HD RF Modulator for a Hopper and a Joey????

[WickedStepMom]

I have another thread about this but thought I should start a new one with a different title topics so please bear with the long history.

I have eleven TVs in our home, yes eleven. The set up now in the house is two coaxes coming in from the dish to the ViP722K, a HDMI cable from the ViP722K that feeds the living room TV and at the same time a coax cable from the ViP722K goes into a whole house splitter that branches out to the remaining ten TVs where all the ten TVs can what either what is on TV1 or TV2. This works fine for the three of us because majority of the TVs are living room, master bedroom, another bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, laundry room where going from one room to the other, mirroring works. Mirroring works on the remaining TVs to watch TV2 shows because those TVs are in extra bedrooms, in the loft (areas for grandkids when they visit), basement, and outside. This setup works except for those rare occasions that there are two programs being recorded and we are watching something that was recorded previously and there is a ball game or something else on that someone wants to watch live.

This brings me to the Hopper and Joey choice. I was leaning to the Hopper 3 because of the number of shows it will record at one time and I can't afford ten Joeys. Plus I don't need a Joey for each TV. I am fine with mirroring. I discovered today with the help of someone on one of these forums that the Hopper 3 doesn't have an OUT COAX. I did a chat with a Dish Network rep and was told that Hopper with a Sling came with an OUT COAX and he wanted me to hurry and sign up to lock in the price for 24 months. Thanks to another forum member my suspicions were confirmed that none of the Hoppers have OUT COAX.

Through these forums I'm told that mirroring is possible with a RF Modulator but that all TVs connected will have SD quality. Currently with my ViP722K, all the TVs that mirror TV1 have HD quality but if they mirror the TV2's SD quality. I prefer HD quality but can't afford a Joey on every TV plus there are some TVs that I can't connect a Joey to due to where they are located. Are there any RF Modulators out there with HD quality that I can connect to the Hopper 3 so my TVs will display HD shows filling the screen but not cost an arm and a leg? If yes, which one would you recommend?

Now the question about the Joey. I'd like to connect five of my eleven TVs to the Joey. Is it possible to to connect a RF Modulator to a Joey so I can connect those TVs to mirror the Joey instead of what is shown on the Hopper?

Thanks.

 

[dishdude]

You can connect as many TVs as you want to one joey using an RF modulator but they're going to be SD. They don't make an HD modulator for home use.

 

[HipKat]

All your TV's now are SD if they're running off a whole home splitter. The ONLY HDMI you're getting from your 722 is at the TV1 location, because it's probably connected by HDMI Cable. Which means when you mirror TV1, you're seeing SD.

So you're not losing anything, as it seems you're worried about.

I just did a setup 3 weeks ago, 1 Hopper, 2 Joeys running 9 TV's with 3 RF Modulators in the house and a 3rd Joey in a Workshop at the rear of the property. Works great as long as the cable, connectors and splitters are quality, high frequency and not cruddy Radio Shack type crimped connectors and brass splitters

 

[Foxbat]

They don't make an HD modulator for home use.

Not without spending under $100, no. I will post some links with no guarantee that any of these will do what you want:

• https://www.newark.com/stellar-labs/33-11980/high-definition-atsc-rf-modulator/dp/84Y7983#
  
• VeCOAX MINIMOD-2 - Professional HDMI Modulator - HDMI LICENSED
  
• Amazon product ASIN B07GRY279W

 

[HipKat]

I will post some links with no guarantee that any of these will do what you want:

• https://www.newark.com/stellar-labs/33-11980/high-definition-atsc-rf-modulator/dp/84Y7983#
  
• VeCOAX MINIMOD-2 - Professional HDMI Modulator - HDMI LICENSED
  
• Amazon product ASIN B07GRY279W

 

[Foxbat]

Hey, if WickedStepMom has 11 HDTVs, I doubt $495 for an ATSC modulator will phase her…

 

[Ziptied]

I've been using VeCOAX modulators for a few years now and they have worked flawlessly thus far.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Screw VeCoax.

I had bought 2 ATSC modulators from them to mimic an OTA signal for an apartment building.

Customer had Dish 222 receivers in every apartment and we had installed an OTA adaptor in every 222 receiver.

We fed the security camera feeds into the modulators so the camera would be integrated with the guide in the Dish 222.

VeCoax said 5 year warranty, but after 11 months I had a bad modulator.

So I paid to ship it back to them and they denied the warranty claiming a lightning strike. They said they X Rayed the board and found evidence of a lightning strike.

Funny nothing else in the rack was blown, so they then tried selling me another modulator for $500.

I told them NO.

So around the same time I had another project and needed about $5000 in equipment and I had them quote it out.

When they found out my $5000 quote and my warranty claim was both from me, they agreed to replace the $500 modulator in exchange for the $5000 order.

I ended up telling them to go F themselves because if they gave me crap over a $500 part, they would not stand behind a $5000 order.

Luckily I had purchased a 3rd modulator from then for my home, and I had to give that to the customer to replace their bad one.

I don’t care how good their prices are, it ain’t worth it if they won’t stand behind the warranty.

Zeevee is your best bet

 

[Claude Greiner]

I just picked up this gem yesterday for $275 on eBay.

Couldn’t pass this deal up

ZeeVee Zvpro810i-na 1-ch HD Video QAM Modulator Over Coax 1080p for sale online | eBay

Btw, if your going to get the HDMI VERSION it will not work with a Dish or Directv receiver unless you strip out HDCP.

The best way to strip the HDCP is using a cheap Chinese HDMI splitter..

Full HD HDMI Splitter 1X2 Repeater Amplifier 3D 1080p 4K Switch Box 1 in 2 out 728243516354 | eBay

Otherwise you need to use component video.

Actually come to think of it, the VE coax will strip HDCP because it’s cheap Chinese garbage anyways

 

[Claude Greiner]

This is your best solution to distribute HD. For $329 this will do up to 8 televisions

Monoprice Blackbird 4K HDMI 1x8 Splitter Extender over Cat5e and Cat6 with IR, Loop Out, EDID, POC with 8 Receivers, 50m, 164ft - Monoprice.com

You do need to run cat6 but they work flawlessly. I used one about 9 months ago to distribute ROKU to 7 televisions so they could do the UFC and WWE Fights.

Probably not legal for them buying fights that way, but that’s the solution they wanted and I had nothing to do with downloading the app or purchasing the events

 

[joegr]

...Currently with my ViP722K, all the TVs that mirror TV1 have HD quality ...

That's not possible unless you are running HDMI cables with a splitter, or you are using an expensive external HD modulator. Just because you are looking at 16:9 video, does not mean it is HD resolution. Both RF outputs from the VIP722K are SD. I had VIP722Ks before I went to the H3.

The H3 and a modulator (or H3 and a Joey and a couple of modulators) would be no worse that what you have now.

 

[Ziptied]

Screw VeCoax.

I had bought 2 ATSC modulators from them to mimic an OTA signal for an apartment building.

Customer had Dish 222 receivers in every apartment and we had installed an OTA adaptor in every 222 receiver.

We fed the security camera feeds into the modulators so the camera would be integrated with the guide in the Dish 222.

VeCoax said 5 year warranty, but after 11 months I had a bad modulator.

So I paid to ship it back to them and they denied the warranty claiming a lightning strike. They said they X Rayed the board and found evidence of a lightning strike.

Funny nothing else in the rack was blown, so they then tried selling me another modulator for $500.

I told them NO.

So around the same time I had another project and needed about $5000 in equipment and I had them quote it out.

When they found out my $5000 quote and my warranty claim was both from me, they agreed to replace the $500 modulator in exchange for the $5000 order.

I ended up telling them to go F themselves because if they gave me crap over a $500 part, they would not stand behind a $5000 order.

Luckily I had purchased a 3rd modulator from then for my home, and I had to give that to the customer to replace their bad one.

I don’t care how good their prices are, it ain’t worth it if they won’t stand behind the warranty.

Zeevee is your best bet

I looked into Zeevee products back then as well. Found nothing bad about them and it just came down to price. Hopefully my VeCOAX gear holds up. So far so good.

 

[WickedStepMom]

All your TV's now are SD if they're running off a whole home splitter. The ONLY HDMI you're getting from your 722 is at the TV1 location, because it's probably connected by HDMI Cable. Which means when you mirror TV1, you're seeing SD.

So you're not losing anything, as it seems you're worried about.

I just did a setup 3 weeks ago, 1 Hopper, 2 Joeys running 9 TV's with 3 RF Modulators in the house and a 3rd Joey in a Workshop at the rear of the property. Works great as long as the cable, connectors and splitters are quality, high frequency and not cruddy Radio Shack type crimped connectors and brass splitters

HipKat, thanks for letting me know what you've recently done. And you can confirm that watching a HD channel on these extra TVs, that you have a full screen and not by changing the settings on the TVs?

I do have a HDMI cable from the ViP722K to the living room TV and I did assume that I was seeing HD throughout the house through the coax when I had a full screen when mirroring TV1 that had a HD channel on but when I mirrored TV2 watching the exact HD channel I don't have a full screen, black bars show top and bottom. Here a pic of one of my TVs showing the same HD channel on both TV1 and TV2. Thus the reason I've been assuming I'm getting a HD picture on all my TVs via TV1 and afraid that with the Hopper and using the RF Modulator for my many TVs, the SD pic will be like what I'm getting now through TV2. But if you are verifying you are seeing a full screen, then I won't have any reason not to go with the Hopper and RF Modulator.

Thanks.

 

[WickedStepMom]

That's not possible unless you are running HDMI cables with a splitter, or you are using an expensive external HD modulator. Just because you are looking at 16:9 video, does not mean it is HD resolution. Both RF outputs from the VIP722K are SD. I had VIP722Ks before I went to the H3.

The H3 and a modulator (or H3 and a Joey and a couple of modulators) would be no worse that what you have now.

Joegr, thanks for the reply and letting me know you had a ViP722K. Any idea why my picture sizes are different on TV1 and TV2 (same channel and same TV settings, just paused at different times)? Don't know if you saw my reply to HipKat but using the coax from the ViP722K, the picture size on the same HD channel is different and being told I'll only be getting a SD picture using the RF Modulator, that is why I have been assuming all the HD channels will look like the picture on TV2.

 

[joegr]

Bars or not are a combination of settings on the TVs, the receiver, and the channels. You can get rid of the bars on your existing VIP setup with the right settings.

 

[WickedStepMom]

Thanks to everyone with suggestions. Even though I have eleven TVs, that does not mean they are all new expensive flat screen TVs.

 

[joegr]

You might be surprised at how cheap some HD (if you count 720p) LCD TVs are now.
Anyway, the zoom and expand settings were TV1/TV2 specific on the VIP, if I recall correctly.

 

[WickedStepMom]

You might be surprised at how cheap some HD (if you count 720p) LCD TVs are now.
Anyway, the zoom and expand settings were TV1/TV2 specific on the VIP, if I recall correctly.

Yes I can make those changes but the picture shows the same TV, the same HD channel but one is from TV1 and the other TV2 which has the bars.

 

[joegr]

Yes I can make those changes but the picture shows the same TV, the same HD channel but one is from TV1 and the other TV2 which has the bars.

Are you saying that the format button (#, I think on your Dish remote) has no effect on the display? You would have to use the TV2 remote to change that output.

 

[TheKrell]

Yes I can make those changes but the picture shows the same TV, the same HD channel but one is from TV1 and the other TV2 which has the bars.

I had a 722 and I know what of I speak. The TV2 output is SD only and furthermore (in dual mode) restricts the setup so that you cannot, without zooming your TV, show the proper aspect ratio on a widescreen TV. When you do zoom an SD picture with bars, it looks like ca-ca even if the aspect ratio is correct and there are no black bars visible. What Dish never implemented is a TV2 output mode that was formerly called anamorphic widescreen such as that done for widescreen DVDs. The TV2 output can actually do that, but only if you put the 722 in solo mode.