Were you thinking of standard-definition service in your RV? Stop.

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“No one cares about the TV quality inside the RV.” Yeah, I’ve heard that too. But you need to care, especially if you’re thinking about putting a TV in that RV for the first time. You need to know about some serious changes that are happening with DIRECTV and DISH.

Of course, you probably wouldn’t put a tube TV in your new RV anyway, even if you could find one. They are heavy and take up a lot of space. But most likely you were thinking of putting in a smallish flat TV and maybe you were thinking, save a few bucks and get a standard-definition-only setup.

Standard-definition, in case you’ve not heard the term before, means the kind of TV we all watched back in the 20th century, with relatively blurry images on a relatively square screen. Even when standard-definition images are shown on today’s flat TVs, it’s pretty easy to tell the difference. And it’s true, it’s harder to tell the difference on smaller TVs or from a larger difference, but it’s always there.

If you’re thinking that you don’t need to pay extra for a dish that picks up today’s high-definition images, here’s the bottom line.

Here’s what DIRECTV customers need to know

DIRECTV is not activating new standard definition accounts except in special cases, and the reason is simple: they’re in the process of cutting out standard definition service. They’ve been working up to this for close to a decade, and with their older satellites going out of service, they’re moving forward with HD and its even glitzier cousin, 4K.

There’s a little bit of good news here, though. Because of the way DIRECTV’s satellite fleet is set up, you need a larger dish to get DIRECTV HD than you do for DISH. That dish can be a little too large for some RVs. However, by eliminating standard-definition channels, more HD channels will move to the satellite at the 101 degree location. That will mean DIRECTV customers will actually get more channels with a smaller dish over time, hopefully. Of course plans change but that’s where we expect it go.

Here’s what DISH customers need to know

DISH has been aggressively cutting standard definition service as well. They haven’t offered an SD-only receiver for quite some time and have moved a lot of their programming to HD-only. You can’t blame them, since HD has been the standard now for close to 15 years.

With DISH equipment, you can use a smaller, single-satellite dish. That’s going to be a less expensive option, it may already be on the RV, and more importantly it’s smaller. Using a single-satellite dish can mean long breaks between channel changes, though, and that’s something to consider.

You have to be future proof

So when you look at things that way, you have to be future proof. You can’t be putting in an expensive satellite system in that RV you’ve bought and know that it’s going to be useless in just a few years. You don’t want to do that. What you do want, is to call the experts at Solid Signal at 888-233-7563 and get the right answers. No one activates more RV satellite systems and no one has the level of expertise we do. It’s definitely worth giving us a call and finding out what your options are. Don’t get stuck with the wrong system! We’re here for you during East Coast business hours. If it’s after hours, just fill out the form below. We’ll get back to you, usually within one business day.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.