Help! Stacker? SWM? Suicide? Who wired this place?

[fcarrano]

Hi all. I have a 5lnb dish running into a Zinwell WB68 switch, with outputs to:

1) an old Sony receiver (one line)
2) an HR20-100 in the living room (two lines)
3) a Directv SD receiver (one line)
3) an HR20-100 in the bedroom (one line)

Whoever wired the house when it was built did something funky with the bedroom--the cable that comes from the Zinwell switch into the bedroom is connected to a diplexer, with outputs to the OTA cable, and to a splitter, which then has the Sat 1 and Sat 2 cables going into the receivers. So, diagrammatically, like this (ignoring the diplexer output to the OTA):


Sat dish-->Zinwell switch-->diplexer------>splitter---->Sat 1 & Sat 2

What I've found is perfect signal on Sat 1, and an intermittent "Searching for Signal" on Sat 2. Checking signal strength on Sat 2 either shows all 0's, or alternating 90s and 0s. It's odd; I would expect *never* to get signal on Sat 2 with this setup.

Anyways, I basically took out the diplexer and have the cable running from the switch into Sat 1.

I would like to take advantage of the dual tuners, but fishing a second cable through the wall is not a possibility. I do have empty outputs on the Zinwell switch.

Do I have any options? Is this what the fabled Single Wire Multiswitch would be good for? If so, how can I obtain one? Or would a stacker/destacker be of some use?

Appreciate any help before I go crazy.

Thanks!

[Earl Bonovich]

You will need to waith for the SWM.

[Tom Robertson]

Welcome to the forums, fcarrano. :welcome_s

Yes, many people do funky things in the...never mind family oriented site. :)

On a cleaner note, yes the person installing that arrangement did some very improper and funky wiring. May the SWM be in your life soon.

Cheers,
Tom

[TheWizz]

Yes, many people do funky things in the...never mind family oriented site. :)

On a cleaner note, yes the person installing that arrangement did some very improper and funky wiring. May the SWM be in your life soon.

Cheers,
Tom

I have a similar question (I think)...

I have a slimline 5LNB dish connected to a WB616. Two of the lines from the WB616 feed downstairs to my den. I can't add any additional lines from the WB616 into the den, so I am stuck with the two feeds from the WB616. I would like to stack TWO HR20s in the den to allow for recording four shows at the same time in the den. Is there anyway I can diplex the two lines coming into the den so I can connect them to all four inputs on both HR20s? I can get my hands on a WB68 if that might be an option to stack behind the WB616, but I don't know if a WB68 can work with only two inputs instead of the normal four. Is there a diplexer on the market that will allow for splitting a (5LNB HD) sat cable into two inputs for two HR20s? Hoping there is such an animal so I could buy two of them and use both HR20s in the same room for quad recording. Any help would be appreciated!

[veryoldschool]

I have a similar question (I think)...

I have a slimline 5LNB dish connected to a WB616. Two of the lines from the WB616 feed downstairs to my den. I can't add any additional lines from the WB616 into the den, so I am stuck with the two feeds from the WB616. I would like to stack TWO HR20s in the den to allow for recording four shows at the same time in the den. Is there anyway I can diplex the two lines coming into the den so I can connect them to all four inputs on both HR20s? I can get my hands on a WB68 if that might be an option to stack behind the WB616, but I don't know if a WB68 can work with only two inputs instead of the normal four. Is there a diplexer on the market that will allow for splitting a (5LNB HD) sat cable into two inputs for two HR20s? Hoping there is such an animal so I could buy two of them and use both HR20s in the same room for quad recording. Any help would be appreciated!
You can run a WB68 off the WB616 with FOUR inputs.
You can't stack [destack] the SAT signals since there are three frequency bands in use now [250-750 MHz, 950-1450 MHz, & 1650-2150 MHz].
You also can't split the SAT feed to the receiver since the receiver send out the tune voltage it needs to tune to.
Here is what could happen: Tuner #1 sends 18 volt [for 101 or 99 even transponders], while tuner #2 send 13 volts 22 kHz tone [for 119 or 103 odd transponders], but this would end up being 18 volts with the 22 kHz tone which would tune the even transponders from 110/119 or 103, so neither tuner would be tuned to the correct transponder.

[harsh]

I would like to stack TWO HR20s in the den to allow for recording four shows at the same time in the den.You are going to have to wait for an SWM solution as well.

[TheWizz]

You are going to have to wait for an SWM solution as well.

I have one other distinct OTA cable going into the den. (A total of three RG6 cables: two from the WB616 and one from the OTA antenna). Could I split it to go to the OTA input for the two HR20s and then put one each of the two SAT lines into the two HR20s and be able to (dual) record the following on each HR20: (1) MPEG2 OTA HD channel + (1) MPEG4 HD SAT channel ??

If I could do that, that would be a good interim solution until the infamous SWM solution is available and allow for dual recording on each HR20, as long as one of the recordings in a local OTA HD channel.

Is that workable for now???

[veryoldschool]

I have one other distinct OTA cable going into the den. (A total of three RG6 cables: two from the WB616 and one from the OTA antenna). Could I split it to go to the OTA input for the two HR20s and then put one each of the two SAT lines into the two HR20s and be able to (dual) record the following on each HR20: (1) MPEG2 OTA HD channel + (1) MPEG4 HD SAT channel ??

If I could do that, that would be a good interim solution until the infamous SWM solution is available and allow for dual recording on each HR20, as long as one of the recordings in a local OTA HD channel.

Is that workable for now???
That sounds workable. One SAT feed to each DVR and one OTA feed to the same. You can record one SAT channel while recording another OTA channel, on each.

[TheWizz]

That sounds workable. One SAT feed to each DVR and one OTA feed to the same. You can record one SAT channel while recording another OTA channel, on each.

SSSSWWWWWEEEEEEETTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Thanks!!

[harsh]

SSSSWWWWWEEEEEEETTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!! :) Thanks!!Are two half DVRs really better than one whole one?

[veryoldschool]

Are two half DVRs really better than one whole one?
One recording OTA locals and a SAT feed also isn't really "half" a DVR is it?

[TheWizz]

One recording OTA locals and a SAT feed also isn't really "half" a DVR is it?

Even though D* does broadcast all the local Houston channels, I have a good OTA HD setup throughout my home and get good signals (even in heavy rain :eek2: ) - plus, a majority of the programs I record are on the local channels, save a few SCI-FI HD shows. ;) So this should work well for me. The only downside I see is that they will be recording in MPEG2 vs. MPEG4 and taking up more space. Time to order that 1TB eSATA drive!

I am replacing three ReplayTV 5040s with this setup, so excited to get HD recordings with one more recordable tuner/channel.

[veryoldschool]

Even though D* does broadcast all the local Houston channels, I have a good OTA HD setup throughout my home and get good signals (even in heavy rain :eek2: ) - plus, a majority of the programs I record are on the local channels, save a few SCI-FI HD shows. ;) So this should work well for me. The only downside I see is that they will be recording in MPEG2 vs. MPEG4 and taking up more space. Time to order that 1TB eSATA drive!

I am replacing three ReplayTV 5040s with this setup, so excited to get HD recordings with one more recordable tuner/channel.
With the OTA, you can also record two OTA channels to as both OTA tuners will be active.

[TheWizz]

With the OTA, you can also record two OTA channels to as both OTA tuners will be active.

Thanks. So does that imply that I should be able to record one SAT channel and two OTA channels at the same time?

And if I did have two SAT lines coming into a single HR20 and an OTA line coming in, could I record up to four shows simultaneously?

[veryoldschool]

Thanks. So does that imply that I should be able to record one SAT channel and two OTA channels at the same time?

And if I did have two SAT lines coming into a single HR20 and an OTA line coming in, could I record up to four shows simultaneously?
No implication.. you can only record two things at the same time.

[TheWizz]

No implication.. you can only record two things at the same time.

Thanks - I guess I was getting greedy wanting to record more than two channels. :) But it never hurts to ask...

[Tom Robertson]

Welcome to the forums, TheWizz! :welcome_s

One of the improvements of the HR20 over the earlier models is the ability to record on both OTA tuners even if only one satellite line is connected.

Good luck,
Tom

[TheWizz]

Welcome to the forums, TheWizz! :welcome_s

One of the improvements of the HR20 over the earlier models is the ability to record on both OTA tuners even if only one satellite line is connected.

Good luck,
Tom

Thanks! Good to be here!! So it sounds like in my case as long as I want to record at least one local channel, the only downside is that it will take up more space in MPEG2 vs. via SAT at MPEG4.

Thanks again everyone for enlightening me on this subject.