wife-said-no Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 I don't have satellite yet because the idea of having seperate tuners really annoys me. Then I got to thinking (oh no) and wanted to know if the coax from the satellite comes into the house and connects to the receiver, then the receiver connects to the tv? right. What I was wondering is, if it is possible to connect the coax to the place it enters the house, thus routing it to all the tv's in the house. I know that all the tv's would have to watch the same channel at the same time but that doesn't matter. ------------------ Come on honey why can't I spend some more money? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 Keep in mind that the "tuner" that comes with a DBS is a different animal than the cable box that you typically bypass when going into a "cable ready" TV. The satellite signal HAS to come down to the satellite decoder (tuner). To do what you're talking about, you'd have to take the coax coming OUT of the satellite box, split and run that. I don't know if the signal generator in the typical DBS box is gonna be happy driving the kind of load that splitters and long lengths of coax would present. You also will not be able to change the channel from anywhere except the room where the decoder is. Also, if you're planning on keeping you cable hookup (to watch network broadcasts - most places the DTV folks will not let you access CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, Paramount et al via satellite feed as part of a regulatory ruling protecting local broadcasters I applied for a waver based on the fact that my off air reception is TERRIBLE to NON EXISTANT depending upon weather conditions, and I was turned down flat by DTV three times.) then you're going to need two coax inputs to the TeeVee sets or some kind of switch box. Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wife-said-no Posted February 7, 2001 Author Share Posted February 7, 2001 Then what are my options. I plan on buying a HDTV by summer and to get the benifits I would need satellite. Most HDTV signals come from the channels you mentioned (HBO and stuff too) So how do I get the Digital picture and surround to my main TV and a signal to the other 2 rooms without subscribing to satellite and CATV. ------------------ Come on honey why can't I spend some more money? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 u run a digital connection from the DSS to your a/v receiver for sound & for video u can go through the receiver or directly to the tv w/ like s-video or whatever is available depending on your prefs. i've always heard u need a tuner for each tv for dss. one advantage digital cable has. are u going to run sound systems in each room off the same a/v receiver? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 & digital cable has hdtv 2 - u don't HAVE to have dss for hdtv. i can get 5.1 surround off my dig cable box 2 (w/ certain programs). i may be missing something here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 Wife-said-no, BE SURE YOU DO SOME LEGWORK ON THIS SITUATION BEFORE YOU SPEND ***ANY*** MONEY. From what I've read (The Perfect Vision and the Stereophile Guide to Home Theater), just about everybody who's sample the "HDTV" wares offered on satellite are either bummed that there's so little available, or REALLY REALLY TICKED OFF that there's so little available, what is available is of questionable quality, and in many cases the "HDTV" signal isn't native HDTV, it's source material that was NTSC and then, uh, "upsampled" (?? ?? not sure what to call that...) to the HDTV signal. I'd take a long, hard look at and spend a lot of time reading up on the situation as it stands today, or it isn't gonna be "wife-said-no", it's gonna be "wife-threw-satellite-dish-at-me-then-ran-out-of-here-screaming" Ray "Been there, done that tooooo often" Garrison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 Boa, what you're missing is that you must live in one of the two or three places in the country where you can actually GET digital cable. Where I live, I'm still stuck with Telemedia and their two-coax, switch box with the A/B switch style cable. I can't even bypass the cable box to take the coax directly into my "cable ready" TV, as the A/B channel setup confuses the TV tuner. As to when they're going to upgrade to fibre and expand bandwidth, last time I called, I tried asking "customer service" about each of the following: Q. upgrade to fibre optics? Their Answer: what's that? (I'm serious.) Q: uh, okay, how about upgrade to high definition tv? A: What's that? Q: Are you going to be upgrading my cable service? A: Yes, we're adding several new channels by the end of this year; we've had a lot of interest in the cooking channel, but we'll have to drop something else to add it. Q: Do you know anything about whether telemedia will be replacing the existing coaxial cables and the A/B switch box system with something else? A: Why? Are you having a problem with your service? I can have a technician come out and check your installation if it's not working correctly. Are you getting a picture? At which point I hung up. Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 ray & wsn, sorry how naive of me. sorry 2 but had to chuckle ray on your encounter - sounds a lot like the time warner "tech support". hopefully the AOL takeover of Time Warner Cable (after the GOV held it up for more than 1 yr) & such is a sign of better things to come for hdtv, digital cable, wireless, broadband, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wife-said-no Posted February 7, 2001 Author Share Posted February 7, 2001 I fortunately live in a town that just started digital CATV. But I thought that I read in TPV that HDTV signals were NOT being sent across cable lines yet. Guess I better just call them and hopefully not get the same experience you did Ray. I did read an article in either Home Theater or The Perfect Vision that made it sound like HDTV isn't going anywhere. Too many NTSC people loosing money because the HDTV band is free. I hope that I didn't read this wrong. Maybe I should just buy a NTSC TV. Which means I can't go as big since my TV sits 2" short of 9 feet from my sitting position. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boa12 Posted February 8, 2001 Share Posted February 8, 2001 in that case it probably depends on the cable co. but time warner here has HBO-HD, Showtime-HD & a tentative HD local channels. i have the digital box for my main tv & sound system & the 2 other tvs in the house just connect to the standard cable lines. may be the ticket for ye. & again the tech can only go forward (at a faster pace I hope). imho, the only reason to get DSS currently is if u don't have digital cable w/ HD channels available.. ------------------ RF-3 (front), RC-3, Cornwall I (rear) Velodyne HGS-15 sub Monsterbass 400 sub cables & Monster Z-12 speak wire Sony de935 a/v receiver Sony DVP-C650D dvdp Sony Trinitron 27" tv Technics dual cassette deck Technics direct drive turntable Scientific Atlanta Explorer 2000 digital cable box rock on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTADDICT Posted February 8, 2001 Share Posted February 8, 2001 Here's an idea for you, I admit I haven't read anyones replies so if I repeat forgive me. I have a sony a55 dolby digital sattalite, a little spendy 350 for the receiver alone, no dish, but you could find it cheaper and you don't have to use sonys dish which is also spendy, I got a hughes sattalite dish. Look at pawn shops or get one from someones abandoned system. The Sony uses a rf remote so you can change channels anywhere in the house, in the closet underneath a blanket it works great! Also it receives 5.1 surround! For the second part if you want it connected to more tv's and this I'm not sure about so somebody correct me if I'm wrong. Sima makes a video switcher (SV-4) which converts composite to s-video, has a volume limiter and has 4 ins and two outs. would make a nice addition to any system. I'm getting one in a couple weeks, not for that reason though, so I can hook up all my s-video connections and still use my vcr. Costs 150 retail, but you can get it cheaper. Also terk makes good hd'tv antennaes. Can't list everything would take to long, look into these they should work for you in a lot of ways. My wife loves the sat. remote, & I think she'll like the volume limiter on the sima so the commercials don't blow us away anymore. Sorry just scanned replies and seen I was a little off the page but maybe this will help anyway. I think for now hdtv is wayoverrated and not worth getting into right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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