# How do you receive TV?



## peedee

There are plenty of posts about TV reception so I got to wondering what is the most popular method of receiving TV. If you have more than one method, vote for the one you most use.

peedee


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## Wupert

peedee said:


> There are plenty of posts about TV reception so I got to wondering what is the most popular method of receiving TV. If you have more than one method, vote for the one you most use.
> 
> peedee


Damm I should have ticked Dome


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## 96299

85cm self seeking Oyster for us. Does the job well except for in very windy conditions. Nothings perfect though.

Steve


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## DTPCHEMICALS

Vu cube. plus dish on a tripod.

Dave p


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## rosalan

Multimo using suction disc on the roof.

Once you get the knack, these are easy to use and comparatively inexpensive to buy.
I am sometimes bemused at the value some people put into seeing Coronation Street. Weighing the cost of receiving a signal, against the time spent watching, balanced against the beauty spot the van is parked in.
Each to his or her own of course but in conversation for many people, the News and Weather seem to be the most watched items (and walking the dog the most popular exercise).

Alan


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## UncleNorm

Before Easter we had a Glomex dome fitted by Shane of Snellyvision. And aren't we pleased we did?!

After breaking down in France, we only had access to French TV in the hotel rooms. Watching the Tour de France in French was hard work!! It really was a relief when Our Coral was moved some 80 miles to Camping La Perle... we could resume watching the Tour de France, only this time it was in English!! Switch on the Dome; switch on the decoder; switch on the telly... That easy!! :roll: :wink: 8)


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## Spacerunner

IMHO Freeview will make satellite TV a very expensive add-on, for UK use.
99.9% of the time I use the Status directional and get more than enough channels.

When 'sur la continent' I've never felt the urge to watch moving pictures.

No matter how you receive TV its still mostly a load of cobblers.


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## RichardnGill

Camos inmotion dome for us< working in any wind and the kids along with the wife can watch tv on the way to a site


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## clive1821

Yes I have automatic dishes and they work very well, I prefer the caterien cap910 which in my view is much better that the ten haff (oyster) and then there's the mormal roof aerial, more of a pain now there's only digital...... I also agree most of the tv programs are not much use but its entertainment for us all and every one have different views.


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## wakk44

We originally used the factory fitted status aerial and received all the terrestrial tv programmes.Decided to upgrade to a maxview crankup and get all the satellite programmes through the decoder taken from home,which was great.

Then when trying unsuccessfully to watch man utd playing an important champions league game on a windy night decided to go for a KVH tracvision dome.

The dome can be used in any conditions,is impervious to the wind and we love it.


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## The-Cookies

Multimo mounted by magnet to steel plate on roof had no problems with this and never get stuck for a signal as we can put it on a tripod


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## rogerblack

I chose the 'don't bother' option.

Somewhere under the bench seat there's an old aerial and folding mast, which slots into a bracket on the ladder and plugs into the 'van's built-in amplifier, to view TV via a USB dongle receiver on the laptop, but I haven't bothered to set it up for yonks. Mrs B foregoes her Australian soapies when we're away and there's not much else apart from QI & Doc Martin that I'd be too bothered about missing. 
We do have a selection of DVD's which we sometimes play on the laptop, mainly in winter when the evenings get dark early, including a huge set of classic British costume dramas we got for next to nothing with newspaper coupons courtesy of the M-i-L, plus a set of Will Hay, Jacque Tati's 'M Hulot' films and of course Mamma Mia which must be nearly worn out by now. 

That's enough viewing to keep us amused here or abroad. 8O


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## peedee

Spacerunner said:


> IMHO Freeview will make satellite TV a very expensive add-on, for UK use.


I think your right. I am sucessfully using the Status 330 in areas already cut over but do carry a directional aerial for use on an external mast, just in case.

Nevertheless an automatic satellite dish is so convenient especially if you want Sky TV.

peedee


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## Ozzyjohn

How do we receive TV?
Using a roof mounted Status directional. 

To be fair, we rarely use the TV when away in the motorhome - and watching DVDs probably outstrips live TV by about 5 to 1.

When we are no longer wage slaves we may upgrade to satellite for use in mainland Europe, but that's a while away yet.


Regards,
John


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## 1302

We have just started using a Satellite - Im not sure yet whether we will use that the most but the results were very good loast weekend


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## geraldandannie

When we had our crankup fitted, there wasn't much digital around (at least, in the places we were looking :roll: )

We do like a bit of telly, and if there's not much else happening, we'll watch a couple of hours of telly (over 6 hours at the weekend, watching the tennis  ). Most of our travelling is abroad, so an aerial isn't an option for us.

We're very happy with what we have, and would recommend it to anyone. I'd consider a dome, but we only loose 5% or less of TV watching through high winds, so it's not really that much of a problem.

Gerald


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## WingPete

*Laptop viewing*

I have found the laptop OK for most times for terestial TV chanels. Just an adaptor from Maplins to tune in.


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## tulsehillboys

Just invested in a dome (after trying the maplin suitcase job for a bit).
Great - push button and watch. The manual one was ok but a pfaff and as it is mainly to watch the news - I couldnt be bothered. 
A dome is a fab bit of kit if you have 1.5k lying about!!!
Am looking foward to Radio 2 in France as well - almost priceless :lol:


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## geordie01

We use the omni directional on the roof with a digi box and that works most of the time if there is plug in on the bollard we use that. if in fr ance we use a lidl portable which is good when i can be bothered to set it up but some times i do it just for the peace i get when mrs and miss geordie need their soap fix


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## Minerva

My other half is totally deaf therefore we rely on subtitles being available and that means using satellite for best reception as subtitles are the first to go when the signal is not very strong. I now use a dome which is not affected by the wind.
Bill


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## peedee

Many thanks to all those that voted, 124 of you so far. Satellite TV is the choice of 63 percent of subscribers, 26 percent use terestial aerials and supposedly 8 percent don't bother with any TV but I suspect this last figure is too small because (4026 -124) 3902 subscribers haven't voted :lol: 

I'm rather surprised at the numbers using satellite, especially the 43 percent using fully automatic systems.

peedee


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## Zepp

We use 85cm self seeking Oyster + 12V pace box 



Paul


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## EJB

I would suggest that the figures are spot on for members (obviously!) but doesn't reflect owners generally.
My guess is that only about 5%, if that, have automatic dish systems.

After all we, the members, are the noisy and very small minority who like to think we speak for the world.... :roll:


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## peedee

Don't entirely agree EJB but then only 3 percent of subscribers have voted and I don't know statistically how many percent is considered representative. 3 percent does sound too small though to come to any real conclusions and so does your guess of 5 percent.

peedee


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## EJB

I shall make it my mission to start counting them when next on the road.... :roll: :lol:

PS. Surely only a few percent post anyway????


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## peedee

EJB said:


> I shall make it my mission to start counting them when next on the road.... :roll: :lol:
> 
> PS. Surely only a few percent post anyway????


Cannot see much point in paying a subscription if you are not going to participate :?

peedee


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## GerryD

In the UK for a weekend rally the Status 530 is excellent and with switchover completing next year will give coverage to equal any satellite system.
Outside the UK, we have normally used too much energy to bother with TV in the evenings. Barbie, wine and a good book are sufficient for most evenings. If the weather is good then we are outside until bedtime so TV is irrelevant.
Gerry


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## lesanne

we don,t need tv ...we actually talk whist were away ,,if we feel the urge for soaps ..we just have a wash ,, try it ,it might lust work for you....


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## 4maddogs

I have voted already. I have a dome. I am usually on my own and in Scotland in the winter it gets dark very early so a bit of box goes down quite well.
I am registering another way of watching now as I am with a power unit and waiting for it to be fixed. I resurrected an old tent/caravan hookup, pushed it through the window so I have a light, a place for my iPad charger ....and the TV with a powered Avtex desktop/ window aerial. I am surprised to find it gives a brilliant picture. The 12v does not work either of course.
I bought it for the old van as the ancient aerial was useless, but sold the van soon after so did not really use it much.


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## tokkalosh

I cannot vote as I have a TV Dongle for my laptop.
There came with it a small 6" magnetic aerial, it is amazing, picks up radio, ITV and BBC very well, ideal for just basic TV and it gives subtitles too.
In my view an excellent item for around £13


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## Pollydoodle

We started off with various aerials, then an assortment of 'suitcase' dishes with all sorts of gadgets to co-ordinate the damn things. After one VERY stressfull - for me :roll: set up, I issued an ultimatum. either you get a roof mounted dish/dome or the van goes!!! I can quite happily manage without a tv. In the end we bought a dome from eddievanbitz (very good service) at stratford show last year and have only had one failure with it - no one else could get tv either!
from time to time I still get the hassle of a certain person not connecting all the gear properly, so I just take myself off with the dogs until things are sorted :lol:


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## peedee

tokkalosh said:


> I cannot vote as I have a TV Dongle for my laptop.
> There came with it a small 6" magnetic aerial, it is amazing, picks up radio, ITV and BBC very well, ideal for just basic TV and it gives subtitles too.
> In my view an excellent item for around £13


tokkalosh,
The question was, "What TV aerial do you use? I guess the magnetic one must fall into the category of an external mounted direction one,
even if its on a very small mast!

peedee


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## peedee

Pollydoodle said:


> We started off with various aerials, then an assortment of 'suitcase' dishes with all sorts of gadgets to co-ordinate the damn things. After one VERY stressfull - for me :roll: set up, I issued an ultimatum. either you get a roof mounted dish/dome or the van goes!!! I can quite happily manage without a tv. In the end we bought a dome from eddievanbitz (very good service) at stratford show last year and have only had one failure with it - no one else could get tv either!
> from time to time I still get the hassle of a certain person not connecting all the gear properly, so I just take myself off with the dogs until things are sorted :lol:


I guess that is why most have automatic systems  
We will also be doing the same but only because a new motorhome is on its way and it was such a small price to pay in comparison to the actual motorhome cost and it will be fitted during the build so no subsequent hassle.

peedee


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## jhelm

Interesting to see how a question about how do you watch tv can bring up the tv vs no tv issue. We enjoy the occasion movie or show while out in the camper. We don't have a dish so to this point we have relied on a conventional antenna, which has turned out to be useless in S. Italy, France and Switzerland. In N. Italy there is good reception in most areas.

Just before our last trip a friend give us a bunch of movies downloaded to a usb hard disk. I bought a similar hard disk and copied them onto it. Works great if one has taken the time to convert the movies from dvds. It saves space and one can just scroll through list and select what one wants to watch. 

I have been debating the question of getting a box/camping dish setup just so we have an alternative. I can't really justify the cost of a roof mounted unit, but it would be nice.

Funny thing is that at home we watch movies over the internet, using a vpn that puts us in New York City and allows us to use Netflix. With a good internet connection in the camper we have also used it to watch tv on our laptop.


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