[chalucky]

Just replaced my (archaic RCA DTC-100) receiver with a new Direct TV H20 DVR.

Catch is...the location only has one cable line signal available....adding a second would require drywall digging and painting and an excessive amount of $$$.

Turns out than this receiver HAS to have a second satellite line signal to funtion properly....I cannot turn off error message and tech support at Direct TV says this model absolutely requires a second signal. No amount of resetting/rebooting helped.

After he flailed around for a bit with nonsolutions, I innocently asked if he had heard of a diplexer type device that turns one line into two....at first he denied and then he said he had no access to obtaining one....

Can anyone give me some advice on what to do?

Thanks Charles

 

[houskamp]

H20? that only has one sat connector..

 

[chalucky]

Sorry, that was a HR-21-200 Made in Indonesia 4/2008

 

[harsh]

You cannot "split" the signal from your dish.

What you need is one of two things:

1. Single Wire Multiswitch (search key: SWM)

2. Big hairy drill bit.

Those are your possibilities.

BTW, the HR2(0|1) will be severely hobbled with a single satellite cable, but it will work if you know what not to do.

 

[carl6]

Single Wire Multiswitch (SWM) will resolve this problem. Search for information on it on these forums. It's not inexpensive though.

Carl

 

[chalucky]

Okay....

1) Where does the SWM go? Is it near the TV with the single line or near the satellite dish? And it needs to be powered?

2) Does DTV ever give one of those to their clients? Under what cicumstances?
Would I have to kidnap the CEO's daughter and hold her for ransom?

Thanks

 

[evan_s]

An hr 20/21 should work just fine with a single cable connected. It will only have 1 tuner so won't be able to watch a live show and record another or record 2 shows at once but it will work. Do you have a BBC (little gray box) connected to input 2? If so power it down by pulling the plug and disconnect the BBC. If you don't have it connected try connecting it up. The best solution is a SWM or a SWMlnb but you'd probably have to buy that.

Solid signals price on swm8's has dropped quite a bit. It's almost down to half it's original price http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=SWM-8 which is nice.

1) the swm8 goes someplace where it can get 4 wires from the Dish. Outside at the dish or in a basement or attic is fine also. From there you have 2 outputs that can be used to run receivers and it support splitting and only needs a single cable running to a dvr. One the 2 ports does need to go to a power inserter to add power to the coax cable to run the swm.

2) swm8's are almost never give to customers. They are used for MDU installs (apartments, town houses etc). The SWMlnb is the home user solution but it's only available in some areas only if you are using 5 or more tuners on a new install with at least one hddvr. If you qualified you would have already gotten it. Simplest solution is to buy it from solid signal or one of the members on the board sells them also.

there are lots of threads on the board already with lots of good info.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=133103&highlight=swm8

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=133611&highlight=swm8

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=129302&highlight=swm8

 

[chalucky]

An hr 20/21 should work just fine with a single cable connected. It will only have 1 tuner so won't be able to watch a live show and record another or record 2 shows at once but it will work. Do you have a BBC (little gray box) connected to input 2? If so power it down by pulling the plug and disconnect the BBC. If you don't have it connected try connecting it up. The best solution is a SWM or a SWMlnb but you'd probably have to buy that.

Thanks Evan...very useful information...I have 4 receivers of which 2 are HD, but I am not a new client so they may not be receptive to giving me an expensive free toy....

I don't understand the part about the little gray box...don't seem to have one ...can you elaborate????

Direct TV Tech support said that I would need two dedicated lines with the new receiver and didn't give me any good options when I told them the error message kept on coming up looking for a second satellite signal.

THIS FORUM IS AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!! THANKS TO YOU ALL !!!!!!

 

[evan_s]

The bbc is connected to the end of the coax cable coming from the sat or switch and to the back of the receiver. It's required to receive any of the new HD channels with an HR20 or 21. With out it you would only be able to receive local hd channels and the old Mpeg 2 channels in the 70's and 80's.

Solid signal has a picture of them on their page. http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=SUP-2400

You would need one for each port if you did have 2 cables run. The installer may not have left one for your second port if you didn't have a cable run. DirecTV will send them out for free if you call up and ask about it.

What should happen is when you boot the receiver up with only one cable connected it should detect that and disable the tuner. Sometimes you need to attach or remove the bbc to get it to detect that correctly. You might also make sure to actually completely power down the receiver and let it sit for a while. Rebooting it doesn't actually power it down. Go into the menu's and tell it to reset and when the light goes out pull the power cord out. It's the only way to actually power it down.

 

[chalucky]

Thanks Evan...I do have an attached BBC on Sat 1 input which is the way it was shipped from manufacturer...(it is black so I was confused).

I wiil try and add the additional BBC I have to Satellite 2 and see if that cures the problem...I am flabbergasted that a) this might work and 2) Direct TV tech support doesn't know about it. Have you needed to try this yourself, or did you find it out by accident????

I hope your idea works, it seems that an auto-disable of the tuner would make sense...I would have preferred a menu item to accomplish this, but I will try your fix this weekend when I have time.

PS: Do you think I should offer the old RCA DTC-100 on tis website for free ? Would anyone be interested in it for parts before I throw it in the trash?

 

[Incog-Neato]

Doesn't the new software download (254) have an option to select 1 or 2 tuners? I believe I just saw that when running through "repeat satellite setup."


Edit: Yes it does. First screen. Dropdown selection box for 1 or 2 tuners.

 

[chalucky]

Doesn't the new software download (254) have an option to select 1 or 2 tuners? I believe I just saw that when running through "repeat satellite setup."

Edit: Yes it does. First screen. Dropdown selection box for 1 or 2 tuners.

Wow!

Begs the question....why don't Direct TV CSR's/Tech support know this???????????

 

[Tom Robertson]

VERY new feature.

Good luck!

(And welcome to the forums! :welcome_s)

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Drew2k]

This is in the release notes, but it's easy to overlook because there were so many items listed.

It's the last of the three bullets below dealing with Satellite Setup

In the post [post=1680357]HR20-100/HR20-700: 0x0254[/post]:

• Improvements in Satellite Setup for SWM
• Improvements in Satellite Setup for multiswitch support
• Improvements in Satellite Setup for changing from one or two tuner installation selections

 

[rudeney]

Wow!

Begs the question....why don't Direct TV CSR's/Tech support know this???????????

The reason that D* CSR's would not know about the power down with or w/o the BBC trick or the new 0x254 options is because their job is not really to support customers. They are there for "service" which is mainly to handle account issues and sell new services. Basically, if your call is not revenue-generating, then it's unlikely you'll get very much out of it. It's the new standard of corporate America.