Newbie Questions about Oval dish

[Maveri9720]

Since football season has started now, I want to use the dual tuner in my DVR. Problem is, I don't know if I have another open port on my satellite dish or not. I know almost nothing about satellite, so please bear with me. I have, what looks like an oval dish with three LNB's on it. I have three receivers hooked up to it, but I want a fourth line to go to my dual tuner on my DVR.

Now, I don't know if I have an open port or not. I don't have any of the paperwork from the install 2 years ago. Is there any way to know if there is a spot open, without climbing on top of my roof and looking? I bought the set from Best Buy as a three room install, along with a DVR Tivo, if that helps.

I am hoping that this dish has a multiswitch built in and has a fourth hook-up on it. If someone can tell me that it definitely does have a 4th connection, do I just run the wire from the dish to the DVR and do nothing else, or is there some kind of set-up I need to perform?

Thanks in advance for any info or help.

 

[wolfman]

If you have the 20" oval dish(newer style)with the 3 LNB's there a 4 outputs off the built in multi-switch. Then you can run another RG-6 cable to your DVR.

 

[damaged]

If you want to use 2 2 tuner dvrs you will need another multiswitch (cascadable).

 

[charper1]

The elliptical dish also goes by PhaseIII if that rings a bell.

 

[boba]

It really dosen't matter wether you have the Phase 3 or not all oval dishes had an external 4X4 switch or the built in 4X4 switch. If you have an oval dish with the three LNBs you should have 4 outputs on the dish. The only way I know for sure is climb up to the dish and see how many ports are used. You should have 1 open port unless your TiVo is already connected as a dual tuner.

 

[Maveri9720]

Thanks alot guys, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Tomm I will go to Home Depot and buy myself a nice extension ladder and some RG-6 cable to run.

Do I have to do any additional programming once I hook up the second line to the Tivo, or can I just plug it in and go?

I appreciate everyone's help, thanks again.............

 

[boba]

Thanks alot guys, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Tomm I will go to Home Depot and buy myself a nice extension ladder and some RG-6 cable to run.

Do I have to do any additional programming once I hook up the second line to the Tivo, or can I just plug it in and go?

I appreciate everyone's help, thanks again.............

You will have to repeat guided setup and select two inputs to activate the second tuner.

 

[Barmats]

I just did the same thing for my Tivo. If you remove the 2 bolts and nuts by the LNB there should be enough cable slack to slide the LNB assembly out of the arm. You'll find an open feed on the multiswitch. There was just enough room to thread a 4th RG6 cable through the assembly and run it into the 2nd input (about 80 feet away).

Now I can't imagine not having this capability!

 

[Maveri9720]

I just did the same thing for my Tivo. If you remove the 2 bolts and nuts by the LNB there should be enough cable slack to slide the LNB assembly out of the arm. You'll find an open feed on the multiswitch. There was just enough room to thread a 4th RG6 cable through the assembly and run it into the 2nd input (about 80 feet away).

Now I can't imagine not having this capability!

It went exactly as you said. I was able to add the 4th line and eventually fish it through my walls to my DVR. Went through the setup again and it works like a champ.

Thanks for everyone's help and input. Very much appreciated.