Dish 222: Only mono sound for TV2

[Happytech]

My parents recently purchased an HDTV for their living room and upgraded their Dish service to use a 222 receiver to use with their 2 TVs. After the installer left I came over and found that he hadn't plugged the coax cable into TV2 in their bedroom. Upon doing so, I found the sound to TV2 in their bedroom was in Mono, not Stereo, or Surround, which makes their surround sound system useless.
Checking the internet, I found that channels 21-69 are in Mono for TV2. Sadly, my parents bedroom TV only goes up to channel 69. Going through these forums, I found that using a Composite RCA cable from the 222 to TV2 would fix this. I called Dish, but was told that their installers are taught, and I'm quoting here, I had the customer service rep repeat it.. "Not to use RCA cables over a distance of Twenty Inches. Due to signal loss." (Oddly enough, the installer left a 6 foot RCA cable on the ground when he left.) I was also told that Dish guarantees Video and Audio quality on the TV...but not that it would work through 3rd party device such as stereo or surround sound systems. Unplugging the surround sound system and using the TV's internal stereo speakers still only yielded mono sound.
It's a 35 foot cable distance from the 222 to TV2. Dish refuses to send an RCA cable. Should I buy and install one myself? Any other options? Any help would
be greatly appreciated.

 

[Drdeceased]

I had no idea that tv2 is mono.
I wonder if the cable modulation is mono also.
Menu > 6 > 1 > 5 > change the modulation to cable and click done.
Goto the tv2 location and change the television (using the televisons original remote menu button) to cable (usually found under installation, channel, or antenna).
After changing the tv to cable modulation change the channel to correspond.
If this does not fix your problem, I would like to know.
And you will have to purchase composite cables to transfer the sound.

 

[Happytech]

I did what you said, and TV2 is now working on Cable 73. Still mono sound.
TV1 is set to Off, and RF channel 3, if that makes any difference. TV1 works great.
I looked at the back of the receiver and realized something odd. The coax to TV2 isn't coming from the 222 receiver, but is coming from the dish itself. My parents had a 2 TV setup with 1 dish feeding into 2 separate receivers before this, and I see that the original 2cnd coax cable from the dish that originally went to the bedroom TV with the second receiver (Now TV2), is still being run to straight to TV2. Not sure how this is working, because it looks like the signal to TV2 from the receiver must be running back up the same cable that the receiver is getting the signal from.
Could that be causing some interference and/or signal loss that would account for the mono sound?

 

[chainblu]

The coax outputs on the 222 are mono only. Dish doesn't have any RCA cables longer than the 6 ft. one you have now, so they can't send what they don't have.
Even if you had happened to have some 35 ft cables at the time of installation, the installer probably wouldn't have been able to do much with them aside from running them on the floor to TV-2. Any kind of wall fishing or creative wall drilling to route these cables would fall out of the "standard" install and would probably incur custom charges, which may or may not have been pricey, depending on your installer.
It looks like you're on your own here.

 

[Drdeceased]

Sounds like the technician used diplexers to save on some cable running.
Aside from that it appears that in fact the tv2 output has no stereo sound.
You are on your own to run the needed composite cables to the 2nd tv of your system.

 

[Happytech]

Yes, I found 2 diplexers. Well, it looks like I'm going to have to get some composite cables to fix this.
Now both I and my folks are mad as hell at both Dish, Dish tech support, and the installer for not mentioning this 'little' mono drawback of using the 222 box. If they'd known, they simply would have kept the second receiver.:rant:
The only thing that puzzles me is that the the use of the diplexer actually increased the amount of work the installer would have to do...
One last concern for me. Would using Composite cables 30-35 feet in length cause a significant signal loss?

 

[Drdeceased]

You shouldn't notice any loss.
More of the reason that it is not included in a standard install is the cost factor.

I have been working with dual tuners for 3 years and had no idea that it was mono only via coax on tv2. The tech and CSR likely were not aware either.

Diplexers typically take the same amount of time to install regardless of the situation. Whereas running new lines can offer unforeseen complications.

 

[old corps]

I was ignorant of TV2 being mono only via coax but just so folks know, both the 622 & 722 DO provide stereo audio via coax only to TV2. I suspect the "K" models do as well but I don't know this for sure.
For original poster--Get your red/white composite cables from monoprice.com .

Ed

 

[Happytech]

Thanks for all the help. Now I've just got to order the cables. Will make another post here to say how they work once they arrive. I'll bet I'm not the only one to
have a problem like this, so maybe this thread will help others in the future.