DishPro Plus 44 Switch Review

[SimpleSimon]

Good question gowfo - and people probably get pissed off at me for being 100% nit-picky about the terminology all the time - but this is why.

[jsa_sf]

Thanks for asking guys...(sheesh.) No, I did not mix up the DPP Separator and a splitter.

Here is an update:

I *did* get the Separator to work. Here is how I had to do it on my system:

1) I hooked two feeds directly into the 921 with no Separator.
2) I ran a check switch. The 921 then became acquainted with the DPP44 switch.
3) I moved the feed to the 921 to port #2 (not the power inserter port) on the DPP44.
4) I replaced the Separator.

Mind you, I've heard from many people they have successfully used the Separator on port #1 on the DPP44 switch. It just doesn't work for me. It may be that I have the inserter at the switch rather than at the receiver, who knows...or my flash revision.

In any case, if I move it back to port #1, it won't boot (hangs).

I'm curious; All of you who have successfully used the DPP44 and a Separator on the 921... was your 921 already using the DPP44 prior to the use of the Separator?

Hey Jsa_sf

Are you sure you have a separator and not a splitter, had a buddy scratching his head for a week trying to hook up a DPP44 to his 721 with a dish pro splitter. I stopped by to troubleshoot for him, and when I stopped laughing we got a Dish Pro Plus Separator ordered for him.


DPP Separator

DP Splitter

[SimpleSimon]

I'm curious; All of you who have successfully used the DPP44 and a Separator on the 921... was your 921 already using the DPP44 prior to the use of the Separator?

Yes, please - let us know where you started from and how you got it running.

[Scott Greczkowski]

I'm curious; All of you who have successfully used the DPP44 and a Separator on the 921... was your 921 already using the DPP44 prior to the use of the Separator?

Nope I went from a DP34 to the 44 switch. The seperator worked on the first shot on all my units.

From where I sit out of all the equipment I have used from Dish Network, this is the first one I can remember that worked as advertised out of the box. And for that I applaud Dish.

Others are reporting some problems but most have got it working, I am sure everyone install is a little different.

I really like my DPPP44 and may actually get another one so I can get rid of my legacy dish.

[mike123abc]

I have the DPP44 separator on line 1 with the power inserter about 1 foot down the line from the separator.

[keitheva]

There definitely seems to be a shorter-than-usual cable run length limitation if you use the separator. When I first hooked mine up, I had to place the separator near the switch to get it to work (my 921 is about 75' as the cable flies from the DPP44), when I placed the separator at the 921 end, no signal on tuner 2. I thought this may be because I am using existing RG59 wiring. So I went and bought some quad-shield RG6 and ran another line to the 921. Same result, separator at 921 end, no signal on tuner 2; separator at switch end, works fine.

Have Dish published any specs/notes about this? It seems that for the separator to be used as a solution to running more than 1 cable for a dual-tuner rcvr, the cable run from the separator must be fairly short (at least less than 75').

In answer to the other question, the first time my 921 saw the DPP44 switch was via the separator, so it seems you do not have to run a check switch without the separator first.

Cheers,
-Keith

[SimpleSimon]

Keith: I understand that you're reporting what you've observed, but it makes no sense that the separator would have to be close to the switch - UNLESS you've got bad cable. And of course, a requirement like that pretty much makes the separator worthless for it's intended purpose of saving extra cable runs.

75 feet should not be an issue unless there's more than 125 feet from the switch to the dish. DishPro spec is for 200' maximum end-to-end.

There's effectively NO 'electrical' difference in the signals sent from the DPP44 when the separator is used vs. when it's not. That is, the DPP44 is sending 2 bands of satellite data - the only difference is regular DishPro is always 1 satellite, odd & even and DP+ can be either odd or even of either one or two satellites. In fact, both bands might even be the same stream!

[keitheva]

Keith: I understand that you're reporting what you've observed, but it makes no sense that the separator would have to be close to the switch

I understand the rationale, but how else do you explain this?

If I setup:

DPP44 - single 75' run - separator - 921

I get a good connection but no signal on tuner 2 @ the 921. Tuner 1 is ok.

If I setup:

DPP44 - separator - dual 75' runs - 921

everything works fine.

I see the same results with both my existing RG59 and brand new RG6 cable.

I would love for this to work!!

Thanks,
-Keith

[SimpleSimon]

Well, all I can think of has to do with some reports that the separator is sometimes not happy being on the DPP44's port 1 (with the power inserter).

Other than that, my only other thought is a bad jumper - but you've undoubtedly checked all that.

[jsa_sf]

Hmmm... My insticts tell me there is a common denomenator here.

When I initially set my separator up, I was actually running 1.85. I knew it probably wouldn't work, but I figured what the heck, and plugged it all in right into the power inserter and port 1.

The 921 *did* boot, and it obviously didn't recognize the 44 switch... Yet it was showing channels from 119 without a problem. I ran the check switch just to see what it would do (before beginning the download of 1.86) and it indicated that tuner #2 wasn't connected to a switch.

Now, of course, after the 921 had 1.86, I had all my problems where it wouldn't boot unless i hooked in two feeds directly... Once I ran the check switch, and the DPP44 was recognized, I was able to get it working with port #2, 3 or 4. In my case, it's a short run though... So I don't think it's a distance issue.

Perhaps on the occasion that people have problems using port #1 on the 44 switch with a separator on the 921, it specifically is the lack of tuner #2... maybe the power inserter (this is without ANY understanding of how these things work so grain of salt here) somehow would interfere or impede on the 2nd tuner signal coming from the 44 switch under certain conditions...

I'm stretching here.

Well, all I can think of has to do with some reports that the separator is sometimes not happy being on the DPP44's port 1 (with the power inserter).

Other than that, my only other thought is a bad jumper - but you've undoubtedly checked all that.