How many cables to run?

[Rhinoman]

I'm considering running my own lines to save money...

I'm looking at getting 2 HD DVRs. Each will run to a HD TV and a SD TV. The first HD TV is on the 1st floor (Only TV on 1st floor) The other three TVs are all upstairs.

1)Does each TV require 2 RG6 lines?
2)How many lines would they run directly from the dish and then split?

Maybe a good idea to take my floorplan to a dealer and see what they say. My house is over 100 years old and so it is a complicated job. (very low crawlspace and difficult to reach attic spaces) Just curious how other folks have done it. I still have two lines from my Directv dish run to the downstair's tv so I guess they could use those lines.

Thanks!

 

[harshness]

Unless your home is relatively large, you're not going to save any money by installing your cable. Within reason, DISH will provide the installation and cabling for free.

What you can hope to get by self-installing is wall fishes and "hidden" cable runs that a normal installer would charge extra for. Of course if you get a good installer with the right equipment, it may be faster and cheaper to pay the installer rather than buying all of the tools and researching the techniques.

 

[RVD420]

If you are going to wall fish the cables I would run 3 RG6 cables to each receiver.

It's always nice to have an extra cable. Incase one goes bad, or for future expansion.

 

[webbydude]

Does Dish even allow 2 HD DVRs on an initial lease?

 

[Rhinoman]

Yes, with this old (100+ years) house, I am definately pulling the cables up through the walls (I fished one RG6 up the wall five years ago and it was very difficult due to odd wall construction). I figured an installer would charge alot. (and rightly so I guess)

My thoughts were that I'd have the lines in place and all the tech would have to do is attach the boxes.

So... it looks like I need to run two RG6 cables to each HDDVR from the dish and then to connect the SD TV's, I'd need to run 1 RG6 line to it from each HDDVR?

(And I like the suggestion about running an extra 3rd cable for future expansion)

 

[Rhinoman]

Does Dish even allow 2 HD DVRs on an initial lease?

The Dish Builder thing on their website didn't object to 2 HD DVRs and I did the live chat and the guy didn't mention it being a problem.

 

[webbydude]

Yes, with this old (100+ years) house, I am definately pulling the cables up through the walls (I fished one RG6 up the wall five years ago and it was very difficult due to odd wall construction). I figured an installer would charge alot. (and rightly so I guess)

My thoughts were that I'd have the lines in place and all the tech would have to do is attach the boxes.

So... it looks like I need to run two RG6 cables to each HDDVR from the dish and then to connect the SD TV's, I'd need to run 1 RG6 line to it from each HDDVR?

(And I like the suggestion about running an extra 3rd cable for future expansion)

As long as you have one RG-6 cable to each SD tv...and ALL cables are homeran to a central location (preferably near the electrical panel on the outside wall) then you should be fine. Two cables to the HD receivers are nice...but not required; future-proofing things with the dual lines is the rationale behind this thinking.

If the dish builder is allowing (2) 722 receivers, then great. Most often I run into situations where Dish only allows one 722 on a workorder and the other receiver is a typical 222 or 612/211 combo.

 

[Rhinoman]

Thanks for the info, thats what I needed.

And yes, you might be right about not allowing the two HD DVRs. I'll check this week with a dealer about what they offer.

 

[harshness]

I'm not sure about SD DVRs, but the HD DVR policy changed a while back to allowing two to be leased in a 2 HD + 2 SD scenario.

I tried three HD DVRs the other day using DishBuilder and it took it.

 

[webbydude]

I think the OP was asking for (2) DUAL tuning HD DVRS....not the same as (3) single tuning HD DVRs (612)

 

[Rhinoman]

Yes, I am looking at either the ViP622 or the ViP722 DVRs.

I didn't get a chance to go by a dealer today... later this week

 

[mikfort51]

If you are going to wall fish the cables I would run 3 RG6 cables to each receiver.

It's always nice to have an extra cable. Incase one goes bad, or for future expansion.

Everything will be wireless before the RG6 cables go bad!

 

[DishSatUser]

Yep. See the new Wireless HDMI specification for example. See products to support that soon.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

You can only Lease 4 Tuners MAX HD or SD.
You can lease
2 - Vip 622 or 722 for 4 rooms,(2 SD-2 HD) DVR
OR 2 -612 for 2 rooms HD/ DVR .

If you don't want DVR then you can lease:
4 VIP 211's for 4 rooms
Or 2-Vip222 for 4 rooms (2SD-2HD non DVR.
If you want more then this ,You have to buy the additional receivers.