Can I get a signal in another room from a 1 room install?

[Madden]

I recently got setup for 1 room directv. Can I buy another receiver and get the signal in another room? What else would I need?

 

[timmac]

What do you have right now? If they installed a 3 lnb dish, which I'm sure they did, but you'll need to confirm. All you have to do is run another line from the lnb to the new receiver. The biggest question is what do you have? Answer that one and you'll be able to watch the game on that second TV while the wife watches "Gilmore Girls."

Peace

 

[Madden]

Hehe. Actually, I'm the wife...but it's all the same.
This may sound funny, but I don't know what type of dish we have. I wasn't home when they did the install, but I do know that they left the old dish there (we just moved to a house that once had d*). The installer said that the old dish is better than the one he was going to put up.
SO, how do I go about determining what kind of dish we have up there?

(Hey neighbor! I live in Stony Brook...)

 

[timmac]

Hello neighbor! The easy way is to just look at the dish. How many lnb's does it have facing the dish. If you see more than one then it just involves running another line from the current lnb to the receiver. If it only has one, then there is still a possibility that it is a dual lnb and you can run a second line from it to another receiver. If it is a single lnb, then you would have to upgrade the dish.

I'm going to try to post a picture of the phase III dish. The statement by your installer that the dish you have is better than the one he was going to install is questionable. They should be exclusively installing a phase III dish.

If he was being truthful about the dish then I would say you have at least a dual lnb seeing that the only thing worse is a single lnb. So, you would have to run RG6 cable from the dish, connecting to the open connection on your lnb, to the ground block (should already exist, if it's a single than you would have to get a dual), then into the house to the receiver.

Do you plan on getting HD in the future? Do you plan on getting a DVR? Do you plan on getting updated to the new Mpeg 4 equipment that will be coming out soon for HD programming? These are questions that could effect what you want to do with your current system.

Anyway, I hope that don't dillute the situation. I just don't want to steer you in the wrong direction. My wife definately appreciates the additional receiver upstairs on Sunday afternoons.

Good luck and let me know any other way I can help, Neighbor!

http://prosatellitesupply.com/images/DirecTV%20PHASE%20III.jpg

 

[Madden]

Thanks for the reply and the pic. I assume by lnb you mean those round knobs facing the dish....What does lnb stand for?

I'll take a look at our dish later today and see if I can tell what kind it is. Is phase III an industry term; ie, will the installer know what I mean if I call inquiring about it?

As for whether I'll be upgrading to HD and mpeg...at this point we have no plans to do that. We actually got this 1 room install as a kind of settlement from d*, where we get the equipment and 6 months of programming absolutely free. Not sure what we'll do after the 6 months is up. I would love to figure out some way to get HBO though during this 6 months. We only have the standard channels, and for whatever reason we cannot change our programming at all during these 6 months. Isn't there a hack or something??

Thanks again for your help!

 

[uboatcmdr]

Thanks for the reply and the pic. I assume by lnb you mean those round knobs facing the dish....What does lnb stand for?

I'll take a look at our dish later today and see if I can tell what kind it is. Is phase III an industry term; ie, will the installer know what I mean if I call inquiring about it?

As for whether I'll be upgrading to HD and mpeg...at this point we have no plans to do that. We actually got this 1 room install as a kind of settlement from d*, where we get the equipment and 6 months of programming absolutely free. Not sure what we'll do after the 6 months is up. I would love to figure out some way to get HBO though during this 6 months. We only have the standard channels, and for whatever reason we cannot change our programming at all during these 6 months. Isn't there a hack or something??

Thanks again for your help!

LNB is an acronym for Low Noise Block downconverter. There is a glossory at the top of the forum or (click the link below) that should help you understanding some of the terminology.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=19539

 

[timmac]

The LNB was described by Uboatcmdr; but as far as the knobs that face the dish. You can have a dual LNB with one knob. If you have one knob and a dual lnb you will have to use a switch between the dish and the receiver so that you can get all channels.

As far as hacking, I don't know anything about it, and I don't know if they would take to kindly of its mentioning on this site. So that's all I can offer concerning that.

The reason I mention HD is because if you are going to upgrade to HD you will definately need the phase III dish, which your installer should know by that designation. Unfortunately, with the role out of Mpeg 4 decoding, you will need the newest dish on the market, which is the larger dish and is talked about extensively in threads about mpeg 4 rollout. It is being tested in Detroit right now and should be affecting us near the end of the year. You won't need it right away because there will probably not be any substantial gain for us New Yorkers. We already get our HD locals through the 3 lnb setup.

As far as not being able to change your subscription, this sounds strange. If you call up a rep at directv and talk to them, they can add it, and then you will have to pay for that subscription. Also, if you find the right rep you might be able to get some trial offer for a reduced rate. I know they were giving showtime for 6 months if you pay for HBO. So talk to a rep and ask them if there are any offers that they have that would allow you to get HBO at a reduced rate. Sometimes this takes calling more than once to find the right rep who knows what they are doing and the current offers.

This site is awesome as far as finding anything you need to know and several ways to do it. So, read up on some of the other posts and ask lots of questions. There are some really knowlegable folks here.

Peace

 

[Tonedeaf]

The LNB was described by Uboatcmdr; but as far as the knobs that face the dish. You can have a dual LNB with one knob. If you have one knob and a dual lnb you will have to use a switch between the dish and the receiver so that you can get all channels.

Actually with a dual LNB, you do not need a multi switch to view in 2 rooms. The dual LNB has 2 lines coming off of it and they can feed into seperate receivers just fine. If you are wanting to go with more than 2 rooms, then you would need a multi switch.

 

[timmac]

Sorry for my ignorance, I thought that one received 1/2 of the channels, something to do with the negative and positive switching. I thought the switch locked each and then you switch polarization inside the switch. Anyway, I don't want to mislead you, so go with tonedeaf.

 

[boba]

Timmac 3rd post stated this was a court settlement from Directv where they got a specified package free for 6 months. I seem to remember some settlement due to telemarketing, whatever, they are fixed for 6months unless they want to pay for the programming themselves.