Upgrade SD to HD and distribute it throughout coach - HELP!

[Learn2Q]

I've just purchased my very first motor coach this week. Drove cross country to bring it home and I'm starting to plan upgrades. I bought a 2006
Travel Supreme Select. For it's time, it appears that the TV's and entertainment was top notch. The only problem is that I want a true HD signal sent from one of the Directv Satellite receiver to three TV's. In other words all three of these Tv's will get the same channel. I also want to run a HD signal from the Satellite to the rear of the coach to the bedroom connected to another HD satellite receiver.

I'm having a Directv Travler installed this week by a reputable installer. I've not had much success finding repair facilities that know much about high definition signals, installs, or upgrades.

Heck, I'm scared to let them touch any of the AV systems other than the satellite install.

My coach has a Winegard push button video distribution switch box. It is not capable of distributing a HD signal. (I don't think)

My questions are,

What distributes the HD signal from the satellite box to the three TV's?

How is the off air antenna integrated in my situation?

What kind of wire/cable/signal is sent from the satellite to the rear bedroom? Is it HDMI? Is it Cat5? Is it a coax?

Any help is much appreciated.
thanks

[Thorfinn]

Hi,
Your sat receiver should have several outputs. the method of distribution would be dependant on which connection you are using. There is hdmi, DVI, co-ax, and RCA cables. The most simple solution would be to invest in a wireless repeater to send the signal to the TVs. Best Buy should have something suitable. The alternative is hardwiring, which can have significant signal loss over long distances. The existing cables are unlikely to give you a very good picture.

Hope this helps!

[Learn2Q]

What kind of wireless repeater? I don't understand at all. Are you saying that I can use wireless to send an HD signal to the rear bedroom?
thanks
Troy

[lllkrob]

All the wireless repeaters I have seen won't transmit a true HD quality signal. Your Direct TV receiver only outputs HD signal through the HDMI connection and the component video ( R-G-B ) connection. The coax and RCA video ( yellow ) connections are for SD. So your only choice is to run either HDMI cable or component cable to your tv's. Have you checked to make SURE your tv's are HD compatible. A 2006 model may have flat screen plasma tv's that are not HD.

[Thorfinn]

Yes. The system consists of a transmitter which will connect to your sat box, and receivers on each TV. It just saves you the headache of running the wires.

[Thorfinn]

Here is one of the popular systems: Amazon.com: Brite-View BV-2500 Wireless HD Video Transmitter and Receiver Kits: Electronics



Technical Details

• Support up to 1080i@60Hz & 1080p@24Hz HD picture quality
• Less than 1ms latency for playing Video game console
• Plug & Play, Auto setup and easy-to-use
• Long transmission distance - LOS:20meters, NLOS:10meters

[lllkrob]

Thank You Thorfinn for increasing my knowledge base. I was not aware these were on the market yet. Here is another choice that is a bit less expensive:
Amazon.com: Wireless HDMI HD TV Video/Audio Transmitter & Receiver Kit 1080p: Electronics

[Thorfinn]

Whatever you do will probably be obsolete in a couple of years. 3D channels are here already along with glasses-free 3D TVs. How long till we have holodecks like Star Trek???

[Learn2Q]

I should have stated that I'll be replacing all the TV's if necessary to get true HD in all locations in the coach. I'll look in to them and also I have found some hdmi amps/distribution units that will do what I need but, it'll require some wiring.
Thanks for all the ideas. I'll try to post some pictures as I make the upgrades.

[SCVJeff]

If you are going to this much trouble, consider running HDMI cables to all TV's rather than any kind of RF device. Just because they claim to pass 1080, doesn't mean that the path will be transparent. I test devices like this as well as QAM (CATV) modulators that take HDMI, and the results are all over the map. I have seen 1080i outputs whose resolution is good VHS quality at best.

Here's another snafu.. Google 'HDCP' for info on what else may catch you if you try distribution of HDMI.. In short, it is a protocol that is carried via HDMI that communicates from any HDMI device to the monitor (or whatever) attached, and can shut off the output if it thinks you are attempting to either copy content or distribute it to multiple monitors. You may or may not get burned by this, but I know DirecTV has implemented it on their receivers (it's gotten me).

[Route 66]

If it's going to be impractical to run HDMI (1 wire) or component (5 wires) to the rear TV, you can use a HD receiver/DVR in the rear.

The existing coax to the rear will work fine and the HD receiver/DVR will then supply HD to the rear TV.

[alvinc]

There are several alternatives:

What is output on the Direct TV RF output. Is it the old vhf channel 3 TV output, or an ATSC type equivalent (unlikely). If it is, or can be setup to be, ATSC, then a remote flat panel TV with a ATSC turner via RG6/RG59 would work fine. This is the cheapest alternative.

The next cheapest would be to distribute the HDMI using long HDMI cables. The best HDMI cables can span a distance of 50 ft and are pretty fat. You will also have to invest in a HDMI splitter box, this cannot be done passively. A HDMI 4 port splitter will be around $250 or less, a 2 port is around $200.

Another alternative is to distribute the signal with cat5E cable, two of them for each TV. This cable is pretty small and easily routed. The conversion boxes come in pairs and run under $200 per pair. You will still need a HDMI splitter box.

You could get an ATSC RF modulator that works like the Radio Shack RF modulators we used to buy. They were under $20. The ATSC modulators are really expensive. This would take HDMI input from the DirectTV box and translate it to an ATSC signal that you could distribute via RG6/RG59. I had trouble finding any that were less than $1000.

Another alternative is to use a box at both ends. One box at the Direct TV receiver has a HDMI input and translates this to a signal over the RG6/RG59 cable to a box on the flat panel TV end that converts the signal back to HDMI for the TV. This is an expensive solution as well, $350 for a pair.

A full matrix over coax is $2000, this accepts 4 HDMI inputs and directs them to any of 4 outputs over coax with a box at each end of the coax to convert back to HDMI.

Bottom line: the HD TV signal is a royal pain to distribute and expensive.

A lot of the above can be sourced at: http://www.hdtvsupply.com/hdmiproducts.html
BTW: this site is a real audio/video/computer toy store, so be careful while browsing.

[RickO]

Two years ago I did just what you're planning. I replaced all three TVs and drive them from a single DirecTv HD DVR via HDMI using an HDMI splitter box and a 50' HDMI cable to the rear bedroom and a 20' to the outside TV.

It all works great and we've had no problems but you sure learn a lot about your coach when trying to run those cables!

Good luck...

Rick

[gpearston]

Is there a standard for the spacing of the wall studs in an RV?