This might be a little too advanced for here, but this place always seems to amaze me. So I moved, ditched Comcast and signed up with DirectTV (U-Verse is not available in my area). One thing that sucked was to find out that I have to have two coaxial jacks where my TV is in order to have my DVR record one show while I can watch another. A few years ago, I had Dish Network. There was a splitter at the Dish that would combine two cables into one and then a splitter inside the house that would "redistribute" it back to two cables. Isn't there something similar that could apply here? Can I not put a splitter in the attic (catch the two signals and combine them into one line)? Then, at the coaxial where my TV is, have another splitter that "redistributes" it back to two cables and I plug both in to the back of the DVR?

What you need is two tuners or equipment with dual tuners if you want to watch one thing and record another.

For Direct TV, the answer is the DIRECTV DVR box.

Yes, that's what I understand. I have the HD DVR receiver:

https://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/contentPage.jsp?assetId=P5740167

It has a dual tuner. The problem is, my house does not have two outputs where my TV is located. Is there not a way to do anything like I mentioned above? Or is my only option to run a second cable to where my TV is?

I don't know what your antenna setup is like, but...........

You might be able to just split the line at the TV set location.

Remember to get a splitter designed for satellite TV ( up to 2150MHz... You can't use common OTA or cable TV splitters).

Then again, I don't know your situation, or the signal strength coming down from your antenna.

Shouldn't this have been taken care of by the Direct TV installer?

He did... he said that I need to get another coaxial jack there. lol Some help, huh. I might call Direct TV and see if he was actually supposed to run a 2nd line there through the wall. He did give me the option of running it along the other side of the wall (the Utility Room), but we thought that was crazy to have it seen like that... even if it is just a Utility Room.

After looking around online, it doesn't look like there is a splitter that works for Direct TV.

Typically regular installers are not required to do custom wiring. If you wanted the wire run inside the wall, the installer would be required to "fish" wires through your walls.... that is considered custom wiring. In most cases that is not covered in a standard satellite or cable TV installation job.

They will do that for you, but they will also charge you a hefty fee for doing that.



I don't see why you can't use any decent splitter made for the satellite spectrum. You should be able to use this one.....

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103928

Or you might be able to get a cheaper one here.....

http://www.solidsignal.com/

Split the line coming out of your wall jack and run them to your equipment.

I betcha it would work.

Funny, I just got off the phone and was going to mention the fishing a new line. They said that it would cost $49 to have someone do it. Not too bad, but should be free, imo. I work for a home builder, so I'm going to see if I can get it done for free first.

I guess it seems like they should have told me this up front. If not, they should have fishing a new line included in the installation if they want to sell me a product and have me be able to have me use it like it was intended. Either that, or they should make splitters that work with their service so the technicians can easily install it.

I'll do a little more research on using the spitter like you have. My installer said it's not possible Everything that came up on google was saying it was not possible. In some cases, it fries the splitter. In other, it hurts the equipment. I'll dig around on their tech forums a little more before I experiment. Thanks for your help!

Installing wiring in people's walls shouldn't be free. Think about it.

How many installs a day do you think would get done if all installers had to snake wires through people's walls?

A basic install for any type of TV service in a home without existing wiring and a central distribution point means ... wire enters into the home closest to the TV set location and usually runs along the baseboard to the TV set location. That's it.

TV companies can't offer inside wall wiring for free. Some homes could be easy, yet some jobs could require hours depending on certain variables.

$49 is a very cheap price to run a wire inside a wall. I'm surprised it was that cheap.



What type of LNB is installed on your dish... if you know?

You subscribed to... and are paying for a service that requires dual tuning and two coax inputs. Chances are, the LNB on your dish has multiple coax outputs.

What sites claim you can't split the line inside? Many satellite installations are split inside the home at a distribution point. Maybe your situation is different.

Well, like I said, I think it should be free if they are not going to bother telling you that it needs it up front. That's all they needed to do. Otherwise, you're right... it shouldn't be free if they did have that disclaimer.

I wonder if they offered fishing it so low because I'm new and was a little disappointed that it wasn't known up front. But she didn't say


Here's what I found out from the tech forum:
"DirectTV does have a system that allows you to use a single cable to feed both tuners of a DVR, but it is currently only used for new installations that include five or more tuners.The conventional DirectTV system you have requires two cables all the way from the dish and there is no way around that with your current equipment. However, the installer should have been able to fish the additional cable you need, although it would have been considered custom work and cost extra."

Looks like I'm going fishing

DirecTV does cover what is included in a standard install, and what is extra on their website.
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPageNR.jsp?assetId=3500052

I actually had a good experience with DTV last month. I was getting an occasional Searching for Signal on Sat2, and set up an appointment to check my dish and align (something I'm capable of doing). They waived the fee since I have been a customer for quite some time.

When the techs arrived, they took one look at my dish and wiring, and decided to redo all of it. The initial install was done by a sub-contractor, and he had spliced coax instead of running new lines.

Inside, they looked at my HR20 DVR and said "that has to go too" and upgraded me to the latest HR23, giving me much better picture quality with the new processors and increased recording capacity.

They played with Rudy and Cecil, then went on their way. I got 2 hours of time and $500 worth of hardware at no cost.

Doh! The fine print... or in this case, the information you have to look for because they don't tell you up front (even though needing two jacks is something unique and most older homes don't have).

Oh well, $50 isn't a bad deal and I might try to have them run a CAT5E and phone line as well. I mean, once the "fished line" is through to the attic, they should be able to attach all 3, right?

That's messed up. You've had it like that ever since you've had DTV?

Thanks for letting me know about the model numbers. I'll have to look at mine. I couldn't find any info about their model numbers on their website and I always wanted to verify it. I never trust subcontractors. I'm sure I have the latest because it looks the same that's on their website, but having a model number will help verify.

Maybe it's because I came from cable, but my guide sure isn't very fast.

Just since switching to HD. My original dish I installed on my chimney on a very steep part of my roof. When I got the new dish, I asked for two techs due to the height and location. The sub-contractor was in his 60's I think, and I knew he would die if he got on my roof.

My wiring job was solid, and he just spliced into it.



Check inside the right side card door, should have a number in there. HR20 and I think 21 are retired. the 23 is their current model and it's a big step up.



My only complaint. It all runs on a Unix kernel, but I expected more performance from the UI. It's not as fast as our Tivo box, but you'll get used to it.

Hmmm, mine says HR22-100. I just signed up, so I should get the latest, right?

Ok, so it's not just me. I was actually reading around. It sounds like DirectTV is releasing a Tivo version next year. Oh well, any hope that a software upgrade can make them faster or is that impossible?