Split of signal (1 Viewer)

[MattSZ]

I am a technical guy with moderate HT experience, just having a problem that I can't quite figure out.

I recently got Dish Network with a single ViP722k (I think that's the right model, I'm not at home right now) receiver. Basically it has HD capabilities, and can send signal to another TV in standard definition.

The TV connected via HDMI is in our bedroom - where the physical receiver sits. The living room TV is SD and the way I understand it the receiver "broadcasts" a SD signal to that TV via the existing coax in the house.

In the basement there is a splitter where the satellite comes into the house. The splitter has three connections that I'll call A, B, and C for simplicity here.

A - labeled "Satellite" - this is where the satellite from outside is connected.
B - labeled "In/Out" - this goes to the bedroom where the physical receiver sits.
C - labeled "UHF/VHF" - this goes to the SD TV

So my assumption is that B allows a signal to both go in from the satellite out to the receiver and also from the receiver out to C.

What I want to do is put the SD TV and another SD TV on a splitter. I realize that they'll have to be on the same channel and that's ok (especially since that one uses a nice RF remote that I can use anywhere ). Currently the SD TV in the living room has to be set to channel 60. I assume that this is where the receiver "broadcasts" the signal. So I put a standard vanilla splitter where the SD TV signal is output to the SD TV and sent one to each TV that I wanted to use for it. The original TV works fine, no problems, but I can't get the second TV to get any signal at all. I have removed a RF modulator just to eliminate all other variables. The coax is connected directly as the old cable box was. I put the TV on 60 and nothing. Put it on 3 or 4 just for the hell of it... nothing. I changed the setup in the receiver to broadcast to a different channel, put both TV's on that new channel, and the original one works but not the other.

So can anyone tell me what's wrong here? I know the splitter is in the right place, and I know that I have the right cable because I used a toner to trace the line.

Thanks so much!

- Matt

 

[Selden Ball]

Many TVs have can scan the input signal to find active channels. Have you tried that?

I have a vague recollection that at least some cable TV channels are not at the same frequencies as broadcast TV channels. Have you verified that both TVs are using the same channel lineup?

Is there any chance the splitter is broken? Did you try connecting the working TV to the splitter's other output?

Does the second TV actually work? i.e. have you connected it to a VCR or DVD player?

Is there any chance the cable running to the second room has a break somewhere? Using a tone tester seems to argue against that, though.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Weird - I don't have any firsthand experience with any of these "whole house" type solutions, but if switching the working SD TV to the other splitter output results in the same TV getting the signal, then it's almost as if the Dish Receiver "knows" where the other SD TV is and has established some sort of "connection" to it.

If this seems to be the case, perhaps you could try disconnecting the Dish Receiver and both SD TVs, then reconnecting BOTH TVs to the coaxial cable lines, then reconnecting the Dish Receiver and repeating the setup procedure.

Just a complete stab in the dark, but I figured I'd throw it out there.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Originally Posted by Jason Charlton

I'm interested to see how this works out for Matt.