Vip 612 HD Solo/Dish 500 installation

[J-Madd]

Can you just run 2 coaxial cables from the dish to the 2 sat inputs on the receiver and not use a switch? I have a legacy switch and a non legacy dish. Also, what is(are) the purpose of the switch(es)? Are the just to combine 2 cables into one, then split them back in 2 once inside the house?

I ran the coax from 119 straight into input one on the receiver and I'm getting a signal, but it just says "name not acquired" and won't tell me which satellite it's locked onto. I have since read that it needs to be hooked into 110 and input one, but what difference would that really make?

Thanks for any help.

 

[J-Madd]

Well, I ran the 119 to input 1 and 110 to input 2 with individual coax cables (no switch.) The receiver sees satellites (it won't say which ones) on both inputs, but check switch shows nothing. What do I need to do? I am certain the dish is pointed correctly.

 

[TheKrell]

Can you just run 2 coaxial cables from the dish to the 2 sat inputs on the receiver and not use a switch?

Yes you can. That's because all twins have an integrated switch inside. This allows (any combination of) 2 tuners to switch to either satellite. The 612 is DishPro Plus-capable, but it's backwards compatible with these older Dish 500's.

I have a legacy switch and a non legacy dish.

Oh dear. That will never work. You can't mix legacy LNBs with DP switches, or vice versa.

Also, what is (are) the purpose of the switch(es)? Are the just to combine 2 cables into one, then split them back in 2 once inside the house?

In general, a switch allows you to connect up more receivers to your dishes. I had a 3-sat system with legacy everything, and that worked for 2 receivers. But once I wanted more than 2, I converted LNBs to DishPro and bought a DP34 switch. These switches allow 3 satellite dish antenna outputs to be selected by up to 4 tuners. You can also cascade up to 3 DP34's together for a maximum of 12 tuners. The DPP33 (and DPP44) allow 3 (or 4) antenna outputs to be "seen" by 3 (or 4) dual-tuner receivers, including the 612. So in that case, you are combining some larger number of antenna cables into one for each receiver.

Well, I ran the 119 to input 1 and 110 to input 2 with individual coax cables (no switch.) The receiver sees satellites (it won't say which ones) on both inputs, but check switch shows nothing. What do I need to do? I am certain the dish is pointed correctly.

If the dish is truly aligned to 110/119, then this hookup should work. You sure you aren't mixing incomatible switches or LNBs?

 

[Jerryinvirginia]

The best thing to do is purchase a 1000.2 Dish designed to receive 110/119/129. This antenna will operate the 612 using 1 cable. The least you might do is purchase a DPP Twin LNB to install on your Dish 500.....BUT...you will not have very many of the HD services that your basic pack provides. If your site won't allow 129 signals, then install a second 500 and the DPP Single along with the DPP Twin and find 61.5 or 72.9 to receive HD services.

 

[TheKrell]

Slight modulation of Jerry's excellent advice: he means (for the wing dish) for you to get a DP dual. I don't think you can find singles these days, and there never was such a thing as a DPP dual (or single).

 

[J-Madd]

Thanks for the reply Jerry and Krell. I am not using the switch as it currently hooked up, just direct coax. So regardless of my non-legacy LNB the 612 should be compatible, right? I don't really need HD, this is just an extra hookup at my shop. This was previously hooked up to a Pansat (sp?) receiver. It got a signal with the same settings, but wrong sat, I think. I checked and the elevation was wrong so I changed that. Is the azimuth of the satellite for the Pansat (sp?) close to, or the same as for Dish Network? I may need to move my dish to the front of the building if it differs much.

Oh, and to add - when it finds a signal, then scans for satellites it sometimes changes the satellite to 105 from the 119 that I am searching for. If that means its finding 105, it needs to be turned more the the east to find the right satellite??? (zip 63857) Sorry for the long post.

 

[J-Madd]

I haven't touched anything, and it was working when I turned the TV on yesterday!!. It wouldn't find any satellites after being left on for a few hours on Thursday (according to the main screen where it said searching for 0 of 5 satellites.) I don't know what happened but I can't complain.

Anyway, thanks all!