Which Satellite(s) i should be connecting to?

[ZoomVT]

New poster here.

I am fairly technical but very new in regards to dish/satellite technology. I have had dish for years and i have had an inkling to learn more because i want to try a few different things with setup, etc but just now found this site (3 weeks ago) and see there is a lot of knowledge here.

So to start, i am hoping there is a primer for learning the differences between easter/western arc. the different satellites and how they affect viewing/connectivity experience, and also the difference in the dish equipment. I have read a lot but there are only bits and pieces around, not enough to coherently understand everything.

I know im asking for a lot, i dont mind reading and searching so if there are places where i can find this info I would appreciate links, etc. Like i said, it might take me a bit to get it but will appreciate all the help.

As far as my setup, this is what i have (or at least i think i have based on looking around).

I have 2 dishes pointing to the western hemisphere. Both have a "dish 500" printed on them. One of them has only 1 cable coming out, and the other has 2 cables coming out. The 2nd dish was installed roughly 3 or 4 years ago when i first got an HDTV. For equipment i have 2 622s, one of which is being replaced (after fighting them over the phone and chat, since they wanted to charge me full price, over $500). customer retention is sending me a new one at no cost (i expected to pay $15 to replace, but according to them there were no receivers available).

Anyway, according to the Installation Summary screen, I am pointing to 119, 110, and 61.5. Using a DP34 switch.

Is this good? could be better?

There are many reasons why i want to learn more, but one simple example is that i read here that there are some channels that are on HD (and their website says the same), yet i have never gotten them in HD (some examples are 149 - fox soccer hd, 190 nat geo hd, and a few more).

I will post in another thread with other plans i have. but first i got to figure out how this all works.

thanks for all the help in advanced

 

[TimberWolf]

VT should be an Eastern Arc market. You are missing the HD channels on 72.7

You could get an upgrade to the 1000.4 dish that picks up 61.5 72.7 and 77.

You would only need the one dish but it is a bit larger. It would also eliminate the DP34 switch

 

[ZoomVT]

hey thanks for the reply...

Thats what i thought... would a technician not know this? i spent 1 hour and he was trying to tell me my VIP622 was broken....

also, i currently have 2 500, why am i using 2?
so are you saying that i could replace 1 with a 100.4 (is this better?) so i would have 1 500 and 1 1000.4?

It is really odd, because they could easily point east, but they choose to point west, does that make sense? I also suffer from serious signal loss when it is real cloudy or a heavy storm.

 

[TimberWolf]

The 1K.4 has only been used for about 2 years. You have the old 2 dish setup originally used for HD.

The dish with 1 line coming out is for 61.5 and is the general direction the 1K.4 dish will point.

You will not need any 500 dishes. Your dishes may be out of alignment, loose or blocked by trees if you are losing signal easily.

 

[ZoomVT]

interesting.

I will call and have them send someone to straighten this up.
I dont lose signal all the time but everytime there is a bad rain storm, when it snows i usually dont lose signal at all.

so they could replace 2 dishes with just 1 1000.4?
that works for me.

Follow up question.

Right now i have 2 VIP622s, they basically go to 2 bedrooms, and the 2nd coax output go to 2 living rooms, it works fine but i would like to extend it to go to other rooms when not being used.

So is it possible to basically splice the signal coming out of the receiver and have it go to other rooms as well? i know those rooms would share one channel but thats fine.

also, i would like to possibly hook up a 3rd receiver. Dish says thats not allowed, is this true?

what would i need to do that?

If i hookup one of the receivers to my router, could 2 receivers share that connection or i would have to connect each individually?

 

[TimberWolf]

The TV2 output is an amplified output capable of being split to several tvs.

You can always add more recs. I don't know why Dish said you couldn't. There is an additional monthly fee depending what type you want to add and there may be a one time upgrade fee.
If they wouldn't lease you another rec, you can purchase one outright.

The DP34 switch you have now can only run 4 tuners or 2 dual tuner recs. The 1K4 dish can run 3 dual tuner recs without any extra switches.

If you can hardwire your router to each rec, that is the best option.

Dish does have a device called a Slinglink that connects to the router and uses the electrical wiring in the house to connect to any capable rec.

 

[ZoomVT]

Wolf, thanks for the excellent help, very much appreciated.

I think it was because i have the DP34 switch.

Interesting that with the new dish i could hook a 3rd dual receiver.

I finally got off the phone from dish, 3 hours later, and got them to send someone over to replace the dish. Can you help me make sure i got this straight?

Basically they would replace the 2 500s with 1 1000.4, correct?
Is there anything else that i need to be aware of?

Does he have to run new/more cables? can/should he reuse whats there? 1 of the dishes is about 5 feet to one side and about 2 feet lower than the other (main one). I guess is the main one because it has 2 cables running out of it, while the other has just 1.

Since right now he uses a DP34 (which i assume is what i see in the crawl space) and from there he runs 4 cables, 2 to each receiver; how would he do that now ti the new receiver? From reading other threads, the 1000.4 has a bult-in in switch? Would he reuse that setup and just replace the DP34 switch with something else (is it even possible?)

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[TimberWolf]

With the 1K.4, you will only need 1 dish and 1 line to each rec. The recs will need a separator added to them. The installer should have them.

The DP34 can and should be completely removed from the system. The installer may be able to reuse one of the existing mounts if it solid enough and can reuse the cable if it long enough and in good condition

If you are adding the 3rd rec, you will need a 3rd line from the dish to the new rec location

 

[ZoomVT]

I see. so one cable to each receiver and he would separate the signal at the receiver and plug it to the 2 inputs? I never seen that.

so basically he wont be able to reuse any of the cabling since the cabling goes from the roof to the crawl space where it gets hooked up to a switch and from there he wires 4 wires, 2 to the 2nd floor, and 2 to the first floor.
Instead he will have to run directly to the second and first floor. would he try to reuse the cables and just join them where the switch is now? if he does that should I allow it?
Not that i have any use for it, but do i get to keep the switch?

Separate question: I had been wanting to move one of the receivers from the bedroom to the living room, but the cabling was a problem. What i did before was i joined one of the inputs with the cable that was the output from the bedroom to the living room, and then used that one to connect to the receiver. obviously this only worked for some time because the receiver was expecting 2 inputs. But with this new format, if i leave the cabling as is, if i want to move the receiver i could do the same without a problem right? I dont know if this was clear enough, it made sense in my head.

basically it is right now:

2 inputs to receiver in bedroom, TV2 out to living room.
I changed it to 1 input joined with the TV2 out cable, moved receiver to living room and plugged just 1 input. didnt work.

now i could do the same, but since the separator is at the receiver i would have a problem right? I just wouldnt have TV2 hooked up since i dont have a return cable to the bedroom.

does this make sense?


PS. I am thinking of adding OTA. I have a $30 antenna form radioshack that uses power. could i use it without power, and then split the signal and send it to each receiver?

 

[TimberWolf]

He could reuse the existing cable and just barrel it together where the switch is now. If there are unnecessary splices outdoors in the cable from the dish to the crawl space, or no service/drip loops, it should be replaced.

He should be able to relocate your recs wherever you want them by using diplexers if there is at least 1 good cable to each room

Techs are generally supposed return unused switches and lnbs, but they may let you keep it if you ask for it.

OTA antennas are hit and miss. You won't know what they can pick up until to try it

 

[ZoomVT]

hey thanks for the info. This would actually work a lot better for me as i plan on moving stuff in the future and with just one cable i should be able to move the receiver where i want. I didnt know about diplexers, and i see they are fairly cheap. This means that i could easily use those to prewire the house and just leave it setup so when i want to move the receiver i dont have to worry about it.

What are the chances, or whats the protocol, for asking the receiver to run some extra wire and leave it ready for a couple of locations besides where they would be installed already?

 

[Jimmerinwi]

The mast you have for your 2 500 dish's are not rated for a 1000.4 dish. The mast should be replaced with a "W4" mast dish came out with a few months ago. It is a heavier guage steel and will better support the heavier .4 dish. Also, there should be NO barrels anywhere in the lines, be it from the dish to the ground block or from the gound block to the receivers. If there are and this job gets inspected by Dish Qas, it is an auto fail. Some techs do it anyway and take a chance.

 

[ZoomVT]

what is a "barrel"?

sorry im still getting used to the terms...

He left the 34 switch there in case i wanted to use it in the future. he did leverage the existing infrastructure by going from the dish to the ground on the same cables as the old 500, and then from the ground to the receivers by using 2 of the 4 cables that were hooked to the dp34 outputs. the dp34 was just inches away from the ground.