more robust signal without dropping out. In addition, it will track up to 4 satellites and the controller box offers feedback about what the dome is actually doing. i.e. what satellite it is tracking and at what strength.
 
umm... I was having the dropping out problems before but those are fixed now that I redid the coax and power going up to the dish. Sea Ray put a splice joint inside the arch on the starboard side and just wound up all the excess cable so there is like 75+ feet of coax, data, and 18 guage power cable stuck in the arch and in front of the AC unit under the helm. I was having power drop/voltage issues as well as RF signal issues because of the guage, length, and bad connectors at the splice. The voltage at the antenna was measuring 11 volts even though it was 12.5 volts at the bus under the TV. I think Sea Ray put that splice there in case the hard top was removed and didn't really think about cable lengths... You may want to check that before investing in a new antenna. It made a big difference on mine. I'll also post a picture of the coax connector that was there. What a joke.
 
Sirius is offering TV "only for kids at the moment" but I imagin they are going to eventually offer more and seems like it might work better on a moving vessel but what do I know :)
 
Why don't you guys just suck up the HD signals off the air? Sure it's just the local channels, but it couldn't be easier. You just need an ATSC decoder (just about every new > 23" TV has them included now) and the built in TV antenna. HD is broadcast over UHF frequencies that the Glomex will tune right in.
 
The HDTV's going on the boat will be hooked to the Glomax thingy... but there are channels that are not local like Spike, Discovery, History, CMT, etc. that I want to get.
 
Programming? I just stare at the boob tube, mesmerized by how clear the picture is. The Discovery channel stuff is amazing, though. Don't blame you for wanting to get that.
 
This is home thing but I have had hd through directv for years and they are making us upgrade all our equipment because of the new sats and compression. New hd programming starts at end of October. I wonder how this will affect you all.:huh:
 

Forum statistics

Threads
112,945
Messages
1,422,747
Members
60,928
Latest member
rkaleda
Back
Top