First Look report on new SWM8

I thought I'd write up a summary of my experiences on the new SWM8 that I just received yesterday, as well as its installation. I'd encourage others who have been fortunate enough to participate in this new SWM8 release to do the same.

First, let me say that I am glad to be part of the testing team - Doug and DirecTV - thank you for the opportunity.

I have previously received, installed, and tested an SWM5 in my location, with plenty of practice in installing brand new compression connectors, cables, splitters, and diplexers. I've been lucky enought to test other equipment in the past as well, so I am a bit of a veteran....but always learn new things every time I go through this process.

My installation involved the setup of 2 devices. First, I removed my SWM5 and reconfigured the installation via a replacement by the SWM8. Second, I then used the SWM5 to replace an aging Zinwell WB8 multiswitch.

Since I already had a series of 4 (5-2300Mhz Skywalker Model SKY23302D) splitters connected from the outputs of my Sonora Power Inserter unit, I already had the heavy lifting in place to run 2 parallel SWM units. (note: in the photos, you will see a white low-voltage cabinet, which now contains my SWM5 - that is where the second set of Dish outputs leads to).

The other elements I leveraged included the removal of 2 diplexers for OTA (to 2 HR20-700's), which were no longer needed, since I reran my OTA to the SWM8 and through the SWM1 and SMW2 outputs to the HD DVRs in the new layout.

As you will also notice in the photos, I took the SWM1 and SWM2 outputs and ran them through 2 more (5-2300Mhz) Skywalker Model SKY23302D splitters, to effectively create a total of 4 SWM outputs (to 8 tuners).

In a similar fashion, I set up the SWM5 in much the same manner inside the white low-voltage cabinet shown in the photos. That provides me with a total of 5 more tuner support.

In all, I can now operate HD DVRs with a total of 13 tuners. Since my H20-100 HD receiver only has 1 tuner (unlike a DVR, which would use 2 at a time), and I also have 3 HR DVRs (6 tuners in all), this leaves me with a total of 6 still-available tuners for added HD receivers or DVRs. I hope to get another HD DVR soon.

As for the SWM8 install - with the reconfiguration...all I had to do was plug everything in (after double-checking all my connections - which I always suggest, no matter how many times you do these things) - and then I rebooted each of my HD DVRs and HD receiver (so that they could detect the new SWM setup.

Immediately, everything worked perfectly. All devices detected the new SWM8 and secondary SWM5 units. Singal levels were virtually identical to the previous configuration, including OTA signals (I had read that some previous SWM8 models had slightly lower OTA levels).

All Internet, Network, and Network Services tested out perfectly.

Widgets, Fortunes, and Mediashare operate on all HD DVRs perfectly.

All favorites, channels, and recorded items operate perfectly.

In short - all is very well on the SWM8 (and SWM5) front.

Now some SWM8 details:

There is a site here, which provides various wiring diagrams, FAQ information, and good solid information on SWM8 specifications as well:

http://www.swm8.com/

As for my unit -

Stamped on the unit:

Manufacture date is 10/3/08.

Firmware date is 8/22/08.

Firmware version - 2.0.16
Firmware Library version - 2.0.7

The units came with a very similar Power Inserter (PI) as came with the SWM5...the differences are very, very small, and revolve around the actual power delivered.

As for the rest...a picture (or several) are worth 1000 words. Good luck fellow testers. Please share your information here.

 

If anyone else has theirs installed, and has their own installation information/photos...please feel free to add their insights in this thread.

 

Here's what I used on both HR20-700's:

CHANNELMASTER CM4001IFD COMBINER

They don't cost all that much...if you do a Google with that model number, you can find them at a reasonable price.

 

Actually I saw almost NO loss going through the SWM8 for OTA, but then, I have the Sonora unit prior to the SWM8 for the sat signal, and line amp for the OTA, so both sources are very solid to start with and work well through the SWM8 outputs.

 

Here is a great site with an FAQ and Specification information on SWM*'s, as well as diagrams for several different wiring scenarios:

http://www.swm8.com/

 

The SWM8 I got came with a PI-28...with a very, very slight variation in power output to the other one I already had for my SWM5.

Good eyes!

 

The only difference on the SWM8 and SWM5 Power Injectors (both are PI-28's) are extremely slight amp and voltage differences....

 

Thank you for sharing your experience!

 

Everyone always like pictures!

That's up to you if you want to share.