Making sure I get this right!

[trmaier]

Hello all,

I have a few questions for the experts out there. We are currently in the middle of constructing a new home, and I am going to be doing the cable layout and pulling for all coax (among others) runs. Before I begin, I want to make sure I'm pulling the right stuff. I've read elsewhere that some say that 100% copper center conductor will be required for the RG6 cable for the new HD receivers. Is this true, or can I just use Quad Shield RG6 cable? I want to make sure I have the right stuff run!

Also, as far as the runs from the satellite, I understand that the best thing to do is run 5 RG6 drops from the satellite, 4 for the the receiver(s) and one for OTA HDTV antenna, to my media distribution center. I should mention here that I'm in an area that still does not offer locals in HD from Directv (Iowa). I'm planning on getting an OTA antenna for HD locals anyway, as not all HD locals will be broadcast through DTV, so is it a big deal that Directv will probably not install an AT9 dish right away? I'll still make the runs in preparation of this possibility some day.

The last question is, does anyone have any good ideas on the best way to get the cable runs from the outside to the inside? What have others done in this area?

Thanks!

Tom

[Chris Blount]

Hi Tom and welcome to DBSTalk! :welcome_s

There are many ways to do it so I'm sure a few will post here.

When I had my house built a few years ago, I had them run 4 runs of RG6 to the main living area, 4 runs to our upstairs loft area, and one run to each bedroom. The living room has a HD Tivo so two runs are for the satellite and one for the antenna with an extra just in case. The loft has a regular DirecTivo.

All of the cables converge to one outside area near the power meter where I installed a box to house the terminated cables (not shown in the pictures below because it wasn't installed yet).

When the DirecTV guys showed up, he simply installed the dish and used the cable connections I had setup for him.

The thing I like about my setup is that I can patch any signal from one room to another by simply going out to the side of the house and connecting the cables.

Like I said, there are many (and better) ways to do this but this is how I had it done for my situation. Here are some pics of the install. These were taken right after the DirecTV guy was done. You can see how he used 4 of the cables from the dish that eventually run to the living room and loft (two runs each).

http://www.dbstalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2363&d=1093781653
http://www.dbstalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2364&d=1093781660
http://www.dbstalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2362&d=1093781648

[carl6]

DirecTV specifies the solid copper center for new HD installs, because of the additional power requirements of the 5-LNB dish. DC voltage drop is less in the solid copper than in copper clad steel. It really depends on how long your cables are as to whether that will be an important consideration. Up to 75 feet or so, you will probably be okay with either. Much over that, and you might have issues with copper clad steel.

Pick some central wiring point within your house, and run all of the lines from the dish and ota antenna to that central point. Then wire from there to each location that you plan to put a tv. You will want 2 coax runs for a DVR (SD or HD), one for each tuner. If you also want ota, you will want a 3rd coax run (you can't diplex with the AT9 dish and MPEG4 feeds). You will want 1 run for a non-DVR receiver, and again, if you also want ota, a second run.

Don't overlook voice and data drops at those locations also.

Quad shield is not needed unless you have fairly strong ota signals in your area. I used all quad shield (copper clad steel), but that is overkill for most installations. I don't have HD, but did have significant ota bleed on the applicable channels (mostely resolved with quad shield and good connectors).

Carl

[trmaier]

Thanks for the replys, so far, guys!

Still mulling it all over. What would folks recommend in the way of distribution boxes? I've been looking at the Leviton boxes, but I know there are many other options!

Thanks,

Tom