Setup Advice Needed

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rattili

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Dec 13, 2003
23
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Hi,

I am trying to do some self setup and I need some advice.
Here is my current setup:

1. One 811 receiver connected to my Panasonic Hi-Def monitor in my family room.
2. Comcast Cable modem for my study and basic cable for my bedroom(since just getting cable modem is more expensive than Cable modem+Basic cable).
3. All the Coaxial connections from the Family Room, Study and Bedroom are pulled down into the basement where Dish and Comcast cable connected their cables.

This is what I want to do:

I want to have my current receiver connect to my TV in my bedroom(in addition to the family room). What I initially thought was that I'll take the coaxial out from my 811, take it into my basement and connect it to the coaxial cable going into my bedroom. Then I can just buy an UHF remote later on and control 811 from my bedroom.

I was looking at my 811 yesterday and found that it doesn't have a coaxial out :( I thought I'll get one of those wireless AV transmitters and use it since my 811 has AV out. I tried Leapfrog LF30S and the picture was not good.

Needless to say, I don't know what my options are. I ideally want to take the output from my 811 to my basement and hook it up to my bedroom coax. Is there any device I could buy that converts standard AV input to coaxial out? Otherwise, can any experts in this forum suggest anything else?

Thanks for your input.
-R
 
That's amazing; four years ago I tried to buy a stereo modulator and it was close to $300. Did the patent expire for MTS? I know that electronically, an MTS modulator is no biggie, so I figured it had to be licensing fees that were keeping the prices up.
 
GaryPen said:
You can still use the existing coax. You'll need an RF modulator hooked up to one of the A/V outputs of the 811. Make sure to get a stereo-capable model, they are about $20-30.
Click to expand...

Thanks Gary! This is definitely what am looking for.

Now I wanna get more greedy and wanna do the following :D

I'll put the RF Modulator next to my 811 and send the coax into my basement. Now in the basement, I have 2 coaxial cables-1 coming our from the RF Modulator and 1 coming from Comcast(for basic cable). Is there anyway I can have both the signals come in to the bedroom through 1 coax and then split it in the bedroom so that I can have both Dish Programs and Comcast programs? This looks doable, but I just don't know how. Maybe using 2 diplexers in addition to the RF Modulator? The TV is my bedroom is a regular Sony with single tuner.

Thanks again for your help.
 
That's a tough one. Is there anything currently located on ch. 3 or 4 from the cable feed? If not, you MAY be able to simply combime the RF modulator output with the cable feed, using a simple two way splitter in reverse. If there is no cable signal on ch. 3 (or 4 if that's what you set the RF Mod output for), then they should theoretically co-exist on a single cable to the bedroom. However, if there is anything at all sharing the same channel as the modulator output, it definitely won't work.
 
The more I read about this setup, the more interesting it gets. I did searches here found out that the above can be done using 2 diplexers.

I also read about "backfeeding" the output from the 811 back into the line from my Dish, so that I don't have to run a second cable from my 811 back into my basement-just use the existing coax. No one really explained backfeeding. But reading here and there, I gathered it should be like this doc am attaching. Could confirm or deny that this is the right thing to do?

Thanks again.
 

Attachments

  • setup.gif
    setup.gif
    2.7 KB · Views: 243
GaryPen said:
Is there anything currently located on ch. 3 or 4 from the cable feed?
Click to expand...

I think there's some channels on both 3 AND 4 in my cable feed. Actually, it's not a big deal getting both Cable and Dish in my bedroom. The doc I provided for the setup for backfeeding-if it works, it'll save me a lot of time and effort. I'll worry about getting Cable and Dish later on when I am more comfortable with these setups.
 
Better to take a screen cap of your word doc than post them. Word files can contain viruses so people don't like to download them.

I took a chance and looked. Everything is fine except for you mentioned local cable you wanted to include in all of that. You'll want a splitter/combiner where the signal from the 811 comes out of the diplexer to add your modulated channel onto the cable lines.
 
Mike,

Thanks for your advice and tip regarding word docs. I changed it to a gif now.

I have some local channels on 3 and 4 on my Comcast cable feed. According to Gary, if there's anything that share the Modulated output channel then splitting/combining won't work.

Do you want me to add a splitter/combiner between Diplexer 1 and "To Other" pix?

I really appreciate your help.

-R
 
It will cost a little more... but you can buy modulators that can move the 811 signal to any unused channel, rather than just the 3/4 choice offered by most.
 
snathanb said:
It will cost a little more... but you can buy modulators that can move the 811 signal to any unused channel, rather than just the 3/4 choice offered by most.
Click to expand...

What are these Modulators called? I'll search for them on eBay.
 
I went to RadioShack to return the Wireless A/V Transmitter/Receiver and he said they have something called an Agile Modulator that lets me select the channel(tunable). He said they have a last piece in stock and it was $25. I came back and found out that it's mono :( I searched on eBay for Agile Stereo Modulators and found that they are darn too expensive! All am doing is hooking up this line to a single TV in my bedroom without any home theater system. Will there be any big difference between stereo and mono without a HT system?
 
Personally I don't really notice a difference between mono and stereo unless it's on a big tv. Make sure your TV has 2 speakers even before you go out and buy a stereo modulator.
 
rattili said:
I went to RadioShack to return the Wireless A/V Transmitter/Receiver and he said they have something called an Agile Modulator that lets me select the channel(tunable). He said they have a last piece in stock and it was $25. I came back and found out that it's mono :( I searched on eBay for Agile Stereo Modulators and found that they are darn too expensive! All am doing is hooking up this line to a single TV in my bedroom without any home theater system. Will there be any big difference between stereo and mono without a HT system?
Click to expand...

Screw stereo then. $25 is a great price for the flexibility to change output channels.
 
GaryPen said:
Screw stereo then. $25 is a great price for the flexibility to change output channels.
Click to expand...

LOL Gary! Yeah, I searched more and $25 seems to be a great price. I don't know why I got it so cheap. Here's the one I bought. It selling for $79.90 at parts express. Mine looks the same except where it says Clabs, mine says RadioShack. Other than that, it's the exact same thing.

I have just 1 more question now. Hopefully, this should be the last one! This Modulator says I can choose UHF Channels 14 to 69 and CATV/HRC/IRC channels 65 to 94 and 100 to 125. Based on my setup gif I posted earlier, which mode(UHF/CATV/HRC/IRC) and which channel should I choose for the modulator?
 
That could be tricky. There might be others here more knowledgablle in this area. But, I would start by checking to see what the BR TV is currently set to receive. (I assume you are already successfully watching analog cable in the BR?)
If it's set for ANT or TV or STANDARD or something similar, set the RF Modulator output for the first available UHF channel after the highest used cable channel.
If the TV is currently set for "Cable" or something other than above, set the modulator to output the next available CATV/HRC/IRC channel after the highest used cable channel.
I'm sure that after fooling around with it a bit, you'll come up with the right setting. It ain't rocket surgery.
 
Yeah, I have time to try out different things. I just wanna make sure screwing around with the Modulator won't screw up my BR TV or any other electronic device connected to it.

Yes, I already watch analog TV in my BR. How would you decide what's an unused channel from Comcast. When you subscribe to let us say Basic cable, what happens to all the other channels? Are they scrambled or is there just no signal in those channels? Coz if it's scrambled, it'd mean there's still a pretty strong signal for that channel.Right?
 
Keeping hitting "up" on your channel TV's channel selector until you recive snow. That fisrt snow channel most likely doen't have any signal on it. (On some TV's, instead of snow, you might see a blue or black screen. If you're lucky, it'll actually say "no signal". That'll definitely signify no signal.)
 
I finally got the diplexers I ordered on eBay and I hooked up everything like the picture I posted previously. In addition to that, I used a splitter to combine the signals from Dish receiver and Comcast(in the basement) and sent it to my BR. The Modulator is set to ch 118 in CTV mode. Now, the picture in the BR TV is a bit grainy for all Dish channels. Comcast channels are perfect. If I totally shut off my Comcast cable signal and just send the Dish signal to my BR and use any CTV channels between 64 and 90 in the modulator, the picture is perfect. Anyone have a solution for this?

Thanks,
-R
 
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