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Install Expert Advice Needed
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Posted by: trausch

I need help from the luminaries in this forum. I currently have a round dish and a splitter that powers my Sony T-60 Tivo and a basic receiver for the wife upstairs. I would like to be the envy of all my friends and be the first to have an HDTV Tivo. What will I need to buy to run the new HDTV Tivo and move the old Tivo to the bedroom for my wife? I would like to have the OTA antenna in the attic if possible. I have at least a 7 foot clearance and all the room in the world. Antenna web says I only need a yellow antenna for 6 of my channels and a blue antenna for ABC. All the OTA channels are between 186 and 206 degrees except ABC, which is at 167 degrees. A friend of mine suggested a Blake JBX. He uses it pointed at ABC and gets the other channels just fine. However this is a $150 antenna. The OTA cabling will be less than 50 feet. So here is what I need from you guys,

1) What dish do I need
2) What is a good OTA antenna
3) What type of multiplexer is best? I need 2 for the HDTV Tivo and 2 for the Sony T-60.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Posted by: trausch

By the way, I have a lifetime on my Sony t-60. Will I need another for the HDTV tivo?

Posted by: dswallow

The 3-LNB dish is what you need; the latest model is referred to as the Phase III dish... you can get it from DirecTV (at discounted pricing, sometimes even free) or in stores. It comes with a built-in 4x4 multiswitch which would be sufficient for your needs right now (to feed 4 tuners). Though you'd need separate diplexers to send the OTA antenna signal over one of the coax lines; there's no harm in using a powered 5x8 multiswitch that'd let you feed the OTA antenna on all coax lines, but it's not necessary for your setup.

If your friend is nearby, and he can get all channels with his antenna without re-aiming it, and there's nothing substantially different about obstructions for you, then it's really not a bad one to consider. Something like the Channel Master 4228 8-bay bowtie antenna is pretty good, too, if you wanted something lower in cost. OTA antennas are more an art than a science though, so it's often hard to say defnitely any particular one will work for you.

Your lifetime TiVO service on your DirecTV account will cover the DirecTV HD DVR service; no extra cost to you.

Posted by: trausch

quote:
Originally posted by dswallow
The 3-LNB dish is what you need; the latest model is referred to as the Phase III dish... you can get it from DirecTV (at discounted pricing, sometimes even free) or in stores. It comes with a built-in 4x4 multiswitch which would be sufficient for your needs right now (to feed 4 tuners). Though you'd need separate diplexers to send the OTA antenna signal over one of the coax lines; there's no harm in using a powered 5x8 multiswitch that'd let you feed the OTA antenna on all coax lines, but it's not necessary for your setup.

If your friend is nearby, and he can get all channels with his antenna without re-aiming it, and there's nothing substantially different about obstructions for you, then it's really not a bad one to consider. Something like the Channel Master 4228 8-bay bowtie antenna is pretty good, too, if you wanted something lower in cost. OTA antennas are more an art than a science though, so it's often hard to say defnitely any particular one will work for you.

Your lifetime TiVO service on your DirecTV account will cover the DirecTV HD DVR service; no extra cost to you.

Thanks for the info. One last question....with the 4x4 multi-switch will I have to run four cables all the way from the roof to the televisions? Currently I run two cables from the roof to the garage where I have a splitter and the branch out from there.

Posted by: dswallow

quote:
Originally posted by trausch
Thanks for the info. One last question....with the 4x4 multi-switch will I have to run four cables all the way from the roof to the televisions? Currently I run two cables from the roof to the garage where I have a splitter and the branch out from there.

Yes... and you don't have a splitter, you probably have a 2x4 or 2x8 multiswitch there.

Give yourself some future flexibility if it's not inconvenient, and run 4 lines from the new dish to where your multiswitch is now. Even though you don't need a 5x8 multiswitch now to support your needed 4 outputs, it gives you an easy point to add one if you in the future need more lines run somewhere, and then you wouldn't need to run additional lines in the future all the way up to the roof location. Bring the OTA antenna down to that location too.

Posted by: llogan

yeah, what he said...thanks for saving me all the typing doug...

If you were looking for a 2nd opinion I agree with doug's recommendations/information/statements :D