Multiswich, Diplexior, or do I need?

[plippens]

I have the following situation.

My inputs or sources will be a DirecTV HD satelitte and an OTA antenna.

The DirecTV package includes three receivers, One HD STB and two regular boxes for two seperate TV's.

I want the HD signal and the OTA signal to go to the main HD TV, while the other two TV's will need simply get the DirecTV regualar signal and the ota analog signal only.

One draw back is the fact that the house is already prewired for getting the signal to the appropriate room. the wiring was done since its virtually impossible to drill through 14" of concrete and brick to run new wires. So I have a box on the side of the house with all the wires setting there waiting to get hooked up to something.

The main HD tv will be in the family room, which has four prewired choices for locations on the walls. THus in the box on the outside of the house there are four wires, one wire for each different spot on the wall.
The other two tv's have individual wires that run to different rooms in the house.

Would a multiswitch work here, by doing the following. Runing the ota signal and the HD SAtelitte signal to the inputs of the multiswitch, then hook the 4 main room lines and the two other tv lines to the outputs of the multiswitch? I will need six outputs to get every wire hookup up that runs through the house.

Or do I need a diplexior somewhere? I'm not sure.

I know individual cable feeds directly to the receivers is the way to go, but like I said, the wiring is done, and new wiring is not an option.

Thanks for your help.

[LeeS]

Was the house prewired with RG6?

I'm not familiar with Direct TV hardware but I would think that there will be three coax cables comeing down from the sat dish. And a fourth coax cable from the OTA antenna.

To simplify things I would just worry about the single coax that goes to the location of the main (HD) TV. If you move the TV just switch wires in the box.

You don't plan on getting your locals via the satellite? That would really simplify things, you wouldn't need to split the OTA between three sets and only need on diplexor pair for the HD set.

I'm not an authority on diplexers and multi-switches. Someone else will have to jump in for that.

Have you checked www.antennaweb.org? This will give you an idea of what to expect for DTV reception. Also analog reception if you decide to go ahead with your plan.

Good luck,
Lee

[plippens]

Thanks for your help. Locals through DTV are not an option where I'm at, so OTA is the only option. I agree I might not worry about the alternative locations for the HDTV, just hookup only one.

I am still wondering what do use as far as multiswitches and diplexers. If you use a diplexer to combine the sat and ota signals into one coax, do you have to use a second diplexer or some type of signal splitter to then hook up to the stb, one coax for the sat and one coax for the ant in?

Thanks.
Paul

[Splicer]

The main viewing room (which is the one you are most concerned with, correct?) has 4 lines. You may not like this but I would suggest forgetting the diplexer and connect 2 of the 4 lines. The closest one to the tv is a given. Use that line for either the STB or the OTA, your call. Then connect the second closest line in the room to the source you did not hook up with the 1st line. Just barrel together another cable and run it under the carpet or along the baseboard to your tv.

Another option is drilling a new hole which it sounds like you don't want to do. 14" is really nothing when using a hammer drill and a masonary bit. A 3/8" hole is not a big deal to drill. Just make sure the bit is long enough. :smokin:

[LeeS]

I am still wondering what do use as far as multiswitches and diplexers. If you use a diplexer to combine the sat and ota signals into one coax, do you have to use a second diplexer or some type of signal splitter to then hook up to the stb, one coax for the sat and one coax for the ant in?
Yes, there are two parts. One where you combine the coax cables and one at the STB where you separate them for the OTA input and the SAT input. I believe they are the same part, ins and outs are just reversed.

Here's the diplexer:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F008%5F003%5F000&product%5Fid=16%2D2586

Look through these for the switches etc.

http://www.radioshack.com/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F008%5F003%5F000&Page=1

Lee