# 921 Question (hopefully not a repeat)



## Danbo (Oct 3, 2002)

I'm still unsure if I'll move to the 921 when it comes out, considering the issues I've had with the 721, but one never knows. I don't see DirecTV doing anything with a HD dual tuner PVR, so there may not necessarily be a choice.

Anyway, my 721 uses a Dish 500 dish on my house, with two cables coming in. With the 921, will there need to be more then 2 cables coming into the house? If so, I need to plan appropriately and have my skinny brother-in-law crawl around my crawl space dragging another cable or two. In addition, will the Dish antennae itself pull in OTA signals? Or do I still need a roof-top antenna for that?


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## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Danbo _*
> With the 921, will there need to be more then 2 cables coming into the house? *


Yes, each TUNER requires a cable. You can NOT use a splitter. You also need to consider if you will need additional (or different) switches and/or LNBs. If you plan on just having a 721 and a 921 your best bet would be to get a DishPro QUAD LNB. 


> *In addition, will the Dish antennae itself pull in OTA signals? Or do I still need a roof-top antenna for that? *


You will need an antenna for OTA. The dish antenna can only pull in channels from the satellite. They do make "clip-on" antennas for dishes but the ones I have seen don't do a very good job.


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## Danbo (Oct 3, 2002)

I have a roof-top antenna at present. But, when I had the 721 installed, the needed a second cable for the second tuner. I had them cut the roof one and use that cable. At present, my roof antenna does nothing but get the suns rays, and perhaps a place for the birds to perch as they crap on my roof.

Okay, so I'm trying to clarify things up. Let's say I plan on replacing the 721 with the 921. The 921 has dual tuners, so I'd only need the original two cables the 721 uses? And then a third one for the OTA stuff? That means a total of 3, correct? Or am I missing something. If I don't plan on using the 721, would I need the Quad LNB or could I still use the current Dish 500 Dual LNB?


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## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

Dan,

If you only plan on having a 921 you won't need to change anything on your dish or your wiring. For the OTA antenna you will need a cable for it. Some people use (a pair of) diplexers to combine the OTA with the satellite signal but I really don't recommend them with a 721 or 921. I would run a seperate cable for the OTA signal.


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## Ken_F (Jan 13, 2003)

Danbo,

You have two choices; you can use a diplexor to run the OTA feed on one of the satellite cables (you separate the OTA and satellite with a diplexor inside your house), or you can upgrade your Dish500 with a DishPro LNB and switch. A new DishPro LNB and switch would enable you to support dual tuning using half as many cables (in this case, one instead of two, freeing up the second)---_this is not correct, what were you thinking Ken? _


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## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Ken_F _
> * A new DishPro LNB and switch would enable you to support dual tuning using half as many cables (in this case, one instead of two, freeing up the second). *


Ken,

Using DishPro LNBs (and switches) will still require TWO cable runs to a 721 or 921.


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## Jason (Aug 8, 2002)

Bill R,

I currently have a Legacy Quad, not Dishpro. Will the Legacy Quad work with a 921 and 721 hooked up together? I would simply need 4 lines coming in, correct?

Will I need to run brand new lines of the high end cable for the 921 to display HDTV signals or will the standard cable I currently have work just fine?


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## Ken_F (Jan 13, 2003)

Bill,

You are right, of course. Don't know what I was thinking when I made that post.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

Jason,

If your existing cable works with your 721 it will work with the 921. You will need all 4 lines from the Quad. You will also need a dish with a dual output LNBF pointed at 61.5 or 148 and 2 SW21 switches to connect 2 of the Quad outputs and the side dish to the 921. If you also want the 721 to get the side dish you will need an SW64 instead of the 2 SW21s or consider converting to DishPro.


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## chris_h (Mar 19, 2003)

You may be able to get a side-dish with LNB free, if you need it to get all of your "must carry" local channels (and you subscribe to locals). Dish will provide you with a free DP LNB dish and DP-SW34 if your existing dish has a DP LNb (hint).


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

Bill R, I have a diplexor set up with my 6000 and it works great. Anything specific with the 721 that makes this work worse than the 6000? I have 2 RG6's going to the main system for my 6000 and Dishplayer but there is just about no way in heck I can get a 3rd dwn there for the 921.


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## Bill R (Dec 20, 2002)

Lee,

I was just told that DISH doesn't recommend using diplexers with two tuner receivers. I asked why and was told that "the two tuners need to see exactly the same thing and having a diplexer in the line for one tuner could cause switch test problems". I have not tried one myself; I'm just repeating what I was told.


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## drjake (Jun 12, 2002)

I use a diplexer with one line on my 721 and it works fine.


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## Jason (Aug 8, 2002)

I thought that we were going to be able to record 2 HDTV channels at once with the 921. If we only have one line running from the 2nd dish at 61.5 then how can you get two channels from just one line?

Or can you only record one HDTV program at a time?

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Jason,

If your existing cable works with your 721 it will work with the 921. You will need all 4 lines from the Quad. You will also need a dish with a dual output LNBF pointed at 61.5 or 148 and 2 SW21 switches to connect 2 of the Quad outputs and the side dish to the 921. If you also want the 721 to get the side dish you will need an SW64 instead of the 2 SW21s or consider converting to DishPro.


__________________
Charles


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## Ken_F (Jan 13, 2003)

Jason,

With DishPro LNBs and a DishPro switch, you can support and tune in excess of four receivers using a single cable from 61.5 and two total cables from a Dish500 (119+110). It allows this because each cable can carry the information that previously required two cables using tranditional LNBs and switches. If you'd like more information on DishPro technology and how it works, see this page.


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## Jason (Aug 8, 2002)

So if I wanted to stick with the old-style Legacy switches and hook up a 921 and 721, what are my options? I currently have one dish with a Legacy Quad LNB. Wouldn't it be cheaper to stick with Legacy since I already have a Legacy Quad?


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

Sure that would be cheaper. You quoted the answer to the first part of your question earlier in this thread.


> If we only have one line running from the 2nd dish at 61.5 then how can you get two channels from just one line?


If you stay with a legacy dish assembly you will have 2 lines coming from the dual output LNBF on the 61.5 dish. Each output will go to an SW21, the other input of the SW21s will come from 2 of the outputs on the Quad just like the Twin and 2 SW21 for 3 satellite installation (pdf). Each SW21 is then connected to one of the Sat inputs on the 921.


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