How many Joeys will I need?

[ross9]

WE have 4 tvs and 1 922. 3 of the sets are cabled to TV2 and since there are only 2 of us in the house it works for our needs. If we go to the Hopper only one of the of the 3 tvs is HD and the other 2 are presently older sets. Will I need a Joey at each set even though I only want SD at 2 of the sets or will there be a way to split the signal as I am now doing?

 

[Scherrman]

You would need a Joey at each additional TV or you'd have to run a long HDMI cable if you wanted to mirror it to another TV. There is no coax out of the Hopper or Joeys.

 

[Lt Disher]

The Hopper has HDMI, component and composite output. The Joey has HDMI and component output. I'm not sure if all outputs are active as they are on the other DISH receivers. Perhaps you could use these outputs to connect to your other TV's. Of course, it would mirror what is on the corresponding Hopper or Joey.

 

[ross9]

Thanks. That's the way it looked to me. Didn't want to pay for 2 Joeys (providing 1 is free) but if that's what it takes I guess my bill will go up.

 

[JM42]

The Hopper has HDMI, component and composite output. The Joey has HDMI and component output. I'm not sure if all outputs are active as they are on the other DISH receivers. Perhaps you could use these outputs to connect to your other TV's. Of course, it would mirror what is on the corresponding Hopper or Joey.

Joey has HDMI for HD and COMPOSITE (not component) for SD outputs.

As someone else noted, you could hook the composite outputs to an RF modulator and feed the additional SD TVs that way. If you do so and are planning on sharing the same coax as moca, be sure to use a filter. Some modulators are noisy and you don't want the modulated signal to interfere with the Moca frequencies.

 

[Lt Disher]

Joey has HDMI for HD and COMPOSITE (not component) for SD outputs.

As someone else noted, you could hook the composite outputs to an RF modulator and feed the additional SD TVs that way. If you do so and are planning on sharing the same coax as moca, be sure to use a filter. Some modulators are noisy and you don't want the modulated signal to interfere with the Moca frequencies.

You are right that is composite for SD on the Joey. My mistake, sorry.

 

[jarvantgroup]

Don't you guys see a bunch of old fogeys signing up for Hoppers and Joeys with HD at the Hopper, maybe one additional TV, and SD on two other older TV's with coax inputs only? I can already see the customer education on these being a beast trying to explain this to customers.

 

[gtal98]

Just get ready to use a lot of RF modulators. Even the oldest fogeys understand CH 3.

 

[Scherrman]

Well that just means that the ones selling it need to do a good job of qualifying the customer. I myself do not think Dish does a good job of doing that.

 

[JM42]

Just get ready to use a lot of RF modulators. Even the oldest fogeys understand CH 3.

Dish appears to be planning on it. The training materials posted mention RF modulators under "Non-Dish Materials Needed."

http://www.satelliteguys.us/attachment.php?attachmentid=73898&d=1328637407

 

[zim2dive]

You would need a Joey at each additional TV or you'd have to run a long HDMI cable if you wanted to mirror it to another TV. There is no coax out of the Hopper or Joeys.

I'm in the same boat... 2 ppl in the house, with 3 TVs connected (via splitter) to TV2.

what's the conventional wisdom on HDMI splitters? ie. how far can you go? One of our "TV2"s is closer to the location of the Hopper, so I might try it from there instead. TV2a gets 95% of the TV2 watching, TV2b gets 4.9% and TV2c gets .1% We'd give at least of those up before paying for an extra Joey (free TV in the guest room of a relatively pre-wired house.. no reason not to connect it so far)

 

[JM42]

I'm in the same boat... 2 ppl in the house, with 3 TVs connected (via splitter) to TV2.

what's the conventional wisdom on HDMI splitters? ie. how far can you go? One of our "TV2"s is closer to the location of the Hopper, so I might try it from there instead. TV2a gets 95% of the TV2 watching, TV2b gets 4.9% and TV2c gets .1% We'd give at least of those up before paying for an extra Joey (free TV in the guest room of a relatively pre-wired house.. no reason not to connect it so far)

An RF modulator is a valid option if you're OK with SD.

Powered splitters work fine. I have a four port splitter and a two port splitter. They don't have to be expensive, mine ran $45 and $25 respectively. Know several others using the same 2 port splitter without issue. Mine have been in service well over a year now. You do need TVs with similar capabilities, the splitter will negotiate with each connected TV and report back to the receiver whatever the highest common format is.

Conventional wisdom on HDMI cable length is about 50 feet. Many report no issues with 75' or 100' runs, but I think it probably depends on the quality of the cable and quality of the components at each end of the connection.

I have a run of about 60' without issues, and that 60' is 6' from splitter to wall plate with 90 degree adapter(so cable will lie flat against wall), 50' in-wall, and another 6' at the wall plate on the receiving TV side. That totals to a run consisting of 3 cables and three couplers and signal is 100% solid. Considering signal loss at each coupler, a straight single cable run should be able to be considerably longer.

HDMI over CAT5/6 adapters are another option and can go up to 300' or so.

 

[sparc]

As someone else noted, you could hook the composite outputs to an RF modulator and feed the additional SD TVs that way. If you do so and are planning on sharing the same coax as moca, be sure to use a filter. Some modulators are noisy and you don't want the modulated signal to interfere with the Moca frequencies.

what would you use to get the signal from the RF modulator back through the moca coax to get to the other tv? do you need a special diplexer for moca?

 

[steve4810]

I think the idea is to have a joey in the same room as the SD TV. Just the regular Hopper to Joey moca traffic. Unless you want to use the rf to feed multiple TVs. Then you are on your own. How does the signal get to these TVs now? That ought to be usable for the modulator. But keep in mind those devices are very low powered and the analog signal is suseptable to interference and snowy pictures over long runs.

 

[JM42]

what would you use to get the signal from the RF modulator back through the moca coax to get to the other tv? do you need a special diplexer for moca?

It's all theory and conjecture until someone tests it, but based on the bandwidth specs in the other thread, at your joey you could have a splitter with one side going to the joey and the rf modulator plugged into the other. Unless the modulator has exceptionally clean output($), you'd probably need to drop a filter in to keep from poluting the Moca bandwidth.

Dish has Moca all the way down to 650mhz. To keep things clean I wouldn't consider trying to insert anything over 550 or so, which means any modulated output would need to be VHF or UHF up to the low 20 channel numbers.

Note - none of this may work. Moca may be too sensitive, the solo/duo node might block things, Dish has 50-575mhz labeled "future" so may change things around and cause problems, etc, etc. Probably easiest to tell the installer your using the existing coax for OTA to the non-dish TVs and have an extra line run to the joey. If you try it consider it a hobby exercise and don't complain if its a waste of time.

 

[gdarwin]

what would you use to get the signal from the RF modulator back through the moca coax to get to the other tv? do you need a special diplexer for moca?

Both Hopper and Joeys have video and stereo audio out.