Hello all, I just joined the forum. Well let me get to my question...

I'm living in a house that was originally wired for regular cable TV. When the DirecTV people came, they installed the dish but left the original wiring. The cable in my room is running from a coaxial splitter in the room next to mine (cable from satellite dish - splitter - my satellite box).

I called DirecTV today because obviously this isn't working, and a representative told me that I would need to purchase a multiswitch or a diplexer to have this setup work.

I have looked around a bit at both multiswitches and diplexers, but I am not sure if this will actually work, because in the process I have read some things that say you need a separate cable from the satellite dish for each satellite box.

If anyone could give me some advice that would be great.

This is correct for independent watching TV.
However, most receivers allow Loop-through, where the second (SLAVE) receiver can only receive programs from the "band" the Master receiver is actually tuned to.

I don't know exactly how Direct does it but if you paid them for installing your system.Free installation really isn't free it is part of whats included in the contract.If you don't beleive that call & ask them to do the free installation with out a contract or buying one of their service packages.
Point is you pay for a proper installation so don't let them con that the installation was "free".
If you are paying for multiple satellite boxes & usually you are charged a monthly fee per box.Each box should work independently if the don't Direct has breached the contract.
So get on their case about this box being wired incorrectly by a lazy installer.

I've looked around a little bit to try to understand what 'bands' are when referring to satellite tv, and from what I have read, the frequency range for satellite tv is split into 2 'bands'. So if I understand correctly, in an ideal world, I would only be able to watch half of the channels available to me at any time.

Unfortunately, the satellite receiver was hooked up into a different room. The room I moved into never had a satellite box, but once contained a cable tv box (which is the reason for the splitter). I have the feeling that since the box was not originally setup in this room, their 'free' installation never needed to make sure this room was able to receive the satellite signal.

At this point I might just pay the $50 for them to come out and run a separate cable for me.

I think Direct has some fine print in the install agreement that allows for extra charges for "special needs" installs. But I agree that if you ordered an install for 2 receivers, they should be working right. There's a 30-day satisfaction guarantee on the install work, or something to that effect. But be prepared to have new cables run rather than using the existing wiring.

Ignore what the phone CSR says, or call back and get a different one, or ask for a supervisor. The main thing is to get an installer back over there. It may be as simple as replacing the old splitter. In any case, there's really no excuse for the install having been done that way.

I guess now the question is if during the original install they were required to make sure that all the rooms in the house could receive the satellite signal or not.

That would be the deciding factor on whether or not I should have to pay for them to come out to the house again.

Your install has a satisfaction period, I think 30 days. If you're within that period, you don't pay for a second visit. There's no question that if you ordered a multi-room install, all rooms must function.

Thanks for everyone's input on this. They sure found another way to stick it to me lol.

@CDan: The install was done a long while before I moved in to the house, so I am sure that the 30 day period has expired. Since the room I am in was not originally part of the multi-room setup for satellite, I don't think I will be able to play that card either.

Thanks again,

- Don

There is the so called "Low" and the "High" band in the Ku-Band world.
But don't forget the Vertical and Horizontal polarisation too!

LoL... honestly, I know what horizontal and vertical polarization are, but I have no idea how they factor in with satellite signals. Looks like I have some reading to do.

right.

Just to make sure you do have a satellite receiver box in the room you are trying to get you TV to receive in?
Is there also a receiver in the other room.
Or maybe easier how many satellite receiver boxes do you have?
Do all of them have activated "Smart Cards"?
Some dishes have dual LNB's You migh need a multiswitch that connects all 4 coax's out of the dish LNB's.With 2 outputs.Each cable running to it's own satellite receiver box.
Still if you paid for a multibox system this should have been done when installed & if it wasn't you need to find out why from Direct.
Keep going up superviser levels till you get an answer.

This naming is confusing.
Dual LNB refers to obsolete LNCs.

Todays LNBs are named: Single, Twin, Quattro, Quad (Switch), Octo, Monoblock, C-Band etc etc.
Not to mention that todays LNBs should be "digital" -> receiving low & high band.

_chef_ ; I'm not a professional my Dish satellite dish has 2 LNB's each one has 2 rf coax connectors.So what would you call those?
I've had this setup since 2000 & I'm not having any problems.
I concede my terminology could be off.

So you have 2 Twin (universal) LNBs?

LNBs are explained here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-noise_block_converter
Just have a look.

Is it similar to this?
http://www.satlex.us/en/2participant...onf_2p_2s.html

I think you're correct but heres a picture of my Dish

I have the Dish 1000 for my HD receiver.

*Honestly it isn't on my list of priorities to learn how satellite dishes work XD*

LoL yes I have a satellite receiver in the room I am trying to get a satellite signal in (it just sits at the main screen and says "Searching for satellite signal"). All of them have cards, and I am pretty sure they (DirecTV) checked to make sure the card in the receiver in my room was activated.

I have no idea about the LNB's nor how to check. From what I understand, there is one cable from the satellite dish going into the room next to mine, and then it is split to a receiver in that room and a receiver in my room. The reason it wasn't previously installed (correctly) is because the owner did not ask them to install a satellite receiver in my room. I don't think I can argue with them to come out and fix something that wasn't originally setup.

Again thanks for everyone's input.

- Don

I'm confused. It doesn't matter when the wiring or dish were installed. If you recently ordered 2-receiver DirecTV service and they came out to the house, then you are owed a working setup....period. It makes no difference whether the old wiring was correct or not. Clearly it's not, and the installer had no right to leave it in that condition.

Ok don_ now I assume the satellite receiver other than the one in your room is working.So I'm going to suggest disconecting that one & connecting it to the cable in your room.If it works then the cable to your room is OK & the problem is in the receiver in your room.If it doesn't work then the problem is either the splitter or cable to your room.
At this point suspect the spliter.I don't think the kind used for "Cable TV"
work.

Maybe I don't understand, but let me try to explain my situation again. It wasn't recently ordered, I just moved into the house and they are letting me use the receiver that was originally in the family room. The original install was done without the owner asking them to make sure that my room would receive the satellite signal (most likely because the owner had no idea it would not work, they just used the *cable tv* wiring that was already there).

Finding out about the splitter was the original intend of this thread. A DirecTV rep told me that I could use a multiswitch or diplex to split the signal correctly. In looking around at those two items, I found that in reality, each receiver should get a separate coaxial cable to the satellite dish, which is why I started this thread. I am obviously not a satellite tv expert and I am not sure if the multiswitch or diplex is an acceptable route to take, or if having someone come out and run a separate coaxial cable from my room to the satellite dish is what I really need to do.

I really appreciate everyone taking the time to talk about this thoroughly. If anyone can think of a way for me to argue for a free install that would be awesome

This is still not clear. You can't just add a second receiver to someone else's service, it has to be installed and activated by a DTV installer. Even if you do a self install, it can't be activated if it's not receiving the signal. So have you moved the original receiver to the second room? So there's only ONE receiver in the house?

Is this splitter accessible? Can you see if it's even connected to both cables? Does the receiver work in one location but not in the other? Have you tried removing the splitter and butt-connecting the cables from the dish to the second room?

There are multiple receivers in the house (from what I understand 4 total including the one they are letting me use).

So I have moved one receiver to my room which is a different room in the house than it was originally installed in.

I don't have access to the splitter because it's not my room, and the person who lives in the room is not here much. It is a regular cable tv splitter and not anything special, because like I said before, nothing was done to make sure that my room has a connection to the satellite. My receiver does work in the room it was previously in, most likely because that room has a coaxial cable running to the satellite dish.

I am not sure what you mean by butt-connecting the cables to the second room .

I hope I am not being to much of a hassle lol, I am seriously considering having a DirecTV person come out and fix this mess though.

If you have moved the receiver from where is was working, and the splitter is in that same location, just remove the splitter and connect the dish cable direct to your receiver's cable. You can get the connector for about 50 cents. Makes no sense to pay a installer $50 to come out and do the same thing.

CDan & me are pretty much on the same page.
To do what CDan suggestes you need to have access to the 'Cable tv" type splitter.Then put in a strait connecter or splicer.(a striat single connector with a male on both ends for connect two female ends on two different coax cables).
This will disconnect the satellite receiver box that is not in your room.
For testing purposes.If your satellite receiver box then works the problem is with the spltter.
I'm not a professinal so I don't know exactly what to do from there.
You might take a look at how all the other boxes are connected.I'm assuming the other 3 are working.So they must be correctly connected.So see how they are split.
Should look simular to the picture below.Your cable should run directly from one of the Rx#s on the multiswitch.
I really think the problem is you are trying to run 2 sattelite receiver boxes off one Rx#.