Diplex help

Punzzy

Member
Original poster
Sep 10, 2005
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I just got the dish 500 and the 811 HD receiver. I also still have cable (which comes with my home owner's association). The Dish installer just ran the dish cable to my structured wiring box and connected it to where the cable tv signal was going - to where my television in my living room was. Can I use a diplexer here and at the receiver, so I can also have my cable tv channels (my local cable television pipes in local channels in HD).
 
No, the cable company transmits there hd signals in the same range of frequencies as DBS. You will signal traffic conflict. Sorry. You can run a separate line yourself though
 
I would still try the diplexer route. If you have interference or loss of signal on your receiver, then simply go back to to the non-diplex route and have separate feeds.

Just as a side note, what freq. range are HD channels broadcast on with cable companies?
 
Now that I've given it more thought, I don't think ANY cable company goes beyond 900 MHz. All of the splitters I had to deal with were rated up to only 1000 MHz. And that was to allow for any factory defects.
 
webbydude said:
Now that I've given it more thought, I don't think ANY cable company goes beyond 900 MHz. All of the splitters I had to deal with were rated up to only 1000 MHz. And that was to allow for any factory defects.
And diplexers go from "low" to 900MHz, and 950-"high", where low/high vary by model.

I've NEVER heard of any conflicts like ocnier is talking about.
 
So what's the consensus? Should I try diplexing the cable & satellite? Could I do any harm to the system?
 
Punzzy said:
So what's the consensus? Should I try diplexing the cable & satellite? Could I do any harm to the system?

I do it all the time and never have a problem... get a satellite diplexer

and it splits out the upper range and lower range.

Cheers,
Sam
 
Diplex Bust

Well I finally got around to doing it. But it didn't work. I diplexed the cable & satellite signals and undiplexed them using GE antenna diplexers (Satellite: 950-2050MHz / Antenna: 45-890 MHz). My 811 receiver was able to find the analog stations but not the HD signals that my cable company pipes in. So I guess, I'll have to go out and get an antenna for OTA local HD.
 
Do you know for sure that your cable company sends the HD signals for free? Not all cable companies have them on the clear, sometimes you need to subscribe to the basic package. You can run a straight cable to the 811 to find out.
 
Some cable companies do. They have the locals HDTV in the clear, so if your HDTV receiver has a QAM tuner then you can use your cable feed to get your local channels in HDTV. There was a post in another forum where they said that is mandated by the FCC but I can't remember where I saw it.
 
According to my cable company, all I have to do is hook the cable into a hd tuner and scan for digital channels. I tried what RandalA said and hooked up the cable directly to the 811 receiver. I then scanned for digital signals and found none. The 811 only scanned to channel 70. I believe my cable company said that the local hd channel were in the 900's. Maybe this is the problem. Is it possible to have 811 scan higher channels?
 
I believe you need a QAM tuner to scan for channels higher than 125. The 811 can scan up to 99. I found this for the 811:

"Scan or manually enter a digital over-the-air channel up to 99 when the receiver is set to "Off Air" in the HDTV setup menu "
 
You will never get local Hd from the cable company without a cable box. They are digital and will be encrypted. You will have to add a cable box next to your sat box to get HD anything from cable.
 
"You will never get local Hd from the cable company without a cable box." That is not true. Or by cable box you mean "HDTV Receiver"?

You can get HD locals from the cable company in some areas. You need a QAM tuner like the Samsung Sir-T451 HDTV Receiver and if you are one of the lucky ones you can get your locals in HD. I've been researching this over the last few days and people are reporting getting their locals through their cable companies.
 
Note that the 811 does have a QAM mode, but I believe that it's for the satellite tuner.

THe diplexing should work - if you take the VHF/UHF side and feed it into a cable box.

Of course, you COULD try straight OTA into the 811 and see what happens.
 
SimpleSimon is correct.The 811 has a QAM mode for the satellite tuner. It is used in the MDU (Multi Dwelling Unit) market for ease of installation using existing cables. The 811 will not decode QAM signals on the OTA tuner. A diplexer could still be used, but you would need a cable box or an OTA digital tuner with QAM support. Most newer HDTVs with Cable Card Slots support QAM. Of course your local cable company would have to be passing the local HDTV channels unencrypted to receive them free in QAM mode. Some do, others don't.
 
Diplex Final Outcome

This is a summary of what I went through.

TV: Panasonic TH-50PX50U
Receiver: Dish 811
Problem: Only 1 cable that runs through the walls to my HDTV. Dish network now connected to that cable at a distribution box in my laundry room (where the cable company used to be connected prior to subscribing to Dish). Still have cable in the other rooms. My cable company passes some local channels in HD for free (not really free, because I pay for basic cable through my homeowner's association fee). I tried directly feeding my tv which has a built in tuner (prior to subscribing to Dish) but the HD channels wouldn't come up; so I subscribed to Dish.

Solution #1. I tried one of those wrap around the Dish antenna which uses diplexers. Most channels are great (only about 16 miles from towers). But ABC & Fox channels are very tempermental. I wanted more.

Solution #2. I tried diplexing the cable and Dish and plugging it into the 811. The 811 would not pick up the cable HD channels.

Solution #3. I bought a Pro Brand Digital Receiver HD3150. Diplexed the cable and Dish signal and ran the HD3150 signal directly into my TV. The local HD signals were great. That is - all 4 of them. I had more with the wrap around OTA.

Solution #4. I'm going to return the HD3150 and stick with the wrap around. ABC & Fox aren't half bad at night time.

Solution #5. Maybe I'll just pay someone to put a big ass OTA antenna in my attic and run a cable through the walls to my HDTV. But holes in the wall make my wife very nervous.

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GO MIAMI DOLPHINS! At 2 and 3, we've allready got half the number of wins from last season.
 

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