Dual Tuner HD DVR Connections

If you are getting one receiver, it's probably a 722. The installer will want to place it by the HD set, however it can be set up like your 625 is but you may have problems with the remotes. The easy solution, but you may have to pay more upfront would be a Hopper with 1 Joey. You would probably have to tell Dish you are getting a second HD tv very soon and you would need to pay an additional $17 per month for the receiver fees on top of your subscription. You may have other options, but they may require some rewiring for the receiver and having to adapt the remotes in order to make they work correctly as tv1 with the HD output is IR and tv2 (sd output) is UHF.

They mentioned the hopper but I'm not really interested since we only have one HDTV. So if they mount the receiver by the HDTV upstairs, will i be able to listen to the basement TV in surround sound (does the coax carry this info?).

That I am not sure of, but you should know that the Hopper and Joey both have rca outputs for sd (if the tv only has coax input, there are rf adaptors to give you coax while others have just used an old vcr to do the same thing). What connections are to your surround sound at present?

MattN03 said:

They mentioned the hopper but I'm not really interested since we only have one HDTV.

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OK, but how long WILL that other TV last? And, since you can ONLY buy HDTV's now - & as cheap as they are now...wouldn't it be better to be prepared for when you get one? This solution would be WAY better than a completely separate HD receiver down the road - plus you would NOT be able to share the DVR between both sets going the separate receiver(s) route.
Plus, you are getting a 3rd tuner that can be used by EITHER TV, for recording or live TV viewing. (you WILL use that 3rd tuner... )

So if they mount the receiver by the HDTV upstairs, will i be able to listen to the basement TV in surround sound (does the coax carry this info?).

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NOT Dolby Digital, as you have to have either a direct HDMI (assuming your A/V receiver would support this) or an optical connection. This is ANOTHER good reason for going with the H/J system; BOTH the Hopper & Joey boxes have an DD optical, HDMI & composite (analog) audio/video outputs. (the Hopper also has component video outs, in case your (older) HDTV does NOT have an HDMI input.

I have a 722 and max it out in this way. I also have a whole house audio / video from B&K. I have the 722 physically located in an electronics room downstairs.
I use the component / optical from TV1 for video / audio in my 92" home theater in this location (next room but close enough). I also use an IR repeater to solve that problem
I ran a 50' HDMI cable (thank you monoprice) to a 32" HDTV upstairs in the kitchen from TV1. A separate IR repeater through the whole house system allows control.
I connected TV1 and TV2 AV outs to the whole house receiver and use the TV2 remote in master bedroom to an SDTV.
I also enabled the distribution coax from the 722 with both tuners so that both upstairs TVs can see either tuner from the coax feed if either is busy (ya know what I mean).

There are other tricks to my system (with an antenna) but that is the jist of my 722 connections.

huskerroo said:

I also use an IR repeater to solve that problem

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You know that you CAN make the TV1 remote into UHF w/needing the IR repeater stuff...

If you want HD on TV1 and surround on TV2 then the dual tuners are NOT for you. They only do stereo on TV2. For something like that you will need Hopper/Joey.

dishrich said:

OK, but how long WILL that other TV last?

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Chances are that crt tv will be good for a few more years. I have a 1999 32" Panasonic that's still going strong. By saving that $11 per month (compared to a 722K), even if the sdtv only lasts for a year, that's a $132 savings. That will cover the $99 fee for a H/J upgrade and still leave money in his pocket. And who knows that set may last even longer saving him even more!

While a third tuner is a nice upgrade, the op is only using two tuners now and didn't mention needing another one as of yet.