What do I need to do now (LNBF/Switch questions) for 921?

[drcos]

Hi guys, need a little help here.
I have a 508 and old receiver (which is going out to pasture once I get the 921, so ignore it for now).
Also a Dish 500 with two SW21's feeding into the house.
What will I need to do for the 921/508 combination?
I'm sure I'm going to need to put up a single dish pointed at 61.5, but this will need a single or dual LNBF? Also what kind of switch to get?
(the big question here is will a DishPro 34 switch work with my current non-Dishpro LNBFs on the 500)
Any help here is appreciated.

 

[Tom488]

You have two choices - legacy or DishPro.

On the legacy side, you'll need to replace your SW21's with an SW64 ($150), install a Dish300 with a legacy dual LNB ($80 for the Dish/LNB combo).

On the DishPro side, you would need a DP34 ($125), a Dish300 with DishPro single LNB ($80 for both), and replace the dual LNB's on your Dish500 with a DisoPro Twin LNB ($80).

$230 to stay with the legacy setup, or $285 to upgrade to DishPro.

Either setup will give you outputs for your 508, 921, and one remaining output. Adding more than that will entail another SW64 and some misc. equipment ($200) if you're still legacy, or another DP34 switch ($125) if you convert to DishPro.

If it were me, I'd spend the extra $55 and upgrade to DishPro equipment... but either approach will work.

 

[BarryO]

Note also you need RG-6 for DishPro. If you want to use existing cable and it's RG-59, you'll have to use legacy. On the other hand, with DishPro you need to run less cables between the LNBF's and the switch.

I was in much the same situation, and decided to go with DishPro. Note that our forum hosts may have cheaper prices on some items than the ones quoted above.

There's also eBay; but caveat emptor when going that route.

 

[drcos]

thanks guys, this is what i thought but nice to have it spelled out.
Maybe Scott can come up with some kind of package deal for people like merolleyes, cause I'm sure there are others out there in the same boat as me.

 

[lapplegate]

Just a thought.
If running some cable from your dish to the receivers isn't a problem, you might consider a Quad. If you stuck with Legacy, you could use the 2 sw21s to feed the 921 (for HD). If you need the 61.5 for locals you would need another sw21. Quads can be picked up for around $140 or less and installation (excluding the cable run) is very simple. Also there is talk of all HD going to 110/119 so if you need 61.5 for HD only, you may not need any sw21s. You would still need the 300 with 2 lines.
Larry

 

[drcos]

So I could get a legacy Quad (from DishStore.net 8) , and a regular dish with a dual (legacy) LNB, then run like this:
-One output from quad to 508 (don't need 61.5 on here)
-Two outputs from quad to SW21's
-Two outputs from 61.5 dish dual LNB to SW21's
-Two SW21 outputs to 921

Cable runs are not a problem, but still looking for the "BEST" way to do it.
Will the SW21's work in this position (pass both 110/119 from quad and 61.5) ? ? ?

This way, all I have to get is a legacy quad, i can take one of the dual LNBs from the 500 and put on an older 18" dish I have already.... 8)

 

[lapplegate]

So I could get a legacy Quad (from DishStore.net 8) , and a regular dish with a dual (legacy) LNB, then run like this:
-One output from quad to 508 (don't need 61.5 on here)
-Two outputs from quad to SW21's
-Two outputs from 61.5 dish dual LNB to SW21's
-Two SW21 outputs to 921

Cable runs are not a problem, but still looking for the "BEST" way to do it.
Will the SW21's work in this position (pass both 110/119 from quad and 61.5) ? ? ?

This way, all I have to get is a legacy quad, i can take one of the dual LNBs from the 500 and put on an older 18" dish I have already.... 8)

That is how I have mine set up. The sw21s are fine with the quad. I'm not sure about the old 500 dual on the 300, but I got the lnb for my 300 somewhere so it must be the one from the 500. While you're at it you may as well run the 4th line. Never know when you might pick up a good receiver deal and be glad that line is there. The Sat store, here, also has grounding blocks for the quad. That saves a ground wire run.

I don't know how the 921 "installs" will go, but in the past Dish has included whatever needed to get your new equipment up and running. It may be possible that they will add the 300 and whatever switches it takes to get the 921 going. Dish will install and include the 61.5 if all or part of your locals are there. May be worth seeing what kind of offer they make when the 921 hits.

Good Luck,
Larry

 

[Guest]

Thought you might find this useful

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I have a Dish 500: well kindda...i used an 18" dish and pointed it to 110 and then strapped another lnb to it to pick up the 119 and made my own dish 500. Both dual lnbs run into my SW42. I also have a Dish 300 with single lnb looking at 61.5. I am using SW21 switch to cascade the output of SW42 and the Dish 300. All LNBs are legacy.

Anyways, I have had this setup for an year almost and it works just fine. I have what is called "3-SATs " (i think ) Now, seeing all the new developments: I ordered a FSS single lnb and still looking for a big dish. I think that I should be able to take my Dish 300 off and get a big dish and fix my FSS lnb on it and point it at 121 or 105..and it should work. (Cascade the FSS feed and the Dish 500 using SW21 switch.) I am waiting on my FSS lnb.. I will post what I find out.

I guess my point is...when i tried to find info on the '3-SATs'..i couldn't find anything online, so I went on and tried it myself and it worked. So, I am gonna do the same with this and see what happens. And will let you know.

 

[fslove]

Note also you need RG-6 for DishPro. If you want to use existing cable and it's RG-59, you'll have to use legacy. On the other hand, with DishPro you need to run less cables between the LNBF's and the switch.

RG6 is supposed to be used no matter what LNBF/switches are used! The only people who use RG59 are those who are extremely cheap or lazy who don't want to run the correct cable from their dish to receiver(s). Yes, RG59 will actually work but you will encounter problems in the near future if you go that route. Even DP setups CAN use RG59 but again it will not work for long!

 

[ScottChez]

I have the same setup as in the first post except I do not have the 148 degree dish yet.

WHen I order my 921 AND also request the required 148 degree dish for I can get my one Local channel that is there,

Will they give me a free 148 dgree dish AND all the required switches for free under the must carry terms.

The one channel at 148 degrees is my PBS, the rest on one the mains.

 

[BarryO]

Note also you need RG-6 for DishPro. If you want to use existing cable and it's RG-59, you'll have to use legacy. On the other hand, with DishPro you need to run less cables between the LNBF's and the switch.

RG6 is supposed to be used no matter what LNBF/switches are used! The only people who use RG59 are those who are extremely cheap or lazy who don't want to run the correct cable from their dish to receiver(s). Yes, RG59 will actually work but you will encounter problems in the near future if you go that route. Even DP setups CAN use RG59 but again it will not work for long!

Yes, RG-6 is better and should alwasy be used in new installations; the price differential between RG-6 and RG-59 is minimal if not zero.

But the fact remains that legacy LNBF's output frequencies up to 1450 MHz, while DishPro uses up to 2150 MHz. As loss increases with frequency, legacy setups can tolerate cables with higher high-frequency loss better than DishPro setups.

In legacy setups, long cable lengths usually cause problems first due to DC resistance; the voltage switching gets attenuated so much that the even transponders are lost. RG-59 and RG-6 don't differ much in DC resistance, so switching to RG-6 in this case won't help too much.

In summary, for all new runs, RG-6 should be used. If he already has RG-59 installed in the walls or other hard-to-replace location, and it's working now, AND it is modern foam-dielectric RG-59 (not old solid-dielectric CATV cable), and he's using legacy, it's worth trying to re-use it. If not, go with RG-6.

 

[drcos]

Of course, this has all been simplified by the move to 110 for most of the HD I want.

So I'm just getting a Quad LNB (legacy) for now, and have another dish I can put up to get 61.5 if I need to in the future, using the old SW21's which will be eliminated by the Quad.