New Home Construction, Wiring For Satellite

[Stu]

I am wiring a home for satellite for the TV/Home Theater. It is new home construction and no dry wall has been put up yet. I plan on running wires from the access point to the house and make home runs in the wiring from a video splitter to each room. There are eight rooms that I will be making home runs in the wiring from the video splitter. However, I anticipate that I will have only three televisions in operation after moving in. but I wanted the capability of adding addition sets or moving some of the televisions around. I will attach a rough schematic of what I would like to accomplish. I was planning on using the Pass & Seymour panel which you incorporate the video splitter, amplifier, and the Ethernet splitter for networking a few computers. The wire for the TV system will be RG-6 Sweep 2200. My questions are:
1. The question is what is the best way to run the wires for satellite?
2. If I want to switch back to cable how should if wire in the event I do switch back to cable?
3. I was told if I have three TV sets on satellite I should run one wire to the main TV set and run a second wire from the main TV to a secondary location and operate two TV’s off the same receiver. The third TV off a second receiver. Was this good advice? Said it was cheaper each month to use one dual receiver.
I would appreciate any advice.
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[Dmantis]

Heres what you do..

1)Run ALL wires back to the head end.

2) label each wire on both ends

3)Run 2 coax and cat 5e's to each tv location or gear location

Sat needs phone at each location so running the cat 5e is nessary.The extra run is for networking.Do it even if your planning wireless.If wireless fails in any zone or location,you'll have wired back up.Once the drywall is up,it
s tuffer to run the wires.

4)drill oversize holes.Don't put any sharp bends in the wires.Soft is key.

5)If any wiring is overwelming for yeah,hire professional.

Dan

[PiDD]

I would handle this a bit differently...

Do you really want to have (or move) 8 satellite receivers? If you do you are on the right track.

What I have done is set up 2 satellite receivers that have RF remotes. Now these receivers can be controlled anywhere in my house. Now from these two points I run RCA connectors to any other areas I want TV. The downside is that you only have channel sources. So everyone watches what is on each receiver. I only have one kid so no big deal.

As for Networking .. run Cat5 to the main PC(s) for speed (HTPC) and go wireless for everything else. Wireless is getting much better with coverage... even allowing detachable antennae. This could help with dead spots.

[Sonnie Parker]

In reference to the satellite runs only:

Keep in mind that the satellite signal will need to come from the satellite receiver itself.... all splitting of the satellite signal will come after it has traveled through the receiver. If your TV that has the satellite box has a monitor out then you can run that to another TV as well but you'll have to run audio and video cables most likely.

In other words... I don't think it will do you much good to run a single 75 ohm cable to your access point from your satellite dish (if this is what you were intending to do) and then out to the receivers because this is not going to be the proper type of splitter to use from a satellite dish. DBS satellite systems use switches. Directv uses a switch that is built into their LNB on the dish itself. Dish Network uses separate switches and they have about 4 different models depending on what your setup is and how many receivers you plan on serving. Voom uses just one separate switch for now that will serve up to 4 receivers. If you are thinking of using C-Band then I have no idea how all that works.

So basically you should run 4 X 75 ohm cables from wherever you plan on mounting the actual satellite dish to either your access point or directly to the receiver locations depending on what service you choose to use. If you use Dish Network then you can run the 4 feeds to your access point and you will need one of their switches. Then from the switch a cable run to each TV location that you intend on having a receiver now or in the future. If you use Directv you can run the 4 cables directly to the 4 receiver locations or you could pass them through the access point in case you ever decide to change services.

If you plan on using a dual tuner DVR such as Tivo then you will want to run 2 X 75 ohm cables from your access point or satellite dish to that receiver because it needs two feeds.

If you plan on using the same receiver to serve 2 or more TV's then you will need to run the necessary cables from wherever the receiver is located to the other locations.

You might also want to run an extra 75 ohm lead from wherever you might install an OTA antenna for HD reception to your access point as well. This lead can be split with a regular splitter if you so desire but may need to be amplified if you plan on splitting it several times. Of course keep in mind that you'll have to have an HD STB or a built-in HD tuner in your TV to receive HD. Not sure if you had planned on getting HDTV's for each TV location.

Sounds like there will cables running out your ears huh? Yep! Especially if you have OTA and satellite and are feeding 3-4 receivers. I used up a 1000 foot roll pretty quickly running every scenario I could think of when we built our house and have still had to run more cable since then.


We have 4 TV's with 3 receivers but 2 of those receivers serve one TV (a HD receiver and a Tivo receiver for recording). I use the 75 ohm (out to TV) on one of the receivers and run it to a splitter and out to a TV in the bedroom and a TV out in our palm room. I use the DVI or component output from the receiver to serve the main TV instead of the 75 ohm output. We also have the OTA cables run to each location as well.

It will cost you an extra $5 per month mirror fee to have another receiver in that 3rd TV location to be able to watch something different than what's playing on another receiver. That 3rd receiver is free with Directv and Dish but would cost you an extra rental fee of $9.50 plus the $5 mirror fee with Voom.