[mjlepak]

Hello all and I am new to the forums so please forgive my newbiness. I did go through several pages searching for an answer but being new I do not understand mulitswitch and everything else.

My dilema is this. I have been with D for 5 years and cable prior to that. When I first got D I did not know what I needed for istallation. Currently I have a 3lnb oval dish, HR10-250, Samsung HD, and two other RCA receivers (the freebies). I have one line (coax) going from my dish to each of the receivers/tvs. The HR10 has a OTA hooked up for local HD programming.

I am looking to upgrade or add one or two HR20s to my lineup. I would also like to add a 5th receiver. I spoke with D and they offered me the HR20 and a new 5lnb dish and free istallation.

My question is on the installation.

How many coax lines should I have ran to each receiver/tv location?

Do I need two dishes to have more than 4 receivers? (D said I did)

How many runs can I get with the "free installation"?

Do I need a multiswitch?

Should I run extra lines where I might add a 6th receiver some day?

And any other suggestions/helps/hints/ things you would have done differently would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[mjones73]

"How many coax lines should I have ran to each receiver/tv location?"

You need two for each DVR, one for each standard receiver.

"Do I need two dishes to have more than 4 receivers? (D said I did)"

No, you need a multiswitch, the Zinwell WB68, you feed the 4 outputs from your dish to it and it has 8 outputs to feed receivers in your home.

"How many runs can I get with the "free installation"?"

They should run as many as is needed for the equipment to work properly, that includes two runs to the DVR's.

"Do I need a multiswitch?"

Yes but it should be included with the install if you require more then 4 outputs from the dish.

"Should I run extra lines where I might add a 6th receiver some day?"

Wouldn't hurt but I doubt it would be covered by the free install, you might be able to work out a price with the installer for it or do it yourself.

 

[mjlepak]

Thank you very much for your help, it cleared things up for me.

Jeff

 

[Mertzen]

Yeah the installer can easily run a 6th line when he's up there. If he uses dual it 6 anyway. Running it anyway reduces the chance that he needs to go up again in the future. As him nicely and you should be in business.

 

[JLucPicard]

Do I need two dishes to have more than 4 receivers? (D said I did)

Jeff,

Welcome to DBSTalk! :welcome_s

I am not familiar with the situation in Oklahoma City, but there are certain situations in which a second dish is needed for certain satellites that are not picked up by the 5 LNB (72.5 is one of them I think).

Generally speaking, the answers you received are spot on - one 5 LNB dish, four leads from dish to the multi-switch (and if I read your original post right, you already have four lines running from the Phase III dish?). Two lines to each DVR, one line to each receiver.

If you are going to be taking advantage of OTA, you would need a separate line run from the antenna to feed your OTA inputs as well.

Someone from your area that has an H20 or HR20 should be able to tell you if you can get it all working with just the 5 LNB dish, or if there really is a second dish required for some channels.

Best of luck to you!!!