Help with running video through installed coax...

[stjoe]

I'm a Directv subscriber. I currently have a HD DVR that I use downstairs in my family room. For years, I have run a second Directv receiver signal back through the installed coaxial cable through the house. I have tvs in several rooms, and this allows me to watch satellite tv throughout the house, and a different channel than that in my family room.

I recently picked up a 2nd HDTV for my exercise room upstairs. The satellite receiver I use to send the signal there is not HD compatible, and has coaxial in and coaxial out connections.

I have a third satellite receiver, a Samsung HD receiver that I would like to replace the second receiver with to run the signal back through the house, hoping to get better video quality. It does not have a traditional coaxial out connection, but has composite out, component out, and Dolby Digital (coaxial) out. The Dolby connection looks like your typical "line out" connection, not like a typical coaxial connection.

My questions are:

Can I improve the video signal going back through the house by using the Samsung HD receiver?

If so, how can I connect the Samsung to the coax through the house, given the existing connects?

 

[MDS]

From your description I believe you are talking about a coax connection where the end of the cable is terminated with F-pin connectors - the kind you screw into the wall plate for cable TV - correct?

If so, you will not be able to use the same scheme as before if the new satellite receiver does not have the same coax (RF - radio frequency) outs. If I understand the description correctly, what you were doing is wiring all of the sat receivers in series - the first one gets the signal from the dish and sends that same signal out through RF out to a cable in the wall that goes to the input of another sat receiver and so on for the third and subsequent sat receivers. That is why you can view different channels on each receiver.

The coax from the sat (cable tv set top box) carries both audio and video. The receiver will split out audio and video and you can send it from that receiver to the TV using the component out for video and digital out for audio but only if that receiver is the LAST receiver in the chain (because it doesn't have RF outs).

 

[stjoe]

Whoops, let me try again....

Sorry I was not clear....the satellite receivers are not chained... they each have their own coaxial cables running to them from the dish. So for all intents and purposes, forget the current HD DVR in the family room.

On to the other one. The old, non HD satellite receiver has coax in and coax out connections. So I have coax from the dish to the sat receiver, then back out to the coax that runs through the house. I connect tvs throughout the house without any other receiver involved (it bypasses my Denon altogether for my throughout the house signal).

Now what I want to do is trash the old satellite receiver and replace it with my Samsung HD satellite receiver. But the Samsung only has the connections mentioned above. What I really wonder is if I can get the A/v signal back into the coax that goes throughout the house. I'm wondering if their isn't some connector that will plug into the Dolby Digital jack and interface with the coax fitting on the other end.

I hope that's a better explanation.....

 

[MDS]

Well I am now confused because if there is only Sat receiver, how can you watch different channels in each room? Cable/Sat is broadband and all of the channels are present on one signal at the same time. The tuner (in this case the sat receiver) is what 'tunes' to a specific channel and extracts it from all the others. If you forward that signal to other rooms there has to be a tuner in that room to select a different channel.

Regardless, the answer is still No. If you use component video connections and digital audio out from the receiver, audio and video are now separate baseband signals - unlike the single broadband signal over the RF connection which contained both audio and video.

 

[stjoe]

Thanks.....

Oh well, worth a try.....

I don't mean I tune separately for each room, just that I can get a different signal from the sat receiver in the den. I just take an rf remote to wherever else in the house I need to view.

 

[Vanhoecke]

Have you checked out the RF distribution systems that Channel Plus has? As I understand it, it will allow you to distribute up to four seperate RF feeds (depending on the modulator you purchase) through a coax distribution hub to displays connected to the hub. The system is SAT. compatible, bi-directional and provides for an IR return signal where using an IR remote on the display end you can send an IR signal back to the source. You could rack mount all of your sources (Sat., DVD, DVR, ect.) in one location and then view (and control) them from any room in the house. With multiple decoders (or sources) you could view different material on different displays at the same time. Hope this helps.


http://www.channelplus.com/products_rf.html

 

[stjoe]

Thanks, Vanhoecke..

But I don't see anything addressing my output problem. Somehow, someway there has to be a way to get from hdmi out or component out back to coax.

 

[bpape]

It would have to be HDMI. Just component would only address the video side and leave you with no sound. HDMI is pretty tightly regulated so not sure what you'll find.

If anybody would have it, these guys would - www.markertek.com

The only things I could find that would work would also cause you to lose the HD quality signal so not sure you're gaining anything.

Bryan

 

[selkec]

I would just keep the receiver you have and forget the Samsung. It will not help with video quality on the rest of the house. It would only make it better for a tv connected directly to it thru component. Now if you have another HD tv somewhere in the house you could move the receiver to that location. After getting the satellite signal to that location. If you have a junction box where all your splitters and sat cables are it would be very easy to do using only the existing cable and some diplexors.

 

[stjoe]

Wow, you guys have some great ideas....

Bryan,

I'll nose around that site a bit and see what I can find. Thanks!

Selkec,

I do have another HDTV and that may just be the way to go. I never thought about moving the receiver. I've got to think it through, because I don't know how the house is cabled. I have a feeling that if I send the unprocessed sat signal through the house to the samsung sat receiver relocated to my 2nd tv, everything upstream of the receiver would be SOL, and I might be able to configure it to where everything downstream works.

Hmm.