# Building TV distribution system



## normnet361 (May 4, 2015)

This is my first post on the DBSTalk forum.

I am looking for ideas on how to distribute satellite TV to all rooms in a nursing home.
I am working with installers but need more input.

My idea is to receive multiple simultaneous channels by satellite and distribute them over the existing telephone wires to each room.
The room connection is my main concern as it needs to be kept simple with no buttons remotes or programming perhaps just a simple DSL to coax modem.

Is this doable and what might an example modem at the TV be?


Norm


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Eh, why no buttons? how where you planning on letting people change channels?

And its probably not going to work over telephone lines... I don't know of anything that does over regular phone lines....

How many rooms are you talking about?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Could be IP distribution... but why not move the thread into sat tv installers forum?


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

I don't think he hast cat5 or cat 6, just cat3 based on him saying old phone lines... not sure...


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## normnet361 (May 4, 2015)

P Smith said:


> Could be IP distribution... but why not move the thread into sat tv installers forum?


Good idea.
Could some one move this thread to the satellite TV installers forum?

Norm


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## normnet361 (May 4, 2015)

inkahauts said:


> Eh, why no buttons? how where you planning on letting people change channels?
> 
> And its probably not going to work over telephone lines... I don't know of anything that does over regular phone lines....
> 
> How many rooms are you talking about?


No buttons as duplicate remotes and set top boxes buttons confuse the elderly and can be a routine repair.
Hookups and disconnects are also daily as there are many short term rehab stays at nursing homes.
I was hoping the remote for the TV for channel selection but it doesn't sound like that will work with DSL.
Regular telephone lines to 65 rooms in one of the two buildings plus more to the second.
If I'm not mistaken DSL enters buildings on regular phone lines so couldn't a DSL signal be available at each room phone line jack?

Norm


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Ok, sounds liek you are saying you want one remote in the room.. and you figure the tv remote that's already there can do it. Generally, that's not going to work with directv. BUT directvs remote will turn a tv on and off and change its volume, with the press of the on and off buttons which also turn on the boxes... SO you can get to one remote. 


And are you saying you want to change which rooms have tv and which don't on a regular basis, or you want tv set up in all rooms?

You say phone lines, is it cat 5 or cat 6? or is it cat3? 

Can you run coax to these rooms?


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## normnet361 (May 4, 2015)

I would assume the Direct TVs ability to turn a TV on and off requires programming to match the TV?

Yes we will be changing which rooms have TV and which don't on a daily basis.
I will check tomorrow on the phone line cat #.

There is coax to the rooms but we would like to get away from it as Charter cable company uses it and the connection boxes for the hookups and disconnects are in tunnels and other hard to access areas. 

A question about Direct TV's remote:
If there is a Direct TV set top box on both sides of the wall can a remote on one side switch the TV on the other?

Norm


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Yeah you just program the remote to work the TV. 

I don't see a good path for you to use DIRECTV without using coax. And it will be complex moving tvs around all the time. It's much easier if they are always able to have TV. 

Is charter staying for some reason? I would have expected you where looking at replacing. 

And you can program DIRECTV boxes to work via RF so the remote can work through walls. 

Do you want all tvs to be able to show different channels or just one channel for all tvs at a time?


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## normnet361 (May 4, 2015)

The complexity of connecting and disconnecting is what needs to be made simple.
The primary goal is a system which enables on the spot connections by non technical staff so that when the daughter or son of the patient leaves after admission they know their loved one has their favorite TV program and is completely moved in.

The building owner owns the wires however Charter originally installed the coax and has threated in the past to challenge us for access rights if we remove them from the building.
As a result hey are allowed access to the splitter boxes to provide cable TV to any of the patients upon request. 
Charter presently has all the connections in the cable splitter boxes connected as their descrambler box is required for the customer to receive a picture.
We have in other buildings simply disconnected the individual coax run to the room from the Charter splitter and connected to our system coax splitter in the same box however in this building the cable splitter boxes are located in crawl spaces (tunnels) and to move them would be cost prohibitive thus the DSL over telephone wire idea.

We need all the channels available on all TVs all of the time.
The new TV system is to be made as a business model so there are connects and disconnects as well as billing as part of the deal.

I am concerned that the Direct TV RF remotes will be changing channels on adjacent rooms and our on the spot installers don't have the technical skills to program the remotes.
They are only interested in connecting a coax cable to the TV and doing a channel scan i.e. no set top boxes to connect or program including remotes which is one reason I asked about a set top box with no buttons etc.

I only know in my own house I presently have DSL and it is run over simple pre PC telephone era wire to the DSL modem and it works fine for Internet.
Couldn't something similar be done with TV signal throughout the building at our nursing facility?

Norm


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

I'd throw down with Charter on the installed coax plant. Make them produce the documentation that shows that they own the cable.

CAT3 (phone cable) isn't going to get you where you want to go without great expense (and maybe not even then) -- especially if it comes in the form of individual pairs and/or must share with a phone.


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## slice1900 (Feb 14, 2013)

If you want a single remote and no satellite set top boxes in the rooms there aren't many choices. The only reasonable way to accomplish what you want is to use coax, and have a bank of satellite receivers sitting together set to a specific channel with modulators that output on various analog channels. Then the TVs can be moved from room to room, plugged into the coax, and the TV remote can be used to change channels.

You will be limited to having SD only (no HD) and can only have as many total channels as there are satellite receivers. If you can pick up OTA broadcasts you might be able to grab your local channels that way instead of using satellite to reduce the monthly per receiver expense.

You may want to call Directv and Dish's commercial sales division. They have plans tailored for various types of businesses. They may have developed a more flexible solution that fits the needs and limitations of nursing homes. You may also want to inquire with Charter's main commercial sales number, they might have something developed for this type of situation that the local staff you've been dealing with isn't aware of or doesn't want to sell you.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

I'll think on this more but disconnecting and reconnecting isn't something you really want to be doing with DIRECTV. You are better off just having every room set up permanently. IMHO. How fast is turnover? Or should I say how long is any given room without a patient? You should probably look into a deal with DIRECTV similar to their hotel systems. Then you pay a flat rate that you could amortize over every patients average stay and have it pay for itself that way. Then you never have to worry about anything. 

Oh and rf remotes are paired to specific receivers and can't operate two different boxes at the same time. So that's no an issue. 

I suggest calling solid signal and asking for someone who deals with their residential hotel system and see about getting something like that. It's very simple on the end user IMHO and might be easiest in the long run.


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## grunes (Nov 13, 2013)

Just so you know - I think you will find that the most common satellite plans are probably legally restricted to personal use - which means distributing the satellite sourced signals in a commercial environment might be illegal.

If your facility is a single building, you could effectively set up your own pseudo-cable system, amplifying the output from a single antenna. But then you might need to let your customers have remotes - which you say you don't want.


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## normnet361 (May 4, 2015)

I checked on the telephone wiring today and between the 4 wings on the main building 2 wings were CAT 5E and the other 2 wings were CAT 5e.
The secondary building is all CAT 3.

I am in contact with Direct TV and Charter in regard to commercial bulk plans.

If we go the coax route we may simply go all Charter all the time and leave all the coax's connected all the time eliminating the physical connecting in the tunnels etc.. 
The billing would be done from the signup time and when not signed up possibly the cables from the wall to the set top boxes will include locking sleeves as well as a locking terminator on the output depending on the staffs ability.

Thanks all for the input.

Norm


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Make sure any solution you contemplate fully supports closed captioning without demanding multiple button presses.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

grunes said:


> Just so you know - I think you will find that the most common satellite plans are probably legally restricted to personal use - which means distributing the satellite sourced signals in a commercial environment might be illegal.


For their part, DIRECTV offers more commercial plans than they do residential plans.


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## slice1900 (Feb 14, 2013)

harsh said:


> Make sure any solution you contemplate fully supports closed captioning without demanding multiple button presses.


If you use a bank of receivers and modulate, there wouldn't be any way to control CC from individual rooms - only per channel and multiple rooms may watch a given channel. They'd probably leave it enabled on all channels since a good percentage of the residents would want it, and hopefully those that don't wouldn't be too bothered by it.


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