This may have been discussed in another thread, but I have yet to locate it. If it has, my apologies.

I am looking at hardware from both Directv and Dish as a solution to providing an HD signal. Directv HR20 or Dish 622 (or 722.)

Yay for Black Friday! I now have two new HD LCD TV's to look at (1080p and 720p.) One problem...dont have an HD signal source so was thinking of picking up Directv's HR20 (HD DVR) or Dish 622 but found out that that both boxes only broadcast ONE HD signal; the second signal is in 480i (Boooo!) Well thats not good! I am looking for a solution to view HD on both sets simutaneously (even if I can only watch one channel on both sets at the same time.)

I was wondering if someone else on the forum has run across this situation and what they did to resolve it.

I had some thoughts that may or may not work. What do you think?

Solution 1:

Looking at the back panel of the HR20 and 622, I see both Componet and HDMI outputs. If both outputs broadcast out the same HD signal at the same time, I could possibly run Component on the 1080p (with optical audio output) and run a 50ft HDMI cable to the other 720p LCD in the other room. They are not too expensive (see some online less than $100) and it would allow to view HD content (both live and via DVR.)

Do both of these outputs on each unit push the same HD signal out at the same time? That is the question.

Solution 2:

If the DTV HR20 or Dish 622 do not simutaneously broadcast HD from both the component and HDMI outputs, how about splitting the HDMI signal at the source (via a HDMI splitter which I found online last night?) They are not very expensive and I can run the same 50ft HDMI cable to the 2nd 720p TV in the other room to deliver the signal and again would be able to view DVR content on both LCD's.

Would this actually work? Or would I have HD signal degregation due to the 50ft HDMI output due to the splitter? Would that actually matter much due to the fact that the second LCD is only 720p so a little degregation may not be an issue at all?

Now for the last issue. If I can actually get a two HD signals from the DirecTV or Dish unit out to both LCD's, how would I change the channel or utilize the IR remote in the second room considering it will be about 40ft away and not in line of site. Of course there are RF remotes out there (had one with my old DirecTV with Tivo Sony unit,) BUT I do not believe the primary remote for the HR20 or 622 to be RF or UHF.

Any assistance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Both Dish and DirecTV are contenders here for my HD source within the next few weeks. DirecTV is ahead presently due to the larger HD content packages. (I want SCIFI, FX and Spike to broadcast in HD - DirecTV offers this, but Dish does not)

Or if anyone has an outright solution, please elaborate - I am completely open to viable alternative to this issue at hand. I contacted DirecTV technical support and both tech's I spoke with had no clue what I was talking about. I contacted Dish and spoke to a tech that stated she had worked for Dish for 5 years and never heard such a question asked. She could not provide any information to the questions at hand.

Dave

From what I've heard, all outputs on the Dish HD receivers are active all the time - so your covered there (once you can get 5- 50 foot component quality cables to the other room (3 component video, 2 analog audio)). However, in this case, both LCDs could only watch the same thing in HDTV. This may not be such a bad problem for watching recorded programming. But if you want both TVs to independently watch HDTV, then you will need a 2nd receiver (such as the VIP 211). Or, you can just have the 2nd box for HDTV and watch the DVR content SDTV.

The remote issue - yes, you CAN buy another UHF remote and set it to the same remote address AND set your HD-DVR to accept both IR and UHF remote signals.