Got installed today - now questions :-)

[dcwebman]

I already had D* installed with the old small dish just for the Sunday Ticket. I decided to make the switch from cable and go all the way. The installer brought an H20, R15, and 3 D11's. I already had the house wired for cable but since I wanted the H20 & R15 next to each other until the new HD-DVR comes out, I needed another cable drop for that area. He informed me it was going to cost me more money for him to drop a wire so while he put up the AT9, I dropped 2 lines. I figure when I get the HD-DVR, I'll still keep the R15 in the same place so I'll have 4 tuners to tape from and forget the VCR.

Anyway, question one. He gives me the H20 & R15 to put in my entertainment cabinet which was what I wanted because it would have taken him forever to figure out how I have everything hooked up. First problem. I had a digital coax cable for the audio already from my HD cable box and there isn't any of these on the H20 or R15, only optical. What's up with that? I'm probably wrong but I thought the coax audio was better than optical. We'll see what they put on the new HD-DVR.

Second, he said the H20 requires a filter on the satellite in. He didn't know why, he just said they are told to do that but it lowers the signal strength by about 10. Why the filter?

Then I was bummed when he said that one remote controls both the H20 & R15. He said I would need to either have one off or cover the IR eye. I think that was the only thing he was unknowledgeble about because through some very quick looking at the manuals it appears I can set up the remote to use AV1 and AV2. Plus I set up the H20 with RF remote so maybe that will make a difference. Still have some playing to do with this. Especially since this weekend is my install date for the free Tivo DVR and I plan on putting it in the same place.

Great news is that I had just gotten a Channel Master 4228 UHF antenna to put in the attic to try and get OTA HD channels. I had no luck with an old Panasonic HD receiver but hooked up to the H20, bang, all of them came in. I only get 3 HD locals over the dish so the OTA now gives me every one, and helps if any rain fade happens.

At the moment, I'm happy I made the switch but I'll be even happier when I can get the new HD-DVR this summer! The thing I'm not happy about is what I never had to do with cable and that is pay for a box at every TV because the standard cable was fine for all rooms except the living room. Oh well, there goes an extra $25/month to D* for the extra receivers.

Jeff

 

[directvfreak]

What i would do is set the H20 to RF remote and the R15 IR. That way the receivers will opperate independatly.

 

[lou_do]

First problem. I had a digital coax cable for the audio already from my HD cable box and there isn't any of these on the H20 or R15, only optical. What's up with that? I'm probably wrong but I thought the coax audio was better than optical. We'll see what they put on the new HD-DVR.
Jeff

From what I see the new HD-DVR will only have an optical audio out. Look at this write up and pictures from CES, about the upcoming, HR20. I see a optical out, but no coaxial out.

http://gear.ign.com/articles/679/679224p1.html

 

[dragon002]

i was under the impression that optical audio was the best, you are saying that coaxial is????

 

[charper1]

They both fall under the same S/P-DIF format:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF

When correctly connected, Coax and Optical should be exactly the same. Bandwidth isn't and issue, error correction (when connected correctly) isn't and issue. Distance, say over 50 feet might lean toward optical but who does that? Optical cables can be miles long compared to copper's hundreds of feet for the same amount of signal loss. Optical cable can be fragile and cannot be taken around corners too tightly or pinched. For all intents and purposes though, it doesn't make a difference which one you use; JUST DON"T BE CHEAP!

Now, having said that, there are a couple of situations where one MIGHT be better than the other. They both fall under "defective equipment" or "cheap equipment" though.

1. The CD data, though optical, is converted to a electrical signal. To create an optical signal, this electrical signal - essentially the coax signal, has to be converted to optical by a laser-diode. You could theorize that an optical signal could not be superior to a coax signal because it is derived from the coax signal. I would not worry about it though and don't beleive it to be so.

2. Optical connections do not carry grounds. In a poorly designed or cheap system, an optical connection SHOULD produce far less hum because there are fewer ground paths. The music to the decoder would not be any better but a crappy amp could add hum to an otherwise pristine music signal just before it got to the speakers. This hum would be fairly obvious though.

 

[dcwebman]

Thanks for the good explanation between optical and coax. I was under the impression coax was better but now I know. Since I have the H20 and R15 next to each other, my limitation is my A/V receiver in which one input has optical and the other has coaxial. I have the H20 going optical but am stuck with phono plugs for the R15.

I did set up the H20 remote as RF and so far they seem to work independently. Thanks for the advice.

 

[dcwebman]

Does everybody else have a filter on their H20 satellite in? Why?

Jeff

 

[Proc]

Does everybody else have a filter on their H20 satellite in? Why?

Jeff

I don't, but then I am using the H20 with the Triple LNB. I think you need the filter if you use the AT9/5LNB, but I don't think its needed until all 5 sats are live (99/101/103/110/119). I thought I read somewhere that its for the 99? Anyone with more info on this?

 

[f300v10]

The B-Band converter is not a filter, it is a frequency shifter. The new KA sat signals are stacked on the coax in 2 frequency bands, 1 below the KU signals, and 1 above the KU signals. The new KA band tuner in the H20 only tunes from the 'High' band KA signals. So when you want to watch a channel that is in the Low KA band, the B-Band converter shifts the low band signal to the high band so the tuner can access that data stream.

I know some folks are able to tune the 103 sat without the B-Band converter, so it may not be needed until the 99 sat is online.

 

[dcwebman]

Thanks f300v10 for the explanation. The installer just kept saying filter so that's what I was going by. I discovered the multiswitch manual today and saw the B-Band Converters attached to only MPEG4 receivers.