Some Installation Ramblings

**mjstraw** · 08-29-2009 11:27 AM

Began thinking about installing E* a couple of years ago. Hired local retailer to come out and do a site survey. We spent about an hour talking about and checking various locations - well worth the $20 charge.

Decided rear roof of detached garage was best location. While re-roofing garage installed a CommDeck dish roof mount. I didn't want to penetrate the roof to install dish and hated the look of cables looped out around gutter or rake rafter. CommDeck solved both problems.

Last summer I ran utilities underground from house to garage and included an empty 1.5in conduit for "communications" cables.

I'm very picky about how things are done, so I worked out an arrangement with the retailer that he'd supply the cable and I'd run it. When I gave him a list of various length pieces I'd need, he handed me a box of dual and one of single rg6 and said "use what you need and return the left-over". I had some concern since it was copper-over-steel center conductor vs solid copper I'm used to using.

Max cable length dish-to-receiver was a bit over 250ft, but retailer said no problem and if there was they'd install an amp. Ran two dual and three single cables along with four cat-5 cables from garage to far corner of basement where home cabling distribution hub located. At house entrance installed Cable Innovations DKPS-SAT2 surge suppressors. All cables labeled at each end.

One sat cable cross-coonnected to outlet in living room. Another to a feeder cable to a secondary hub in attic and from there to an outlet in a bedroom.

Installer started out grumbling about "nonstandard installation" because of CommDeck but quickly decided it was pretty nice (and that I knew what I was talking about). He peaked the dish using a portable meter - very impressive. He liked not having to run any cable.

Before starting he said "we should see signal strengths of xxx on satellite yyy" for all three (110, 119 and 129). He was +/- about 3 on each one. No amp necessary for cable lengths involved.

Connected 722k at each location, plugged each into ethernet/broadband jack. He made a phone call to activate and we had service.

Actually, two minor problems. One - I cross connected to the wrong cable at the attic hub. The other - living room TV was SD (since upgraded to HD) and wouldn't accept 1080i signal on component inputs. Solution was to use composite, but I later discovered I could change 722k to output 380p and use component.

We connected the modulator output of each to a separate cable path back to the main hub and into the distribution system. Upgraded remote #1 on each to IR/UHF. Now have satellite on cable channels 83/86/89/92. Labeled each remote with corresponding channel number. Even the "technically challenged" of the household understand "when you have the remote labeled channel x you control channel x on every tv in the house"

Later connected units to phone line for caller-id and other non-broadband services.

Remote access is great, love the DVR, wish we had Smithsonian channel.

I'm a happy camper so far. Everything pretty much as expected, due in part to plenty of research beforehand.

Mark

**eddie willers** · 08-29-2009 11:49 AM

Good job of planning ahead.

**tim tim tim** · 08-29-2009 03:40 PM

any specific reason for running a seperate line back up to the "hub" for tv2 instead of diplexing? just curious

**mjstraw** · 08-29-2009 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by tim tim tim

any specific reason for running a seperate line back up to the "hub" for tv2 instead of diplexing? just curious

The cable was already in place - I ran 6 RG6s up to the attic hub when I set it up (I know, I'm prone to overkill :-) but 4 are already in use (fm antenna feed to sound system on first floor, satellite dish feed, video originating on 2nd floor, and combined analog RF up from amplifier) so perhaps not.

Never used diplexers before and didn't want to introduce another unknown variable. Besides, it seems "unnatural" to have signals going two ways on the same cable :-)

The architecture of my distribution system is that video sources on the second and (hopefully some day) third floors get combined at the attic hub, run to the main hub where they are combined with other sources (tv2 from other 722, perhaps cable, security cameras etc) and fed into the primary amplifier.

Mark

**whatchel1** · 08-29-2009 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by mjstraw

Actually, two minor problems. One - I cross connected to the wrong cable at the attic hub. The other - living room TV was SD (since upgraded to HD) and wouldn't accept 1080i signal on component inputs. Solution was to use composite, but I later discovered I could change 722k to output 380p and use component.

I assume you really meant 480p here. But as soon as you did this none of the TV's on the receiver was HD anymore. Hopefully you have changed it back to 1080 and have HD at the all the locations. 480p is ED like a DVD player does.

**mjstraw** · 08-29-2009 10:55 PM

Originally Posted by whatchel1

I assume you really meant 480p here. But as soon as you did this none of the TV's on the receiver was HD anymore. Hopefully you have changed it back to 1080 and have HD at the all the locations. 480p is ED like a DVD player does.

"380p" was indeed a typo - meant to say 480p as you assumed.

"none of the TV's on the receiver" would be one(1) since tv2 is always SD

Anyway, 480p was with the SD set using component input. Once the set was upgraded to an HD one I changed the 722k to output 1080i

Mark