Advice needed: satellite TV

I'm working on finishing my basement (yeah, just like last year...shut up, slapshot ) and we have DirecTV and a DVR, so we have two lines coming off the satellite into the house. I was told by a friend that regular cable splitters are a no-no and I ran two coax wires to every outlet in the basement for the DVR while running the electric.

He said something about a multiswitch. Any ideas/suggestions/where to get 'em?

Thanks.

Well you know you won't have access to your DVR's programs on your second box right? When you buy the second receiver from DTV, you might as well ask them which multiswitch you need. I got around this whole thing by running the coax output of the DVR receiver to my second TV location and getting an extra remote with a IR bouncer. I was then able to control my receiver from the bedroom and watch DVR'd programs.

I now have Dishnetwork who's receivers already have that functionality built in (comes with an extra RF remote).

We only have one TV so we really only need one receiver right now. But I want the ability to be able to move the TV to the other outlets in the room (just in case the wife decides she likes it better somewhere else ).

Dish's receivers have a coaxial output that sends a regular cable signal. I used that output from one receiver to pipe satellite TV all over the house. If it's a dual receiver (a single box capable of dual channel output), you can watch one channel on the TV hooked directly to the receiver, and another channel on the TVs hooked up to the coaxial output.

With my Dish Network, a splitter on the coax between the satellite and box won't work. I have a 2 receiver system, and for my 3rd tv in the garage, I have a splitter between the box and tv. So whatever I watch in the garage will be the same in the bedroom.

quickerNu said:

With my Dish Network, a splitter on the coax between the satellite and box won't work. I have a 2 receiver system, and for my 3rd tv in the garage, I have a splitter between the box and tv. So whatever I watch in the garage will be the same in the bedroom.

Click to expand...

You would need a SW44 switch to add another receiver.

Edit: I forgot to mention that if you have Dish Pro equipment you would need something like a DP34


I have been out of the dish circle for about 3 years now but at one time I had a 3LNB elliptical dish that picked up both DTV and Dish feeding 4 TVs. I had a nice collection of switches....lol

FireBrewer said:

I'm working on finishing my basement (yeah, just like last year...shut up, slapshot ) and we have DirecTV and a DVR, so we have two lines coming off the satellite into the house. I was told by a friend that regular cable splitters are a no-no and I ran two coax wires to every outlet in the basement for the DVR while running the electric.

He said something about a multiswitch. Any ideas/suggestions/where to get 'em?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

If you install a multiswitch where the two cables enter the house from the LNB you just have to run one cable to each outlet.

The reason you can't just use a splitter is because one cable from the LNB picks up the even transponders and the other picks up the odd transponders.
The receiver selects which side of the lnb (which set of transponders) by outputting either 14vdc or 18vdc so the switch has to be a little "smarter" then a plain old splitter.

wihophead said:

If you install a multiswitch where the two cables enter the house from the LNB you just have to run one cable to each outlet.

The reason you can't just use a splitter is because one cable from the LNB picks up the even transponders and the other picks up the odd transponders.
The receiver selects which side of the lnb (which set of transponders) by outputting either 14vdc or 18vdc so the switch has to be a little "smarter" then a plain old splitter.

Click to expand...

Ok.

Thanks for the info, all!!

we finally got internet and satellite TV after living here for over a year (regular bunny ears did us fine) but Verizon gave us a deal (well i'm sure it was a deal for everyone) for an additional $30 to our $60 phone, we can get internet and Dish Network, or was it DirectTV... I forget, but the deal was too good to pass up.

Yuri_Rage said:

Dish's receivers have a coaxial output that sends a regular cable signal. I used that output from one receiver to pipe satellite TV all over the house. If it's a dual receiver (a single box capable of dual channel output), you can watch one channel on the TV hooked directly to the receiver, and another channel on the TVs hooked up to the coaxial output.

Click to expand...

Yup, I've got the VIP622. The HD output goes to my projector and the SD TV2 output is split via coax to the kid's toyroom and my bedroom. I like saving the extra receiver fees.

What I'm waiting for is a similar box that has a simple slave device so you can stream DVR'd HD content to the second TV. I don't mind paying the extra receiver fee for a second HD location, but I need access to the common DVR.

Bobby_M said:

Yup, I've got the VIP622. The HD output goes to my projector and the SD TV2 output is split via coax to the kid's toyroom and my bedroom. I like saving the extra receiver fees.

What I'm waiting for is a similar box that has a simple slave device so you can stream DVR'd HD content to the second TV. I don't mind paying the extra receiver fee for a second HD location, but I need access to the common DVR.

Click to expand...

The VIP622 has an ethernet connection, is being utilized yet?
If it is you may be able to use the D-Link DSM-520.

I built a PVR which could be streamed to other TVs with a Media MVP but it wasn't HD capable so now it is just sitting in the corner collecting dust since I went HD.

No, they don't enable any of the fancy ports on the 622. They do offer to enable the USB port for external HD but it's just to increase the recording capacity. IIRC, the data is encrypted in a way that only that box can access it.