Am I up crap creek?

[guity]

Please pardon my ignorance. I have been reading through a few threads, and the impression I am getting is that previously installed cable tv wiring can be used to convey DirecTV signals as long as the cable wires aren't divided up with "splitters". I ventured into the crawl space under my condo and noted that the cable TV cable that threads to my unit is immediately split into 2 wires that then enter my unit.

My belief is that I am unfortunate in this regard because I know that there are cable outlets on the next two floors roughly above each of the two points where the cable enters the bottom of the condo unit. So I guess it is safe to assume that each of the two wires, after they pass into my condo unit, get split in some fashion so that the cable can extend up to the next floor as well.

Can anyone let me know if my logic is correct in this regard and if it means there is no way that these cable wires can successfully be used to convey the DirecTV signal?

(A further tidbit of info is that my two present TV's would need to use two cable outlets that are one floor above the other, probably utilizing signals from the same split line that enters the bottom of the east side of my condo. Another tidbit is that the first-floor TV is using an HR20-100 receiver.

The reason this is happening at all is that my Condo Association, in an effort to keep people off the failing roofs, is consolidating satellite dishes to serve entire sections of condos, and running the satellite lines underneath the buildings. A contractor is moving through the entire condo association asking owners if they want to try the iffy situation of using previously installed cables or if the owners want to pay $150 per drop (I'm not clear if a DVR constitutes 1 drop or 2) for them to provide a new wiring job.)

Thanks for any info you can provide.

 

[skyviewmark]

Technically, with the new SWM Technology, what you have can be made to work. Splitters would most likely have to be changed.. But all receivers would have to be SWM Capable.. THe SWM takes one cable from the dish, then can be split to individual drops.. However the SWM does have limited number of drops it will go to depending on which SWM you use.. A dual tuner would count as two drops

 

[guity]

Thanks for the reply! How hard is it usually to find the old splitters that would need to be replaced? In my case, for instance, would I expect to find a splitter behind each of the first floor cable jack outlets? Will a HD H20-600 (2nd floor) and a HD-DVR H20-100 (first floor) work with the SWM?

 

[skyviewmark]

Personally, I would let an installer handle it.. Some of the old spliters might work if they are high frequency. I really can't tell you what to expect, but I have been to a few houses that looped all the cable and had spliters behind every wall plate.. Best way to find out is to pull the plate and see.. SWM is not cheap if it is not being furnished by DirecTV. My comment was just to let you know that there is a way to make it work.. All spliters must be rated up to 3gigs for the SWM to work without issues.. Splitters are easily replaced. It's the SWM Multiswitch that is expensive. And again this only works with the newer receivers.

 

[guity]

I appreciate your help and advice. I looked behind the plate of the outlet that would be used by my first floor TV and it seems to bear out what you have said -- there is an old splitter behind the wall plate which, I would assume, is sending a second wire up to the cable outlet on the next floor where my second TV is being used.

It seems like what would be required to make this set-up work properly would be a DTV SWM-8 that would sit underneath the condo and accept input from the satelllite line under the condo, and then hook into the present cable wiring. Upstairs, in place of the present splitter behind the first floor wall plate, I would want an STS-2,4 or 8 splitter that would perhaps have 3 lines attached to it: 1 line going up to the cable outlet upstairs and the other two going out through the outlet wall plate to the HR20-100.

I guess I will have to play this by ear with the contractor. It's very hard to trust him. He moved my dish to a new location as part of a new roof installation, and after he was done, my second TV has gotten bad to none reception. One of the other owners reported that the contractor hooked a Directv line into the owner's old cable system, and besides the fact that the owner's TV was then constantly going in and out, the contractor tried to bill the guy $900 for supposed wiring that was never done. My direct contact with this contractor is that he has made two dates with me for installation, and never showed up or called either time.

I followed a link from one of these Directv threads to a web page that shows the SWM-8 costs $226, which is already a hefty chunk of the price I would pay to simply have the contractor re-wire. I guess the STS splitter is another $10. That's a large piece of the $450 the contractor would charge me to re-wire. On the other hand, my next door neighbor (who chose re-wiring) is stuck with a bunch of holes in his drywall that he is going to have to hire someone to repair...

 

[jtwex]

I wonder why all the etailers bumped the price for the SWM-8 recently to $199. It seemed to fall from $250 to $150 just a few months ago & now is back to $200. It's not like electronics to rise in price unless the demand has spiked.

You would like the switch but I honestly don't think you're going to find every splitter in the walls/crawls/insulation to justify the gamble. One splitter missed will cause many problems.

 

[mental1]

Splitters are kryptonite for DirecTV. $150 per drop for the contractor is ridiculous as well (IMO). If he has a deal with the condo association, then he's probably already being paid for the drops he's installing. When I sign on with a MDU (Multiple Dwelling Unit) I get paid per unit I'm installing. Then I have exclusive rights to the lines and all equipment being installed and if someone in one of the MDUs wants to get DirecTV, they are required to go through my company to set up service. So I get paid to install the dish and lines, I get paid for the DirecTV sale and I get paid for the install (that has already been done). Charging the customer would only be for custom work such as wall fishing, etc. Check with your condo association and get the specifics.

 

[guity]

thanks mental1

Well the Association already pretty much sent out a letter saying that we would have to pay $150 per drop. The condos I live in were built with what appears to be a rather loose regard to specifications, so measurements vary quite a bit from the blueprints and walls from floor to floor don't always stack up so well. I get the impression that sometimes the installer spends a very long time getting the wiring done, so maybe the $150 is averaging out for him. I think he got picked in the first place because he was the lowest bidder on the project.

He actually showed up at my condo by surprise over the weekend and it turned out there wasn't any need to install an SWM under my condo because he had already attached one closer to the dish. So he plugged the satellite wire into my existing cable wiring. On the next floor he attached some kind of metering box to the cable wire as it arrived at the outlet, and said the box showed a signal strength of around "46". He said the TV would run fine on that signal strength, and indeed it did.

He replaced the splitter behind that outlet with a DirecTV-type splitter, and we went up to the next floor, where he measured the signal strength where the cable wire arrived at that floor. This time he said the signal strength was around "60", which he said probably wouldn't work. Then he realized there was another old splitter behind the outlet plate, so he removed the incoming wire from that splitter and checked it on his signal box again, and measured the signal strength at "55". He said "55" was right on the edge -- might work or might not.

When the receiver on that floor (HD-600) was hooked up, it was able to download new software for the new dish/wire set-up, and also downloaded the guide fine. The TV seemed to work at about the same level as it had previously (parallel diagonal lines on the screen, pixelation and occasional halting of the image). Since the line and dish were changed but the problem had remained the same, and since I was able to play a DVD on the TV with no screen problems, both the installer and I agreed the problem at this point would likely be with the receiver. So I called up DirecTV and they are sending a new receiver on Tuesday...

 

[guity]

Epilogue: Receiver came yesterday and fixed the last problem with the upstairs TV, so everything is working hunky dory using existing cable wiring and appropriate multi switches and splitters. Thanks to mental1, jtwex and skyviewmark for all advice contributed.