Cascading Dish 500 Switches

[Lorax]

I have determined thru the setup menu that my DISH 500 has SW21 for switching of the satellites. I have a dual LNB feed, so I am assuming I have two SW21 switches....

In order to receive additional feeds for two more receivers is it possible to add a switch(es) inside the house to split the feeds for routing to additional receivers?

Or do I have to physically replace the SW21 switches at the Dish itself with a SW44/64?

It would be great if I could use a SW64 inside the house since I have an old DirecTV 18 dish. If I am not mistaken I could point this at 61.5deg and be HDTV ready.....

Any help or advice is surely appreciated.
Dave

You have to replace the SW21 switches, but they don't have to be at the dish. You can run 2 more wires into the house,

[Lightnin1]

How many sat feeds are you wanting to end up with? 110, 119, 61.5?

[Lorax]

Yes....I want to be prepared to add HDTV in the next year to all my TVs/Receivers......

Currently I only need 110, 119...But it makes no sense to me to save a few bucks on a switch now and pay more later when I have plans throughout the house to move into Hi-Def...So I am assuming I should buy the SW64 and run two more cables from the DISH500 and a set of cables from the old 18 dish to a central location within the house....

If this is correct, then the only question is on the 18" dish. Its currently single LNB, should I convert to dual LNB? Is that necessary....

[Neil Derryberry]

I would wait until the dish pro line of switches and lnb's are out... I would also wait intil the merger is approved or denied... both of these will make a difference in what you can/should buy.

[scooper]

Lorax - you want to use the SW64 - all LNB's into the SW64 MUST be Dual LNB, including 61.5.

As far as getting new DishPro LNB's/ switches - that depends on when and how soon you need it. The DishPRo line is not currently available. If you want 3 slots in to 4 receivers RIGHT NOW, the SW64 is just about your cheapest and only option. If you can afford to wait, I'd hold off.

[Scott Greczkowski]

The DishPro line has two problems with it

1) They will only work with Dish Pro Receivers (301, 501, 721 when available) For all other older legacy receivers you will need an adapter to have them work. And you also need DishPro LNBs.

2) If the merger goes through the Dishpro LNB's will be obsolite as on your new main Dish (hope you saw the photos) you will will get 101, 110 and 119 from that Dish, then if you have a second dish for locals or HDTV at 61.5 or 148 it will not work with the Dishpro stuff (the Dishpro switches only have 3 satellite inputs when you will need 4 inputs)

Maybe will see a DishPro Plus line of switches. :)

I am gonna move this to our new Technical area, this one qualifies :D

[Lorax]

Man o Man, everywhere I trun I open a new can of worms.....I get confused pretty easily even after I think I have it figured and it all keeps returning to the merger.....I guess I have no choice but to wait....But really I would like to add a 3rd and maybe 4th receiver reasonably cheap (I hate having two TVs with no hookups or total slaves) so I will look for an used SW44 and an used receiver to tide me over.....At least the cable is part of a home theater project, that is already budgeted and part of mving the house into a more "organized" flowchart of cabling hookups....

[Neil Derryberry]

"Man o Man, everywhere I trun I open a new can of worms"

Not really. There's several ways to do what you need to do, and we are just discussing options here. Either the sw44 or the sw64 would be a good fit.. I brought up the dish pro series because they are supposed to simplify cabling, but they are still vaporware. Rest assured, if you get 4 recievers running on Dish with current equipment, merger or not, they will keep you running.

We're glad to help here... let me know if we can help you further.

[HTguy]

Originally posted by Lorax
I have determined thru the setup menu that my DISH 500 has SW21 for switching of the satellites. I have a dual LNB feed, so I am assuming I have two SW21 switches....

It would be great if I could use a SW64 inside the house since I have an old DirecTV 18 dish. If I am not mistaken I could point this at 61.5deg and be HDTV ready.....



If you have 1 rcvr now you have 1 SW21, if you have 2 rcvrs you have 2.

If you want to add another rcvr or 2 to your D500 only you swap the sw21(s) for a SW44. If you want to use your Dtv dish for 61.5 get the SW64. Just make sure there is a dual-LNB for the Dtv dish. BTW, the SW64 requires a power inserter which is normally plugged in near the primary rcvr.

I don't see any reason to wait esp. if you plan to get HDTV soon.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Another great post HTguy!

We hope you join us often!

[jagsny]

I have dish network two dish, hdtv feed with 4 inputs for 4 receivers with sw 64. I am currently using receivers 811, 6000 and I think the standard 301. I unplugged the power inserter and then re plugged it after some time as I was moving a television to another room and there has been no signal input in all three receivers. Called tech help at Dish-network, did the tests but 0 signal shows on Point Dish signal strength screen onm all transponders at all angles. What could have probabely gone wrong? I have checked the power inserter transformer's output at 30V is okay, cables are fine, then what !!!

[SimpleSimon]

I suspect you haven't heard from anyone because you have: posted in a 30 month old thread posted in a thread with no bearing on your issue not registered, so no one can PM you