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Help with integrating Internet Cable and Directtv

Mom's house got two cable lines going into the house. And, with her Directv, both of these cable lines are used in order to feed a receiver in the living room and another in the master bedroom.

Now, my mom wants to get Internet Cable. The cable guy showed up this morning and claimed he couldn't install the Internet Cable because both of the two cable lines are already being used by the Directv dish. So, I went to RadioShack and bought a digital quality COAX splitter and tried to split one of the lines from the dish to feed both receivers, but only one receiver will get signal at a time.

Is there anything else I can do? Is there a way to split a directv line? If all else fails, I can call Directv to have them haul their butts here to reinstall the dish. The cable guy claimed the dish guy should have only used one line but is easier to use both lines so... But, I hope I can do this myself. So any ideas will be appreciated.

Thanks.
viggen
edesilva
768 posts
 
You can split a DirecTV coax, but it requires something called a multiswitch; you can't use a normal coax splitter and simply feed two receivers--it has something to do with odd/even transponders and a signal going back from the receiver box to the DirecTV dish.

I'm confused though--it you split one of the DirecTV lines, don't you still need another run of coax?

Theoretically, however, you should be able to use something to multiplex the CATV signal onto one of the coax runs, and then use something to split it off either in the LR or DR. Look at the boxes (SAT-D2?) on the following site (just a quick search on my part, may not be the best place to buy 'em):

http://www.hometech.com/video/dssmulti.html#MULTI
viggen OP
838 posts
 
Hey Ed,

I just checked out the site and then went to RadioShack to see if they have something similar. The SAT-D2 thingy is called a diplexer. If I am reading this correctly, I will need two of them. First one will combine the CATV and DSS signals from outside the house. Then, second and one will break the signal back up inside the house. Thanks again.
sidssp
1,077 posts
 
Viggen,
To get internet connection from CATV, all the switches and spliters in the signal path must be bidirectional. I seem to remember those diplexers are not. Before you buy it you might want to double check.
edesilva
768 posts
 
Several of the diplexer options on the link page were, in fact, bidirectional. It would be good to check if you are going to RatShack, however...
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