[scottwkurth]

I'm considering the purchase of the HDTiVo now that the price has dropped significantly but I have a question that DirecTV has been unable to answer for me.

How many coax feeds to I need coming into the house to connect the dish and an antenna for locals? Can it be done with 2? In my townhome I only have 2 coax feeds from outside to my living room that were installed when the building was built. It is nearly impossible to run any more because they would need to run through my neighbor's unit.

Currently I have both cables run to my SAT-T60 which I would like to continue using. Is there some combination of splitters that will allow me to get locals and use both TiVos? I don't want to buy the unit or the new dish until I have figured this out, but I haven't been able to find anyone with useful information yet.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[JimSpence]

Yes, you can use two diplexers. One to combine the sat signal outside where it is convenient and the other to separate the OTA at the TV.

 

[A J Ricaud]

Currently I have both cables run to my SAT-T60 which I would like to continue using. Is there some combination of splitters that will allow me to get locals and use both TiVos?
Thanks,
Scott

Both the SAT-T60 and the HD Tivo need 2 coax feeds each if you want to be able to use 2 satellite feeds on each at the same time.

Bottom line: you need at least 4 coax feed to do this. You can diplex OTA on 1 of the 4 satellite feeds for OTA programming.

 

[scottwkurth]

Both the SAT-T60 and the HD Tivo need 2 coax feeds each if you want to be able to use 2 satellite feeds on each at the same time.

Bottom line: you need at least 4 coax feed to do this. You can diplex OTA on 1 of the 4 satellite feeds for OTA programming.

1. I take it then that splitting again to send the signal into the two different receivers is too many splits and causes signal degradation?

It seems that I could combine OTA onto one of the feeds outside with the diplexer, use my 2 coax feeds into the house, pull OTA back off the one feed with another diplexer, and then run the 2 sat feeds through a splitter to be end up with all 5 connections that I need at my receivers? This sounds messy and I know that every connection point is a potential for degradation, but is it possible / workable?

Although I don't want to, I could retire the SAT-T60 if I had to.

2. What brands of diplexers / splitters would people recommend for this project?

Thanks for the help everyone!
S

 

[rlj5242]

1. I take it then that splitting again to send the signal into the two different receivers is too many splits and causes signal degradation?

You can't split any satellite signal. If you are upgrading to a Phase III dish and you want to use both DirecTivos, then you need to stack the 101 sat signals on one cable and stack the 110/119 sat signal on the other cable. The stackers/destackers/multi-switch will cost you around $700. It might be cheaper to just retire the DirecTivo.

-Robert

 

[JimSpence]

What you could do is to extract the OTA off of the one sat line that you diplexed and then split that OTA for use at multiple locations. In fact, you could then diplex those back onto various sat lines to the other rooms and then extract again. Now that's real messy and your OTA signal will degrade with each diplexer.