2nd TV used to work, now it doesn't

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ZappaPhreak

ZappaPhreak

Member
Original poster
Mar 2, 2009
8
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Farmington, MN
I've got a VIP 222k back in February 2009, and when it was installed it was hooked up in two TV mode. Everything worked fine, but I basically only used the 2nd TV to watch baseball games. Well, the season ended, I unhooked the TV down in my utility room to hook up an antenna to get OTA HD for the rest of the football season. Now that the baseball season's up and running again, I went to hook things up to the 222k in 2nd TV mode again, and it ain't working! Depending on the channel I select on the modulator, I either get enough signal to get a snowy picture, or on some channels an intermittent snowy picture, or no picture at all. I think I've got everything hooked up the same way in the utility room -- the run from the dish antenna goes to a diplexer, with one output going to the satellite receiver, and the other going to the 2nd TV. I never messed with the hookup on the satellite receiver side, so nothing's changed there.

Anyone have any ideas on what I might be doing wrong? Any advice would be appreciated...

Thanks in advance!
 
If you unhooked TV2 and put an antenna on it, I'm guessing you auto programed to pick up locals. Some newer tvs won't pickup your tv2 channel again unless you auto program again.
 
make sure your modulator on 222k is set to air or cable and that tv2 is also set the same (air or cable). side note, why not get a ota module and scan all locals into 222k and have them appear in prog guide and accessible from both tv1 and tv2
 
I did re-run the autoprogramming, and it's picking up the signal, but it just looks like it's a weak signal. And I verified the TV and modulator are both set to cable mode, channel 94. Very strange.

And I wasn't aware of the OTA module, but I'm not sure I really need it. I'm now running a separate cable to the back of the TV for my OTA antenna. Gives me some HD channels I'm not getting through Dish Network. Don't want to pay the extra $$$ for HD. I'm a penny pincher. :)

Thanks for the replies!
 
There's nothing fancy about those diplexers, is there? I know I've seen them at the local Home Depot. I'll pick up a couple, swap those out and see if that takes care of it. :)
 
I replaced the diplexers, checked all the connections, still not getting a good signal to TV2.

sca said:
i think (?) he moved the reciever or tv2.
or...hes running through a vcr.
Click to expand...

Actually just unhooked TV2 for a stretch, and now it doesn't work since I hooked it back up. And it's hooked up directly to the TV...

This is getting a little frustrating. :mad:
 
ZappaPhreak said:
-- the run from the dish antenna goes to a diplexer, with one output going to the satellite receiver, and the other going to the 2nd TV. I never messed with the hookup on the satellite receiver side, so nothing's changed there.
Click to expand...
The line from the dish goes to "separator", then out to Sat In 1 & 2. TV2 connects to Home Distribution coax out. Did you mean line from TV antenna?
 
KAB said:
The line from the dish goes to "separator", then out to Sat In 1 & 2. TV2 connects to Home Distribution coax out. Did you mean line from TV antenna?
Click to expand...

So here's the whole setup... :)

The line from the dish runs into my utility room. It's hooked up to a grounding block, then from the grounding block it goes to a diplexer. The satellite side of the diplexer hooks up to the cable running to the outlet in the family room with the satellite receiver. That outlet's hooked up to another diplexer -- the satellite side of the diplexer is hooked up to a separator, which is hooked up to Sat In 1 & 2. The antenna side of that diplexer is hooked up to home distribution coax out.

Alright, back into the utility room, and the antenna side of that diplexer. That's hooked up to the cable running to the outlet in the room with TV2. That outlet's hooked directly up to the antenna connector on the TV.

I verified all the diplexers are hooked up correctly. Starting to think there's something wrong with the TV. I just got rid of a couple of little TVs a couple of weeks ago. Figures. Could have used them to troubleshoot this mess. :)

By the way, I don't think the grounding block is actually grounded. It's attached to a piece of plywood hanging off the wall frame. I'm not an electrician, but I don't think that counts as being grounded. Would that affect the signal to TV2? Or am I just vulnerable to lightning strikes frying the receiver?
 
fuzzy picture tv2...hooked up the way you describe it, which is right = bad tv, bad connector or bad cable inline to tv2 from the diplexor.
grounding or not is not going to give you a bad tv2 pic. bad receiver, unlikely. try replacing the entire cable from uhf/vhf of basement dipexer to tv2 including connectors, or try another tv.
 
OK, using a little TV, I've been able to confirm that everything looks OK coming out of the "home distribution" connector for TV2 on the back of the receiver. Even disconnecting the cable that runs from the "home distribution" connector to the diplexer & hooking that up to the TV, everything looks good.

But, if I go into the utility room, and hook the little TV up to the "antenna out" connector on the diplexer in there, the picture is fuzzy. Therefore, it would seem my problem is one of the following:


  • the diplexer on the receiver side
  • the cable running from that diplexer to the wall outlet
  • the cable running from that wall outlet into the utility room
  • the diplexer in the utility room

When talking about diplexers,

papalittle said:
Do not buy the real cheap ones. you need to have real good quality ones.
Click to expand...

How do I tell a good quality diplexer from a cheap one?

BTW, thanks for all the friendly help out here on this forum! It's much appreciated.
 
you are correct in your diagnosis.
i still think its a bad fitting in the basement. remember, bad fittings hide behind wallplates too.
holland makes quality diplexers, either red or blue will do.
 
If possible, run a cable directly from the tv2 port to the back of the tv. By-passing the diplexers. I would set the modulator and tv to air, and make sure it's in analog mode.
If direct like from tv2 port to tv yields no picture, put the tv2 cable on to the cable port on your tv1 and eliminate the tv as being the problem. If still no picture, I would say the receiver tv2 port is bad.
 
DishTechPA said:
If possible, run a cable directly from the tv2 port to the back of the tv. By-passing the diplexers. I would set the modulator and tv to air, and make sure it's in analog mode.
If direct like from tv2 port to tv yields no picture, put the tv2 cable on to the cable port on your tv1 and eliminate the tv as being the problem. If still no picture, I would say the receiver tv2 port is bad.
Click to expand...

he did that.
 
sca said:
i still think its a bad fitting in the basement. remember, bad fittings hide behind wallplates too.
Click to expand...

I took off the wall plate, and voila! Looked like a crappy connector! It was the screw on type, and there was lots of wires sticking out from under the connector. It was easily pulled off the end, and it looked like crap. I put a new connector on there, hooked everything back up, and... Still snowy picture. :mad:

sca said:
holland makes quality diplexers, either red or blue will do.
Click to expand...

One thing I did notice -- I took a closer look at the diplexers I put in, and I don't think they're what I need. On the side with two connectors, one says "Antenna 40-862 MHz" and the other says "Satellite 950-2050 MHz". Didn't like the fact that the satellite side started at 950 MHz. So I looked at the diplexers that were on there originally, and the satellite side says "DC pass". So I went and threw the old diplexers back in, and I'm getting absolutely nothing on TV2. So, I figure I've got a bad diplexer, throw the new ones back in, and I'm back to a snowy picture...

So I'm guessing I have to have diplexers with DC pass to get this whole setup to work. Because if any of them are not passing through the UHF/VHF frequencies on that single cable that's running from the satellite receiver to the utility room, things ain't gonna work right... Does that make sense?
 
i just took a look at my holland diplexer here in my basement. it does say dc pass which i believe is required. and it simply says 5-2150 mhz. doesnt say what frequency the cuttoff is from uhf/vhf to sat.
have you tried different channels on the modulator? what channel are you using anyway?
i mean if you are using 60 air have you tried 40, 30, etc. have you tried cable 73? or higher like 118?.
 

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