Tutor
•
6 Messages
UPGRADING TO HD-DVR
I've had DirectTV at my father's home for the last 5 years (so I can watch NFL Sunday Ticket)
currently they have just 1 SD reciever in the bedroom.
I want to add 1 HD-DVR in the living room and at least a HD in the Kitchen.
I know a new larger dish is required (Currently have just a single LMB on a cirular dish)
My dad and I are experienced cable installers. (On New homes under construction.)
What would be the best way to insstall new cabling?
Seperate runs to each reciever location from the dish location?
or Single run from one reciever to the next to the last?
Just ordered the first HDTV for my father and he wants to be able to record.
I told him to drop his $150 cable bill and lets run DirecTV to all of the TVs in the house.
litzdog911
ACE - Sage
•
46.4K Messages
13 years ago
If you're adding HiDef equipment and services to your account, DirecTV will provide an HD Slimline dish with free installation, so that's the best way to go. Installation of the HD Slimline dish is not trivial.
The Slimline dish has four coax outputs (NOTE: You do NOT want a Single Wire Multiswitch version of this dish because it's not compatible with your D11 SD Receiver). You'll need one coax run to each of the Receiver locations, and two coax cables to the HD DVR location (if you want to use both DVR tuners). Depending on the exact HD Receiver and DVR models, you'll also need B-Band Converter (BBC) modules for each SAT INPUT.
Again, DirecTV will take care of all of this stuff for you. Give them a call.
0
0
cthomas946
Tutor
•
6 Messages
13 years ago
OK, that seems to work for me.
I was hoping to upgrade to the HMC system when it becomes available next year.
I was going to drop my SD receiver then.
So I run two Cables to to wherever I put an HD-DVR receiver? Correct?
So this is what the cabling setup should look like.
2 cables to the HD-DVR receiver, from the Dish
1 cable to HD receiver, from the Dish
1 cable to SD receiver, from the Dish (Can I use the current line that runs from the Round Dish to the SD-Receiver?)
0
0
litzdog911
ACE - Sage
•
46.4K Messages
13 years ago
Yes to all of those questions.
By "HMC system", do you mean the HR34 Home Media Center? Note that this product only works with the Single Wire Multiswitch setup. At that time you (or a DirecTV installer) will add a SWM8 or SWM16 (depending on how many total satellite tuners you have). The SWM8/16 connects to the four cables running from your Slimline dish LNB. You'll need to replace your old D11 with a newer D12 SWM-compatible SD Receiver, too.
0
0
cthomas946
Tutor
•
6 Messages
13 years ago
Actually I was going to replace the SD Receiver with HD-DVR and put the HMC system(yes, the HR34 Home Media Center).
I should be able to have Whole Home DVR, Correct?
0
0
litzdog911
ACE - Sage
•
46.4K Messages
13 years ago
Whole Home DVR gets a bit trickier, and DirecTV generally will not activate WHDVR setups that they did not install.
That being said, you must have a SWM setup for WHDVR's coax-based (DECA) networking. But you'll need that for the HR34 anyway. And HD Receivers/DVRs may require DECA coax network adapters,unless you have an H24/H25 HD Receiver or HR24 HD DVR. The HR34 also does not use external DECA network adapters. And you'll need a Cinema Connection Kit to bridge the WHDVR DECA network (coax) to your home network (ethernet) for internet access.
It's best to have DirecTV install WHDVR now. The WHDVR upgrade includes the new SWM dish, replacement of old non-SWM compatible Receivers, the Cinema Connection Kit, and any DECA adapters as required.
0
0
cthomas946
Tutor
•
6 Messages
13 years ago
I've talked with my father about this.
It seems the advise we are getting here is to run two lines to the HD-DVR and one line to each of the other receivers.
All of these will start at the dish location.
Running cable through crawl spaces in the attic and basement will be relatively easy for us to do.
The farthest distance of a receiver to the Dish is about 125ft and the distance to the HD-DVR will be about 60ft.
Would be best to have the cable coming out of the attic through metal box or just through a small hole?
0
0
dcd
Expert
•
20.7K Messages
13 years ago
I think you misread the advice. It's to have Directv do the install for you. They will do it cheaper and better.
0
0
cthomas946
Tutor
•
6 Messages
13 years ago
They may be able to do it better, I doubt it, MY dad and I made cable-ready dozen of homes that are under construction.
All I'd want DirecTV technician to do is connect the receivers to the end of the cable runs.
If it wasn't for the replacement of the small circular dish would do all of this myself without any trouble.
So Again:
2 cables to the HD-DVR from the dish
1 cable to the HD receiver from the Dish.
1 cable to SD receiver from Dish.
0
0
dcd
Expert
•
20.7K Messages
13 years ago
Maybe I'm confused, but if you want a Whole Home DVR system, you have the setup wrong. The Whole Home system is based on a SWM dish which requires a single cable from the dish to a splitter then a single line from that splitter to each receiver or DVR, another to the power inserter and lastly a line to a DECA BB Adapter to connect to the router for Internet and network features. Here is a typical install schematic.
1 Attachment
Whole Home DVR Install[116].jpg
0
0
cthomas946
Tutor
•
6 Messages
13 years ago
OK, I think I understand now.
I was wondering about the internet router, Would I really need that if I have Smart TVs that can access the internet directly?
Where would be the ideal placement for the SWM switch?
N
ear the HD-DVR? or up by the dish?
I'm assuming not up by the dish hence the name Single Wire Multiswitch.
0
0
dcd
Expert
•
20.7K Messages
13 years ago
The SWM multiswitch is built into the dish, you can't even see it. Connecting the Whole Home system to the Internet allows participation in the Cinemaplus (on demand) system plus a variety of other free features, TV Apps, Directv2PC, Mediashare etc.
0
0
west99999tech
Scholar
•
306 Messages
13 years ago
You should just terminate all your cables at one central location usually by the electrical meter box so they can be grounded then the dtv tech can just run from the dish to that point and connect into what you have ran.
0
0