Wiring question for Whole Home DVR service

[mac3blade]

Hello all. I am upgrading to HD service and have a question that DirecTV has been surprisingly unable to answer for me.

I am completing a remodel and have a conduit from the roof (where the dish will be due to the best view of the sky) down into the basement to then run to the TVs. The conduit is fairly small and a little circuitous.

So that said,

If I want HD DVR and Whole-Home DVR service with one HD DVR and one other (non-DVR) HD receiver, what is the minimum number of RG6 coax cables coming from the dish to the house? Assume that everything at the dish is exposed to elements, so nothing can require A/C power there. But if a non-powered multiswitch can be exposed to rain/etc then that would be an option at the dish.

So for example, could I run 2 RG6 cables from two outputs on the dish into the house -- one would terminate straight into the HD DVR receiver; the other could go to a splitter that could then go to (1) the other DVR input and (2) the other (non-DVR) receiver? (And then maybe is there another cable that needs to go from the DVR to the other receiver? Or is that signal via ethernet?).

I'm new to this, but just incredibly surprised that I've emailed and talked to about 6 different people at DTV that can't answer the question. I know you guys can.

Thanks

 

[jdspencer]

To use a non SWM LNB on the dish, you'll need to stuff four RG6 cables in your conduit. Then in the basement you'll have a WB68 multisiwitch to feed your receivers (DVRs require two lines).

Now for the SWM LNB install you only need one line from the dish. Then in the basement you'll have the required power inserter and splitter to feed the receivers. Here the DVRs only need one coax to enable both tuners. This LNB can only support a total of 8 tuners (each DVR counts as two).

I hope this helps.

 

[mac3blade]

Thanks JDSpencer

Thanks for the quick reply. Amazing what I can get done here that DTV is just completely unable to answer for me.

So the next question is -- Can I just request a SWM enabled dish from my installer? Is that something I will need to buy on my own or will the installer have it on his truck? If it's not something that comes with the install, is there one that people can recommend?

Also, does the picture degrade when using the SWM and splitter, or is a digital signal a digital signal no matter how many times it's split?

Thanks again.

 

[jdspencer]

Your best bet is to call DirecTV for the upgrade. They will supply everything needed from the SWM LNB dish to the MRV/Whole Home DVR equipment. Buying all of the parts on your own can be expensive/ And aligning the dish is also tricky.

Note, that the SWM install doesn't support older receivers.

 

[RandallA]

They will supply everything needed from the SWM LNB dish to the MRV/Whole Home DVR equipment.

Yes, I was installed a couple of weeks ago and they used a SWM LNB dish for the MRV/Whole Home setup. One single line from dish to 8 way splitter (inside the house). Single lines to all receivers. Note that DVRs have 2 tuners but with SWM all you need is a single line to the DVR receiver.

 

[mac3blade]

JD and Randall

Thanks, guys. You have told me everything I needed to know. It was more than a little weird that nobody at DTV was able to tell me anything about the setup -- and worse that they couldn't connect me with someone who did.

I've called and talked to a few people there at the number they insisted I call and nobody can came even remotely close to helping me. The first lady said "coax?" when I told her my question.

She then connected me with a similarly unhelpful lady who told me her chart showed that I would have 6 (six) RG6 coax lines coming from the dish into the house. I told her this confused me since I thought there were only 4 outputs on the 5 LNB slimline dish. She said "Well, that's what the chart says."

I asked her to connect me to someone who would know (perhaps an installer), but she said no and thanked me for being a loyal customer.

You guys are great.

Thanks

 

[Jimbo]

JD and Randall

Thanks, guys. You have told me everything I needed to know. It was more than a little weird that nobody at DTV was able to tell me anything about the setup -- and worse that they couldn't connect me with someone who did.

I've called and talked to a few people there at the number they insisted I call and nobody can came even remotely close to helping me. The first lady said "coax?" when I told her my question.

She then connected me with a similarly unhelpful lady who told me her chart showed that I would have 6 (six) RG6 coax lines coming from the dish into the house. I told her this confused me since I thought there were only 4 outputs on the 5 LNB slimline dish. She said "Well, that's what the chart says."

I asked her to connect me to someone who would know (perhaps an installer), but she said no and thanked me for being a loyal customer.

You guys are great.

Thanks

At the numbers that you would call in to D*, you'll get a CSR and they have no idea how the stuff is set up.
Now if you could get higher up into the technical dept. you'd be in luck, or contact a local installation company.

 

[hdrider]

For more in-depth information on this topic, check out this thread, which exposes the limits of the SWiM dish:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-forum/221355-multiple-apartments-one-dish-mrv-demand.html