Ok, I have spent a good amount of time going through various boards (including this one and TivoCommunity) to understand the ins and outs of the new hardware. My wife is a staunch Tivo advocate, but I want the new HD channels and ST in HD. So, I need to at least add one of the new receivers. If you knowledgeable folks wouldn't mind, please "check my work" below:
- I will need a new 5-LNB dish
- My existing multi is a Spaun SMS51602NF. All the current receivers I have are DTivos, HDTivos and one old Sony HD standalone. I know that the existing Spaun can't properly distribute signals from the new dish to the HR21.
- I know I could just create a new network via a second dish. I'd rather not do that and instead swap out the existing dish.
- My thought is that I should just keep the existing multiplex and just cascade it. I know that I can't use an SWM upstream, due to the lack of sufficient legacy ports (my understanding is that I would need 4 to cascade to my existing Spaun and the SWM 8 only has 2). But, I believe I can use a WB68 to cascade to the Spaun. 4 feeds would go to the Spaun and 4 would then be available for up to 2 new HR21s.
- Obviously, I can't distribute OTA via the above, but that's ok as I have a separate OTA dist network with runs to the zones where the HR21s would likely go. If needed later and if the wife decides that it's ok to move away from Tivo, I could switch the whole system over to SWM.
- I know that if I want OTA through the HR21, I will need an AM21.
- This one is a question. Even with one additional HR21, I don't think I would need more than 16 feeds total. So I could instead use one multi from the new dish (WB616) and dump the Spaun. Since there would be no trouble doing this installation change, any thoughts on one route vs the other?
Thanks for any input.
Jeff
