Cable Splitter in Dish TV connection

[milpride]

Hello,

I am using Dish. I have already given connection to two TVs and now I want to connect the third TV. I do not want to get a new receiver or additional service. I want to know if it is legal to use a cable splitter. Other than a) getting same channels between primary and split connection and b) losing the quality of signals is there any other risk that I should be concerned about.

I would really appreciate if someone can give some advice.

Thanks

 

[damaged]

AFAIK, it's perfectly legal. IANAL though.

 

[milpride]

Thanks for your response. What is IANAL ? sorry new to chat acronyms

 

[damaged]

Thanks for your response. What is IANAL ? sorry new to chat acronyms

Sorry, it's, 'I Am Not A Lawyer'.

 

[Jared Twomey]

splitting to another tv is fine, just make sure you split the tv out side, not the satellite feed

 

[griz_fan]

Should work just fine. Also, you might want to pick up another RF remote so you don't have to keep hauling the remote from the 2nd TV to the 3rd TV. Check the sponsor links up top, I know some of 'em carry extra remotes.

 

[ZandarKoad]

It's 100% legal and fine. In fact, some Dish CSRs will tell the customer that the technician can hook that up for free. (Which is NOT true: I can and will charge extra for splitting a backfeed.) But if you do it yourself, then yes, go for it, split it to 8 TVs if you want.

 

[RevJimbo]

You can do this one of two ways:

* Split the cable coming from your satellite dish -- you will need a multiswitch to properly do this. You'll also need an additional receiver box.

* Split the "Out to TV" cable coming from your DISH receiver box. You can hook multiple TVs up that way, but they all have to watch the same programming.

If you don't need to watch all of those TVs at the same time (with different programs on each), you might try getting a UHF remote at each TV, all controlling the one DISH receiver box. In this way, you can control the programming at the TV, rather than having to walk over to the receiver box to change channels.

Another tidbit: For each receiver box you have over one, you must pay $5.00 per month to DISH to be able to use it. But if you have a DISH 322 box, you can control two separate TVs without paying the extra $5.00 per month, because it is, in fact, only one receiver box. (That's what DISH told me.)

 

[ZandarKoad]

Another tidbit: For each receiver box you have over one, you must pay $5.00 per month to DISH to be able to use it. But if you have a DISH 322 box, you can control two separate TVs without paying the extra $5.00 per month, because it is, in fact, only one receiver box. (That's what DISH told me.)

LIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or at least... the way you stated it. That statement is true ASSUMING you have a LIVE PHONE JACK AVAILABLE with a dial tone that can be constantly connected. WithOUT [fixed typo, srry] the phone line, you will be paying $5.00 per tv.

Freakin CSRs!

 

[ts7]

That statement is true ASSUMING you have a LIVE PHONE JACK AVAILABLE with a dial tone that can be constantly connected. With the phone line, you will be paying $5.00 per tv.

Um, that's not exactly correct... I have a 522 and 322 (both dual-tuners). I double-checked on my last statement, and I am paying a single $5.00 fee for the additional receiver (even though I have 4 tuners/2 receivers, with 4 different TVs). It is NOT $5.00/TV. Here is data from my statement...

ADDITIONAL RECEIVER 5.00
DIGITAL HOME ADVANTAGE WITH AMERICA'S TOP 200 47.99
DISH NETWORK DVR SERVICEFEE 5.98
WITH LOCALS 0.00

I DO have a phone line hooked up to both receivers.

 

[ZandarKoad]

Ah, a typo on my part (fixed). But you're right, to recap:

Start with: $5.00 per ADDITONAL tuner. Subtract $5.00 for every dual tuner that has a phone line connected. So for you: 5+5+5-5-5 = $5.00

 

[jimdwest]

poor connection

Trying to connect another TV by splitting the cable that comes from the 722 downstairs. A cable comes from the outside dish (I think) to TV2. I am trying to split that cable to run to another TV across the hall.

It works - picture and sound, but very poor reception. TV2 is very good. The "new" tv is very poor. Using an ordinary coax screw-on splitter, and ordinary coax.

What's wrong ??

Thanks

 

[Jim5506]

The higher the channel number you use on the RF output from the receiver, the higher the line and splitter losses are.

Try changing to a low channel number like 21 or nearby.

Also, check the connectors for a stray piece of ground braid that may be shorting out the connection.

 

[jimdwest]

Poor reception

I'm not sure I understand what you say. I believe Dish Network goes to Channel 62 (TV2). I have no idea how to change that. Signal is there, just pretty poor. Been reading on the Internet and wonder if the problem is the splitter. Just a cheap one from the garage, probably 20 years old. I see something about 5 - 1000 ratings. No markings on this one. Thought I'd remove the coax from TV2 and run it direct to the new HD TV. Guess if I end up with a good picture, then that will tell me to get a better splitter. Sound right to you ? Thanks

 

[jimdwest]

Then again, if the splitter is bad, then I should not have a good picture on the original TV2. Daughter has two bedrooms and two TVs. Never know which one is the main room. Good tube TV as TV2. New HD for her birthday going in the room with the computer. Seems it should be the other way around, but maybe you know daughters ??

 

[TG2]

The receiver that you're connected to ... what model? .. can get you some menu commands (if not the 922) to get you directly into the right screen to change some settings.

One setting sets up the coax output on DVR's to be "Distribution Mode" so that the receiver puts out more power to compensate for losses along the splitter line.

As to one better than the other ... did you re-scan for channels? Also you can simply reverse which feed goes to the good set ... with the other.. that is if TV2 (good picture) is on output 1 .. move it to output 2, move the bad tv from output 2, to output 1 ... if TV2 is still good ... then the splitter may not be the cause, and either cable from split to the other tv or the other tv needs re-tune, etc..

 

[jimdwest]

722.

 

[jimdwest]

poor signal

Sorry to say, once again, not sure what you mean. I don't know about "output "1 & 2". All I have is a coax that comes inside the room from the actual dish. I don't actually have any cables coming direct from the 722 receiver which is downstairs. The Dish Network installation used a lot of old DirecTV wiring and connections, and I think they may have wired it differently than if a new install. It took them two tries, two installers and two days to get it working. I'll try running the coax direct to the "new" tv tonight and see how that goes. Ran a channel scan when tv was first installed, and it only found channel 62 on TV setting.

 

[scoobyxj]

Just to inform you the feed for the TV 2 does not come from the dish it comes from the receiver and is either diaplexed back into the same feed the dish signal is on, or has a separate line, but regardless that's not important in this situation. You mentioned you have a new HD TV for your third TV. You need to realize the TV 2 output is not a HD signal, and will never look great on a HD TV like it will with a SD TV. Trouble shooting your issue is simple. You have the TV 2 feed in the bed room where you're trying to split it ti run a third TV. You say the original looks just as good as it did before but the new one is very poor. There are two ways to check the splitter and coax you've run to the new TV. Obviously you need to insure the TV 2 feed from the receiver is connected to the "IN" port on the splitter (some splitters function very poorly when not connected properly), and the TVs are connected to the "OUT" ports. First you can just swap the coax on the output ports to see if the problem follows the swap or stays on the same TV. If the problem follows the swap then the splitter is the issue. If it continues on the same TV then look over the new coax for a staple through the line, and at the ends to insure there are no pieces of the braid touching the center conductor. You can also try a temp run of coax to the new TV to see if the run coax is compromised. If all the coax checks out then the problem lies in the TV itself, and will need replaced. One thing you can try before replacing the TV is to change the channel the receiver modulate the TV 2 output to. More importantly cable vs air. You will need to rescan your TV's to look for the new channel on the respected signal band you use.

 

[TG2]

Below is a picture example of what is being talked about.

The basics ... a *diplexer* looks like a splitter .. but in fact it is not ... it is designed to pass satellite frequences and TV-VHF/UHF over the same wire.

when ever you have a "diplexer" installation .. you will have TWO diplexers... One of them will be closer to the Dish Antenna ... the other will be closer to the receiver.

Adding a little confusion ... is that at the receiver (722k) you *will* see a splitter AND a diplexer ... this splitter allows you to have *one* cable come from the satellite dish and feed *both* Satellite IN's on the back.

In the diagram below, you are not looking at the back of a 722k .... but the concept is similar.

the Green Line is would be connected to the "Home Distribution" coax output ... The reason its called home distribution, is because it not only puts out the video for TV2 .... but *also* can put out the video for TV1 The way you see these two different channels, is by turning the TV's channel from say 60 to 62 ... these "broadcast" channels can be changed inside the 722 receiver. (the 722k is "broadcasting" or 'sending out' the signals for the one or two channels that you will see and set-up in menu-6-1-5 which I've documented further below)



As you see in the diagram, the light blue lines at the receiver.. come from a splitter.. this is the satellite side of the Diplexer ... goes into the red line (the main cable from the dish antenna) and then somewhere else on that line, is where the second diplexer is ... from the TV side of the second Diplexer ... you have a branch that currently feeds your second TV .. its *that* line (represented by the dark blue lines) that you want to add a splitter to, to allow you to get the 3rd TV up and running.

Menuing commands...

From TV 1 ....

Menu - 6 - 1 - 5
(Menu - 6 "System Setup" - 1 "Installation" - 5 "Modulator Setup")

• First.. set the *MODE* for both TV1 and TV2 out to be the same.
  
  If TV2 is already set for Cable, set TV1 for "Cable".
  .
• Make note of the channels. This is where you set which channel is being "broadcast" on the Coax cable that you will split to your 2nd & 3rd TV's tuners.
  
  example: If TV1 out is on 60, and TV2 out is 62 ... then at your 2nd TV, after hitting "done" and before changing any cable connections.. you should be able to scan for channels.. and should be able to get both 60 and 62 (again what ever your screen says in this menu, are the channels you will be using at TV2 and later at TV3 when hooked up, and this may be different on *your* 722k, but I'm referencing 60/62 here) ... going to TV2 and tuning to the channel numbers you saw/set in Menu-6-1-5, you will find that "60" is the same as TV1/Tuner1 ... "62" would be TV2/Tuner2.
  
  Note when coming out of this menu you will be asked if you are connecting directly to the TV ... you want to be in distribution mode ... this sends a little more power onto the line because each time you split it, it will drop the amount of power each split leg receives. (new splitters usually show this as -3.5 at each of the "out" ports on a splitter).
  .
• Once you have both TV1 and TV2 appearing on your 2nd TV, by changing the 2nd TV's tuner/station ... *then* insert your splitter in TV2's cable line .. but *before* the line reaches back to the diplexer
  
  Again, this is the *dark blue* lines you see from the TV's in the diagram, going to the "Coax Splitter".. the "input" of the splitter is what goes to the Diplexer

I hope that diagram clears up what you *logically* should have.

I say "logically" because as you admitted .. you had techs there..and it took them 2 days of fumbling with reusing the inhouse cable to make the connections work...

the only difference in that diagram ... is that what you want to do is shown with the Dark Blue lines.. a splitter connected to the TV LEG of the Diplexer, so you can put two TV's out.