Question about DirecTV temporary hookup

[Ray Carlsen]

I presently have two DVR's (with two dish inputs each) but they don't
run HD, just standard definition. I need to have my house re-roofed and
my old non-HD oval dishes will be disconnected until the work is done.
My son has an HD dish system on site with one unused outlet. Can I
somehow use a splitter on that feed to run my two house receivers? What
kind of splitter do I need? Thanks for any help!

Ray

 

[Ray Carlsen]

DiSH and DTV hardware is not compatible. You can put a DiSH receiver
at your house, and really good coax, and you might make it. DiSH has
UHF RF remote control, but I don't know how far that works. What is
the distance? We tend to call 100m the outer limits.

You misunderstood. I don't have nor want Dish Network. Both my and my
son's systems are DirecTV but his is HD and mine is not. My question is
if I can connect my receivers to his dish with some kind of splitter,
and if so, what kind will work. I can't make any sense of the online
info so I don't know what to buy. This will be a temporary hookup while
my rooftop hardware is removed for a time during construction.

Ray

 

[Ray Carlsen]

I think the receiver determines whether you get HD, the antenna
switching should be the same. Like I said, use Quad Shield and keep
it as short as possible. When you power back up it will either
configure itself properly or it won't work.

I don't want HD. My question concerns what type of splitter will work to
allow me to use my sons HD DTV dish for my own non-HD receivers. I just
want to be able to run my non-HD DVRs from my sons HD system dish
temporarily while my old DTV hardware is off the roof.

Ray <thought it would be easy to explain, but apparently not>

 

[Irreverent Maximus]

I don't want HD. My question concerns what type of splitter will work to
allow me to use my sons HD DTV dish for my own non-HD receivers. I just
want to be able to run my non-HD DVRs from my sons HD system dish
temporarily while my old DTV hardware is off the roof.

Ray <thought it would be easy to explain, but apparently not>

Do you plan on both being used at the same time? This will not work,
if so. If you are going to use an LNB that is not in use, this
might work. Depends on your receiver.

 

[RobertMacy]

I don't want HD. My question concerns what type of splitter will work to
allow me to use my sons HD DTV dish for my own non-HD receivers. I just
want to be able to run my non-HD DVRs from my sons HD system dish
temporarily while my old DTV hardware is off the roof.

Ray <thought it would be easy to explain, but apparently not>

We've got DirecTV here, and have two receivers - one is HardDrive with
memory and the other is a standard receiver.

You HAVE a standard, non-memory/recording receiver, but NOT the antennas,
so you want to share antennas with your son who has the HardDrive
Receiver, Right?

Our house is wired with coax going everywhere. In one room is the
HardDrive receiver that connects to the antennas (we have two antennas,
one is regular and the other is international) through a powered unit
inside the Access Control Box [where telephone, coax, and burglar alarms
wiring all come together]

To use BOTH receivers I merely plug in to any coax outlet with the
standard receiver. No splitter involved. Unused outlet coax's are NOT
terminated. Doesn't seem right somehow, so need to check the Access
Control Box again. Might have a splitter inside the Box.

I know that from the Access Control Box out to the antennas REQUIRES a DC
path to run the LNA's mounted on the antennas, and there are two separate
cables for that. However, I'll have to check regarding splitters FROM that
controller performing distribution out to all the coax outlets in the
house. There's probably about six at least, maybe eight. I vaguely
remember seeing a 1 to 6 splitter going from the powered unit inside the
Access Control Box out to each coax outlet. I purposely don't power all
the coax outlets in our home, so [from memory] some of the splitter
outlets are terminated with 50 ohm caps.

So, my conclusion, without going to the Box and opening it to find out, is
that *if* you go to your son's control box and tap into an unused coax
outlet, you'll be up and running with YOUR receiver. If there is no
'extra' port, try inserting a DC coupled 1-2 splitter to replace one line.
Again from memory, the installing technician said that may work for us in
order to expand our coax outlets.

* * * WARNING ** * *
And one caveat Be VERY careful if your houses are any distance apart, they
will have different AC grounding points. You could end up with some
distructive ground loops that can weld your cables. I say can, because if
you're next door, probably not that bad. However, during any lightning
storm all bets are off as to what may happen. If it were me, I'd put an AC
current meter between your two house grounds and measure the current,
hopefully VERY low. And, *IF* a storm appears physically disconnect your
cable until storm passes, else you could lose PC's, appliances, even
telephones inside house(s).