# Wiring of Dish 721



## spatnaik (Sep 13, 2002)

Hi,

I am new to this forum and I have a question:

I currently have a Dishplayer 7200 system. Since they stopped the PVR functions on that I am planning to upgrade to Dish 721 system. Here are my questions:

1) Do I have to do any special wiring for the new Dish 721 system?
2) Currently I have 2 Dishes hooked up 1 Receiver. One dish is for English Channels and the other is for International Programming.

Thanks

Ashish


----------



## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

Not quite enough information - 

but -

the 721 has 2 tuners where your Dishplayer has only 1 - and they must both be hooked up to identical LNB / switch configurations.

Plan from there...


----------



## spatnaik (Sep 13, 2002)

Thanks. Sorry for the dumb questions but what information do I need to provide.

I have 2 Dishes connected to a single SW24 (correct me if I am wrong) and only one cable comes in and I connect that to the 7222 receiver.

So do I have to run 2 cables from the Dishes?


----------



## xgrep (Aug 15, 2002)

The 721 has two tuners in it, requiring the same dish configuration as if you had two receivers. The 7200 has only a single tuner, is that correct? If so, it's likely that your current setup has LNB outputs for only one receiver, and if that's the case, you will need to upgrade it to LNBs and switches that can feed the 721's two tuners. 

However, you wouldn't have to do that immediately, since, in theory, you can use just one of the 721's tuners. But most people here seem to feel that the 721's two tuners is an indispensable feature, so you will probably want to do this eventually.

x


----------



## xgrep (Aug 15, 2002)

The sw24 is intended to allow up to two dual-output LNBs to be connected to up to two receivers, so your switch is good. If your dishes both have dual-output LNBs, you wouldn't need to do anything more than run a second cable from the SW24 to your 721's second tuner.

x


----------



## spatnaik (Sep 13, 2002)

Thanks.

I have one Dual LNB Dish pointing to 110 & 119 & the second dual LNB just pointing to 61.5. From what I remember (need to go home and check) when Dish Network Tech came ot my Apt. to install they connected both the dishes to a switch ( I presume SW24) which had 2 inputs and 1 output, so where do I get to run the second cable from?


----------



## DmitriA (Aug 6, 2002)

> _Originally posted by xgrep _
> *However, you wouldn't have to do that immediately, since, in theory, you can use just one of the 721's tuners.*


*In theory*, but are you sure it actually works in practice? I remember reading somewhere that it doesn't even turn on unless you hook up the 2 satellite inputs. Can anyone shed any light on that?


----------



## STXJim (Apr 22, 2002)

> _Originally posted by spatnaik _
> *
> I currently have a Dishplayer 7200 system. Since they stopped the PVR functions on that I am planning to upgrade
> *


No they haven't. I'm useing mine now.
Maybe your PVR account was deleted.
Something is wrong.


----------



## lordgarth (Sep 13, 2002)

I spent the last couple of days doing research on whether or not you can setup and run a 721 with just one satellite connection. I could only find vague information. I just finished (about 2 hours ago) setting mine up with only 1 connection. I just used the number 1 satellite in connection turned it on to make sure it works (it did but not yet authorized). I turned it off to let it download the latest software. The green light will flash constantly while this happens. I can not say how long it took since I went out for about 45 minutes and it was finished (light off) when I returned. I turned it on and went into the settings to read the receiver/smartcard info. I give this information to dish and about 2 minutes later all was well. Except for any feature that requires the second tuner it is behaving great. If I encounter any problems I will definately report back.

:lg:


----------



## xgrep (Aug 15, 2002)

> _Originally posted by spatnaik _
> [...]
> I have one Dual LNB Dish pointing to 110 & 119 & the second dual LNB just pointing to 61.5. From what I remember (need to go home and check) when Dish Network Tech came ot my Apt. to install they connected both the dishes to a switch ( I presume SW24) which had 2 inputs and 1 output, so where do I get to run the second cable from?


OK, I think you might have some of it a bit inaccurate. The SW24 was not very common, and though you might have one, it's more likely you have an SW21. The LNB on the Dish500 (110/119) is not a Dual (which is a single head with two outputs), but a Twin (which is a single large double-head unit with two outputs).

If you do have a Twin on the Dish500 and an SW21, then all you need for your 721 setup is a second SW21 and a Dual on the Dish300 (61.5). You may already have the Dual on that dish, but without actually looking at the label on the LNB, there's no way to know. There are wiring diagrams on the dishnetwork site (and several other places) that show this. An SW21 is cheap, and a Dual LNB probably less than $50 if you hunt around. The setup is very simple and not prone to getting it wrong.

x


----------



## lordgarth (Sep 13, 2002)

It looks like I cannot record on my 721 unless I manually start the recording and manually stop it. Any other method results in nothing. (The events do show up in the pvr list). Since you cannot tell it which tuner to record from I'm going to assume that the problems lies in the fact that I'm only using a single connection to the sat. I'm not going to try and troubleshoot any further until I get the additional connection.

:lg:


----------



## lordgarth (Sep 13, 2002)

I lied. I experimented anyway. Apparently it was some sort of bug. I told the until to load factory defaults and it went through some sort of reconfigure process. Things appear to be recording properly now with only one connection.


----------



## kriv (Aug 29, 2002)

Sold my E* 6000 on this message board and have ordered a 721. Could not avoid getting the 721 since I play around with Linux at work. I have a Dish 500 with a twin LNBF and a 18" dish with a single LNBF pointed to 61.5 for use with Sky Angel, tied together with a sw21. Since I don't need to watch or record two Sky Angel channels at the same time, I was hoping that I could get away with hooking up the two dishes via the sw21 to one tuner and run another line from the twin to the other tuner. I have read a couple of things from this site that concerns me. First, I have read that both tuner inputs have to be identical. I was wondering why the menu screens that I have seen on the web show independent tuner satellite configurations if the inputs had to be identical? Second, it was mentioned on this thread that you cannot tell the pvr which tuner to use for recording. If that is correct then I could not reliably record on the Dish 500 and watch Sky Angel at the same time. Can anyone tell me if there is a way to make sure that the first recording is for the first tuner or same idea only doing it with the second tuner?


----------



## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

From what we've been told, your LNB / Switch configuration needs to be identical on both tuners. So, pony up for a Dual LNB and a second SW21 - they're not THAT expensive (for someone who has just got a 721...).


----------



## Unthinkable (Sep 13, 2002)

Thank you for posting that the 721 will indeed work ok with just one coax feeding it for the short term lordgarth. I hadn't seen anyone post this before now and was skeptical that it was a valid possibility after hearing reports to the contrary on this prior to now. Perhaps Dish enabled this in a software update which wasn't immediately available to users when these units first shipped out.


----------



## Swampthing (Apr 24, 2002)

> _Originally posted by spatnaik _
> *Since they stopped the PVR functions on that I am planning to upgrade to Dish 721 system. *


I have two 7100s and one 7200, and the PVR functions are continuing to work just fine. I agree with the above poster that somehow your PVR functions were deleted from your account... Check it out with Echostar CS first before investing in the new 721.


----------

