DirecTV and splitters.

[Tincup]

I have DirecTV and a new DVR, currently, I have only one cable running from the 5LNB dish to Tuner 1 on the DVR. I want to be able to watch one channel and record a second, to do this I have to run a second cable from the dish to Tuner 2.

My question is rather than run a second cable, can I put a splitter on the existing cable and feed Tuner 1 and Tuner 2 off of it? Or, will the splitter present an impedence mis-match, or a bandwidth issue?

I suppose I could just buy a splitter and try it but if there are technical issues that would prevent it from working I'd like to know in advance.

Any comments?

[Bill Adams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tincup I have DirecTV and a new DVR, currently, I have only one cable running from the 5LNB dish to Tuner 1 on the DVR. I want to be able to watch one channel and record a second, to do this I have to run a second cable from the dish to Tuner 2. My question is rather than run a second cable, can I put a splitter on the existing cable and feed Tuner 1 and Tuner 2 off of it? Or, will the splitter present an impedence mis-match, or a bandwidth issue? I suppose I could just buy a splitter and try it but if there are technical issues that would prevent it from working I'd like to know in advance. Any comments?

No, a splitter will not work. There is a workaround which involves adding a piece of hardware on the roof, running additional cables from the SL5 to this multiplexer and then running the one cable down and adding a SWM switch inside the coach. I don't have all the details but it can be done. Let me know if you need more details. If it's not too difficult it will be much less expensive to open up the hole where the original cables entered, put in another cable and seal it back up (unless this is not practical in your situation).

[Tincup]

Bill,

Thanks for responding so quickly, I was hoping you'd see this.

I kind of figured that was the case, I'll just run a second cable.

[Bill Adams]

IMHO....Good choice!

[M&EM]

I just ran extra cables from my slimline manual roof top mount. It turned out to be quite easy to bring in extra cables along the ceiling insulation as it is used as a raceway where other cables and wiring run. Access was made simple by removing ceiling light fixtures and pulling cables to the next openings.

[wa8yxm]

One word of caution, I do not believe it applies to THIS O/P's case (So the O/P can ignore it) but if you have the older solo LNB antenna, as I do, then they come in two types. "Single" and "Dual"

I have a single (Wingard mini-tabletop dish is a single) and it can only run one receiver at a time.. The duals (Which have two coax fittings on them) can feed two receivers or with a switch, several.

[zrxh14]

Tincup, If your new receiver is one of the mpeg4 ones you can just order a new 3 sat LNB with the SWM and run 1 cable to your RV. Then you just hook q cable to the HDDVR and it will select 2 signals and you can watch 1 channel and record another. This requires a power inserter/supply. You can also split this incoming cable with a power passing splitter and send a cable to another TV in another location in your RV. This is what we have in our 5th wheel. The SWM LNB has 1 line in carrying 8 signals. I think the HDDVR we have is a HR21.