What type of connections are installed?

[aphoward]

I am moving into a new townhouse, and am preparing to order DirecTV service. I have had cable all my life, so I'm new to the whole satellite thing. The townhouse is already wired for cable, so what I'm wondering is what exactly will the installation consist of, besides the Dish itself. Will they have to run wires throughout the whole house, or can it be utilized with the cable system already in place?

Thanks in advance.

[Earl Bonovich]

If you are going the DVR route, you will want a 2nd cable run from the "dish" area, to where you are going to have the receiver.

If you are going to use a standard receiver... then you will probably only need to use your existing wiring.

[captain_video]

Depending on how old the townhouse is and when it was wired, it was probably wired with RG59 coax for cable. Satellite TV and digital cable both require the use of RG6 due to the higher bandwidth requirements. You can easily check which wiring is installed by opening up one of the outlet boxes on the wall and disconnecting the coax cable from the barrel connector on the wallplate.

Look at the center dielectric and note the diameter of the insulator around the center wire. RG59 uses a smaller diameter dielectric than RG6. You can use a piece of RG6 or an F56 connector to compare with the existing cable to see if they're the same. If they're not then you are going to have to rewire all of the outlets where you intend to install any satellite receivers.

If you're getting the new AT9 dish for mpeg4 locals then you should consider using a solid copper conductor RG6 cable. Most RG6 is copper-clad steel. This is what has been recommended to prevent attenuation of the dc voltaged used to switch the LNBs at the dish and multiswitch. Belden 1694A is an excellent choice for this but can get a tad pricey. I found it for a good price at Tri-State Electric online.

[aphoward]

The townhouse is fairly new, as we will be the first residents, so I will assume it is probably less than a year old, or at least not much more than that. Plus it is wired for Comcast digital cable, so I will assume it has the higher bandwidth coax you are referring to. I don't plan on doing any of this myself, we'll let DTV handle all of that stuff :)

Current plan is to have 1 HR20, 1 regular DVR, and 1-2 standard receivers. So they would install the dish and somehow install a connection between the dish and the standard wiring already in the house? But for the HR20 and the regular DVR, they would need to install a second line to those locations also?

This wouldn't affect the fact that I want to continue to use the cable system for Comcast Cable Internet, right?

Also, what is the model of regular (non-HD) DVR for the receiver we choose that is not connected to the HD tv?

Thanks guys, this website is sooo helpful for a "newbie".

[bobnielsen]

The townhouse is fairly new, as we will be the first residents, so I will assume it is probably less than a year old, or at least not much more than that. Plus it is wired for Comcast digital cable, so I will assume it has the higher bandwidth coax you are referring to. I don't plan on doing any of this myself, we'll let DTV handle all of that stuff :)

Current plan is to have 1 HR20, 1 regular DVR, and 1-2 standard receivers. So they would install the dish and somehow install a connection between the dish and the standard wiring already in the house? But for the HR20 and the regular DVR, they would need to install a second line to those locations also?

This wouldn't affect the fact that I want to continue to use the cable system for Comcast Cable Internet, right?

Also, what is the model of regular (non-HD) DVR for the receiver we choose that is not connected to the HD tv?

Thanks guys, this website is sooo helpful for a "newbie".

Hopefully there is a single point where all your cables are brought for interconnection and unless you get a really clueless installer, they should be able to handle it. It MIGHT be necessary to run all the cable on the outside of your house if the connection point isn't easily accessible for the additional cables. Of course they won't be able to hide the cable behind drywall (unless you want to spend a LOT extra). It shouldn't affect cable internet, as long as the cable modem connects to a cable where you want your DTV receiver (in which case the installer would have to run another cable.

The non-HD DVR they currently install is the R-15.