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Networking DTV Satellite Signal??

888 Views 19 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Paul_Seng, Oct 26, 2001

cgott42

Discussion Starter · Oct 23, 2001

My parents who live down the road (approx. 1/2 mi.) has DirectTV/Dish Network satellite, however in my house my wife refuses to have "that ugly dish" on the roof, in back, any where in site. my only option she alows is the attic, but as far as I know it'd ruin the line of site. I was wondering is there anyway that I can receive the signal from my parents house via (perhaps) some sort of send /receive antenna, network? Thanks for your help

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EAS

· #2 · Oct 23, 2001

There are many ways to disguise a dish. There was one company that had a cover that looked like a rock. You mounted the dish on the ground and put this thing over it. Pretty cool. Search around...you can even make your own if you find signal transparent material.

You are FAR better off setting up a system around your house and hiding it. or......trade in your SO.....heheh...joke

EAS

cgott42

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 23, 2001

I can't trade my S.O. (wife) in , I sign on for a long temr commitment in order to get free installation and equipment

Where do I find the transparant materal that I can use for dish, that people won't notice?

Alric

· #4 · Oct 23, 2001

This excellent article describes how to set up a 802.11b network across long distances.

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010628.html

Using this method your whole house would have wireless broadband transmitted from your parents house. The only hardware added would be the PCI or PC wireless cards. Also there would be no fee to pay for access since you and your parents would share the same network.

Cheers,

cgott42

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 24, 2001

thanks for the link about wireless networking over distances, now the question is how do a send the signal that comes from the satellite dish w/o first video capturing it, and the broadcasting it as a video signal (quality would be bad over wlan)

Tivolicious

· #6 · Oct 24, 2001

Since we are already off in la la land a little bit, I will throw out a suggestion.

The replay4000

-Steve

jkaiser

· #7 · Oct 24, 2001

Since I think the link to the parents house would be a criminal act, I will not comment on that. You probably aren't interested, but do you have a window that is located on the south side that has a clear view to an area over Texas (approximately where DSS satellite is located). While not the best, you should be able to shoot through glass. There is/was someone years ago selling a bubble with the dish inside for RVs (kind of like the light tube sky lights).

Alric

· #8 · Oct 24, 2001

The legality of over the distance networking is discussed in the Cringely article referenced in the original post.

Suffice it to say its legal since no one has challenged it in court.

PVR

· #9 · Oct 24, 2001

Even if you got this working you would

probably be stuck watching the same

channel that they (parents) are watching.

The signal direct to the dish is

"too high bandwidth"

to span those distances... You would

have to get one program at a time, not

the whole feed from the satellite.

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Tivolicious

· #10 · Oct 24, 2001

I can't believe that I am being sucked into this. However, here goes

1) PVR is right. There is no way that you could stream anything but one channel.

2) The fact the D* tends to compress the heck out of the streams sadly doesn't even help you.

3) 802.11b is a tricky beast that tends to get interference from everything. It is hardly a robust thing.

4) You *would* need to take an analog stream and convert it to a digtal stream. (I think that 2.5Mb is a safe ballpark range)

5) You would need to control the box at the other end. (i.e. You would need to dictate the source going into the encoder)

6) You would need to take the mpeg stream and translate it to NTSC.

7) and a couple of other hurdles

The only easy to use solution that could be possible would be the 2 replay4000s. Even then you would have to go to your parents house to program their replay4000.

However, if you could get it to work, it would be pretty cool

-Steve

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Alric

· #11 · Oct 24, 2001

My mistake!!!

I thought he was referring to a TCP/IP network at his parents house!

No, I am not suggesting to convert satellite signals to 802.11b. However, distant wireless is a neatt trick isn't it?

My home 802.11b network has never being the subject of interference. There is a story about how they use a similar 802.11b beam to give internet access to a lighthouse. The keeper says once the connection lagged a bit during a severe thunderstorm.

All of this is OT now so I'll shut up..

Cheers,

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EAS

· #12 · Oct 24, 2001

It's funny that in order for the poster to please his wife and avoid putting a dish on the roof we are suggesting wireless solutions that would require a dishlike antenna on the roof of two houses (and hope they are LOS).

Really the best thing to do is show the wife it's cheaper to put the dish on the roof and find some way to cover it. Vinyl or fiberglass is generally signal transparent. You can use Vinyl siding or fiberglass sheets, but no metal etc. If you do a search on google you can find the rock covers. They are about 200..which is a little high. I've seen people put the dishes in thos plastic igloo type dog houses as well...even a plastic garbage can can do it.

I think you should work on your wife a little more though. The dishes are not that offensive.

If however your interest was is networking or beaming the signal more than just avoiding the dish on the roof then that's another story. COST is going to blow this route. It would be cheaper to run coax the half mile to your parents dish ...hehe...maybe you have a neighbor with a dish you can hook into?

Cheers

EAS

Maybe post in the dss forum for more suggestions.

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teebes

· #13 · Oct 24, 2001

Just run a wire

Sorry, I know thats not to productive, but most satellite's have two signal outputs, so buy an extra box (signal receiver), and run wire all the way to your parents house

I think an extra box is like 10 extra a month, but pretty cheap

cgott42

Discussion Starter · #14 · Oct 25, 2001

(1) As for the legality, I am paying for the 2nd box , so it's legal.

(2) EAS: I thikn your idea is best, I need something to cover it up. What material do not obstruct the view. The rock is a good thing (though $200 for plastic is a lot, but if there is no other choice...) Where can I get the rock. Putting it in the house (through window view) would be even more obtrusive aesthetically, but I think the camouflauge route is the way to go, now I just got to find a good one that really won't get noticed (I wouldn't even tell her, she never watches it anyway)

(4) btw: the Replay4000 is much too slow, b/c you have to wait until the movie is finished recording (i believe so) then wait hours and hours for it to tranfser.

thanks

please help me find links to buy camouflauge.

Tivolicious

· #15 · Oct 25, 2001

Quote:

Originally posted by cgott42

(4) btw: the Replay4000 is much too slow, b/c you have to wait until the movie is finished recording (i believe so) then wait hours and hours for it to tranfser.

thanks

please help me find links to buy camouflauge. [/b]

You are speaking of the send to friend option. There is another option that lets two machines on the same network (which they would be) see the other shows. (I think)

-Steve

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EAS

· #16 · Oct 25, 2001

ummm...

try google.com with search terms "dss rock cover"

EAS

cgott42

Discussion Starter · #17 · Oct 25, 2001

tivolicious:

Are you sre about the option to allow 2 people on the same network to watch the same thing, that would also work (I can control the other satellite remotely (via x10). Can you double check that.

thanks

Tivolicious

· #18 · Oct 25, 2001

That was my impression. Here is the link:

http://www.replaytv.com/partners_products/features.html

You could also try the replaytv forum. They might know something.

-Steve

p.s. I doubt the whole thing (i.e. 802.11b network) will work well enough for video. I just threw out the idea for the hell of it.

EAS

· #19 · Oct 25, 2001

Quote:

Originally posted by Tivolicious

p.s. I doubt the whole thing (i.e. 802.11b network) will work well enough for video. I just threw out the idea for the hell of it.

Sure it could work..it would just be expensive. You could do point to point if you had line-of-sight with encoder and decoder....but if you really thought about this wireless route you could set up your own low power tv transmitter and send the channel to the whole neighborhood. Sort of illegal, but you probably wouldn't get noticed. It would cost about $300 to setup.

EAS

Paul_Seng

· #20 · Oct 26, 2001

Or get neighbors' permission to run a long coax cable from your parents dish to your house.

It would be easier to convince your wife to get one by showing her the range of channels you could get (HGTV,DIY and others she might like)

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