?'s about HD20-700 and Zinwell Switch

[Tampa Satman]

Thanks for the great info on recieving a free HD DVR. The group is great! The new dish (slim-line) is installed and the HD DVR is going. The D* installer was great. I helped him with a good portion of the install, I wired the house the first time with my own multiswitch and I wanted to make sure this install was good.

With the install came the Zinwell 6X8 switches... There are three, one to split the signal from the dish to the two Zinwell 6X8 switches going to the various recievers...

The only bummer about the whole thing is the lack of a OTA port of any kind. With the local broadcasters using multiple over the air streams of content I wont be able to recieve that unless I run a cable from the OTA to each reciever, that is a bummer. Granted most people are happy just getting their locals in HD, I like to get all I can, there will more content added to the HD locals OTA signals as time goes on and content expands.

Zinwell needs to add a OTA port into the switch...

Second thing, can I assume that the HD20- XXX , the XXX is the generation number?

Has anyone added a second HD thru the SATA port on the back? Is this an option down the road?

Thanks all,
Tampa Satman
(Too many recievers and TV's to list...blah-blah)

 

[jpn]

Second thing, can I assume that the HD20- XXX , the XXX is the generation number?

No, the xxx is the manufacturer ID.

 

[texasbrit]

With the install came the Zinwell 6X8 switches... There are three, one to split the signal from the dish to the two Zinwell 6X8 switches going to the various recievers...

The only bummer about the whole thing is the lack of a OTA port of any kind. With the local broadcasters using multiple over the air streams of content I wont be able to recieve that unless I run a cable from the OTA to each reciever, that is a bummer. Granted most people are happy just getting their locals in HD, I like to get all I can, there will more content added to the HD locals OTA signals as time goes on and content expands.
/QUOTE]

First, I think you are saying you have one WB68 with each block of four outputs going to other WB68s - three in total, giving you 16 outputs. This scheme probably won't work reliably. The WB68 is not supposed to be used in a stacking scheme like this because it is unpowered and they can't guarantee your satellite switching signals will get to the dish. The manufacturer's spec specifically says you can't stack WB68s. If you have a lot of receivers as you do then the problem is hidden a lot of the time because you will usually have multiple receivers selecting each of the four lines from the multiswitch to the dish, but if you get to a position where, let's say, only one of your receivers is selecting a particular block of transponders, you may get "searching for signal" messages. What's worse, it will be almost impossible to diagnose because everything changes so fast. And you may find your receivers get very hot trying to drive through two multiswitches to the dish. Either you should be using the WB616, or you can add a Sonora power inserter so that the four lines to the dish are always powered. This effectively makes the first WB68 a powered multiswitch.

Second, the lack of an OTA port has nothing to do with the design of the multiswitch. When the new DirecTV 10 and 11 satellites launch next year, they will start transmitting in the Ka-lo frequency band which overlaps the OTA band, so diplexing OTA onto the satellite cables will not work anymore. There is a probable fix for this which involves relocating the b-band converters - you will have received these with every H20 receiver or HR20 DVR. The b-band converter moves the Ka-lo signals back to Ka-hi so the receiver can decode them. The b-band converter normally plugs into the input of the receiver, but if you move it to the output of the multiswitch (using gender converters on the connections) the conversion to Ka-hi will happen there and allow you to use diplexers to put the OTA signal onto the satellite cable as you do now. It will work in theory, people at DirecTV say it will work, but we won't know for sure until the new satellites start to transmit Ka-lo and we can test it.

 

[paulman182]

And as far as the model number goes, the "700" after the "HR20" means it is manufactured by Pace, currently the only company building the HR20.

 

[raoul5788]

And as far as the model number goes, the "700" after the "HR20" means it is manufactured by Pace, currently the only company building the HR20.

Does anyone know who makes the ota chipset for the HR20-700? I'm hoping it's LG.

 

[Tampa Satman]

<quote>First, I think you are saying you have one WB68 with each block of four outputs going to other WB68s - three in total, giving you 16 outputs. This scheme probably won't work reliably. The WB68 is not supposed to be used in a stacking scheme like this because it is unpowered and they can't guarantee your satellite switching signals will get to the dish. The manufacturer's spec specifically says you can't stack WB68s. If you have a lot of receivers as you do then the problem is hidden a lot of the time because you will usually have multiple receivers selecting each of the four lines from the multiswitch to the dish, but if you get to a position where, let's say, only one of your receivers is selecting a particular block of transponders, you may get "searching for signal" messages. What's worse, it will be almost impossible to diagnose because everything changes so fast. And you may find your receivers get very hot trying to drive through two multiswitches to the dish. Either you should be using the WB616, or you can add a Sonora power inserter so that the four lines to the dish are always powered. This effectively makes the first WB68 a powered multiswitch.

Second, the lack of an OTA port has nothing to do with the design of the multiswitch. When the new DirecTV 10 and 11 satellites launch next year, they will start transmitting in the Ka-lo frequency band which overlaps the OTA band, so diplexing OTA onto the satellite cables will not work anymore. There is a probable fix for this which involves relocating the b-band converters - you will have received these with every H20 receiver or HR20 DVR. The b-band converter moves the Ka-lo signals back to Ka-hi so the receiver can decode them. The b-band converter normally plugs into the input of the receiver, but if you move it to the output of the multiswitch (using gender converters on the connections) the conversion to Ka-hi will happen there and allow you to use diplexers to put the OTA signal onto the satellite cable as you do now. It will work in theory, people at DirecTV say it will work, but we won't know for sure until the new satellites start to transmit Ka-lo and we can test it.
<end quote>

Thanks Texasbrit for the through explaination. I was not thrilled with the 8 port switches going in... it cluttered up my install area, I also inquired about the Zinwell 16 port output when I sked the appointment and I explained the setup to D*. They saw the number of receivers at the house. The statement from the CSR and the Tech was the same, D* does not stock nor will they of the 6X16. Since they were willing to get me up and rolling with the config that is present.

As with the power inserter, does that go between the slimline inputs and the first switch?

With the OTA issue, where can the signal be inserted into the system? Does it involve a passive/active splitter and it gets added to the system?

How can I convince D* to splurge for the X16 switch for the new setup? There hasnt been an issue yet, that I can point to with lack of service. I havent noticed a hotter than normal receiver, yet. There is a block of receivers in one area and they are stacked. Seperated by spacers, no fan yet but that area gets warm.

Thanks again for the info and I will keep all abreast of any develops.

Tampa Satman

 

[texasbrit]

<

Thanks Texasbrit for the through explaination. I was not thrilled with the 8 port switches going in... it cluttered up my install area, I also inquired about the Zinwell 16 port output when I sked the appointment and I explained the setup to D*. They saw the number of receivers at the house. The statement from the CSR and the Tech was the same, D* does not stock nor will they of the 6X16. Since they were willing to get me up and rolling with the config that is present.

As with the power inserter, does that go between the slimline inputs and the first switch?

With the OTA issue, where can the signal be inserted into the system? Does it involve a passive/active splitter and it gets added to the system?

How can I convince D* to splurge for the X16 switch for the new setup? There hasnt been an issue yet, that I can point to with lack of service. I havent noticed a hotter than normal receiver, yet. There is a block of receivers in one area and they are stacked. Seperated by spacers, no fan yet but that area gets warm.

Thanks again for the info and I will keep all abreast of any develops.

Tampa Satman

Yes, the power inserter goes between the dish and the first switch.

With OTA, you use diplexers on each line where you need OTA. So the sequence would be dish>cable runs>inserter>first multiswitch>second multiswitches>b-band converter>diplexer (OTA in)>cable run>diplexer (OTA out).receiver

There are now two 4x16 multiswitches available, there is a new Terk as well as the Zinwell.. It's even more expensive than the Zinwell. You should go back to DirecTV and tell them the installers installed the WB68s in a configuration that according to Zinwell isn't correct. The Zinwell spec sheet specifically says these are NOT to be stacked, see http://www.prosatellitesupply.com/satellite_6x8_flexport_multiswitch.htm
DirecTV will have to start installing the 4x16 multiswitches, or will have to use the broadband splitter approach. I have seen a couple of posts from people who need the 16-way, could not get it from the installer, and got DirecTV to pay the cost of it.

 

[RIRWIN1983]

directv never really has an issue with a customer buying what they need that the installer or directv cant provide or frogot. in the form of programing credits. i guess in their eyes they hope that by making you happy this way that you will be more willing to buy more ppv's or sports packages.