# Whole Home DVR Installation with Two Dish Setup



## gthorson (Sep 17, 2006)

When I moved into my existing house four years ago, the DirecTV installer was unable to accomplish the installation with a single dish due to aesthetic reasons. As a result, he installed two dishes. The first dish provides the signal to our most used HD DVR. The second dish provides the signal to our other three HD DVRs. 

My DirecTV Whole House Install is scheduled for Wednesday. Will we be able to get all four HD DVRs on the same network, or will the primary DVR be disconnected as it draws its signal from a different dish?


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## Kevin F (May 9, 2010)

You can do whole home DVR off of Ethernet if that's possible. Not quite sure if the installer will do that for you as it is not a standard installation.

Kevin


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

As a compromise, you can install a CCK on the lines from both dishes. This will allow each setup to see each other via your home network, but still would allow your main setup to use the DECA network for MRV. At a minimum, use DECA and a CCK on the main setup and run an Ethernet cable to the single DVR.

- Merg


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

What the installer will probably be willing to do is put the three HR's on a DECA network, and connect them to your LAN with a CCK. Once he has done that, simply connecting your other HR to your LAN with an ethernet cable will allow it to function in the process, as The Merg pointed out. That's probably the easiest way to accomplish what you want.


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## Diana C (Mar 30, 2007)

And if there is no Ethernet near the independant DVR, and assuming you have wi-fi, just get a wireless CCK and use it to connect to the LAN.


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## gthorson (Sep 17, 2006)

Sounds like great advice! I'll show it to the installer when s/he arrives. If anyone has any other suggestions to share before this afternoon, please feel free to fire away. Thanks for all of your help!


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## gthorson (Sep 17, 2006)

Thanks for all of your help! It turned out that the installer could go back to a single dish configuration using the old cable wiring. The reason the one dish setup wouldn't work when we moved in four years ago was because I needed two lines each for my DVRs. Now with the new technology, we essentially eliminated the need for the two dish configuration because each DVR only needs one line now, and the whole house installation is complete. Even the Nomad works. I'm now enjoying my HR 34 and three HD DVRs with a total of 2.5 TB of recording capacity and 11 tuners.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

Hey, that's great news. Glad the installer was on top of things and got you sorted out that way.


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## dsexton (May 2, 2007)

I have the same situation. Big house, DTV was first installed when it took 2 lines for a dual tuner DVR, house only had one. Installer had to use 2 dishes. Upgraded recently by adding HR34. I'm still using all 3 DVRs plus H25 in two additional rooms. Both dishes are running DECA and everything communicates. I am wired throughout the house for ethernet, but I have no DVR connected directly to ethernet. Everything goes to DECA. The installer told me it would not work and had to admit his surprise when he hooked up the second one and everything was recognized.


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## gthorson (Sep 17, 2006)

My ethernet connection was made directly to an HR21. It then supplied internet connectivity to the rest of the system. Unfortunately, I'm having the same problem as many others on this forum in that the HR 34 keeps dropping out of the whole-house network system. That will give me something to do this weekend.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

gthorson said:


> My ethernet connection was made directly to an HR21. It then supplied internet connectivity to the rest of the system. Unfortunately, I'm having the same problem as many others on this forum in that the HR 34 keeps dropping out of the whole-house network system. That will give me something to do this weekend.


 Is the HR21 also connected through DECA?
Using the HR21 as a bridge for internet to DECA isn't a good idea.
Using the HR34 is.


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## gthorson (Sep 17, 2006)

Yes, the HR 21 is also connected through DECA.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

gthorson said:


> Yes, the HR 21 is also connected through DECA.


So it sounds like you're using both ethernet ports on the HR21, which is a bad idea.


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