Do I need 3 coax inputs for a 921?

[texasdiver]

Hi guys:

I'm buying my first HD television and looking at leasing a Dish 811 receiver on an interim basis until I can locate/afford a 921 or its successor the 942 in a few months. Given that I eventually plan to have some sort of two-tuner HD receiver in my living room I want to make sure that when I upgrade my wiring now for the 811 I also do everything necessary for the future so I don't have to pull wires from my attic twice.

As I understand it, in order to properly wire a 921 (or future 2-tuner HD receivers) I will need three separate RG-6 coax cables running from my roof to the living room: One cable for the OTA antenna and one each for the two HD satellite tuners built into the 921. Is that correct or am I missing something?

 

[David_Levin]

That's mostly correct. The 3 cables will give you the most flexability (especially if you switch to a different DVR later).

Some people also like an extra run to connect to a TV in a remote location.

With the release of the DPP44 switch the Echostar dual tuner units no only need 1 cable run for both sat tuners (assuming the cable can handle 2Ghz).

May also be possible to DiPlex in the over the air and keep it to one cable (would have been REALLY cool if the DPP44 included an OTA Diplexor).

 

[texasdiver]

right, I hadn't thought of a 2nd TV so I'll need 4!

Guess I'll really need to run 4 coax cables into the living room because I'll probably ultimately want to control the TV in my bedroom from the 921 as well since I only watch one or the other TV at a time, almost never both at once.

Four should be enough huh? No possible reason I would ever want 5?!!!

Luckily I have a one-story house with a full size attic so stringing cable around the attic is no problem. It's just the work of pulling it through the wall up to the attic which is much easier to do all at once rather than one-by-one. So it won't be a big deal to put 4 cables in at once.

 

[pbrown]

Well, IF you felt like running a fifth line, you could hook up your remote control antenna to it and place it in your attic. Your chances of being able to control your reciever from all over the house will go up dramatically. But since your house is only one floor, you're probably going to be able to get it to work just fine.

 

[texasdiver]

My bedroom and living room are adjacent with just a wall and door separating so I'm assuming that remote control will be no problem with one of the new remote extenders. I've never tried to do it but can't imagine it will be a problem.