Self instillation guidance

[Catzwisker]

Because I want DirecTV installed in some difficult to reach locations around my house, I was hoping to get some professional guidance in how I should go about this installation myself.

I plan to have one dish installed on the side of the house which has vinyl siding. So dish will be installed on patio cover which has good southern sky exposure and is capable of supporting dish mount. Receiver 1 which will be a HD plus DVR receiver will be upstairs. Receiver 2 which will be standard def plus DVR capable. It will be located downstairs. I also plan to run cables and wire for a future receiver in another room downstairs.
Upstairs location and downstairs location are separated by wall in attic.
Cables will be chased down wall to location near receiver. No drilling thru exterior walls except where cable from dish goes into house attic.
Here are the $50/hour questions.
How many cables and wires do I need to run to each location?
Should I run cable(s) from satellite dish to a central location in downstairs attic? 30’ from satellite dish location to central location.
How many cables does the satellite dish need?
Would the central location need 115v power?
How many line(s) from the central location to each receiver location? None of these runs would be more than about 50’.
Do I need separate ground wires, or just a ground block inserted in satellite dish line before it runs into house?
Is there a particular brand/style of RG 6 cable that you prefer?
I have wireless network inside my house, so can I plug the sat receiver into a wireless ‘network appliance?’ without having to connect the receiver to a telephone line?
Any other issues or suggestions that would make it easy for the DTV installer when he comes out?
Thanks everyone.

 

[jdspencer]

If this is a new installation and you don't need mor than 8 tuners (DVRs count as 2), then the SWMLine dish is what you need. This has one line from the dish to a central location. In this location is where the cables from the rooms should be run. The the single line from the dish is split and connected to the rooms. SWM capable DVRs only need one line connected to enable both tuners. Ground blocks are usually put where the line enters the houise and should be connected to the ground near where the electric power enters the house.

If you don't get the SWM Dish, then you'll need four lines run from the dish to the central location and each DVR wil need two lines for dual tuner operation.