Installing a HDTV DVR

[Nathan Focht]

OK, I thought this was going to be easy but I am lost before I even started. I learned this week that there is such a thing as a multiswitch so that you can use more than 2 receiver on teh dual LNB units. Here is what I am working with.

Currently I have the dual LNB dome. In the front cabinet we have a standard DirecTV receiver. In the bedroom we have a second DirecTV receiver. From the font cabinet there is a switch box that controls all of the other TVs, antenna, etc.

So, I went out and purchased a 2x4 multiswitch and a new HD DVR receiver. My goal is to install it in the main cabinet for the front TVs and exterior TV. Then install the "old" receiver to operate the children's TV in the back. The end result would be two standard receivers and the new DVR unit.

I started digging into the front cabinet and hit an immediate wall. I can only locate a single RG6 cable coming from the satelite. The multiswitch has to take both cables and then split. Does the second live run direct to the back bedroom?

I kept looking hoping that I would solve that issue and hit my second. If I follow the Satelite cable into the cabinet, it goes into a small black box with no label. Then it feeds into the receiver. From there is feeds into the main switch box. I assume to pull the kids off to their own receiver, I will have to remove them from that switch and connect direct to the multiswitch. If this is true, how to they then get cable, antenna, DVD, etc?

I guess I am asking for help to explain how this is supposed to be connected. If I am still lost this week I guess I will look for a dealer to help.

[Nathan Focht]

OK, I thought this was going to be easy but I am lost before I even started. I learned this week that there is such a thing as a multiswitch so that you can use more than 2 receiver on teh dual LNB units. Here is what I am working with.

Currently I have the dual LNB dome. In the front cabinet we have a standard DirecTV receiver. In the bedroom we have a second DirecTV receiver. From the font cabinet there is a switch box that controls all of the other TVs, antenna, etc.

So, I went out and purchased a 2x4 multiswitch and a new HD DVR receiver. My goal is to install it in the main cabinet for the front TVs and exterior TV. Then install the "old" receiver to operate the children's TV in the back. The end result would be two standard receivers and the new DVR unit.

I started digging into the front cabinet and hit an immediate wall. I can only locate a single RG6 cable coming from the satelite. The multiswitch has to take both cables and then split. Does the second live run direct to the back bedroom?

I kept looking hoping that I would solve that issue and hit my second. If I follow the Satelite cable into the cabinet, it goes into a small black box with no label. Then it feeds into the receiver. From there is feeds into the main switch box. I assume to pull the kids off to their own receiver, I will have to remove them from that switch and connect direct to the multiswitch. If this is true, how to they then get cable, antenna, DVD, etc?

I guess I am asking for help to explain how this is supposed to be connected. If I am still lost this week I guess I will look for a dealer to help.

[Jetsmania]

Hi Nathan! In short. You can't do it like a house. It sounds like you purchased a home multi switch. Depends on type of dome etc. as to what you can do. I have sent you my cell number in a PM. Feel free to call me and I will try to let you know your options. I need to know the brand of your dome. Paul

[FlyingDiver]

Calling Paul might be easier, but here's my take on the situation...

First, buying the HD DVR was a waste. With DirecTV and a dome, you're only going to get one satellite at a time. If you're driving multiple receivers, you're not going to want the dome switching satellites on it's own, because it'll screw up the other receivers. So you're going to want to lock it onto the 101 satellite. Which means no HD, since all the HD is on different satellites. If you let the HD receiver control the dome, your other receivers will get squat (most of the time). Also, in about 6 months, all the DirecTV programming will be on the Ka sats at 99 and 103, and no existing dome can pick those up. There are rumors that there's a dome in the works that will do Ka band, but it's going to be a significant engineering challenge.

Second, are you SURE you have a dual LNB dome, and if so, are you sure that both outputs go SOMEWHERE? You might have to get on the roof and open up the dome to find out for sure.

Are there any other cables on that unnamed black box? Do you have a controller for the dome somewhere, and where do it's cables go? The box could be part of the controller, or maybe just some sort of power supply.

Can you currently watch sat in the bedroom on it's own receiver? And cable/vcr/dvd etc from the front cabinet using the switch box? You would switch inputs on the TV from antenna to video 1, or something like that. If yes, then there's two cables running to the bedroom. One from the switchbox in the front, and one from the dome to the sat receiver.

Now, if you want to use the new receivers, you need to get both outputs of the dome to the 2x4 switch, and then one of the outputs of the switch back to the bedroom receiver. You're also going to need both outputs of the dome running to the switch. Which means you might need to run two cables from the dome to the switch are. One to feed the 2nd input on the switch, the other to take one output from the switch up to the existing cable running to the bedroom. That's probably easier than running a new cable directly to the bedroom from the switch.

Hope this helps.

joe

[K-Star]

not sure if this is going to help or not.

I have 2 dishes. One for 61.5 (HDTV) satellite and the other for 110 and 119 satellites. The 61.5 dish cable goes into the 110/119 dish LNB input. Then there is a single cable to the DVR from the 110/119 dish. Switching is done within the LNB's of the 2 dishes. At the DVR the cable goes into a Signal Separator (looks like a splitter but it is not). Then Signal Separator 2 output cables go to the DVR. One to TV1 and the other to TV2 inputs. I use the HDMI connection for my living room TV and the TV2 output goes to the Winegard switch to the bedroom TV.

Works perfectly. I am far from being an expert connecting these devices. Except for the Winegard switch, this is exactly how it was conneted in my house.

[Nathan Focht]

I did talk with Paul and it helped out a lot. He answered some and gave me direction on others.

I have a Kingdome so I am going to call them Monday for some answers. But, I do now understand that the HD was not needed and will reurn it to get the normal DVR. I climbed onto the roof this evening and there are two cables exiting the dome and entering the roof (Main and AUX). The issue is that the AUX seems to be a direct wire back to the master.

The mystery box is a tuner box that comes with the dome and is shown in the paperwork. I am still trying to figure out why it is only needed on the main cable. I thank you for the thought about the antenna/DVD/ line. There are line combiners that I might be able to use to drive the single to the rear IF I can get the new home run to the dish.

Will keep you in the loop as I learn.

[FlyingDiver]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Nathan Focht:
The mystery box is a tuner box that comes with the dome and is shown in the paperwork. I am still trying to figure out why it is only needed on the main cable.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That tuner only needs to be on one cable because it's there so that the Kingdome knows when it's pointed correctly. It's essentially a pass-through to the DirecTV receiver. My HD-SL5 dish has the same pass-through connection.

joe

[Bill Adams]

In general, the RV manufacturers simply made no provisions for DVR's. The wiring for from your dome is just as you suspect. One cable goes directly to the front receiver and one goes directly to the rear. That leaves no additional options for a DVR connection.
The only slight possibility for resolving this problem (and I am not sure it will work but it worth asking King Dome) is to take the 2 outputs directly from the dome to a 2X4 multi-switch (I have used the Radio Shack version). 2 of the output would then go to your existing coax cables and you would need to run a new cable into the RV to which ever receiver you want to be a DVR.
In all cases, you are going to have to have another coax to make the DVR work to it's fullest capability.
The good news is that you can still have a DVR and a receiver with your current setup. The only thing you won't be able to do on the DVR is watch one channel while you record another. Everything else will work just as a DVR should.

[Nathan Focht]

Had a busy week but I wanted to close the loop on this in case someone searches for it later.

The wiring in the roof is split. But, I solved this by running new wires to the front. one of the wires was barreled to the rear run so that I could send the signal back after splitting it.

The household multiswitch does work on the KingDome so the internal install was rather easy. We now have a receiver in the main bedroom, one in the kids loft, and a DVR with two channels in the entertainment cabinet.

The trick internal is to use a combiner/splitter when needed. This makes it so that you can merge the satelite and antenna signals into one cable. Then you place another at the end to split them back and into the TV.

So, as an example, lets look at the kids room. You have a signal leaving the multiswitch and going to the combiner. You also have the output from the switch box going into the combiner. Now you can use the existing cable to the rear. Once there, you use the splitter to get one cable going to the new receiver and the other to the TV. The result here is that the kids have a receiver but we can also use the front switch to get antenna, DVD, front DVR signal, etc.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.