[bradneal]

Ok, I'm not sure that I'm posting this in the right place, but here goes... And please be patient, this gets a little confusing.

I had a VIP722 installed in February of this year. The installer ran the TV2 output to a nearby bedroom, but split that same TV2 cable and sent the other half to a different bedroom where we hooked up an DP301 SD receiver. All is well.

I wanted him to hook up a UHF antenna while he was there so I could pull in my local digital off-air feeds, but the antenna that I ordered had not come in yet, so he said the hookup is pretty simple and that I could do it myself.

He instructed me to pickup a couple of diplexers and tap into the cable coming off the satellite with the off-air feed. Then I was to add a splitter at the back of the 722 and run a cable to the off-air input on the back of the receiver. Again, I did, and like magic, I have 10 new digital stations.

But, then I went to turn on the TV in the bedroom, the one with the DP301, and it no longer sees a signal. Instead, I get the screen that says something to the effect "searching for satellite step 1 of 5, but it never finds the signal.

Any suggestions as to what I may have done wrong? I know the cable is good, because if I unhook the receiver, I can tune to channel 60, I get the TV2 feed.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brad

 

[ChuckA]

There is a cable that connects to the 301 Sat input port where the receiver gets its satelite signal. Did you do anything to that cable? Each receiver must have a direct connection to either the dish or a switch. It can not be "split" with other signals.

 

[bradneal]

Originally Posted by ChuckA View Post
There is a cable that connects to the 301 Sat input port where the receiver gets its satelite signal. Did you do anything to that cable? Each receiver must have a direct connection to either the dish or a switch. It can not be "split" with other signals.

Hi Chuck,
Thanks for the quick response to my problem.

I have sketched up a quick diagram of my setup (see attached) both before I added the off-air and after. The items in red are what I installed. That which is in black is what the Dish installer put in.

Your comment about each receiver having to have a direct connection to the dish makes sense, but that is not the way the installer hooked things up as you can see in my diagram. And until I added the off-air stuff, all was working fine.

Thanks again,
Brad

Edited to correct digram

 

[ChuckA]

I'm no expert in wiring these things in but I have done a few. I don't see any way that 301 would work if it was wired like that. If it were connected to the modulated output (home distribution) of the 722 it would get no satelite signal at all. If the cable went directly into the TV and not the 301 you would get the TV2 output from the 722 but you would not get independent programming on that TV. Are you saying you get the sat channels on that TV and not the output of the 722? That is to say, you can watch a different program on TV3 than you see on TV2?

Also, in your changes (in red) you have a splitter indicated to feed the OTA. Is that really a splitter or a diplexer? It should be a diplexer as they are always used in pairs. One to combine two signals and one to separate them again.

The other one you have labeled as splitter (in black) that feeds the two tuners in the 722 is actually a DPP Separator not a normal splitter.

 

[bradneal]

I'm no expert in wiring these things in but I have done a few. I don't see any way that 301 would work if it was wired like that. If it were connected to the modulated output (home distribution) of the 722 it would get no satelite signal at all. If the cable went directly into the TV and not the 301 you would get the TV2 output from the 722 but you would not get independent programming on that TV. Are you saying you get the sat channels on that TV and not the output of the 722? That is to say, you can watch a different program on TV3 than you see on TV2?

Also, in your changes (in red) you have a splitter indicated to feed the OTA. Is that really a splitter or a diplexer? It should be a diplexer as they are always used in pairs. One to combine two signals and one to separate them again.

The other one you have labeled as splitter (in black) that feeds the two tuners in the 722 is actually a DPP Separator not a normal splitter.

Hi Chuck,
Ok, I checked the connections at the receiver and you are correct. That is, in fact, a diplexer at the OTA, and a DPP Separator to feed the 2 tuners (I corrected the diagram).

As for the cable coming into TV3, if I run the cable directly into the TV, I do get the same feed as TV2, but when the DP301 receiver is connected to that same cable, I was able to change channels from the DP301. I have no explanation for why it worked, but to the best of my knowledge, it did.

Thanks again,
Brad

 

[ChuckA]

How many cables come in from the dish? One or two? You should have one cable going to the 722 and one going to the 301. Or it is possible you have one cable comming from the dish into a switch and two cables out from the switch, one to each receiver. In a simple installation with just two receivers an external switch is not usually used.

If the 301 was working, I suspect there is some other cables/switch you are not aware of. The receiver can't use the home distribution output of the 722 as a satelite signal.

 

[bradneal]

Two cables coming in. One to the 722 downstairs and one to a 411 in the upstairs living room.

If there were a switch, where would that most likely be located, and what would it look like?

The thing that has me stumped is that the feed going to the 301 is routed into a wall from behind the 722 and there are no other cables that could have been attached to it other than that TV2 cable.

I wonder if I could get the same guy from the installation company to come back out and show me what he did.

Don't get me wrong, what you are telling me makes perfect sense. I just can't figure out what is different now than when it was working, because I didn't remove any hardware items or anything like that.

But this is really perplexing.

-Brad

 

[ChuckA]

It would be connected to one of the cables comming from the dish. You can find a picture of a DPP44 switch here.

How long has it been sinced you used the 301? Since Feb?

 

[bradneal]

It would be connected to one of the cables comming from the dish. You can find a picture of a DPP44 switch here.

I don't think I have anything resembling that.

How long has it been sinced you used the 301? Since Feb?

It was working until last week when I installed the OTA antenna.

-Brad