New To High Definition Satellite ...

[vikingblood]

I have a triple LNB High Definition WNC satellite dish with 4 RG6 cables going from the dish into my main box in my house. Now, I have 4 rooms I want to put satellite television in ... each room has 2 CAT5E connections side by side, and 2 RG6 connections side by side. I can get to each connection through my hot box that has all the cables that are feed into it from outside. The house was prewired to have all the wires at one place (Hot Box) in my bedroom closet. The dish already comes with a multiswitch, but will I need another multiswitch for in the closet ? I think I need to take the 4 RG6 feeds from outside and plug them into the multiswitch, that way I can connect 2 RG6 cables to each room since I have 2 outlets in each room. I can then add a diplexer to one of the lines and still get either cable or local chanels too. Any suggestion on how to set up my house would be cool ... I want to do it myself, but if I have to call in a professional, that's alright too.

Obviously, I have to have 2 RG6 feeds going into the Receiver if I want to get picture in picture, or if I want to watch one program and record a different program at the same time. At least, that's what I've been told.

If I pay Directv for my local channels, will they be in High Definition if I have a high definition television and Directv High Definition Receiver ? I see so many people talk about antenas ... If I'm willing to pay for them, isn't it less of a hassel that way ? I guess with my house prewired the way it is ... I should be able to get an antena for outside and get my channels without having to pay the extra cash each month and still get 2 satellite feeds to each room.

If I seem confused, it's not an illusion ... haha !

Robert / Vikingblood

 

[al]

Robert:
The only reason to have 2 RG6 satellite feeds per room is if you are connecting a DirecTIVO, or if you are actually going to have 2 seperate receivers in each room (for picture in picture). This gets cost prohibitive as you will pay Directv a monthly mirror fee for each receiver connected.

What you first need to do is to figure out how many satellite feeds you actually need. You can connect an external multiswitch to your Phase 3 Dish antenna, the size (number of connections) of the switch will be based on how many connections you will need. You will only need an additional switch if you need more than 4 satellite feeds.

If you wish to have offair HDTV, you will need an offair antenna of some sort. If you only have 4 cables running in to your wiring closet from outside, you will need to either add another cable for offair, or use diplexers with one of the cables, to bring offair feed into your wiring closet. You can then split the antenna feed and distribute throughout your home with the second RG6 cable (if you are using both RG6 runs for DirecTIVO, you can again use diplexers to get your offair to each location). You can also distribute analog cable tv the same way.

If you pay Directv for your local channels, you will NOT get them in HD, with the following exception: if you are currently served by CBS O&O (owned and operated) local station, you qualify to have the New York/Los Angeles CBS HDTV feed(s) via satellite. If you are currently served by FOX O&O, you will also qualify for NY/LA HD feeds in the fall (rumor has it that this will begin at the start of NFL season).

I know that you want to do all of this yourself, but what I would do is to visit a few local dealers, and hire the one you are most comfortable with to do your project. You may also find someone who also does computer networking, to help you with your cable internet distribution.

Best of luck!

Al

 

[memphismafioso]

I just ordered a DirecTivo system tonight (switching from Dish) with the Triple LNB. I will only have one dual tuner HD Tivo. I am also purchasing a Wingard Squareshooter OTA antenna to mount on the dish. I'm trying to figure out which diplexer to order and I'm not sure if I need a single diplexer or a dual diplexer. By way of example, do I need a Terk BDS-21 or a Terk BDD-32? Thanks!!!

 

[Neutron]

You will only need the single since you only need to diplex it to one tuner, not both. Make sense?

 

[vikingblood]

Thanks again, Al, I think I will talk to some local dealers and have someone come out and look at my house. I was very happy when you told me I could run my cable internet off my Cat5e connections. I don't know why I didn't think of that before ... we run our internet at the Hospital over Cat5e connections. I noticed I have a grey fox distribution panel in the closet of our master bedroom, so the project shouldn't be too hard. There's also a raceway that goes from the closet to the outside, so I can bring more wiring in from outside pretty easily. So, with 1 more RG6 wire into the closet from outside, that would give me 4 live satellite feeds from my 3LNB dish, and 1 live antena feed. I guess I'll purchase a 5 into 8 multiswitch for the hell of it ... 4 sat feeds and 1 ant feed will let me do quite a lot. I guess I only need a dual RG6 feed into the living room for TIVO recording ... the other rooms should be fine with just 1 feed. I didn't know I needed 2 receivers for the picture in picture option on my HDTV. Like you said, that can get to be pretty damn expensive.

Robert

 

[vikingblood]

Dang, I just thought of one more thing ... I have my high speed cable internet through Comcast. So, I actually get basic cable television for only 8 bucks a month since I use their internet access ... so, I might as well use them for my local chanels and forget the Antena for now. I should get my local chanels through comcast in HD. I can use the multiswitch and feed the cable over one of two hot satellite feeds into my living room and then use the diplexer to split the signal.

Robert

 

[Neutron]

Actually they may require their box for the HD locals. That's why I don't have them through my cable company.

 

[Wobbling]

Dang, I just thought of one more thing ... I have my high speed cable internet through Comcast.
Robert

Remember, you can not diplex the wire running to your cable modem with satellite signal onto the same wire, it won't work.

 

[Neutron]

Wobbling is correct. Insight Communications ran their own cable for the internet. I told them not to touch my satellite setup.

Cable internet is best left to it's own cable anyway. Splitter use is just asking for trouble.

 

[memphismafioso]

Thanks Neutron. I hope I can pay the installer a little extra to install the off air antenna for me.

 

[Neutron]

I paid for the OTA antenna ($50) and the installer installed it for no charge along with my HD box. I got the OTA from Directv. Very good as it picked up every local for me plus I can get a Fox station very staticy but I can see it, from 90 miles away.

 

[memphismafioso]

That's good to hear. With the NBC HD announcement and ABC HD coming soon I wish I hadn't ordered the OTA antenna. With the shipping costs it's just not worth it for me to send it back. I didn't know DirecTV offered antennas. I bought my setup from Valueelectronics.com and my Wineguard Squareshooter antenna from Solidsignal.com. If my satellite feed gets interrupted I suppose I can use the antenna for backup.

 

[Seawaves]

That's good to hear. With the NBC HD announcement and ABC HD coming soon I wish I hadn't ordered the OTA antenna. With the shipping costs it's just not worth it for me to send it back. I didn't know DirecTV offered antennas. I bought my setup from Valueelectronics.com and my Wineguard Squareshooter antenna from Solidsignal.com. If my satellite feed gets interrupted I suppose I can use the antenna for backup.

I'm in LA as well and have had my own OTA for over a year. It is great when it does rain here (I know- hardly ever) that when the SAT signal dies from rain fade you can switch to the OTA and that signal never drops!