Two DVR setup, will this work?

[NefastusAequitas]

So I've been banging my head against the wall for awhile trying to figure this out and now before I go ahead and do it, I wanted to ask if you think it will work. I upgraded from SD to HD a few years ago and the installer came and switched the dish with the Triple LNB dish. Now I have four cables coming into my basement. The installer said two were the new HD cables and the other two were SD cables. I feel that might not be right? Anyways here we go:

What I'm trying to do:
Have two TV's with a DVR for each.
Both TV's are able to watch something while recording something in the background (two sat in's)

Here's what I am thinking:
Get a 2x4 multiswitch.
I'm assuming the two "HD" lines are the 13v and the 18v.
Run the 13v and 18v into the multiswitch.
Run one of the 18v outputs and one of the 13v outputs to one DVR.
Run the other 18v output and the other 13v output to the other DVR.
Problem solved?

Things I'm confused about:
Shouldn't all four lines coming from the dish be HD and just the Cable box decides whether it displays in HD or not?
Do I need a multiswitch or a SWM?
Do I need to put a B-Band converter on all four post-switch lines right before they go in the DVR? If not where do I put the B-Band converters?

I'm a big fan of MSPaint diagrams so here's what I have and then after that is what I want.

 

[rad]

First of all, need to make sure what dish you have, if you don't have a Slimline (looks like DIRECTV Five LNB Ka/Ku Slim Line Dish Antenna for MPEG-4 C HD Programming (AU9-S) | AU9-S [DIRECTV Slim Line] | au9s a9s aus au-s aus9 aus-9 mpeg4 directv hd local channels at-9 at 9 Ka/ku dish directv Ka-ku SL-5 AU9-SL5 AU9SL5 SL-5 ku band ka band d) or the old sidecar dish (sorry don't have a picture for that one) you need to upgrade the dish so you'll be able to receive all the HD channels. If you don't have this dish call DirecTV and get it upgraded. If you do have this dish it has a built in 4 port multiswitch, all four outputs can drive either SD or HD channels. So just run two wires from the dish to each DRV, putting the BBC adapters on if you haven't (if you don't have them call DirecTV and tell them you need some, one for each satellite input on the DVR's) and you're all set.

 

[NefastusAequitas]

I have the "DIRECTV Five LNB Ka/Ku Dish Antenna for MPEG-4 Compression HD Programming (AT9)".... I don't have the slimline but I have the "old sidecar" one I think you are referring to.

I think I have four cables already running from the dish to the basement where they are then fed out to 3 different rooms via a multiswitch (one is not connected). So what you are telling me is that all the cables are 18v and 13v so I can just connect one to Sat In 1 and the other into Sat In 2 on a DVR and it will automatically decide which is 13 and which is 18?

 

[rad]

Sounds like you're OK on the dish then. If you have a multiswitch it should be a Zinwell WB68 DIRECTV Approved Wide Band Frequency (Ku/Ka) 6x8 Multiswitch (WB68) | WB68 [Zinwell] | au9 au9-s au9s au 9 WB-68 WB 68 6x8 6 x 8 Ka Ku switch ku ka switch wide band switch Ka-ku dish ku band ka band dish Ka/Ku Ka-Ka Ka-Ku Ku-Ka KuKa KuKa which has the four wires from the dish to the four 13v and 18v inputs on it (doesn't matter which ones/order) and nothing to the two flex ports, see http://www.solidsignal.com/manuals/WB68_Install_Guide.pdf which has instructions for installation. Then you can use any of the 8 outputs to feed your DVR's.

 

[NefastusAequitas]

OK so I have two lines running in right now to one DVR, wanted to test it. Turns out I did get an extra B-Band Converter so I put that on there... Went into setup->satellite dish setup->Test and I set it to dual tuners and the test said errors found on both tuners. Results are as follows (V is a check btw):

____________99 __101__ 103_ 110__ 119
Odd (13v) _|_ X _|_ V _|_ X _|___|_ X _|
Even (18v) |_ X _|_ V _|_ X _|_V_|_ X _|

Basically X's on both tuners @99* and @103* and grey blank on Odd @110*

Is this a problem with my setup, my wiring, the tuners or the position of the dish?

 

[rad]

OK so I have two lines running in right now to one DVR, wanted to test it. Turns out I did get an extra B-Band Converter so I put that on there... Went into setup->satellite dish setup->Test and I set it to dual tuners and the test said errors found on both tuners. Results are as follows (V is a check btw):

____________99 __101__ 103_ 110__ 119
Odd (13v) _|_ X _|_ V _|_ X _|___|_ X _|
Even (18v) |_ X _|_ V _|_ X _|_V_|_ X _|

Basically X's on both tuners @99* and @103* and grey blank on Odd @110*

Is this a problem with my setup, my wiring, the tuners or the position of the dish?

Could be anything I guess. You didn't mention, did you verify that you have the WB68 multiswitch, older switches don't work with the 99 and 103 satellites. If its not the WB68 you could try using barrel adapters to bypass the switch and see what you get that way. IIRC your 110 not seeing odd/13V is normal so don't worry about that.

 

[NefastusAequitas]

I just tested it and I can record and change the channel on lower channels but I can't even get signal on the upper channels like DiscoveryHD in the 200's. I'm going outside now to check what switch I have installed.

 

[NefastusAequitas]

OK so I went outside and two of the cables go straight into my house and I followed them inside and it looks like they go into a 3x4 multiswitch (Zinwell SAM 3402) and then the outputs of those run to different TV's like the guest room that aren't HD. Then the other two wires from outside run into barrel connectors on the outside, then another set of barrel connectors on the inside and then straight into the DVR.

So four come in, two directly, two with barrels. Two of those go straight to my DVR, the other two go into a multiswitch and then off into other rooms, and I'm having trouble getting higher HD channels.

 

[rad]

OK, you have an incorrect multiswitch, whoever installed your HD upgrade should have replaced that switch with the WB68 so you would have four runs to your two HD DVR's and then two runs for your SD receivers.

Reading your last reponse then you say you're running two coax directly from the dish, not the switch, to the HD DVR and it's not working, correct? When you rerun your sat setup it should be a 04:Slimline-5 (based on you saying you have the old AT-9 sidecar), don't know what it would say for the switch type since I use SWM's. Other then that sorry I'm out of guesses. Unless you told the DirecTV installer to not run the additional lines for your HD DVR's you might want to call them up and tell them that they did an incomplete job and to come back out and do it right (run the additional lines and install the WB68 switch) for free.

 

[NefastusAequitas]

Thanks for all your help so far. I'm kind of stumped too... the two coax directly from dish to DVR both fail 99 and 103 and higher HD channels do not come in. I disconnect one and reset the DVR to single tuner and it still says failed on 99 and 103, but I get all my channels... The hell if I know what's going on...

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

First of all, your setup seems fine, the dish has 4 wires coming down and all carry hd, the tech said that 2 were new and carried hd because its easier to explain and honestly probably kept you from asking questions and let him do his job, not trying to offend you, but ive done that myself to customers, especially when Im behind. now your 4 wires should be going straight to the receivers, 2 lines to each, no switches, dont worry about the 13 and 18v things, their not important in this install. and the 2x4 switch you were referring to is actually a 3x4 which does not pass the 99 and 103 signals, so thats a big no no, anyway, on to the x's. im betting your 119 failed because of a line of sight issue, its probably not important because that satallite isnt used in alot of areas if you dont get spanish channels, i install 95% of my custs with 3lnb dishes. and as for the 99 and 103, my money is on your dish isnt peaked. and peaked is sorta different from aligned, the new firmware in hddvrs and r22s is a pain in the balls for installers. If the dish isnt peaked exactly right it fails and we need waivors and its all not good. but this doesnt mean that the signal is bad or poor or anything like that, hence why you get all your channels, what it means is the signal is lower than the receiver wants it to be. well basically just tell the box too band and eff you... (satellite joke in there) you could call csr and say my dish isnt peaked send a tech to peak it, but youd probably be charged, and as long as theres no missing channels you should be fine.

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

OK, you have an incorrect multiswitch, whoever installed your HD upgrade should have replaced that switch with the WB68 so you would have four runs to your two HD DVR's and then two runs for your SD receivers.

if theres only 1 hd box on the accound and its a dvr, this will work fine, its possible the tech didnt have a 6x8 with him.

don't know what it would say for the switch type since I use SWM's

02: Multiswitch

 

[NefastusAequitas]

Awesome thanks for explaining about the 99 and 103. I'm not worried about missing Spanish channels because I don't speak Spanish except the swears . But regardless, I AM missing channels. When I reset my HR22 with dual tuners I get the local HD channels but not the national HD channels like DiscoveryHD, CNNHD, etc. It says Searching for Satellite 2 or something of the sort Error 711. Then when I unplug one of the tuners and reset it to look for only one tuner, it works just fine! I have put BBC's on both tuners and switched them and it didn't help so it's not them....

Any idea why I'm missing channels or it's constantly searching for signals when I have dual tuners but not on single tuners? Thanks again!

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

now its sounding like theres a short in one of the lines, could you post your xponders on the 99 and 103 1-8 on tuner 1 and 2 in dual mode plz? and if you see alot of 0s try and swap the cables, see if the problem follows the cable or the tuner... and if it doesnt follow the cable, then you have a bad box