In-home signal distribution.

[engineercarl]

I'll preface this question by saying I only deal with Dish Signal distribution at work, and not in a manner in which I can duplicate at home.

I am looking at Dish Network for TV in our new house I'm considering having built. With the new Hopper/Joey offerings, what exactly is transferred between the two devices in a modern home? Is it actual IF signal distributed from the Hopper via coax, or is it more low-band MoCA data? If it's indeed data, then why not eschew the coax entirely and connect the Joeys on the wired LAN that will already be in the house? I might even VLAN it for good measure. I'm not considering wireless for the Joeys because I'd just rather not (hassle factor & personal preference).

Why would I do this? I'm already remoting significant satellite equipment away from the house. The wife doesn't want to see it and it's semantics as to if it's a few hundred yards away in a field or several miles away if the signal is merely data to the Joey, or can be seen via DLNA from the Hopper itself. If you saw my post last week about FTA over a uWave link this dovetails into it somewhat.

So I'm curious and interested in your expertise.

EC

 

[HipKat]

I'll preface this question by saying I only deal with Dish Signal distribution at work, and not in a manner in which I can duplicate at home.

I am looking at Dish Network for TV in our new house I'm considering having built. With the new Hopper/Joey offerings, what exactly is transferred between the two devices in a modern home? Is it actual IF signal distributed from the Hopper via coax, or is it more low-band MoCA data? If it's indeed data, then why not eschew the coax entirely and connect the Joeys on the wired LAN that will already be in the house? I might even VLAN it for good measure. I'm not considering wireless for the Joeys because I'd just rather not (hassle factor & personal preference).

Why would I do this? I'm already remoting significant satellite equipment away from the house. The wife doesn't want to see it and it's semantics as to if it's a few hundred yards away in a field or several miles away on a separately bought quarter acre nobody wanted if the signal is merely data to the Joey, or can be seen via DLNA from the Hopper itself. If you saw my post last week about FTA over a uWave link this dovetails into it somewhat.

So I'm curious and interested in your expertise.

EC

You can absolutely use Cat 5 for the Joeys. I've done it several times and there are some here who do that now, since it's MoCA that the Hopper uses to communicate with them. In my case, it was 2 Joeys using both Ethernet Outputs but I assume you could connect a small switch to the Hopper and use that for distribution.

If you're locating the Dish several hundred yards away, I recommend spending the extra money for RG11 Coax. The Hopper limitation is 200' from the dish to the Hopper to keep the dBm's within thresholds.

 

[engineercarl]

If you're locating the Dish several hundred yards away, I recommend spending the extra money for RG11 Coax. The Hopper limitation is 200' from the dish to the Hopper to keep the dBm's within thresholds.

If I'm remoting it, the Hopper will go into a NEMA shelter right next to the dish, with power and ethernet access. Then it'll either be fiber (in the case of several hundred yards) or uWave (for longer distances) back to the residence, along with everything else that will be co-located (FTA and more). My own personal dish farm...

But the fact that it's just data being shipped around was the assumption I wanted to verify. Thank you!

EC

 

[tjboston5676]

Will there be a tv with the hopper. You'll want one if you ever need to check things.

 

[engineercarl]

Will there be a tv with the hopper. You'll want me if you ever need to check things.

Yes. Racking a 20" monitor and a 4-way HDMI switch is the easy part.

 

[tjboston5676]

Should be good then to do things the way you're describing. Just make sure you use good quality cabling, don't cheap out lol.

 

[HipKat]

If I'm remoting it, the Hopper will go into a NEMA shelter right next to the dish, with power and ethernet access. Then it'll either be fiber (in the case of several hundred yards) or uWave (for longer distances) back to the residence, along with everything else that will be co-located (FTA and more). My own personal dish farm...

But the fact that it's just data being shipped around was the assumption I wanted to verify. Thank you!

EC

Ahh, I get it. I didn't consider the Hopper near the Dish. I would be concerned that the remotes would work from several hundred feet away

 

[engineercarl]

Ahh, I get it. I didn't consider the Hopper near the Dish. I would be concerned that the remotes would work from several hundred feet away

I don't think the remotes for the Joeys are looking at the Hopper. All that will be in the house are the destination Joeys. I'm starting to think they are more like streaming media clients than any form of satellite RF receiver.

EC

 

[HipKat]

I don't think the remotes for the Joeys are looking at the Hopper. All that will be in the house are the destination Joeys. I'm starting to think they are more like streaming media clients than any form of satellite RF receiver.

EC

I think it's a case of YMMV, but I've seen them work across a wide driveway to a Joey in a Metal implement building and not work from right outside the house near the room the Joey was in

 

[Bobby]

I think it's a case of YMMV, but I've seen them work across a wide driveway to a Joey in a Metal implement building and not work from right outside the house near the room the Joey was in

But if his remotes are in the same rooms with the Joeys there shouldn't be an issue using his configuration.