[E91]

So, I am in escrow on a new home. The previous owner was a car collector, so there are actually two separate two-car garages on the lot. One is in the back yard, detached from the house by about about 30 feet. The other is attached to the home in the front.

My intent is to bring in a contractor to change the detached garage into a nice rec room and home office (its huge). I'd like to put a very large LCD in there, and then hook up a smaller set or two in the main house. The main house is on raised platform, the detached garage is on a concrete slab.

The current owners do not have satellite but they've wired the home for cable, and when they built the main garage, they did run a cable line from the main house to the garage.

My plan has been to get both cable (for internet and phone service) and continue with my D* service for television.

I'm wondering what the best to work things with D* might be. I could install a dish on the roof, and run the satellite signal into the main house without much difficulty. But, I'm not sure how I would then get the signal into the garage rec room, short of running cables along the fence in the back yard. I thought about somehow using the existing cable lines, but the problem being that I will also have a cable signal coming into the house for broadband internet access.

And, yeah, I know that I can solve all these fun and games by parking in the detached garage and using the attached garage as a rec room. I don't want to do this though because parking in the attached garage is so much easier.

Any suggestions?

 

[hilmar2k]

You could install a second dish on the garage.

 

[texasbrit]

Yes, a second dish might be best - that's what I did....about 60ft from the main house to the office in the garden. Avoids the need to trench....

 

[E91]

How does that impact my rates? Does that mean two separate accounts?

BTW, I appreciate this suggestion. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it myself.

 

[hasan]

How does that impact my rates? Does that mean two separate accounts?

BTW, I appreciate this suggestion. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it myself.

No rate issue, I have two dishes, one on the house and one on a detached garage about 60' from the north end of the house. You do have to pay for the 2nd dish yourself, I don't think they cover a 2nd dish as part of any installation.

 

[E91]

Thanks! This is great.

 

[carl6]

If you want to use whole-home (multi-room viewing) service, you will need some type of connectivity, coax or ethernet, between the two buildings. If the garage location will stand entirely on it's own, then not an issue.

 

[hasan]

If you want to use whole-home (multi-room viewing) service, you will need some type of connectivity, coax or ethernet, between the two buildings. If the garage location will stand entirely on it's own, then not an issue.

Excellent point. I have the 2nd dish/hr20-100 on wireless adapter, it connects to the router where the main dish-multiple dvrs/deca/whdvr setup is. Everything sees everything.

In other words, you can run a hybrid network with WHDVR. The big part of the network is DECA, one dish and dvr is non-DECA, but linked to the main system with a wireless adapter (WGA600N)

 

[texasbrit]

I also have the receiver on the remote dish connected via a wireless adapter, as per Hasan's post, to participate in whole home.

 

[Alebob911]

The other model for wireless adaptors WET610N works well too and is also supported with the current software on the HD/HDDVR's. I don't think there was much of a change between the WGA600N and the WET610N other than case design and maybe antenna placement. I used both and both work well. They both install via the onscreen software that is in the HD/HDDRV's very easily. Just make sure you have your SSID and password for your wireless network. Great suggestion hasan!

 

[Mertzen]

The second dish would not be covered on the standard install. But some green to the installer should work.

 

[E91]

If you want to use whole-home (multi-room viewing) service, you will need some type of connectivity, coax or ethernet, between the two buildings. If the garage location will stand entirely on it's own, then not an issue.

The two buildings are connected via ethernet. The past owner had hard wired everything. So, I should be able to keep the multi-room viewing stuff (which I currently enjoy).

 

[GregAmy]

The two buildings are connected via ethernet. The past owner had hard wired everything. So, I should be able to keep the multi-room viewing stuff (which I currently enjoy).

I just refurbished a detached garage. Used direct-burial CAT6 and coax (buried a pair of each, for backup) for both Internet access and DTV whole-home, as well as wanting to record garage/mancave-specific items on the garage DVR. Stuff's not that expensive, and I used a garden shovel to bury it ~6" down. Easy.

If you weren't in Cali I'd give you a helluva deal on the rest of the 1000' rolls of each we bought... - GA

 

[E91]

I just refurbished a detached garage. Used direct-burial CAT6 and coax (buried a pair of each, for backup) for both Internet access and DTV whole-home, as well as wanting to record garage/mancave-specific items on the garage DVR. Stuff's not that expensive, and I used a garden shovel to bury it ~6" down. Easy.

If you weren't in Cali I'd give you a helluva deal on the rest of the 1000' rolls of each we bought... - GA

I love this forum. I wouldn't have thought that there was anybody out there who had attempted this sort of thing!

I can't bury a line in soft dirt, because there is nothing put concrete between the house and the detached garage. But, one other option would be to run one line into the main house, and then run another line along the rear fence, and then into the garage/rec room.

I could avoid all these fun and games by just tossing D* and going with cable (the detached garage is wired for cable). That would be cheap to do since I'll get my internet through cable.

However, I really do enjoy D* and their sports coverage, and want to stay with them.

 

[GregAmy]

Just had another thought. You said you have a single coax running to the garage; is it of quality sufficient for DECA? What's your DVR model?

Why can you not set up a DECA network through that coax so that you can view recordings on another DVR in the house, and then for Internet access connect a wireless router into the other Ethernet port on the DVR (assuming it's like my HR-22s). I have my Samsung TV connected to that port for Internet access; it grabs a DHCP IP from the DECA network, which is connected to my home network via one of those DECA router/bridge. No reason you can't do the same thing with a PC and/or wireless router.

And with that DECA network you can watch live TV...

So you get it all: live TV, ability to record two shows, access to recordings on another box, and Internet access, all through that single existing coax.

Just another option, not quite clear how that will work out for you. - GA

 

[The Merg]

@GregAmy:

It is highly recommended to NOT use the second Ethernet port on your DVR to connect other devices to your home network. The HR2x DVRs do not have a dedicated switch for the two Ethernet ports, thus the DVR has to use CPU cycles to maintain the bridge between the two ports.

Although still unsupported, a better way to do what you want is to put a splitter on the coax run. One output goes to the DVR while the other goes to a DECA unit with a PI. You can then run the Ethernet from the DECA to a switch, router, or device.

- Merg

 

[RobertE]

Surprised no one has asked, does the current cable line go from the main building to the secondary? If so how?

If it is in conduit with other low voltage lines, you could pull a second coax through it.

 

[GregAmy]

It is highly recommended to NOT use the second Ethernet port on your DVR...

Sure, that makes sense. But however many CPU cycles the H22 has to use to process that data, its real-time performance is certainly no worse than the crappy performance I'm normally getting with this interface (even before I used that second port)... <shrug>

...a better way to do what you want is to put a splitter on the coax run. One output goes to the DVR while the other goes to a DECA unit with a PI. You can then run the Ethernet from the DECA to a switch, router, or device.

Since I have HR22s with external DECA already (with the Ethernet cable going into the DVR's external Ethernet port) can I then intercept that Ethernet from the DECA and insert a switch instead? Seems like I can, and seems a much better choice. - GA

 

[wallfishman]

So, I am in escrow on a new home. The previous owner was a car collector, so there are actually two separate two-car garages on the lot. One is in the back yard, detached from the house by about about 30 feet. The other is attached to the home in the front.

My intent is to bring in a contractor to change the detached garage into a nice rec room and home office (its huge). I'd like to put a very large LCD in there, and then hook up a smaller set or two in the main house. The main house is on raised platform, the detached garage is on a concrete slab.

The current owners do not have satellite but they've wired the home for cable, and when they built the main garage, they did run a cable line from the main house to the garage.

My plan has been to get both cable (for internet and phone service) and continue with my D* service for television.

I'm wondering what the best to work things with D* might be. I could install a dish on the roof, and run the satellite signal into the main house without much difficulty. But, I'm not sure how I would then get the signal into the garage rec room, short of running cables along the fence in the back yard. I thought about somehow using the existing cable lines, but the problem being that I will also have a cable signal coming into the house for broadband internet access.

And, yeah, I know that I can solve all these fun and games by parking in the detached garage and using the attached garage as a rec room. I don't want to do this though because parking in the attached garage is so much easier.

Any suggestions?

It shouldnt be that difficult. If theres already a coax running from the main house to the garage you will use that for directv now. If you have cable internet in the main house , you can continue to use that. They will need to tone out that line and leave it alone. If you hook up internet and a router in your main house you could hook up that existing cat5 line going to the garage to your router and have internet out there as well. or you could hook up a switch out there and run a whole office from out there. In most cable modem setups you only get 1 cable modem, which would likely go in the main house..

 

[randyk47]

Since I have HR22s with external DECA already (with the Ethernet cable going into the DVR's external Ethernet port) can I then intercept that Ethernet from the DECA and insert a switch instead? Seems like I can, and seems a much better choice. - GA

That's what I did and it works well. After DirecTV upgraded me to MRV I got to thinking about now being able to provide Internet access to a couple of TV's and Blu-ray players that were Internet ready but with no wi-fi capability. I put a small business switch in after the DECA and then ran feeds to the DVR, TV, and Blu-ray player in each location. May or may not be technically supported by DirecTV and may not be ideal but it works or at least has for four or so months. Admittedly I don't run a phone through those locations and I haven't tried surfing the Internet through the switches so I can't speak to speed, etc.