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How many coaxial cables to DVRs?
Hi:
I've seen diagrams (on weeknees) which show a single coax going to each DVR (Genie and HR24 for example) which have more than one tuner in them. I thought each tuner required its own coax connection back to the SWM. Is this not (any longer) the case?
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.4K Messages
5 years ago
The older Multiswitch needed a coax connection for each tuner. So DVR receivers needed 2 and non-DVR receivers just 1 each.
Because of needing more data transmited (sharing recordings via Whole Home DVR), people wanting to easily swap boxes between rooms (old way had to send a tech when swapping non-DVR and DVR because of running the additional connection), and the Genie started with 5 tuners (would have been octopus of cabling on the old way), then went to SWM/SWiM. That stands for Single Wire Multiswitch.
So the new SWM is one coax to each box, regardless of how many tuners it has be it 0 (Clients as they steal a tuner each from the Genie), 1 (HD non-DVR receiver), 2 (regular HDDVR), or 5 (Genie).
What are the models of each box you have now?
Are you asking because considering an upgrade, or is something else going on with your setup?
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TexasBrit
ACE - Expert
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14.1K Messages
5 years ago
Depends what sort of system you have. The older system needs a cable to each tuner, i.e. two per DVR. The newer SWM system has a singlecable from the dish, then splitters to provide only one cable to a DVR.
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bruceski44
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5 Messages
5 years ago
Thanks for any and all help, btw!
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bruceski44
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5 Messages
5 years ago
Thanks for the answers.
I'm moving and just put the mover's order in. It will add an HR54 Genie, whole home DVR and DECA to this list of what we have now:
HR24/100
HR24/200
H23.
For a total of 10 tuners and four TVs. This config is based on an earlier thread:
https://forums.att.com/conversations/directv-dvr-receivers/proposed-new-home-config-with-multiple-dvrs/5f8b807272a09d3b07501656
I ran multiple coax runs to each location in our current house (6 RG6 to the family room alone) which wasn't a huge amount of extra work, but adds a lot of cabling to my already cluttered setup. I had "whole home DVR" before DTV had it by adding a modulator (driven by DVR component out and stereo audio out) and more coax runs. I also have a 3-zone A/V rcvr and VGA video and stereo audio to the patio, plus 7.1 surround sound in the family room. So the area between my TV rack and the wall was already pretty cluttered! Even though the wires were mostly run in-wall, they must still connect to the boxes.
Which is what prompted my other post today about the over-fireplace TV location and the tidiest setup. My ever-loving wife deserves a cleaner config!
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bruceski44
Tutor
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5 Messages
5 years ago
The engineer in me can't help but ask: Do you know how the signal is shared internally amongst all the tuners when using a single cable for multiple tuners? Is it daisy-chained? Or multiplexed?
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.4K Messages
5 years ago
Going from 3 TVs (2 HR24s and a H23) to 4, then adding a Genie is the way to go. Remember it will add $3 for Whole Home DVR (as you don't have already being on the older mutliswitch) that allows each box to see the recordings of the others.
The Genie might be a HR44 or HR54 (or revised HR54R1), depending on stock. There is no guarantee it will be an HR54/HR54R1 unless you were doing a special 4K upgrade which there is only certain compatible models of equipment. At least it will not be the HR34 as that was discontinued long ago.
Normally an upgrade to the Genie would include up to 3 Mini Genie Clients (optional). In your setup it would usually be suggested to swap out the H23 for a Client so that it is not missing out on the full DVR features of the other boxes. Also a smaller form factor that can be better for over-the-fireplace or similar locations. Though a reason to keep the non-DVR is if you use the Autotune feature (replaced by the DVR option) or if you take with you in an RV/Camper (Clients cannot work without the Genie). So depend how it is used if better to keep the H23 or replace with a Client. Just make sure to not replace any of your existing HDDVRs with a Client, or go to the Genie-2 (HS17) as that only allows Clients.
To be clear, even if you keep the H23 it can still watch the recordings of the others, just not able to record or pause itself.
A note: If your current setup is connected to the internet, then that would update. The Genie serves as that connection by the built-in WiFi (2.4Ghz or 5Ghz), or a wired option (preferred). You don't keep the others on separate connections (such as the external wireless CCK), as causes conflicts as Whole Home setup is designed for one connection shared.
So the Genie setup should result in a cleaner setup. Though it will use it's built-in Whole Home DVR design as opposed to whatever one you may have jury rigged. Remember the tech will go with standard installation. Anything beyond that is up to you and not DirecTV supported.
As for daisy-chained, multiplexed, etc. I don't recall on that as not something I delve that deep into usually. There are other users who more knowledgeable about that part who hopefully will chime in.
(edited)
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TexasBrit
ACE - Expert
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14.1K Messages
5 years ago
Basically the DVR selects the channel you've asked for (or scheduled) for each tuner, and then the SWM at the dish puts that channel into a "slot" in the frequency band on the cable, and then tells the tuner to look for the signal in that slot. So the only channels (multiplexed) on the cable are the ones selected by the tuners.
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