Here are the best options for TV viewing in your rig.

Mobile TV watching has come a long way since my parents traveled in their RV in the early 1970’s where a “compact, ” 12-inch square, black and white Sony, with a single telescoping wand antenna was their only option. And even at that, the channel selection was usually limited to four or five channels in a big city and maybe one in a rural town.

Now, inside our Navion motorhome in a rainy Tampa with two flat screens, HD TV antenna, cable input, satellite dish, and AppleTV, the only reason we’d be bored is because we’re dead. But, all this entertainment choice comes with a trade-off: complexity. At this point, if you’re part of that exclusive class of book readers only, you can stop here while the rest of us ascend the hierarchy of television reception options.

Over-the-air

If you’ve been plugged into cable at home over the past decade you probably missed the part of the digital revolution where the FCC required over-the-air broadcasters to switch to digital signals. This required new frequencies and tuners and, for the past decade, all TVs have this circuitry built in. It all means that rabbit ears now refer only to Bugs Bunny, not the twin v-rods extending from the rear of the TV. To receive over-the-air TV signals you now need an HDTV antenna. In our case its a batwing shaped KINGJack TV antenna that can be rotated around by a manual ceiling control with five little blue LEDs that light up when you hone in on the best signal.

Broadcasters continue to air their main channels as usual, but there are sub-channels they also broadcast alternative programs on. The result is that there are far more channels to chose from over the air, but don’t expect to see cable/satellite only channels like CNN or Discovery off your antenna.

Cable

If your rig is wired for cable input, you can get basic programming tiers in standard definition. This usually is 20-40 channels. Hi-definition channels usually require a digital tuner (ex. cable box). In one case, when we were hooked up to a cable in Moab, Utah I was shocked to see some high-def signals appear, but that’s rare. Park cable systems range from poor to crystal clear signals and often the lower band channels are poorer in quality (there’s a technical reason for that, but it’s not worth going down that rabbit hole).

Depending on whether or not you are feeding your TV with an over-the-air or cable signal, all modern TVs will require you to go into the menu settings and have the TV scan for the available channels – a process that usually takes 10 to 20 minutes. Inside psychological tip: if you stare at the screen while it’s scanning, it will seem like it’s taking twice as long, so busy yourself with something else while your TV does it’s thing.

And here’s the number one tuning tip than many RVers overlook: make sure your outside antenna booster circuit is turned off. Many late model RVs (Winnebago included) use antenna amplifiers for off-the-air digital antennas. When that little switch is on (and there’s usually an indicator light) it can cause distortion in the cable signal. Turn he switch off — your picture quality should be much better.

Satellite service

In the US there are only two satellite providers: DirectTV and Dish Network. Bell Canada is the Canadian provider. While both US services offer a gigantic range of signals, DirectTV does offer exclusive services like NFL Sunday Ticket that allows you to watch any NFL game. Satellite service is the ultimate TV lover’s choice with both Dish and Direct offering 100+ channel packages starting around $60 per month.

Adding satellite to your RV requires several decisions to be made up front. The first is which service and the second is which type of dish. Let’s start with service.

While Direct and Dish are very comparable in their offerings and prices, they use completely different satellites. In DirectTV’s case if you want high definition channels, then you’ll have to go with an open style satellite dish. If Direct’s standard definition is okay, then you can use a dome covered antenna. Unlike DirectTV, Dish allows you to use a dome covered dish for both standard and hi-def signals. If you already have Direct or Dish service at home, you might consider taking one of your receivers on the road. If you are buying a service from scratch, then Dish has the edge for several reasons.