Hmm.....just read and replied to a thread on another forum.
Before you invest a lot of money you may want to see how long these satellite services are going to be around.
A big part of the topic there is how these satellite TV services aren’t launching anymore satellites.
DirectTV (the satellite service I have) is pushing their streaming DirectTV Now streaming service.
Same company, but two different kinds of service.
I can tell you that their satellite support is terrible for boats. When you call their customer service they won’t be able to comprehend that the system is on a boat.

 

Hmm.....just read and replied to a thread on another forum.
Before you invest a lot of money you may want to see how long these satellite services are going to be around.
A big part of the topic there is how these satellite TV services aren’t launching anymore satellites.
DirectTV (the satellite service I have) is pushing their streaming DirectTV Now streaming service.
Same company, but two different kinds of service.
I can tell you that their satellite support is terrible for boats. When you call their customer service they won’t be able to comprehend that the system is on a boat.

I have an older TracVision M1 and it still works great. I got it 6 seasons ago from a gentleman who was getting out of boating.. Anytime I have had issues I asked for Tier Two support on the phone. It gets me to the right knowledge base for Boat Dish applications. That being said, I imagine it will quit working altogether eventually when the Satellite finally gives up the ghost

 

So are you suggesting a WiFi router instead and stream it that way?

 

I can’t comment on the TV3 specifically, but I did install a new TV5 on my boat at the beginning of last season. It is great, and we love it. The old system we had on the boat (original from 2005) was obsolete and unrepairable.

As for streaming service, I don’t see that working in a marine environment. Sure we use it at our homeport for things like Netflix and Prime Video, but when we pull lines and are offshore or in most marinas/anchorages with little or no internet bandwidth or cable tv, we have ours for evenings and rainy days.

And as for telling them it’s for a boat - DON’T!! You will never get anywhere. Buy as many boxes as you want for TVs and add them to your home account or a relatives home account. They don’t know the difference that it’s on your boat.

 

Thanks all.

I can’t comment on the TV3 specifically, but I did install a new TV5 on my boat at the beginning of last season. It is great, and we love it. The old system we had on the boat (original from 2005) was obsolete and unrepairable.

As for streaming service, I don’t see that working in a marine environment. Sure we use it at our homeport for things like Netflix and Prime Video, but when we pull lines and are offshore or in most marinas/anchorages with little or no internet bandwidth or cable tv, we have ours for evenings and rainy days.

And as for telling them it’s for a boat - DON’T!! You will never get anywhere. Buy as many boxes as you want for TVs and add them to your home account or a relatives home account. They don’t know the difference that it’s on your boat.

What’s the biggest difference between 3 and 5?

 

Did anyone put a TV in the cockpit area or above one of the sinks?

 

That could totally be worth it. I didn’t look at Dish yet. What box did you buy?

 

Love our TV3. Tried all the other ways, streaming through phone, streaming over Wi-Fi adapter setup......none of it really worked well for us. TV3 works and tracks great while underway. KVH customer service and tech support has been great too.

 

KVH was great for me too. When I bought the boat I spent the better part of two days trying to get my account up and running with DirectTV. They were useless. They couldn’t comprehend boat and mobile.
Got KVH on the phone and they handled it for me.
Not bad. Especially since I got the system used with the boat and didn’t buy it from them.
Another great group I’ve dealt with is Solid Signal. Very helpful.

 

I have the basic DirectTV package that they give me a small discount on because I’m an AT&T cellular family plan subscriber. The bills are combined. HBO is included with my basic package because of some sort of promotion.
I had considered freezing the service from December 1st through March 31st each year but the thought of dealing with them every year was a deterrent. Plus I use the subscription to watch news on DirectTV through their app on my iPad in the gym 4 or 5 mornings a week year round so I feel like I get my money’s worth.
But if my system died on me or I didn’t have one at all on the boat I’m not sure I would invest in one right now. It would be a tough call.
I like having the option on the boat but I’m concerned that with the rapid growth of streaming the satellite equipment on the boat might become obsolete in the near future.
In another thread on another forum a poster linked to info about DirectTV not putting up any more satellites.
I believe it because they’ve been pushing their DirectTV Now streaming equipment and service pretty hard to me as an AT&T customer the last year or so.
The real trick would be to get a consistent strong, reliable and fast mobile connection to the internet on the boat so streaming would work as seamlessly as it does at home.
Could 5G be the answer?
Hopefully that type of marine equipment will evolve rapidly and my current M3 equipment will last until it does.

 

I guess with millions of subscribers currently on satellite TV the likelihood of it disappearing in the next 5-10 years is low. If I had to compare it how long did it take for companies to stop supporting the old rabbit ears we used to use? Not sure what the answer is.

 

Has anyone simply bought a dedicated hotspot, attached it to the boat somewhere and streamed video from that?

 

I've done this as recent as this past weekend. I have a VZ and an ATT and find the VZ works in most places that we go. The drawback is i fell alseep with the tv on and woke up to 10gb use out of my data plan. I'll have to set the tv's to time out with no input to avoid this. However i find that you have to manage your data usage carefully otherwise it can get pricey or they will just throttle down your data to the point where its useless for streaming.

 

Here is an interesting article someone considering an investment of a few boat bucks in new Satellite TV equipment may want to take a look at before they open up their wallet:

http://iknowallnews.com/world-news/streaming-services-hastening-demise-of-satellite-tv-giants/

 

I think all the cable/satellite providers are in trouble due to streaming services. However the internet services providers will now have you over a barrel until they roll out "true" 5G and provide good reliable services at a decent price. I recently got rid of cable at home and we absolutely love it. I just could not justify adding a satellite service with new hardware to the boat for what they want for an HD KVH system. I had the tv3 system on our old boat and directv warned us that our particular dish may be obsolete sometime this year.

 

So after getting some quotes for Tracvision, marine internet, ATT hotspot and beating my head against the wall it seems the simplest and most cost effective way to get around this issue is something along the lines Apple TV or Chrome Cast.

 

Sounds like a smart move in uncertain times about the future of Satellite TV service as an option.
Now you just need to figure out the simplest way to get a good cellular or WiFi signal to the boat so you can stream.
Personally, I would be more interested in an unlimited cellular data type option.
Spending a ton of money to pull in a free WiFi signal from a marina or something still requires you to be at the mercy of availability, how good that signal is to begin with and how many people are using it at once.
I’ve found that I’m better off streaming through my iPad’s cellular data to the TV than I am trying to use WiFi in Marinas I’ve visited.