Terk Multiswitch with Cable TV and Direct TV

[ArticSign]

First, let me preface this post by saying I am a total newb when it comes to this stuff.

Basically, I have one cable running from the outside of my house, through the walls of my house, and into the room where my television is set up. I have digital cable (Charter) and directv (for the NFL). In the past, to switch between cable and directv, I would go outside and switch the cables - this is a real pain. I purchased a Terk multiswitch thinking this would solve my problem. I hooked up a Terk multiswitch outside (directv and digital cable going into the appropriate slots) and then connecting the multiswitcher to the cable running into the house. To the inside cable I hooked up to a Terk diplexer to seperate the signals again. When I do this, the digital cable works fine. The directv receiver however gives me a "BOOT FAIL" - meaning it is getting no signal (or a weak signal??). Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong or if this will even work? The directv receiver is a Samsung HD. If this is not clear please let me know and I will try and explain it better.

[litzdog911]

What specific Terk multiswitch do you have? What specific satellite dish do you have?

There should be TWO satellite cables from your dish into the multiswitch if you have a round dish, and FOUR satellite cables if you have an oval 3-LNB dish. The "antenna input" on your multiswitch is where your Cable TV cable would connect. As you've discovered, it won't work right if you have just one satellite cable connected to the multiswitch.

[ArticSign]

At the moment I only have one DC block.

Test 1 - DC block INSIDE the house
I only have one large cable coming from my satellite. I put a DC block on the cable output INSIDE the house. When I did this, the dtv worked - BUT it was in black and white (no color at all). I had sound also.

Test 2 - DC Block OUTSIDE the house
I also tried the DC block OUTSIDE the house on the cable input. I came back inside and just hooked up the directv. The directv worked and was in color. The instant that I hooked up the cable box, though, the directv went into BOOT FAIL - thus the directv signal became too weak.


I think if I had 2 DC blocks - one for inside and one for outside - it might work - but alas I only have one tonight. I will buy another one tomorrow and try this out. Any other ideas from what happened above?

[ArticSign]

Ok - one last question.

I put the DC block inside and it now works fine (black and white before was caused by a bad S video cable). The HDTV satellite is crystal clear. The digital cable works, but some channels (the non-digital lower channels) are a bit fuzzy. Is there anything I can do to elimate this? I guess I need to amplify the signal going to the digital cable without affecting the Directv which is working great. Any ideas on how I might do this? Would a DC block outside help with this problem?

[ArticSign]

Can anyone tell me what I can do to make my cable signal stronger after the dc block? Watching fuzzy tv is no good :)

[litzdog911]

Can you clarify how your satellite and cable TV cables are connected to the multiswitch, diplexer and DC block(s)? I'm not sure why you need a DC block at all.