Moving Receivers with Whole Home DVR

[mrsaxde]

I had DirecTV installed last weekend to replace Dish Network. I received the whole home DVR setup, and when I told the installers what to put where I wasn't 100% familiar with how the whole home system worked. My wife is the major DVR user in the house, she watches tv a lot in our bedroom, and with the DVR in the living room, where it is now, I find that sometimes she has scheduled to record 2 shows at one time and I cannot watch anything else unless I go to my computer room/den where I have a non-DVR HD receiver.


It occurred to me last night that a better setup for us would be to put the DVR in the bedroom and bring the HD receiver that is there out into the living room. Without the whole home DVR this would be a simple switch, but with that setup, can I make this move simply by moving the equipment that is in the two rooms, or is there something that needs to be changed in the little box the installer attached to my cable modem? Can i do this myself, or should I call the installers to come back and make the switch?

 

[JohnL]

You should have a SWM dish. This would mean you can swap the receivers from any of the rooms you wish. Just make sure you label any cables to and from your receivers so when you swap receivers between any of the rooms in your home you reconnect them properly.

 

[mini1]

The only thing you would need to do is go into the setup menu and change the name of the locations. DVR would change to "BEDROOM" and the H24-25 would change to "LIVING ROOM"

 

[JerseyMatt]

The only thing you would need to do is go into the setup menu and change the name of the locations. DVR would change to "BEDROOM" and the H24-25 would change to "LIVING ROOM"

It's also helpful to call Directv and update the locations with them as well, that way if you need support the locations they have are accurate.

Also, you only disconnect the cable that comes out of the wall in order to move the receivers. If any of the receivers have a white box attached to the back, that stays with the receiver. Don't disconnect it from the receiver.

 

[mrsaxde]

It's also helpful to call Directv and update the locations with them as well, that way if you need support the locations they have are accurate.

Also, you only disconnect the cable that comes out of the wall in order to move the receivers. If any of the receivers have a white box attached to the back, that stays with the receiver. Don't disconnect it from the receiver.

Here's an update. Thanks to everyone who gave me input on this. I changed the locations this afternoon. I didn't have a white box with any of the receivers, but the DVR had a black box with it. So I moved it, too. Mistake! After I re-connected things and powered up, all three tvs told me they couldn't communicate with the satellite dish. As I'm puzzling over what was wrong, the doorbell rang. It was a DirecTV technician (I'm not making this up! lol) He said he was here to check the phone lines because they didn't seem to be working so the receivers could communicate with DirecTV. I said "Man, I am glad you are here!"

Turns out the black box is the power inverter, and it should have stayed in the living room rather than being moved with the DVR. He switched it back for me, checked the phone lines (they were fine...which I thought they were as we got a call the other night that showed up on caller id on all three tvs), and said "have a nice day."

So things are working great now, but if anyone else is reading this and thinking about doing something similar, leave the black box where it is!