DirecTV HR20 install question - PLEASE HELP!

[protoboard12]

I had the D* install guy over yesterday for my install. I wanted the HR20 in my main room. I was told I needed two lines coming in the from the DISH to the BOX. However, all my lines come from my attic, so there is only one line coming down through the wall to the wall plate from my attic.

Isn't it possible to combine two lines using a combiner (splitter) in the attic and then split them again before hooking up to the box? I know this can be done with DISH network DVR boxes, surely it can be done for DirecTV HR20 as well.

The installer said it could not be done and was trying to charge my $70 dollars for a line fish.

 

[apace]

I had the D* install guy over yesterday for my install. I wanted the HR20 in my main room. I was told I needed two lines coming in the from the DISH to the BOX. However, all my lines come from my attic, so there is only one line coming down through the wall to the wall plate from my attic.

Isn't it possible to combine two lines using a combiner (splitter) in the attic and then split them again before hooking up to the box? I know this can be done with DISH network DVR boxes, surely it can be done for DirecTV HR20 as well.

The installer said it could not be done and was trying to charge my $70 dollars for a line fish.

Is this a new install? Your installation should include cable. You do need dual coax lines for the HR20.

 

[protoboard12]

Is this a new install? Your installation should include cable. You do need dual coax lines for the HR20.

It was a new install, but I was told by the installer and again to day by customer service that a "cable fish" is not standard installation.

I did some more research and found several posts on SWM (used to be FTM). This allows both tuners to work off of one input. I am trying now to find out if this is available yet.

 

[Jimbo]

It was a new install, but I was told by the installer and again to day by customer service that a "cable fish" is not standard installation.

I did some more research and found several posts on SWM (used to be FTM). This allows both tuners to work off of one input. I am trying now to find out if this is available yet.

Thiis is still in the testing stage. No word when it will be available or if it will be available to the general public without a installer.

Jimbo

 

[Paul Wozniak]

I got around this " fish" charge by running my own cable. I attached a double run to the end of the existing single run and pulled up through the wall myself. Easier to do than it sounds. Just make sure you secure the cables together good, so you don't leave the double run some where in the wall.

 

[obeythelaw]

Is this required for it to work? I'm having an install in a couple of weeks. Yet, I don't have dual lines. I thought it was just to be able to view and record two programs at once, but that you don't need it to actually work.

 

[iwc5893]

Is this required for it to work? I'm having an install in a couple of weeks. Yet, I don't have dual lines. I thought it was just to be able to view and record two programs at once, but that you don't need it to actually work.

That is correct. You need the two lines to be able to record one thing and watch something else...otherwise it is an overpriced VCR.

 

[ONUOsFan]

You also run the risk of having more issues with the box because you only have one line in. I have that setup in my bedroom, where watching and recording at the same time is less of an issue, and I have had intermittent problems where it flips to the second tuner (which doesn't have a line into it) and gets stuck "searching for signal." I have to restart the receiver to fix it.

I have had a few people tell me, though, that it shouldn't do that and it can be avoided, but I haven't figured it out yet.

 

[iwc5893]

You also run the risk of having more issues with the box because you only have one line in. I have that setup in my bedroom, where watching and recording at the same time is less of an issue, and I have had intermittent problems where it flips to the second tuner (which doesn't have a line into it) and gets stuck "searching for signal." I have to restart the receiver to fix it.

I have had a few people tell me, though, that it shouldn't do that and it can be avoided, but I haven't figured it out yet.

If you do the software download with only one cable connected to sat 1, then it should lock out tuner 2.