Getting AT9, HR20, Zinwell WB68 - Have questions

[ttubbiola]

Hi everyone, this is my first post to this site. I found your site via the AVS Forums.

Anyway, today I talked to DTV and they are going to upgrade my main HD Box to the new MPEG4 HD DVR. However, I have a number of other receivers in the house (Sony A55s and B55s, Sony HD200, Basic Hughes HD box) all feeding from a Phase 3 dish through a Terk BMS-58. I have a few ReplayTVs using the old Sony receivers.

My main question is, will I need to replace the older Sony receivers once I put the AT9 dish and WB68 Multiplexer online? I'm assuming the Terk is not compatible with the new dish. Do you think the installer will have the Multiplexe or should I just buy one myself before he even gets here? Can I swap the new WB68 in place of the Terk even before the new dish gets installed?

I have been using the search tools to get some info here but wanted to ask you about my exact situation also.

Thanks for any help.

Tom

 

[directvfreak]

The installer will have the multiswitch. All receivers work with the AT9. You don't need to do anything prior to the install.

 

[texasbrit]

Old receivers are fine, BUT if you have OTA diplexed through your existing multiswitch you will have a problem, you can't diplex if you are receiving MPEG-4. You can cascade the new multiswitch with the old one so long as any MPEG-4 receivers are connected directly to the new multiswitch, and you will need to run separate OTA cables to those new receivers.

 

[ttubbiola]

Thanks for the replies.

No Diplexing used at all. I never could get it to work as advertised with my CATV.

A general question, how would I cascade the old switch when it is a 4x8 multiswitch? Where would I get the 4 inputs (currently coming from my Phase 3 dish)? Would I need to split each signal before the multiswitch?

 

[texasbrit]

Your Terk is a 5x8. Two ways of doing this:
1) Take any four outputs from your new multiswitch and connect them to the four satellite inputs of the Terk. You can connect them any way you want, no particular order. Then the outputs of the old Multiswitch will carry all the sat signals except the MPEG-4 ones which overlay into the OTA band.
2) Use four power-passing broadband splitters on the four outputs from your new dish. Connect four of the outputs into the new switch, four into the old one. Match the connections so that the outputs from one splitter go to the same inputs on each of the multiswitches.

The splitter approach is more expensive (you need to buy splitters!) but you get 16 outputs instead of 12.

 

[netraider]

Splitters

One source for splitters

http://www.prosatellitesupply.com/hi-freq_digital_signal_splitterX4.htm

 

[WTT0001]

Ok...

I'm a little confused Unless you need more than 8 outputs (since your adding the DVR) you would just swap the 68 in place of the old MS, The other non HD/MPEG4 will see the 5-LNB as a PhaseIII. Now if you need more than the 8 outputs, run 4 lines from the 68 into the old MS and you should be good (make sure the new receiver is on the 68 though )

WTT

 

[texasbrit]

I think that is what we said. Cascading would give 12 outputs. Using splitters and driving the two multiswitches separately would give 16 outputs. And so long as the WB68 is the first multiswitch in the cascade, and as you say any MPEG-4 receivers are attached directly to the wb68, everything would be OK.
remember some of th earlier comments were based on the thought that diplexing might be in use.

 

[Azeke]

Check this out, probably will solve your issue, while minimizing confusion:

http://www.zcwc.com/zcwc/products/multi_switch/wb_616.htm

Peace and blessings,

Azeke

 

[texasbrit]

I'm extracting this from another post I made. Since you are going to be stacking a WB68 with a powered Terk 5x8 it should work OK - in fact I have seen several posts from people who did this.

"There are lots of posts about both successes and failures with WB68s. One issue is that the WB68 is unpowered (I believe the WB616 is a powered multiswitch).
In general the situation seems to be:
Zinwell say that the WB68 is not stackable but there are several reports that it is. Some people have reported problems stacking WB68s with each other. I have seen nothing but positive reports about stacking the WB68 with an older, powered multiswitch. So:
The WB68 seems to be stackable so long as it is the first multiswitch connected to the dish (it has to be, otherwise you won't get the MPEG-4 channels) and the second multiswitch is powered.
The WB68 may or may not be stackable with another WB68 depending it seems on your particular installation (possibly the length of cable runs)
The WB68 seems to be OK when two of them are driven by the correct splitters.
You need 4 2.5+ghz splitters with power-passing on both sides.

If you are doing a new installation or upgrading an installation where you don't want to retain diplexing on the non-MPEG-4 side of your system, use a WB616, particularly if you can get DirecTV to install it free!

In all of this I am assuming there are no problems with the 616 multiplexer - I have yet to see any reports from people who have them."