Wiring my new DirecTivo for "dual tuner" how hard is it to do myself (1 Viewer)

[James L White]

it's an oval dish 3 LNBs
so do I just have to run another coax cable from the dish to the grounding block outside then through the roof into the back of the Tivo

I have a single coax running into the Tivo right now but I wanna take full advantage and record two shows at once

a picture of the connection to the LNB would help

 

[Charlie Campisi]

Not a big deal. You need a 2d RG6 cable run from the directivo to the dish. Pick the path of least resistance with cosmetic appeal. The 3 lnb dish can support up to 4 tuners. Are you using all 4 currently? If not, run the cable to the dish. If you are already using 4 tuners (directivo counts as 2), you need a multiswitch. Not a bug deal, it just installs near the dish. You connect the 4 outputs from the dish into the multiswitch, and then use the 8 outputs on the switch to connect to your additional tuners (this would be a 4x8 multiswitch - they come in different configurations). Many multiswitches are powered, so you also need to install it near an outlet. I put mine just outside a basement storage room, plugged it in the wall and then drilled a hole through the side of the house for the cables, behind some shrubs. If you are using an HD tivo, there are some other considerations, but also not complicated. Directv will usually supply a multiswitch. I think they are between $40-100 if you buy them retail, depending on what you get.

 

[James L White]

Not just the 2 tuners in the Tivo, non HD
do i still need a switch?

 

[BenS]

No You should be ok. Just run the wire like you state in your first post and you are good to go.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

????

My sister got a non-TiVo DirectTV DVR for my brother-in-law for his birthday last month. All I had to do was throw a regular 3-dollar splitter onto the RG6 cable that supplied the old receiver and connect both inputs on the new DVR. Each tuner can tune to the appropriate channel and they can watch one show while recording another or record two shows. Do the DirecTivos work differently?

Regards,

Joe

 

[Robert_J]

If the signal is stacked and the internal de-stacker of the R-15 is turned on, then both tuners will work just fine with a standard splitter. Most stacked signals are standard in MDU (multiple-dwelling units aka apartments) installs. If this is a regular home install without a stacker, then your sister is just lucky. Put one tuner on CNN and start changing the channel on the other tuner. On each channel change, swap tuners and check CNN. Sooner or later one tuner will want an right hand polarized signal while the other will want an even polarized signal. At worst, the 18v signal will be sent from one tuner to the other and fry the R-15.

-Robert

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

My sister has two oval DirecTV dishes with 3 LNBs on each one, and about 7 rooms wired for satellite, so maybe her installation included a stacker and is more like an MDU than a standard house installation.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Robert_J]

Why two? Is the house that big? Was it difficult to run cables from a single location? Was the installer lazy?

-Robert