noob questions on pro installation

[urungus]

Hi, I a DirecTV noob considering getting service at my home in Western Massachusetts.

I have one room with an HDTV and a different room with a standard definition set, and two additional rooms that I may eventually put TVs in (none there now). Each room has has one wire of decades-old RG-5 cable. Getting digital cable required the installation of a +15 db amp at my garage control panel.

How much over the "standard" free install should I expect to pay to:

- install an OTA antenna so I can receive my locals in HD (DirecTV doesn't carry my locals in HD yet)

- wire all 4 rooms with 3 cables (so each room can have a 2-Tuner box + OTA), rooms aren't contiguous so probably drill through 4 outside walls

- or are only two cables needed if the installer uses some new switching technology. Is it widely available, does it decrease picture quality? Does it work with the HR20?

- I believe I need the HR20, because the HR21 doesn't have an OTA input, what extra features does the HR21 have that I would be missing out on?

- I assume they'll make me rent boxes for the two extra rooms (without TVs) I want wired. How long does the contract force me to rent the extra boxes before I can send them back? Would it be cheaper to not wire those rooms, and do a separate install if and when I put new TVs in there?

- if I left my TV on 24/7 home many times per week (and for how long) should I expect to lose service (due to weather, etc)? How does it perform in a heavy snowstorm?

Thanks for any advice!

[carl6]

Hi, I a DirecTV noob considering getting service at my home in Western Massachusetts.

Welcome aboard.



How much over the "standard" free install should I expect to pay to:

- install an OTA antenna so I can receive my locals in HD (DirecTV doesn't carry my locals in HD yet)

Not sure you can even get the DirecTV installer to do an OTA antenna. You will have to discuss with him the cost to run a coax for it from your roof or proposed antenna location.

- wire all 4 rooms with 3 cables (so each room can have a 2-Tuner box + OTA), rooms aren't contiguous so probably drill through 4 outside walls

Standard installation will run one coax to a room that gets a receiver, two coax to a room that gets a DVR.

- or are only two cables needed if the installer uses some new switching technology. Is it widely available, does it decrease picture quality? Does it work with the HR20?

SWM, or Single Wire Multiswitch, which is not yet generally available.

- I believe I need the HR20, because the HR21 doesn't have an OTA input, what extra features does the HR21 have that I would be missing out on?

Other than OTA tuner, they are functionally the same.

- I assume they'll make me rent boxes for the two extra rooms (without TVs) I want wired. How long does the contract force me to rent the extra boxes before I can send them back? Would it be cheaper to not wire those rooms, and do a separate install if and when I put new TVs in there?

I would recommend ordering the one DVR and three standard receivers you appear to want, and have all four rooms wired (standard wiring will be two to the DVR, one to each of the other rooms). Wait a month and de-activate the other two receivers.

- if I left my TV on 24/7 home many times per week (and for how long) should I expect to lose service (due to weather, etc)? How does it perform in a heavy snowstorm?

I have had one brief weather outage in the last two years. If your dish is properly aligned, it should be rare as far as rain fade. If snow accumulates on the dish or LNB assembly, that could certainly interfere, and you would probably need to find a way to remove it.

Thanks for any advice!

To expand a bit, with SWM you can combine your OTA signals and your satellite signals on a single coax. SWM should be available by early next year, possibly sooner. That way you would not need the extra coax runs. So for your two basement rooms, doing the standard receiver install with one coax will take care of your future requirements. For your two actual tv locations, you might need to pay for an extra coax run. You'll have to talk to the installer about the cost to do that.

Carl

[urungus]

To expand a bit, with SWM you can combine your OTA signals and your satellite signals on a single coax. SWM should be available by early next year, possibly sooner.

Thanks for the responses.

So the SWM will allow the OTA signal to be multiplexed as well? From my (very) limited understanding, I thought SWM only combined signals for two DirecTV tuners, but an additional coax wire would still be required for OTA.

[Michael D'Angelo]

Thanks for the responses.

So the SWM will allow the OTA signal to be multiplexed as well? From my (very) limited understanding, I thought SWM only combined signals for two DirecTV tuners, but an additional coax wire would still be required for OTA.

:welcome_s to DBSTalk

With a SWM you can diplexe a OTA into the SAT line.

So the one line will control both SAT tuners on the HR20 and both OTA tuners.

[veryoldschool]

:welcome_s to DBSTalk

With a SWM you can diplexe a OTA into the SAT line.

So the one line will control both SAT tuners on the HR20 and both OTA tuners.
And diplexed out at the receiver.

[urungus]

Seems worth waiting a few months for the cleaner single-coax installation, I guess my concern would be that only the OTA-less HR21 would be available by that time...

[veryoldschool]

Or in this case triplexed?

Seems worth waiting a few months for the cleaner single-coax installation, I guess my concern would be that only the OTA-less HR21 would be available by that time...
:lol: it's still diplexed since it's TV and SAT.
If you can wait [which seems to be imposable for some], sure as the SWM is the way to go. The SWM has two FTM ports that can run either five tuners or eight depending on which SWM you get. The SWM8 will run four HR-20s, while the SWM5 will run two and another tuner.

[carl6]

I guess my concern would be that only the OTA-less HR21 would be available by that time...

There are no indications at this time that DirecTV is going to discontinue the HR20.

Carl

[Michael D'Angelo]

To add on to what VOS said.

The SWM8 has an antenna in.

The SWM5 does not and you need to use diplexer and diplexe the antenna into the SAT lines.

[urungus]

Thanks for the info.

Just to clarify -- I know the HR21 has no external OTA connector, but can it internally demultiplex an OTA signal from a single SWM coax cable?

[Michael D'Angelo]

Thanks for the info.

Just to clarify -- I know the HR21 has no external OTA connector, but can it internally demultiplex an OTA signal from a single SWM coax cable?

no

[RobertE]

Thanks for the info.

Just to clarify -- I know the HR21 has no external OTA connector, but can it internally demultiplex an OTA signal from a single SWM coax cable?

NO, it has no external connector becuase there is NO OTA tuner. Period.

[urungus]

Thanks for the help everyone!