How to wire apartment for DTV

[vinmassaro]

I recently purchased a 3 family house, and had Directv installed into my unit (I live on the 3rd floor). Since I was a new customer, I got a new HD dish and an HR-24-100 DVR.

There is no existing wiring, and since I just had siding put on, we removed any old cable wiring that was lingering in/outside the house.

I have some tenants moving into the 2nd floor and they have Directv service and would like a hookup in each of the 3 bedrooms, presumably each room will have a regular box or DVR. Is it possible for me to run one line into the unit off of the 4-way splitter outside, and then to split that 3 ways, one to each bedroom? What is the recommended way to do this? Thanks in advance.

 

[mdram]

they will need their own dish
otherwise its account stacking, and illegal iirc

 

[raoul5788]

No, that's not account stacking. If the dish has a swm lnb, you could conceivably do what you want to. There are other issues with sharing a dish, though.

 

[vinmassaro]

I was told by the installer that my tenants could all come off of my new dish, so I wouldn't need to have 3 separate dishes on the house. The line from the dish goes in to a 4 way splitter, and there is one line out on that splitter going to my apartment, which goes into a SWM to one HR-24-100 DVR. Can another line run from the splitter to the 2nd floor unit into a SWM, and then put a 3 way splitter on the line out of the SWM, running a line to each bedroom?

 

[Jimbo]

I was told by the installer that my tenants could all come off of my new dish, so I wouldn't need to have 3 separate dishes on the house. The line from the dish goes in to a 4 way splitter, and there is one line out on that splitter going to my apartment, which goes into a SWM to one HR-24-100 DVR. Can another line run from the splitter to the 2nd floor unit into a SWM, and then put a 3 way splitter on the line out of the SWM, running a line to each bedroom?

I don't know if you can add addl. SWM splitters to the set up or not, others may know, however, I do know that you cannot use a regular everyday splitter anywhere between the dish and recvr.

You CAN run addl coax from the existing splitter your using though to the recvrs in the other rooms.

 

[vinmassaro]

My goal is to run as few wires from the splitter to the unit as possible, if that is an option. I want to run one wire from the outside splitter to the unit and split it inside. I am having trouble finding any information on how to do this.

I don't know if you can add addl. SWM splitters to the set up or not, others may know, however, I do know that you cannot use a regular everyday splitter anywhere between the dish and recvr.

You CAN run addl coax from the existing splitter your using though to the recvrs in the other rooms.

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

You can indeed do what your looking to accomplish, run 1 inline to each unit to a 4way outsiide connected to the dish, then an additional 4way off each inline. However, there are some limitations and restrictions to doing so. I would strongly recommend tht you relocate the power inserter to run straight to the lnb, then output straight to your first 4way. Your other limitations is swm (your dish) is limited to 8tuners, and a dvr is 2 tuners. So if you have a dvr and 2 std boxex thts 4/8, if your tennants have a dvr and 2 std boxes, thts 4 more, your dish is now maxed, and ur 1st unit is sol. The correct way to do this is to have all lines in the home home run to the basement, but keeping the 3 units seperate. And have an electrician do this, not directv, it will cost you less and be done cleaner. Then have the swim dish replace with a legacy ka/ku, (4 lines frm dish to basement) then have a swm16 installed.

 

[Jimbo]

You can indeed do what your looking to accomplish, run 1 inline to each unit to a 4way outsiide connected to the dish, then an additional 4way off each inline. However, there are some limitations and restrictions to doing so. I would strongly recommend tht you relocate the power inserter to run straight to the lnb, then output straight to your first 4way. Your other limitations is swm (your dish) is limited to 8tuners, and a dvr is 2 tuners. So if you have a dvr and 2 std boxex thts 4/8, if your tennants have a dvr and 2 std boxes, thts 4 more, your dish is now maxed, and ur 1st unit is sol. The correct way to do this is to have all lines in the home home run to the basement, but keeping the 3 units seperate. And have an electrician do this, not directv, it will cost you less and be done cleaner. Then have the swim dish replace with a legacy ka/ku, (4 lines frm dish to basement) then have a swm16 installed.

You would want an Electrician to run your D* stuff ?

I wouldn't, I hate it when they run the Telephone lines, let alone D* stuff.

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

Well im looking at this frm a techs point of view, and wouldnt want to do it myself, not to mention a tech isnt gonna have the tools to do a 3story wallfish.

 

[Jimbo]

Well im looking at this frm a techs point of view, and wouldnt want to do it myself, not to mention a tech isnt gonna have the tools to do a 3story wallfish.

Neither is anyone else ...
Unless the structure is new and not boarded yet. Then ANYONE can do it.

 

[JerseyMatt]

The electrician wouldn't be doing the actual hookups, just running the cable. He was pointing out that electricians pull new cable through old buildings of all sizes day in and day out. They know a thing or two about how to fish that a tech who does mostly surface-mount probably doesn't. I'm going to have to agree with him - an electrician would probably be the best bet to pull your new cable.

And you will also want to make sure that there are band stop filters between the SWM-16 and the splitters for each unit. That ensures that the whole-home DVR lists don't all combine