[bpearse]

I have a Dish 5000 that I use only for HBO. I have several other TVs in my house that use AT&T cable. I do not want to put Dish receivers in every room, but would like to (on rare occasions) pipe the output of the Dish 5000 to other TVs in the house. I cannot run any additional cable, so need to use the cable already in the house. My Dish 5000 happens to sit very close to the place where the cable comes into the house. So, is there a way to combine the Channel 3 output of my Dish 5000 with the Cable signal from AT&T? There is a channel 3 on the cable system, but I do not care for it. I am assuming the solution would involve somehow blocking out the channel 3 from the cable system, and then combining with the channel 3 from my Dish 5000. But I have never seen any accessories that do this "strip then combine" trick. Any thoughts??

 

[Don Landis]

The cheapest way is to set up an A-B switch. The multiplexors are available but very expensive. These are commercial systems designed for cable distribution channel assignments. You'd be far cheaper to simply put a separate receiver in each room. Consider the A-B switch for a couple of bucks.


You could also try a signal combiner (like a splitter but in the other direction, and move the Dish5000 output to channel 4 if that channel is unused on your cable linup.


------------------

Don Landis

Home Theater Pics at: www.scubatech.com Last updated 3/25/01

 

[Al K]

Per Don above, one way might be to use a signal combiner (available on the net) which takes your 5000 channel 3 and combines it with your cable. I'm not absolutely sure that it will block your cable channel 3. I use one with my 5000 to add it to my distribution system, but I use ch 4 because there is no local ch 4 in Phoenix. Just to be sure, you are talking about the HDTV modulator output, aren't you? If you're talking about the standard NTSC signal, you can buy a modulator that takes the audio/video output from your 5000 and puts in on any unused UHF channel. You can just Tee this in with a splitter/combiner. I also use one of these and it works great.



Al Keown

Phoenix

 

[bpearse]

Don: I was hoping not to have to use a switch. I was hoping, per your second comment, to find a signal combiner that filters our either channel 3 or 4 before combining.


Al: Yes, this is exactly my question: do combiners filter out either 3 or 4 before combining? If so, then I need to buy one of those and I am done. By the way, I was not talking about the HDTV output (I only have one HDTV), but rather the regular TV output from the Dish 5000 (for SD channels) which can be modulated on either Ch3 or 4 of the OTA frequency. And that brings me to your next suggestion: just buy a modulator that allows me to select a channel which is not being used by my cable system. This is a great idea. However, this brings me to another problem. My cable system uses all VHF channels (2-12) already. I assume OTA and Cable channels 2-12 are always the same (Right???). And since I have all my TVs set to Cable frequencies, and it is a pain on most of my sets to change between cable and OTA frequences (older sets), I would need a modulator that outputs cable frequencies (i.e. a UHF modulator would not work for me). Is a cable frequency modulator made?????


I thought this would be easier. I cannot be the first person who has needed to filter out channels 3 or 4 before combining another channel 3 or 4 signal!!


Bob

 

[bpearse]

Well, I found the solution! The ASKA Model ASC-3 is the solution. It is sold by Dish Depot. The folks at Dish Depot were not aware of the specs of the unit and whether it truly filters as well as combines. So I did some research and here is what I found:


The ASC-3 does 3 things:

1. It filters the "Antenna IN" input by filtering out any channel 3 signals, and passes all other signals.

2. It filters the "Channel 3 IN" input by filtering out all but channel 3, and passes channel 3 only.

3. It then combines the two cleanly, avoiding signal overlap.


Below are the specs on the Antenna IN Input:

http://www.askacom.com//images/products/Diagram1313.gif


Below are the specs on the Channel 3 IN Input:

http://www.askacom.com//images/products/Diagram1212.gif



Also, more details on the ASKA web site.


Bob


[This message has been edited by bpearse (edited 06-27-2001).]

 

[balazer]

The modulator's channel 3 and 4 output is the same frequency as cable channels 3 and 4.