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XtraView in 2 rooms
- Thread starter dd1313
- Start date
Athos
Expert Member
I am in a similar position. I want to setup Xtraview using a DSTV HD Decoder and a HD PVR 2P decoder. I want to attempt this without getting an installer involved, however, every pdf guide I find online is from 2008. Are there any newer DIY guides available on some dark corner of the web I am missing?
satanboy
Psychonaut seven
Powered HDMI splitter?
The_Ogre
Honorary Master
Get hold of a Quad or a Smart LNB and enough cable.
Run 3 cables from the the LNB (if you go with the Smart LNB you have to connect the cables to the analog ports of the LNB): two go into the LNB inputs on the 2P and one goes to the single-view decoder.
Connect any two RF ports together between decoders - this is for your heartbeat.
Athos
Expert Member
Thanks YingYang. I will give it a bash, just need to get hold of a Smart LNB.
The_Ogre
Honorary Master
Hang on, I see the old Smart LNB only has two universal (which I incorrectly called "analog" above) ports and the new one only has one port available.
Based on your situation, it would be better to buy a quad LNB - though this won't future proof you in case you upgrade to an Explora in future.
Athos
Expert Member
I will keep that in mind. I was kind of hoping to get away with the current setup, but I have no idea what LNB is currently installed and there defintely aren't three coax cables coming from the existing LNB. There are only two Coax cables coming into the property. Might have to get someone out to do it after all.
The_Ogre
Honorary Master
If there are two coming in then you can connect it as inputs to a multi switch (maybe a 2->4) then instead of the single view's feed coming from the LNB it now comes from the multi switch.
The PVR then gets two of the other outputs from the multi switch
Athos
Expert Member
Ok so I checked the installation comprehensively yesterday. This is at my parents new place btw, so I am trying to help them out. I was right about the LNB. There are two coax cables coming from the LNB. These go directly upstairs (to a loft area) where they are terminated in the wall and there are two outputs.
I want to have one decoder up there and the 2nd Decoder Downstairs in a bed room. The two decoders I have is the HD Decoder and a HD PVR 2P.
From what I have read it seems like that HD Decoder has to be the primary decoder and the HD PVR 2P has to be the secondary decoder, even though the 2P has PVR functionality. Ultimately I would like the PVR decoder to be at the primary TV upstairs.
Regardless of that, currently there is a single coax cable running downstairs to the bedroom where I want the 2nd decoder to be.
My question is this:
If I get a 2 x 4 multiswitch upstairs, assuming I place the PVR 2P decoder upstairs, will the existing single coax cable running downstairs be sufficient to complete the installation or do you still need the heartbeat connection you were refering to in an earlier post?
Thanks.
The_Ogre
Honorary Master
You'll still need the heartbeat (or you can read up on diplexing the heartbeat and stream through one cable), but as I mentioned in another thread, MC's implementation of the heartbeat is flimsy at best.
I can unplug the heartbeat cable to both my secondaries and the decoders will still work for days (record is 13 days), non stop, then one day out fo the blue they will both display "This channel is blocked" - meaning its looking for the heartbeat signal. I'm not convinced its a random period, I think its a bug.
I can unplug the heartbeat cable to both my secondaries and the decoders will still work for days (record is 13 days), non stop, then one day out fo the blue they will both display "This channel is blocked" - meaning its looking for the heartbeat signal. I'm not convinced its a random period, I think its a bug.
Athos
Expert Member
Ok cool. I assume that the RF connection is also done using standard coax cable?
should be easy enough running a second cable downstairs following the existing cable route.
So besides that does my porposed setup sound feasible?
- Split signal upstairs
- Two coax from splitter to PVR 2P
- One Coax from splitter to HD 4U
- One Coax for RF between the two decoders
- Done
Thanks again for the help. Might have more questions when it comes to the actual setup as I really have never attempted this before.
Last edited:
The_Ogre
Honorary Master
Perfect!
Just make sure on each decoder that the port you've plugged the heartbeat cable into corresponds to the one you chose under XtraView settings. It can be any combination of ports, there aren't any rules anymore. Previously you had to connect an RF-In to an RF-Out, they've removed that restriction.
The_Ogre
Honorary Master
And yes to this
Athos
Expert Member
Perfect!
Just make sure on each decoder that the port you've plugged the heartbeat cable into corresponds to the one you chose under XtraView settings. It can be any combination of ports, there aren't any rules anymore. Previously you had to connect an RF-In to an RF-Out, they've removed that restriction.
Awesome thanks! Will do that.
Athos
Expert Member
Just realised I didn't ever give feedback on the install. Worked like a bomb, no issues at all.
Thanks a lot YingYang.
Thanks a lot YingYang.
Well done bud! A professional AV installer needed two full days of work to hook up my two HD PVRs, and provide HD Xtraview to two additional TVs in separate rooms off the second decoder. Granted, the amount of exterior trunking was significant, and the distance between the decoders very great, but it was an insane amount of work. And even after it was done they stood around on the phone to Multichoice for quite a while and argued about how to configure everything correctly. It has worked perfectly every day though, so I'm happy.
