Forum Discussion

4x4FF's avatar
4x4FF
Explorer
Jul 15, 2014

Confused on Directv

First of let me state that I am a techno-phile. If it has blinky lights and does cool stuff I'm all over it! For some reason satellite TV confuses the $%#@ out of me.

I have Directv in my house. I have the genie with 2 receivers in my house. I am wanting to be able to use the directv with BOTH receivers in my 5er and get the HD channels.

I currently have a second dish just like the one in my house but don't have anything else (swm3 or sl3 or power inserter or whatever it is called). What all besides a tripod do I need to buy to enable this capability? BTW, my 5er is wored for satellite but I realize I may have to run new or additional wires. That is no problem I just want to make sure I have the equipment to make it work.

There are so many levels of technology with satellites that it is hard to swallow. Could somebody please hold my hand through this??

Thanks,

Steve

7 Replies

  • haddy1's avatar
    haddy1
    Explorer II
    Jul 16, 2014
    4x4FF wrote:
    I have the same dish itself just not the SWM, splitter and power injector. Not sure which SWM to get. I see different types.

    Steve


    If you want to use your existing dish (I'm assuming that it is a SL3 or SL5), you can either replace the LNB with a SWM3/5, or use a SWM8 multiswitch with your existing LNB. The power inserters for each option are different, but the splitters are the same.

    Unless you get locals or foreign language channels off of the 110 or 119 sats, you only need the SWM3 lnb.
  • FlatBroke's avatar
    FlatBroke
    Explorer II
    Jul 16, 2014
    eBay has kits with all the components. I paid less then $30 dollars a few years ago. Google diagrams or look on DTV web sites. So simple even a cave man could do it.
  • 4x4FF's avatar
    4x4FF
    Explorer
    Jul 16, 2014
    I have the same dish itself just not the SWM, splitter and power injector. Not sure which SWM to get. I see different types.

    Steve
  • Big_Katuna's avatar
    Big_Katuna
    Explorer II
    Jul 15, 2014
    I recommend having the same dish type in both so you don't have to change settings when you move the box. I use SWM SL. That means one wire from your dish to your splitter/inserter. I run mine from the dish to outside factory cable input which gets the signal to my AV area. I didn't go the Genie route as if your master unit dies, the Genies are useless. They also required wires back then. Today I would probably go with Genies. I bought an extra SWM LNB, splitter and PI from the installer when they upgraded me to to SWM. I would recommend a surveyor type tripod. Lowes has them for $80 or so. You can bolt the dish bracket to a 4" X 10" aluminum plate and mount it to the tripod with a big eyebolt and wing nut up from the bottom.
  • 2010Liberty's avatar
    2010Liberty
    Explorer
    Jul 15, 2014
    Call Direct and have them set you up
    While we are fulltimers we use Direct wave a genie and mini genie. we use a tripod that I added the 2" tube to the top of the smaller tube that they seem to like. We have the slimline dish and 5 LNB. The stuff is all from DTV and they keep it going for us. just call them and get the rv package and tell them it must match the house components
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    Jul 15, 2014
    You will need a SWM capable dish. Might be easiest to get a Direct installer to come and set you up.

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