Satellite "How Can I Do This" Question (1 Viewer)

[Ian R]

OK, I need some help from the Sat. Gods.

Here's what I would like to accomplish:

3-4 TV's. 1 of which is HDTV Ready.

I would like to get a system, that will be able to utilize my HDTV, AND take advantage of a TIVO type recorder(I don't own yet).

Is this possible? If it it, could someone point me in thr right direction as far as equipment goes. I am leaning towards Direct over Dish, but I'm not really sure why, so if someone could help with that, I would be grateful as well.

Thanks,

Ian

 

[Lee Weiss]

I am happy with Directv, where my brother has Dish. I like the Directv interface better, as most people do. You can check out Americansatellite.com where I got my Phillips DSR6000 Tivo/Directv receiver for $99. You can add a second DSR6000 or other brand combo Directv/Tivo for no additional monthly fee over the first unit. The combo units also have two tuners, so you can watch one and record another at the same time. Just needs to wires coming off the dish for that. Great feature.
You would need a dual lnb dish, a multiswitch to output to your the two wires from the dish, into a 6-way multiswitch, and then run wires to each receiver; one of which you can buy being an HDTV unit.
Jonline on Ebay is where I got a Spaun 8-way non-powered multiswitch for my house. Much cheaper than Circuit City or similar.
If price is a concern, I have been researching for a friend where there is a Dish network deal www.dishonline.com with 4 receivers for free for first time buyers. You could then just add one HDTV receiver later.
Remember, that with standalone Tivo's, you pay a monthly for each. But then another friend of mine loves his Replaytv with no monthly fees, and they sent him two by mistake.
Good luck, you will love Satellite and Tivo!

 

[chris_san]

Let me see if I can take this one:

3-4 TV's: 1 HDTV, possibly 1 Tivo

For starters, get an oval dish with 2 dual lnb's. 1 for the satellite at 101 and 1 for the satellite at 119. This will have a 4x4 multiswitch, capable of 4 separate outputs.

Get 1 HDTV directv receiver, it will utilize 1 of the outputs. Hook it up to your HDTV set. You now have HDTV from HBO-HD and HDnet. Hook it up to an antenna and you get broadcast HDTV.

You still have 3 free outputs on the dish to hook up either standard receivers or directivos. One thing to note: Directivos need 2 inputs from the dish in order to record 1 channel while watching another. So you could hook up 1 directivo and 1 other receiver or 3 other receivers. If you need more than that you need a different multiswitch, I think a 5x8. That would be 5 in (4 inputs from satellites, i.e. 2 per lnb, 1 for the antenna) with 8 outputs. Then you can connect 8 separate receivers or 4 directivos. Or some combo inbetween.

Hope this helps,

Chris

 

[Jason Caudill]

First of all I have heard that Direct Tv is now releasing a satellite dish with three dual lnbs to take advantage of a new satellite for HD. Terk may already be selling the dish and I would reccomend getting that so your not changing your dish in the next 3 months. With multiple lnbs dishes there is a reverse multiswitch (I do not know the technical term) that will end up sending down two lines to the multiswitch from the sat dish. You then need to feed these into a multiswitch (3 in, 4/6/8 out). I would suggest the eight out because it gives you room to grow/ change your setup.

You will need two basic recievers, one hd (I really like the toshiba and panasonic), and the tivo unit. two lines will go to the tivo from the multiswitch, one to each of the other recievers. That will be five total so if you go with the eight you will have three open lines. Hope this helps. Jason

 

[Glenn]

Hi,

I think that Chris has the answer pretty much right on target.

Then Jason had these remarks:

>>First of all I have heard that Direct Tv is now releasing a satellite dish with three dual lnbs to take advantage of a new satellite for HD. Terk may already be selling the dish and I would reccomend getting that so your not changing your dish in the next 3 months.

I saw the new DirecTv dish in Jan at CES and it does have three built-in LNBs, which is good. The possible bad side to it is that it has a built-in multi switch in the arm which might be tough to bypass if you plan to use a larger muitli switch.

The new dish is supposed to be priced lower and it is a more round design. The "older" oval dish can be used with the third LNB for the possible move for HD programming. You would need the Sat C Kit to do that.

So it might be worth it to wait or find the new style dish but you might want to check into the possible problems of having the multi switch built in to the dish arm. Hopefully that multi switch can be bypassed by people that need more outputs.

Glenn

 

[Robert_J]

I read over at AVS Forums that someone had removed the multi-switch from the arm of the dish and just ran coax to the LNB's. He didn't give details but it is possible.

-Robert

 

[Steve Owen]

The one thing people haven't mentioned yet is TiVo's recording ability... it DOES NOT record HDTV. I'll assume that you'd want DirecTV since that's nicely integrated with TiVo (Dish has a competing product, but by most accounts its not as good as the DirecTV w/TiVo, though I've never used it).
So lets assume you have 3 regular TVs and 1 HDTV. You want TiVo on all of the TVs? If so, you're going to have 2 receivers with your HDTV... the TiVo receiver AND the HDTV receiver.
The DirecTV/TiVo receivers (often called DirecTiVo) have TWO receivers built into them... that means that you'll need TWO cables run for each one if you want to record two things at the same time on each one (or watch one thing live and record another).
OK, confused yet?
What other folks have said about the oval dish is right on. There will be basically 4 cables coming off of this dish. You need to bring those to a multiswitch which combines those signals into signals that the receivers can receive directly.
If you want 4 TiVo's and 1 HDTV recorder, optimally you'll want 9 lines (2 for each TiVo and 1 for the HDTV receiver). That means a 12-output multiswitch I think (or maybe you can cascade an 8-output and a 4-output... someone else can perhaps answer that).
Now, if that all sounds like entirely too much stuff, it can all easily be scaled back. Do you need TiVo at each TV? Or just a regular DirecTV receiver? Do you need 2 tuners for each TiVo, or can some of the less-used ones be used with 1 tuner (can't record two things at once).
Here's some pages to look at to understand the wiring...
http://www.geocities.com/dbs_tech/mdsapp/twodish.htm
And if you want to get ready for the HDTV signals at the 110 degree location, this diagram...
http://www.geocities.com/dbs_tech/mdsapp/D2.htm#2
So, bottom line is that it's VERY important to ask what you want to have with each TV...
-Steve

 

[Ian R]

Thanks for all the responses so far.

Steve....good questions. I'm only looking to get Tivo on 1-2 TVs. I did know that Tivo won't record HD, but didn't realize that I would need two receivers.

Much to think about.

Ian

 

[Steve Owen]

but didn't realize that I would need two receivers

Just so I'm clear about that (I'm not sure I was), here's how it breaks down...

A DirecTiVo has 2 receivers built into one box. You can't split digital satellite signals the way you can with cable signals... so it needs 2 cables coming into it IF you plan to utilize both receivers in the TiVo. Many people don't bother with using the 2nd receiver, though you loose some functionality if you don't.

The HDTV receiver is completely separate from the TiVo receiver. So if you want TiVo capability on that TV (to record channels that are NOT HDTV), but still want a HDTV receiver on that TV for the HD stuff, then you'll need both an DirecTV-HDTV receiver and a DirecTiVo receiver.

-Steve

 

[Bill Lucas]

A clarification. The old oval dishes already have a slot for the 3rd lnb. You just need to add the middle lnb to the dish and run a wire for full functionality when the 3rd lnb goes live. The 3rd lnb will have (initially) one feed. You must use a combiner to combine the 3rd lnb feed with one of the "B" satellite lnbs and then the input goes into the 4 x 4 multi-switch. It will be output as a compined signal. The only new hardware necessary for someone with an oval wish is a new lnb in the middle slot, an RG6 run and a combiner BEFORE the signal enters the 4 x 4 multi-switch. Regards.