Sorry for such a newbie question, but I want to make sure there won't be a problem when the installer comes out tomorrow - anyway, here is what I have now: HR24 (HD DVR) in living room (which is where the cables come into the house), and an HD (non-DVR) receiver in my basement, with whole home set up. I have been wanting to add an HD DVR to my bedroom, but didn't want to spend the $200, so when I saw the free HD DVR offer, I took it, and scheduled the install for tomorrow (9/7). My question is, what cables are going to need to be run to add this receiver? Is it a coax and Cat5 from the living room? Will the installer run these? Can the cables be run from the basement receiver? Thanks for any help with this - I appreciate it!
Question About Adding Receiver
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I have seen other posts that were a Free "Upgrade". This means that the DVR replaces the non DVR receiver that you have.
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If you have the DirecTV installed Whole Home DVR system, the cable required is just a coax from the best place available and the installer will determine that once he arrives.
Press the Dash button on your remote. Does it say SWM detected ? If yes, it only requires one cable to operate both tuners of the new DVR.
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If you have the DirecTV installed Whole Home DVR system, the cable required is just a coax from the best place available and the installer will determine that once he arrives.
Press the Dash button on your remote. Does it say SWM detected ? If yes, it only requires one cable to operate both tuners of the new DVR.
Thanks for the quick response! I am 99% sure that it is SWM, but I will confirm that when I get home. So the Coax can run from either the primary or secondary receiver? If I were to run the coax myself and just leave it un-terminated at the ends near where I want it hooked it, would they be able to use that? (I have a box of coax sitting in my utility room, and I trust myself to run it more than I trust them)
As for the 'upgrade' question, that is a good point - I was wondering that too, but when I added it to the cart, it also showed that I would be paying another $6 a month for another receiver, so I figured it that it could be added - I guess I should call to confirm that before they come out tomorrow.
As for the 'upgrade' question, that is a good point - I was wondering that too, but when I added it to the cart, it also showed that I would be paying another $6 a month for another receiver, so I figured it that it could be added - I guess I should call to confirm that before they come out tomorrow.
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There is a real good chance that the splitter is outside your house. When you get home, look to see where the coax from the dish goes. In my case it comes down from the roof to a splitter mounted on the outside of the house with the 3 cables I need running from that to each of the HRs.
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Yes.jsap said:
In my case, I have one cable coming down to the splitter from the dish. From there is 3 cables, one to each receiver.
There is a power inserter in one of those lines that is behind my TV, so splitter on outside -->power inserter-->HR24
The other two cables from the splitter to the other 2 HRs, one cable per HR.
thanks - I will have to look behind my tv when I get home and trace it all out. It is really a shame, I actually used to know how this all worked, but when I upgrade last year to HD and SWM, I really lost track of what was what and where, and I'm a technical guy - I can't imagine how someone with no technical background keeps up on any of this! 
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I'm a bit of a techie myself, so I try to keep up.
But in the grand scheme of things, I don't actually need to very much. If you want to do whatever with a Direct install, call D* and let 'em just do it has pretty much been my approach.
Of course I don't have any wall fishing needs or any other custom needs for that matter.
But in the grand scheme of things, I don't actually need to very much. If you want to do whatever with a Direct install, call D* and let 'em just do it has pretty much been my approach.
Of course I don't have any wall fishing needs or any other custom needs for that matter.
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I would not do this myself.jsap said:
If you do, it should be RG6 cable and do not put the connectors on the ends . They will want to do that with their own and their tooling to make sure they are on correctly since many many problems are caused from a faulty connection.
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If you currently have Whole Home installed and it was done by DirecTV, you will have a SWM setup. This means you will have one coax going to each receiver and you should not have a CAT5 cable going to either receiver as it will be connected to you Cinema Connection Kit. If your CCK is wireless, then you obviously won't have a CAT5 going it though too.jsap said:
The DirecTV installer will run any new coax that you need to have the receiver installed in your bedroom. This will also include any splitters that might be needed as well. Be aware though that the free install is running a cable on the outside of the house and then through an exterior wall. If you want the cable fished through a wall inside that will be an extra charge.
- Merg
Thanks again all for your help! Merg - two things, first of all, you are correct about the upgrade - I called DTV customer service to confirm that a few minutes ago, and she said that it was put in as an additional receiver. Also, I am glad you mentioned running the coax on the outside - that will actually probably be a better setup for me - I have a split-level house, and getting a wire from the living room to the bedroom would not be easy, so I will just let them run it around the house and in through the wall.
Again, thanks to all for your help - I feel much better about this install tomorrow!
Again, thanks to all for your help - I feel much better about this install tomorrow!
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