Installer Question

[tobsandmags]

We could use some in-home advice on our Dish installation. We've always had poor remote reception in our house since we've moved in 3 years ago. I've tried all the advice you guys have given me, but we still have significant trouble controlling the receiver with the remotes from various rooms in the house.

We've been thinking about getting the Hopper for some time, but we have a number of questions:

1) Will the coax need to be upgraded to make it work? If so, we would want the new coax fished thru the wall to the outlet
2) Will we still have remote issues with the Hopper?
3) Do we have to get a bunch of Joeys to mitigate the remote issues (which come with monthly fees)? There are only 2 of us in the house and we generally watch the same thing (but not always). We also like to have the same show on throughout the house as we move around doing projects/chores.
4) How many Hopper/Joeys/RF modulators do we need to pipe the TV throughout the house?

In the past when I've upgraded equipment by calling Dish, the installer is typically in a hurry. They are there to do the specific hardware upgrade and move on.....not consult, spend time fussing with remotes, or fish coax thru walls and under the house. As noted on thus forum many times, calling the help line is useless.

I live in Seattle. Are there people who will come out and help us address these issues/questions (and fish coax if necessary)? Would these be people who actually work for Dish or a 3rd party retailer? I'm only interested in Dish and no other provider (got to have the Pac12 Network).


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[Chris_S@DISH]

I'd be happy to go over all of your options. Please send me a private message with your account number and pin so we can get started.

 

[kwindrem]

We could use some in-home advice on our Dish installation. We've always had poor remote reception in our house since we've moved in 3 years ago. I've tried all the advice you guys have given me, but we still have significant trouble controlling the receiver with the remotes from various rooms in the house.

We've been thinking about getting the Hopper for some time, but we have a number of questions:

1) Will the coax need to be upgraded to make it work? If so, we would want the new coax fished thru the wall to the outlet

That depends. RG-6 is needed from the dish to the node and on to the Hopper(s) and Super Joey. Dish requires 3 GHz rated coax from the node to Hopper but 2 GHz rated is all that's required from dish to node and to Super Joey.

That said, RG-6 is all the same. The 3 GHz rating is what the cable is tested for. It does NOT have better performance than any other RG-6.

Coax from node (or tap) to Joeys can be RG-59 but there are situations where RG-6 is required. There are installation guides available on this forum somewhere that spells this out but I don't have a link handy.

2) Will we still have remote issues with the Hopper?

That depends on why you have remote issues. If you are talking about long distances between the remote and receiver then you will probably continue to have issues. Dish does (or did) offer a remote antenna extension that might help. Hopper uses special connectors for the remote antenna so you probably need to buy the Hopper-specific extension.

Joeys have an internal antenna and may have less long-distance performance.

Other possibilities are to use an IR repeater from the distant locations and a universal remote that uses IR. The Hopper/Joey remotes are RF only.

3) Do we have to get a bunch of Joeys to mitigate the remote issues (which come with monthly fees)? There are only 2 of us in the house and we generally watch the same thing (but not always). We also like to have the same show on throughout the house as we move around doing projects/chores.

That totally depends on your viewing habits and how many TVs you have.

Obviously, the best approach is to install a Hopper, Super Joey or Joey at each TV but as you say it can get pricey.

I don't recommend attempting to distribute via RF modulators, but it is a way to share a Hopper or Joey signal between viewing locations as long as SD is acceptable. Another option which has limited success is to split the HDMI signal and send it to multiple TVs.

Your could also use a wireless Joey (either the Dish version or add a Wi-Fi dongle to a standard Joey) and move this around to different TVs. There is also a Virtual Joey that runs as an app on certain TVs.

4) How many Hopper/Joeys/RF modulators do we need to pipe the TV throughout the house?

see above

In the past when I've upgraded equipment by calling Dish, the installer is typically in a hurry. They are there to do the specific hardware upgrade and move on.....not consult, spend time fussing with remotes, or fish coax thru walls and under the house. As noted on thus forum many times, calling the help line is useless.

I live in Seattle. Are there people who will come out and help us address these issues/questions (and fish coax if necessary)? Would these be people who actually work for Dish or a 3rd party retailer? I'm only interested in Dish and no other provider (got to have the Pac12 Network).


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[tobsandmags]

Thanks for the posts. I appreciate the advice very much, however, it is info I already knew from other posts on this forum. My basic question is there someone who can do an in-house consultation? I don't believe I will get this by calling Dish's 1-800 number.


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[boba]

Thanks for the posts. I appreciate the advice very much, however, it is info I already knew from other posts on this forum. My basic question is there someone who can do an in-house consultation? I don't believe I will get this by calling Dish's 1-800 number.


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Find a local dealer, DISH won't do it even as custom work.
If you want to use RF modulators stick with what you have now a Hopper won't improve picture quality as long as you are degrading it to SD.

 

[Bob Haller]

Oh so many years ago i had troubles with remotes. finally traced the issues to metal lathe the plaster is attached to. it acted like a farady cage, stopping remote transmissions back to the receivers.

all easily solved, i ran dedicated coax to the remote antenna in on the receivers, added a wideband amp near the remote antennas.

I then had troubles with neighbors changing my channels.... I locked all pPV channels. no extra charges for me

i went for some walks and found i could use my remotes at least a half mile away.

returned that amp for a variable power one, and gradullally cut the amp back so it just worked in the home.. one day i changed my channels from giant eagle parking lot a long way away. clear line of sight.

this all worked flawlessely till dish jacked the extra receiver fees, and i cancelled over that......