[jmhpsu93]

Long time lurker and searcher, first time poster.

Anyway, I'm looking for some advice on how to best set up a Hawpah/Joey combination for the following 6 TV configuration:

Room/TV HD DVR use Comment
Family Room yes often primary watching television (home theater)
Study yes rare this is where the cable modem and wifi router will be
Master Bedroom yes often
Kitchen maybe rare
Roof Deck no rare mainly used for music, not much TV use
Workout Room maybe rare

I was thinking of a 2 Hopper/3 Joey configuration while splitting off one of the feeds to the roof deck to save the $7/month for something we'll rarely use. My biggest questions are where do we choose the Hoppers to go and which to default the Joeys to.

More info:

• We will utilize the PTA feature, probably only on the Master and Family TVs
• We record roughly 20 shows regularly, though they usually aren't all in season at the same time
• We've never had a need for more than 2 DVR channels at once, but two does happen from time to time
• I can't see ever watching more than 4 tuners at once
• We have double RG-6 to every outlet in the house, which all converges in a small room in the basement (which is also the workout room)

Thanks for any advice you can provide...install is in mid-July when we move.

 

[P Smith]

Is "rare" mean DVR? You can't move it physically when you wish, so regardless if it rare or often use, it should be marked as DVR. Right ?
Perhaps telling if the point of presence will require recording and how many programs same time ...

 

[jmhpsu93]

Is "rare" mean DVR? You can't move it physically when you wish, so regardless if it rare or often use, it should be marked as DVR. Right ?
Perhaps telling if the point of presence will require recording and how many programs same time ...

The intent of that column is to indicate how much DVR usage would be at the TV, not whether the feature is needed at all. My main concern is how to manage the use of the available tuners so that recording is possible while watching TVs at the same time.

 

[P Smith]

We all know a difference between intentions and real life... I would treat your table as very preliminary info, a prelude to begin talk about ... not final blueprint for design of your sat-TV home system.
You should come to numbers as I outlined above.

 

[RasputinAXP]

2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys. Hoppers in Family and Master, Joey in study, Joey in kitchen or workout room. Move that one around as needed.

 

[P Smith]

To fast and to easy ... perhaps too fast.
Now if you'll take time to gather info how many channels the household will record simultaneously ...

 

[3HaloODST]

Yeah... Need a little more information before we can help much... DVR use doesn't matter so much as tuner use. Also need to know which rooms are acceptable for mirroring of (SD) content. So far we've gathered that the roof deck is eligible... Any other TVs eligible?

Also need to know which TVs/rooms are able to be hooked together via coax.

 

[jmhpsu93]

Well, since you asked...

1. We anticipate a maximum of two tuners of DVR recording at one time, in addition to the tuner used for the PTAT recordings.
2. The family room and master bedroom TVs would be mostly used in the evenings (when the vast majority of our DVR recordings would occur).
3. The kitchen and workout room TVs would be used in the morning or during lunch hour
4. The study TV would be used during the weekdays (I work out of the house and would probably have it on in the background on occasion), and rarely in the evenings when it is also a guest room
5. The rooftop deck is rarely used (nice weekday evenings and some weekends), would probably never access any DVR content

The rooftop deck is definitely acceptable as a "mirrored" SD-only TV, and I would probably mirror the workout room.

I was thinking of using one of the Hoppers as the "DVR Central", including my external hard drive from my current 722, and then Ethernet-connect this one in my study. I would put the other Hopper (that would have no DVR content and would never be used to record anything, thereby always having three tuners available) in the workout room, knowing this would never need DVR content. The master and family Joeys would be pointed to "DVR Central" by default, with the option to switch Hoppers if all tuners are used. The kitchen Joey would be pointed to the workout room Hopper, with the option to switch to DVR Central for any rare DVR use. I would mirror the rooftop deck off the workout room.

Anything else I need to add? Thanks!

 

[jmhpsu93]

Yeah... Need a little more information before we can help much... DVR use doesn't matter so much as tuner use. Also need to know which rooms are acceptable for mirroring of (SD) content. So far we've gathered that the roof deck is eligible... Any other TVs eligible?

Also need to know which TVs/rooms are able to be hooked together via coax.

All rooms are double-RG6, all converging together in a basement hub. The owner/builder is a gear-geek.

 

[Marlin Guy]

Physical proximity to each other and to Internet will determine locations, but you need Two Hoppers and four Joeys.
If the locations work for cabling, I'd do one Hopper in the Family Room and another in the Study. Joeys to all else. Your installer can help with the final decisions, based on your needs.

 

[Marlin Guy]

All rooms are double-RG6, all converging together in a basement hub. The owner/builder is a gear-geek.

All you need is a single RG6 for each device. So the installer should have no problems with this setup.

 

[3HaloODST]

The double-RG6 will be good for allowing the Joey to mirror SD content (note that you must use a separate RF modulator. Hopper/Joey have no NTSC RF outputs.)