VIP 722k and two HDTVs

[andyring]

I can't imagine I'm the only one who has faced this issue before, but looking through the forums, I don't really see anything.

Alright, so here's my deal. Right now, I've got my 722k in the basement family room hooked up to an LG HDTV via HDMI as TV1. The 722k also feeds a TV in the living room via RF/coax as TV2. Last night, TV2 was upgraded from an older standard TV to a new Sharp HDTV. Of course, this means I don't get an HD feed to the new TV via RF.

What have others done in this situation? I've got a few options I realize. One, I could move the 722k to the living room as we rarely watch TV in the family room, and switch TV1 and TV2 around. But then I'd lose HD on the family room TV.

Or, I could run a couple pieces of CAT6 between the locations and install an HDMI-via-CAT6 setup like item 8009 from Monoprice dot com and connect TV1 via component instead of HDMI. Granted, then I'd essentially have both TVs as technically TV1 which would be OK with me. Or same setup, just install an HDMI splitter and still run HDMI to both TVs, one directly and one via the extender above.

Thoughts/suggestions/previous experience/etc.?

 

[TheKrell]

Yes, many of us have had this problem since the only way for HD to get out of TV2 is via Sling Adapter. Your choices are:

1) Sling Adapter from TV2
2) Mirror TV1 to two (or more) HDTVs via HDMI/component or via splitters or switches
3) Additional receivers.

I have a single 722 and two 612s for an additional $20/mo. I've had nothing but trouble with my Sling Adapter because of feeble-minded PCs that can't keep up with the HD data stream and of course DishOnline misbehaving pretty much forever.

 

[Jhon69]

I can't imagine I'm the only one who has faced this issue before, but looking through the forums, I don't really see anything.

Alright, so here's my deal. Right now, I've got my 722k in the basement family room hooked up to an LG HDTV via HDMI as TV1. The 722k also feeds a TV in the living room via RF/coax as TV2. Last night, TV2 was upgraded from an older standard TV to a new Sharp HDTV. Of course, this means I don't get an HD feed to the new TV via RF.

What have others done in this situation? I've got a few options I realize. One, I could move the 722k to the living room as we rarely watch TV in the family room, and switch TV1 and TV2 around. But then I'd lose HD on the family room TV.

Or, I could run a couple pieces of CAT6 between the locations and install an HDMI-via-CAT6 setup like item 8009 from Monoprice dot com and connect TV1 via component instead of HDMI. Granted, then I'd essentially have both TVs as technically TV1 which would be OK with me. Or same setup, just install an HDMI splitter and still run HDMI to both TVs, one directly and one via the extender above.

Thoughts/suggestions/previous experience/etc.?

Your last statement is your answer to your question as long as both HDTVs don't have to be on at the same time.Then you will want the largest HDTV display to be on HDMI for the best picture.

If you need both to be on at the same time and be in HD you could get a 211k which is the cheapest when it comes to extra receiver fees.Good Luck!

 

[JM42]

Or same setup, just install an HDMI splitter and still run HDMI to both TVs, one directly and one via the extender above.
Thoughts/suggestions/previous experience/etc.?

I use a $40 4 port HDMI splitter to share my 722K between 3 TVs and a $25 two port splitter to share my 722 with 2 TVs. I ran standard HDMI cable between locations. Everything has been solid and troublefree for over a year now. I did not use expensive cables, the most expensive 40' cable was about $15.00.

Where I had to run the cables was conducive to using HDMI cables, so it was definately better in my case than using a cat5/6 product. Everything is nice and neat behind the walls and end at wall plates using HDMI keystones. The single gang wall plates have 2 HDMI connectors, Network, Phone and 2 Coax (for the TV2 and Sat Dish feeds).

Nothing against the cat 5/6 products. They would be better for longer runs, or if you can't maneuver the HDMI cable where you need it. I just felt if I could avoid them I had one less piece of hardware to fail.

 

[andyring]

Yeah, I'm going to have to go the cat 5/6 route otherwise I'll run into a length limit on HDMI I think. The two TVs are located maybe 10 feet apart by physical distance, but in order to get cables between them, it's not at all an easy task. It'll involve going from the basement through some duct work, then up to the attic and drop back down inside the wall. Grrrr. It's quite surprising to me that Dish Network is SO far behind the curve on this. I would think hundreds of thousands of their customers are in this same predicament and yet they don't appear to care in the slightest.

 

[dwarren2]

Yeah, I'm going to have to go the cat 5/6 route otherwise I'll run into a length limit on HDMI I think. The two TVs are located maybe 10 feet apart by physical distance, but in order to get cables between them, it's not at all an easy task. It'll involve going from the basement through some duct work, then up to the attic and drop back down inside the wall. Grrrr. It's quite surprising to me that Dish Network is SO far behind the curve on this. I would think hundreds of thousands of their customers are in this same predicament and yet they don't appear to care in the slightest.

They are working on an XIP series of receivers which will send out HD via coax. Go read those threads.

 

[ouch1234]

I've been wondering if this was possible...My question is there any way to have remote control on the additional TV? I'd like to be able to use the Dish remote when i'm on the other TV. but i'm afraid my distance will be out of range.

 

[TNGTony]

I send both TV1 and TV2 to my second TV. On the extremely rare occasions that I need to use both TVs on different channels I just switch over the input on the second TV to TV2.

On my 622 I run the HDMI to TV1 (next to the receiver) and 100' component audio/video cable (all 5 in one cable run) plus a composite audio/video cable (three cables in one) to TV2. The original installation already had the RF signal going to TV2.

Since the receiver outputs HDMI, component, composite, S-Video and RF on TV1 simultaneously, there was no need for adapters or what-not. All I needed needed was cables from Monoprice.

 

[veehb]

I have a VIP722K receiver. I run one HDTV from the component output on the 722 into my 55" Samsung 8000 HDTV in my family room. Works great. I run an HDMI cable about 60 feet up into the attic and back down into my bedroom and into a 42" VISIO HDTV. That works fine also. Both HDTVs are on the same channel. I use an IR to VHF converter (from Dish Network) to control the receiver from the bedroom. There is a small VHF receiver sitting on a high shelf where it can control the IR remote sensor on the 722 receiver. I control the 722 with the VHF remote in the bedroom and with the IR remote in the family room. Both sets have excellent HDTV (although Dish only broadcasts at 1080i, it still looks good). The other solution would be to use an HDMI splitter and then run both HDTVs using HDMI. My Pioneer receiver doesn't have HDMI. I get 5.1 Surround sound using a fiber cable from the 722K to the receiver. Only problem is in syncing the sound exactly between the video and the audio. I need more delay than is provided in the Samsung HDTV. Some day I'll upgrade to an HDMI receiver, hopefully with two HDMI outputs. I'm using Monoprice HDMI cables, not expensive, but they work great! And, I run about half a dozen TVs (SDTV) using the receiver 2 output (coax) all over the house splitting the signal several times. The VHF remote works well at each location, some quite a distance from the receiver. Just added a second VIP722K in our new theater room with a 110" screen. That works great also and I am running another six SDTVs from the receiver 2 (coax) output from that receiver. We are getting our money's worth from our Dish Network. Both receivers are networked with a 1 GBit wired network system, so we can do NETFLIX (through a Blu-ray player) and BlockBuster from Dish streaming on both systems. It's great to have two receivers (and two DVR systems). Just added the Sling Adapter. Using it on a computer and get pretty good HDTV (using the receiver 2 output). Need to experiment with that feeding an HDTV from a computer. I understand you can get HDTV through the Sling Adpater, not sure how it works, as it picks up the SDTV signal on receiver 2. My Samsung has Internet capability. I need to experiment and see if I get HDTV on it from the Sling Adapter using the Internet connection on the Samsung HDTV.