LNB question

[Army Guy]

I'm trying to figure out how many LNB's I need to have for reception and the purpose of them. I have DirecTV now and want to upgrade to include a DVR. I'm not worried about HD or do I need to be. I have a LCD TV. It seems most dish's have 3 or more LNBs. I currently have old school tripod with 1 LNB on the DISH. Thanks for the education. Rick

[simonsrf]

Rick,

I have Dish, but you just need to call DirectTV, they will be happy to upgrade your equipment to support their network. Usually, the upgrade and setup are free.

BTW, the 3 LNB antennas are for HDTV.

[Carl n Susan]

Rick: you want the same configuration that I have. I don't care about HD at this point nor the complexity that skew (a feature of the multi-LNB heads) added to the set up process.

Direct TV recently installed a portable dish with a single LNB for me. The LNB has two RF connectors aka feeds (the key to success). A double coax cable (two RG-6 cables bonded together) connects the LNB to the DVR (so you can record two shows at one time). I did add a dual RF connector plate to the outside of the Montana so I could attach both coaxes without going through a window (or slide seal, or any other alternative route). The Direct TV guy added a "splitter" (they have a special name for it that I can't recall - CRS at work - and it is different from a regular splitter) to one line of the coax in order to make a third feed which goes to another Direct TV unit (non-DVR) in the bedroom.

As part of a free upgrade to DVR (assuming Direct TV will play - they have been known to want $$) they should supply a new dual RF feed LNB. If they don't, you can get one for around $20 +/-. That is all the equipment you should need to take advantage of the DVR.

I highly recommend getting the DNS option (with both the East and West feeds) when you have a DVR. This greatly enhances your flexibility in recording shows. You will effectively have the capability to record four shows which normally are presented at the same time (two from the East feed and two from the West feed).