Satellite TV Pre-Wire Cable Spec ?

[Busted_Knuckles]

It appears to me that is a trade secret, for dish network wouldn't tell me what I need to use for a pre-wire. I sprayed the walls of house I'm "re-constructing" with open cell foam. I want to run more cable prior to closing up the walls, as some of you know, there ain't no fishing nothing, once the rock goes up.

I ran 1/2" EMT to where my main TV is (through the foam), but decided I might want to move things around in the future and would like to have the cable there now.

Not sure what the spec is, I'm going to want High Def throughout. Ive got a 1000 feet of RG6 here that I bought for wiring cameras...was told by a friend that would work...? I dont want to do this twice, so I thought Id "put it out there".

I'm thinking that the folks at the phones at the Satellite company have no idea what I need, because the company is just to big for that kind of info to be cataloged or known.

"We know how to sell it, and thats it", is what I think they meant to tell me ?

 

[Falcon67]

I pulled RG-6 Quad. It's a PITA to terminate. When talking to the DISH guys, they said they use quad outside and for burial and regular RG-6 inside. [edit] terminate a couple of RG6 Quad ends and you'll learn to love plain old RG-6.

FWIW, most of this house is RG59 and I'm not going to re-pull any of it. I pulled lines of RG-6 quad to the DVRs, one pair to living room and one pair to the master bedroom. The second line goes back into the attic to a splice where the other rooms can tie into one of the DVRs. I get HD on the other TVs through the RG59 no problem.

I'm thinking that the folks at the phones at the Satellite company have no idea what I need, because the company is just to big for that kind of info to be cataloged or known.

"We know how to sell it, and thats it", is what I think they meant to tell me ?

Try asking technical questions with a rural cable company. It's why we use DISH for TV and DSL for internet.

 

[bochnak]

I pulled all the dish network stuff off my house when I bought it, which was RG6.

I have worked for comcast in the past and used RG6.

I have seen SBC use the quad stuff.

Personally, I have never had an issue with with regular RG6.

 

[Busted_Knuckles]

thanks guys, Ive got a spool of the RG6, which I will use and at Menard's tonight I saw a Carol Cable 500' spool of RG6-Quad for $37.00, so I grabbed it, I will use that to run out to the shop,,,.. thanks again, BK.

 

[Falcon67]

Get the tools (compression tool, stripper) and terminations too - no crimp connectors work on RG6 and you'll never get the ends on quad without a good compression tool - and some patience. The "trick", such as it is, on quad is to remove the second wrap of shield before trying to wedge the connector on the cable.

Damn, I paid $25 for 100' of quad at Lowes, you scored big on that roll.

 

[79firebird]

I run rg6 in all installs i have ran in new places for people i know most times 2 runs due to some pvr's need 2 runs. The odd time i will run 3-4 wire its cheap in bulk. One thing i also do is run a cat5 cable in there also incase you ever run a media center box or what not that conects to the net via wired or unwired.

 

[Busted_Knuckles]

Get the tools (compression tool, stripper) and terminations too - no crimp connectors work on RG6 and you'll never get the ends on quad without a good compression tool - and some patience. The "trick", such as it is, on quad is to remove the second wrap of shield before trying to wedge the connector on the cable.

Damn, I paid $25 for 100' of quad at Lowes, you scored big on that roll.

Ive got the Data Shark kit for RG6, that I picked up at HD a couple years back to run some cable at the old house. Is that the style of tool you are referring to as a good compression tool ? Thanks for the "trick" tip on the quad.

The spool was marked down $20, there was second one there, I think I might go back and grab that one too.

Thanks for the tips, BK

 

[Busted_Knuckles]

I run rg6 in all installs i have ran in new places for people i know most times 2 runs due to some pvr's need 2 runs. The odd time i will run 3-4 wire its cheap in bulk. One thing i also do is run a cat5 cable in there also incase you ever run a media center box or what not that conects to the net via wired or unwired.

Pardon my ignorace, what is a PVR, and why does it need 2 runs ?

I ran 2- 1/2" EMTs Conduits to my TV, one for Cable and the other for future ? It will just sit empty with a pull string. Thanks for the tip, I was thinking ahead !

 

[Born_Annoyed]

Is that the style of tool you are referring to as a good compression tool ? Thanks for the "trick" tip on the quad.

The spool was marked down $20, there was second one there, I think I might go back and grab that one too.

Thanks for the tips, BK

That will work for compression fittings. You need a good stripper Radio shack sells one that i have been using for years no problem.
The stripper that comes with that Data Shark Kit is useless ****.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062637

 

[socapots]

Pardon my ignorace, what is a PVR, and why does it need 2 runs ?

I ran 2- 1/2" EMTs Conduits to my TV, one for Cable and the other for future ? It will just sit empty with a pull string. Thanks for the tip, I was thinking ahead !

PVR is a recorder. so you can watch something and record something else.
It needs 2 because the PVR will have a dual tuner in it.

edit:
and id run some Cat5 in there as well like it was mentioned above. 2 is usually better then one. If you run 2 you have the option of using them as a HDMI connection as well.

 

[djd99]

Get the tools (compression tool, stripper) and terminations too - no crimp connectors work on RG6 and you'll never get the ends on quad without a good compression tool - and some patience. The "trick", such as it is, on quad is to remove the second wrap of shield before trying to wedge the connector on the cable.

Damn, I paid $25 for 100' of quad at Lowes, you scored big on that roll.

Very good advice I also reran my hole house with quad cable The signal quality is excellent. Also Falcon is 100% right with the trick as he puts it.

 

[ishiboo]

The dual-tuner DVR's do not require two runs, Dish installs a small splitter (or two, some boxes have 3 tuners) at the device. There is no longer a cable run to the dish per tuner, it's a single cable from the dish back just like a conventional antenna installation.

I ran all quad-shield, didn't have much of a problem terminating it with the compression fittings. I bought a decent Paladin set and it seems to work well. I paid $50 for a 500' roll at Menards.

I always do my own installs because they take the lazy route and staple **** to the siding all over the house and drill through the walls to wire a TV. I always make sure the installer leaves me all the splitters and components they would have to use to complete the install though, so I don't end up paying for them. Plus when it's all their gear, if you have issues they will troubleshoot and not say "you have to pay to replace" the splitters/power injectors/etc.

 

[socapots]

The dual-tuner DVR's do not require two runs, Dish installs a small splitter (or two, some boxes have 3 tuners) at the device. There is no longer a cable run to the dish per tuner, it's a single cable from the dish back just like a conventional antenna installation.

good to know.
But now why do we see some dishes with a bunch of cable running to them?
is that the quad cable installs?

 

[ishiboo]

good to know.
But now why do we see some dishes with a bunch of cable running to them?
is that the quad cable installs?

Technology improvements. It used to be that you needed one LNB on the dish, and thus a cable from it directly to a receiver. Four receiver's = four LNB's = four cables from the dish. You also needed access to two different satellite locations, and when we upgraded to HD we needed a completely separate dish only for HD programming!

Now, as long as you can see the required satellites, you only need one dish for HD and regular programming and a single cable for all receivers.

 

[Falcon67]

good to know.
But now why do we see some dishes with a bunch of cable running to them?
is that the quad cable installs?

The DISH dishes on our house are dual LNBs - like this: http://www.prosatellitesupply.com/dish_pro_plus_twin_lnbf.htm

We have two dishes, one for local channels and one for the other stuff. Not sure how they tie them together. The signals come into the house on two cables, one for each DVR. (master bedroom and living room) At the DVR, there is a splitter to connect both LNB inputs. That's for watch one channel, record another. What I did was pull two cables to each DVR. The second cable connects to the RF OUT on the DVR. It goes back to the attic and I use a splitter to feed other TVs in the house on the existing RG-59 cable. The bedroom DVR can be watched in the master and in the kitchen. The living room DVR feeds the living room TV and two other bedrooms. Meaning, what is being watched on the DVR also shows up in the other rooms connected to that DVR. The remotes use separate UHF channels and work from anywhere in the house. If I'm in the office, I can turn on the living room DRV, leave the TV off and watch sat TV in the office. Hope that is a decent explanation. This routing is more than handy when the kid(s) have Suite Life on Deck or some other Disney Channel mind blanker on and you are in the kitchen. It allows you to retain some sanity.

This is the tool I used - For RG-6 you can use any press tool to seat the bushing in the back of the connector. The cheap one I have looks a little like a small pliers. With RG-6 Quad, you have to work like hell to get the connector on the wire and this Ideal tool holds the connector in place while you **** it up against something and twist/shove/cuss the cable into the connector.