Cheapest option for four TVs?

[sofakng]

We don't watch (or even record) much TV in our house, but we have several TVs because we use multiple rooms:

• Upstairs family room (hopper)
• Kitchen (joey)
• Bedroom (joey)

It looks like it costs $7/month per Joey, but is there a discount if I want to add a third or would it be 3x $7/month?

I can actually use an HDMI splitter from the Hopper, but the problem is that one location I want 5.1 surround sound and the other I just want stereo...

 

[sofakng]

Actually... how is the virtual joey (PS3/PS4) as well? That might be another option for me... (except it's the same $7/month fee), but is the quality the same as a regular Joey?

 

[thomasjk]

All Joeys are $7/mo. Except the Super Joey which is $10.

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[TheKrell]

I can actually use an HDMI splitter from the Hopper, but the problem is that one location I want 5.1 surround sound and the other I just want stereo...

I don't see the issue there. Just run TOSLINK as well, or component and TOSLINK, to your surround system.

 

[sofakng]

Krell, can you explain?

I need the HDMI to carry PCM only (2.0 channels), and the TOSLINK to carry 5.1.

The settings in the Hopper I think are "Dolby Digital/PCM" or "PCM only". If I select "Dolby Digital" then the HDMI will carry 5.1 which won't work for my upstairs TV. If I select "PCM only" then I believe everything will work, but will the TOSLINK still carry 5.1?

 

[thomasjk]

Yes TOSLINK will carry 5.1.

 

[KAB]

The TV upstairs will be fine with Dolby Digital/PCM.

 

[boba]

Remember the Hopper only has 3 tuners so Hopper plus 3 Joeys means you can't have 4 different programs coming off the satellite unless one is a Super Joey that will bring you up to 5 tuners.

 

[sofakng]

Thanks, I understand. We are almost always only using one TV at a time, but we want the option to use different ones, etc.

Anyways, the HDMI + TOSLINK (Optical) cable worked great. I have an advanced HDMI matrix switch that allows me to change the EDID so in order to only send PCM 2-channel I needed to make sure the EDID said my TV only supported that format. The toslink cable was still sent AC3 5.0 as long as the Hopper was set to "Dolby Digital/PCM".

Thanks for the help everybody!

 

[KAB]

I still don't understand why you need PCM only to that bedroom TV.