[jimmyt]

I am getting an HR34 installed next week and have a few questions on what I should do to make the install as painless as possible.

Current setup is a non SWM 8 port multiswitch (and I assume dish to) with ethernet enabled hardwired MRV. Receivers are all staic ip - (2) hr21-100 / (1) hr-21-700 / (1) r16 (non mrv - and will be replaced with a relocated hr21). I also have 4 rg6 lines running from the dish to the multiswitch.

Here is what the order says I am getting:
Cinema Connection Kit Equipment Tracking, Home Media Center HD DVR, Cinema Connection Kit, VCONWifiDeca, HMC Receiver Condition, MRV Install, Professional Installation.

My questions - 1) Does this include a swm dish and multiswitch as I will have 11 tuners? Dont see any mention of it. 2) Should I move everything over to coax based ethernet and get the directv traffic (other than vod) off my network? 3)I see a WifiDECA - is that hard wired and wifi? I dont want any wifi Where can the deca go? the HR34 is going in the theater room which has access to a gigabit switch to get on the network. I could also easily run a network cable to the area where the 4 lines come in from the outside where the current multiswitch is and connect the deca there.

Any advice would be appreciated Its been awhile since I have changed anything with my setup.

Jim

pm me if you want to know what I got and how I got it...

 

[john payne]

they will have to install a swm16 in place of the 6x8 multiswitch. The lnb outside will stay the same. You can use the ethernet port on the back of the hr34 for the internet connection. The other receivers will not require an internet connection.

 

[The Merg]

Just to add to the above, a DECA will be added behind each DVR. With regard to the CCK, you can also have that placed near the HR34 and run Ethernet to the CCK from the switch. While you can omit the CCK and run Ethernet straight to the HR34, I have noticed some hiccups with my other receivers with that setup.

- Merg

 

[Bigjohn4real]

With a CCK connected on a SWM network, all of your HD and HDDVR receivers will be connected to the Internet and have no need for a direct ethernet connection.

 

[litex2x]

You can use the HR34 as an internet bridge so if you have a hard line near where your HR34 is going to be you have the option of just connecting it straight to your HR34 and removing the CCK from your setup after installation.

Best advice I can give is move everything out of the way where work needs to be done and make sure you you set enough time aside to be there for the whole installation. Go over everything that will done with the installer before he does anything.

 

[jimmyt]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

After I posted the initial post I read for literally hours and answered most of my questions. It was installed yesterday and for the most part went pretty well. The advice given here was great - I ended up with the wired CCK - which ironically is the same as the newer DECAS. In fact I will look at it tonight, but I think it is the same with the exception of a power adapter included in the cck box.

I decided not to go with using the hr34 as a deca just incase it ever gets taken off line - the network will still function

When the installer arrived, I think I scared him with how detailed I was with what I wanted and what I already knew. He was good about it and was glad just to hook things up without having to tie things off. He updated the lnb to the 3 with 4 outputs from the 5. This was his first solo SWM 16 install but he did alright with it. At first he made the mistake of loading all 11 tuners on the 1st swm port, but then realized his mistake and balanced the load. We had a little trouble with getting the hr34 to boot in order to get to the install screen - ironically we had to force the update to get to the hd gui. Once it finally came up it kept failing on the 99 satellite. Ironically, the 3 hr21's did just fine during the re-setup of the dish. So instead of getting the waiver, we decided to change out the grounding block on the outside and put new compression fittings all the way around. That did the trick. Took about 3.5 hours - but most of that time was spent waiting for the hr34 to boot and reboot and changing out the ends. All in all it was a nice install and went well.

Funny side note - I hooked up all the deca units to the receivers and wasn't paying attention on one of the hr21's and ended up putting the deca in to lan port2 and left the original network connection in port1.. Completely slowed and hosed the network