Calling all MP New Zealanders (Both of you!!) (2 Viewers)

[mm1352000]

Hi rlevis

I've heard there is a voltage required on 1 or both cables, so does that mean anything special required for the 2 splitters?

You heard right.

Perhaps the best way to approach this is to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you ever going to want to receive channels from other satellites?
2. Are you ever going to want to receive feeds from Optus D1 (eg. SBS, 9/GEM/Go!)?

If you can answer no to both questions then the simplest and cheapest solution is a couple of all-ports-power-pass splitter like this:
http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/satellite-terrestrial-splitter-p-55.html

(NOTE: splitters with a few more outputs are not significantly more expensive)

If you answer yes to question 2 then I recommend a solution like this:
http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/input-output-satellite-multiswitch-p-51.html

(NOTE: assumes your LNB feeds are independent - ie. vertical and horizontal transponders can be received simultaneously)

If you answer yes to question 1 then I recommend you talk to a professional installer and they can lay out the options. Powered, DiSEqC and multi-switch solutions for multi-satellite, multi-polarity and/or multi-band setups tend to be significantly more expensive.

mm

 

[Benoire]

I would do what I have done and that is use both RG9s from the LNB to feed in to the Horizontal and vertical polarity's of the multiswitch (I use a 2 input 4 output switch) and then feed 4 small lengths of RG9 in to the tuners. This will effectively give you 4 cables capable of either H or V polarity at any given time and paired with 4 tuners gives you at least 4 record/timeshift at once.

I think I bought my multiswitch from here: http://shop.epower.co.nz/2X4-SAT-Multiswitch

Ideally I would like MP TVserver to eventually support Sat>IP as there is a really cool 8 tuner LNB version for sale in Europe... That would not require any tuners as it has an Ethernet cable output only! no more messiness![DOUBLEPOST=1384657047][/DOUBLEPOST]beaten like a red headed step child by MM

 

[rlevis]

It's a dual LNB 85cm dish installed in 2011. Am I correct in thinking all NZ channels are horizontal and I would only need a switch if I want to view vertical channels? I don't believe SBS, 9/GEM/Go! are available here any longer. I was watching these channels for about 3 weeks after my dish installation and then they changed satellites which was very disappointing. Assuming none will come back, it sounds like I should be safe with that $14 splitter.

Cheers.

 

[Benoire]

Yes for the moment, seems like sky has an Optus D3 test up now which I haven't seen before; will be interesting to see what they're doing with that. I don't think there are any V based channels we can access here in NZ now.

 

[rlevis]

I heard Sky had leased room on another satellite some years ago with plans for more HD channels, but the lease was left to lapse. Maybe they are looking at that again.

 

[Benoire]

I hope so, more HD channels would be good considering how much they charge us. I'd suspect they would need to co-ordinate it carefully as it would require a second RG6 line from the LNB to the decoder to allow access to 156.0E which is where D3 is.

 

[mm1352000]

Am I correct in thinking all NZ channels are horizontal and I would only need a switch if I want to view vertical channels? I don't believe SBS, 9/GEM/Go! are available here any longer. I was watching these channels for about 3 weeks after my dish installation and then they changed satellites which was very disappointing. Assuming none will come back, it sounds like I should be safe with that $14 splitter.

Your understanding is generally correct. Sky and Freeview transponders are all horizontal, and 9/GEM/Go! are long gone (note: SBS is still up on C1 for the next month or so at most if you have the appropriate equipment). My intention in mentioning SBS et. al. was to give a well known example. D2 has channels on vertical transponders that can be received in NZ, and my understanding is that occasionally there are vertical feeds on D1. If anything desirable intended for Australian eyes was going to be put up on Optus D1 you can almost guarantee they'd use a vertical transponder. Like I said, if you prefer the cheaper option then the simple splitter is the way to go; if you prefer the ability to peek at the odd feed or have the inclination to pull in Optus D2 or D3 for whatever reason, you might invest in the second option.

I note that Optus 10 is planned for launch next year. Same capabilities as the D series birds. I think I read it is planned to go into 164 E. Not sure what it will be used for. I think Sky would be crazy to invest too much more in the satellite platform. Bring on UFB distro!

 

[mcraenz]

I just ended up cabling all 4 outputs from the Quad output LNB which sky installed when they put my dish up. I run each cable into a quad DVB-S2 card (TBS6985). A bit overkill I guess since I only watch H channels on D1!

 

[Benoire]

That was the other way of doing it

I hope that MP will eventually support Sat>IP as that would be awesome for cable management.

 

[rlevis]

MP has always had issues playing DVD's, at least at our place. Even with MP 1.5 and all LAV filters, most DVD menus will not work. I'm always having to rip the DVD main movie to hard drive before we can watch a rental movie. It's a real pain. A small number of DVD's we can just click the up or down arrow and it appears. Anyone know if a solution is coming. It is a basic requirement of a media player to play DVD's out of the box.