[peridoc]

I had an interesting problem with my R15-100 unit last night. I was watching TV and the R15 turned on the red light indicating that a rerun of CSI was recording. All was well, except that I lost the picture of the program that I was watching and was not able to get a picture on any channels with the exception of my local channels (that are through the satellite). All other channels were just blank black screens. I went in and cancelled the recording and was then able tune to all channels again without any issues. Any ideas on why this might have happened? Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Wolffpack]

Sounds like a new one to me. Can't watch Live TV while recording. Cancel and you can? Strange.

 

[peridoc]

Sounds like a new one to me. Can't watch Live TV while recording. Cancel and you can? Strange.

I could not watch any live channels while recording except my locals through the sat. Yes...very strange.

 

[carl6]

Describe your system - how many receivers, how many dishes, how is everything hooked up? If you are getting your locals through a different dish, how are the dishes combined (multiswitch)?

Carl

 

[peridoc]

Describe your system - how many receivers, how many dishes, how is everything hooked up? If you are getting your locals through a different dish, how are the dishes combined (multiswitch)?

Carl

I have two receivers (one is a standard DirecTV receiver and the other is my R15-100 in separate rooms) connected to one round dish. There appear to be two cables coming from the dish going into the attic and in the room where the R15-100 is located there is one F-Cable Jack and once out of the wall that cable is split to interface with the two inputs for the R15-100.

Thanks!

 

[walters]

Well there you go. You need a multiswitch (or to lose the standard receiver). I hope that wasn't professionally installed that way. If it was, have them come out and do it right.

 

[peridoc]

Well there you go. You need a multiswitch (or to lose the standard receiver). I hope that wasn't professionally installed that way. If it was, have them come out and do it right.

It is possible that there is a multiswitch in the attic, right? I will have to follow the cables to see how the "professional installer" did the hidden part. Is it possible to have one F jack split to the two inputs of the R15-100 or do there have to be two separate cables run from the multiswitch directly to the R15? The installer said this would work, but he seemed to be more interested in calls on his cell phone than installing the system. I am trying to figure out how the guy hooked it up vs. how it SHOULD be hooked up.

The two receivers seem to work fine all the time and never interfere with each other currently. My issue was strictly with the R15. Just want to make sure that we are both on the same page.

Thanks again.

 

[walters]

Separate cables to the R15. If there is a multiswitch in the attic, then there would still have to be two jacks on the wall.

You can do the research if you'd like (there are plenty of explanations for how this stuff works that I'm not going to repeat here), but the fact is you (or rather DirecTV) paid for a complete professional installation, and that's not what you got. You're entitled to get this fixed.

 

[peridoc]

Separate cables to the R15. If there is a multiswitch in the attic, then there would still have to be two jacks on the wall.

You can do the research if you'd like (there are plenty of explanations for how this stuff works that I'm not going to repeat here), but the fact is you (or rather DirecTV) paid for a complete professional installation, and that's not what you got. You're entitled to get this fixed.

I understand and I agree. I will call them back, but to make sure I completely understand - so if the two cables were connected directly to the recievers and my R15 was recording something, say on "A&E", the way I am hooked up right now my other R15 input (the one I would be vieweing) would only get channels on the satellite and odd/even transponders that A&E is on? That is why I was only able to view my local channels and all the other ones were black?

 

[walters]

Well, the effects of splitting the cable are a bit unpredictable but tend to be like how you describe. You can test to make sure your R15 is working correctly before calling out the installer by connecting both lines from the dish to the R15 (either run a long cable from the other room where the standard receiver is or just take the R15 and a small TV outside to the dish). Once connected correctly you should be able to watch anything you like while recording something else.

 

[sheridan1952]

As long as you had just two single receivers, everything was fine. Once you added the DVR then your installation became unusable. As walters said, you cannot split a sat feed. You may not have a multiswitch, given that you only had the two receivers. Which would mean that the two feeds from your dish go straight to your receivers.

If this is the case, a multiswitch will have to be installed, the feeds from the dish go into the multiswitch and the outputs from that go to the receivers. And two separate feeds for your dvr.

 

[carl6]

To clarify just a bit, so you know what to watch for when the installer comes back out - the two coax cables from your dish need to go to the two input ports on a multiswitch. Almost any multiswitch will work in your situation (2x4, 3x4, 2x8, 3x8, 4x8, 5x8) (the first number is the number of inputs, the second number is the number of outputs). Then you need a separate coax cable from the output ports on the multiswitch to each of the receivers or tuners you have (one line to your regular receiver, two lines to the two inputs on the DVR).

You can't use a normal splitter that you would use for over the air or cable tv. There is no way to split a single satellite coax feed and get more than one output that will work properly.

Good luck on getting this resolved. Hopefully it will be done rapidly and properly.

Carl

 

[peridoc]

Great. Thanks for all the responses and help. I think I have what I need to get back with DirecTV and get this botched install fixed.

Thanks again!