I will be switching to Directv very soon and would like to have all the wires in place prior to the technicians arrival. Can somebody please tell me what i need to have run from the hd boxes, which i will have placed into a room in the basement, to each of the tv's. I have Dish right now with no HD and have those boxes in the basement running to each tv with rj6 cable, but i think i need to have an hdmi cable instead. Please help, Directv just tells me i have to wait for the tech to get here and they will handle it. I want to keep all the receivers in the same room as they are in now. Thanks for any help you guys can afford.
What wiring do i need to switch to Directv Hd Dvr's
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there is no way the DirecTV tech is going to handle this installation, he will not have either the correct equipment or the experience.
First, you are correct that if you put the HD equipment (DirecTV and Dish would be the same issues) in a central location, you would need to run HDMI cables (or r/g/b component plus audio) to each TV. Long HDMI cables are (1) very expensive (2) very thick and difficult to run (3) for very long cables might need equalizers. Second, you would have to control the receivers remotely. How do you do this now? The DVRs have RF capability but performance can be very "iffy" depending on the distance and walls. If you had the right remotes you could use USB/serial for remote control, or even the new IP control, see http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin...thread.cgi?258
But with a configuration like this you are pretty well on your own.
First, you are correct that if you put the HD equipment (DirecTV and Dish would be the same issues) in a central location, you would need to run HDMI cables (or r/g/b component plus audio) to each TV. Long HDMI cables are (1) very expensive (2) very thick and difficult to run (3) for very long cables might need equalizers. Second, you would have to control the receivers remotely. How do you do this now? The DVRs have RF capability but performance can be very "iffy" depending on the distance and walls. If you had the right remotes you could use USB/serial for remote control, or even the new IP control, see http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin...thread.cgi?258
But with a configuration like this you are pretty well on your own.
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Like Texasbrit said, most installers would walk away from an install like you want. You may be able to find a local dealer that does their own installs that will do this for you but I wouldn't count on it.
What exactly are you trying to gain by doing it this way? Have you looked into DirecTVs Whole Home DVR setup? With it you could put one HD-DVR in your basement, and then have a regular HD box on each TV. Each HD receiver would then be able to watch whatever channel they want, or access any of the recordings from the HD-DVR in the basement and watch those also. This is all done over the RG6 cable, you don't have to mess with a wireless network or running Cat5/6 cable.
What exactly are you trying to gain by doing it this way? Have you looked into DirecTVs Whole Home DVR setup? With it you could put one HD-DVR in your basement, and then have a regular HD box on each TV. Each HD receiver would then be able to watch whatever channel they want, or access any of the recordings from the HD-DVR in the basement and watch those also. This is all done over the RG6 cable, you don't have to mess with a wireless network or running Cat5/6 cable.
Thank you both for answering. Right now we have Dish with all non hd receivers in basement audio/ video/ etc room and the receivers are controlled with ir/uhf pro remote controls and we have never had a problem with them at all. they each have an rj6 cable line going from the receiver to each tv. the reason i want to keep the boxes down there is that 4 of the 5 tv's we have really has nowhere to put the receiver boxes. i did some rehab to my house and inset the 4 flat screens into the walls etc and there just isnt space or location for the receiver boxes for any of them near them or behind them or anything. i figured if i ran all the wires, and directv had similar remotes all would go well. let me know if you guys have any suggestions. thanks again, darin
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If you want to do this now then you are probably going to have to take Texasbrit's advice and have HDMI cables run from the room where you want the receivers placed to each TV.
If you are willing to put this change on hold you may be interested in what DirecTV is working on right now. They are going to be coming out with a new Home Media Center (HMC30) that contains mulitple HD tuners for recording (latest rumor is 5 I believe). This would be installed in your basement room where your current Dish receivers are. Then you would have a small client device (C30) at each TV that would talk back to the HMC30 and allow you to access the live tuners or any of the recordings stored on it.
Rumor is that this setup is going to be available sometime in the first quarter of 2011. We will probably know more about it after CES. They showed off an early version of this setup at CES 2010 so many people are thinking that an updated/release ready version will be shown at CES 2011.
If you are willing to put this change on hold you may be interested in what DirecTV is working on right now. They are going to be coming out with a new Home Media Center (HMC30) that contains mulitple HD tuners for recording (latest rumor is 5 I believe). This would be installed in your basement room where your current Dish receivers are. Then you would have a small client device (C30) at each TV that would talk back to the HMC30 and allow you to access the live tuners or any of the recordings stored on it.
Rumor is that this setup is going to be available sometime in the first quarter of 2011. We will probably know more about it after CES. They showed off an early version of this setup at CES 2010 so many people are thinking that an updated/release ready version will be shown at CES 2011.
I still have Phase III D* setup. My H10 receiver went out and I inquired about the "new" D* system. It is not available yet. I am just going to get a replacement HD receiver and wait until D* brings out (and works out the kinks) with the new system. I do not want to switch to the SWM now only to be outdated in a few months. I know, the SWM slimline will propably work with the new system, but I will wait and see.
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I still have Phase III D* setup. My H10 receiver went out and I inquired about the "new" D* system. It is not available yet. I am just going to get a replacement HD receiver and wait until D* brings out (and works out the kinks) with the new system. I do not want to switch to the SWM now only to be outdated in a few months. I know, the SWM slimline will propably work with the new system, but I will wait and see.
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