Poor man's MRV?

[rlw]

Poor man's Multi Room Viewing (MRV)

I was going to post this to the DirecTV forum, but thought it might be a more generic set-top box question.

I've been waiting for DirecTV to upgrade its HD DVR software so that they support Multi Room Viewing, but that could take forever. Evidently, they *do* have some beta software out there that does so, but who knows when they'll be rolling it out.

So... I got to thinking about how to implement "poor man's MRV" -- it wouldn't be HD, but it might allow me to get my satellite channels and recorded programs on an old TV in the basement.

The way I think it could be done is to connect an RF modulator to the composite/audio out on my HR20-700, and set the output to channel 3. The RF-out from the modulator would then go to a splitter that would inject it into the OTA RF distribution in the house. Since the remote for the HR20 is an RF remote, I can control the DVR from anywhere in the house.

Questions:
Has anyone on the list tried this? If so, did it work, if not, why?
Does an RF splitter act like a diode, i.e., is it one-way, or will it act as a "combiner"?

I'm not looking to distribute HD all over the house (both of my HDTVs have their own HD receivers), I just want to be able to send the AV to an old NTSC TV in the basement (or any other room with a coax connection).

Any suggestions/comments/criticisms are welcome!

RLW

[festivus]

You might have an issue combining ch 3 with an OTA feed. I've always kept my OTA lines free of anything else. No satellite in, no satellite TV2 out. It was a while back when I tried it but I had some kind of issue. I think I tried to combine OTA and TV2 and it wouldn't work. Might be in the same frequency range.

You might try to install diplexors at each end and instead try to combine your TV2 with your satellite in lines, if possible.

And you might need an amp though depending upon the length of your run. I use a bunch of amps to route my Dish TV2s all over the house.

[rlw]

I did a little mad scientist experiment and verified that a splitter (at least the one I have) is a bidirectional device.

I fired up an old DirecTV H10 receiver, set the RF output channel to 4, and combined its signal with the OTA signal in the basement. The output of the splitter went into the input of an Access-HD converter box. The output of the converter box is set to channel 3. There was a small drop in signal strength, but I was able to view all of the digital channels I normally get.

I'll post more if/when I get things set up.

RLW

[rlw]

Well...

... I have the Poor Man's MRV (TM) working! ;^)

Basically, I ran the video/audio output of my DirecTV receiver into an RF modulator that emits the signal on channel 4. That goes thru coax to a splitter (actually, in this case a "combiner") that merges the signal with the OTA signal coming in from my antenna. The combined signal goes into an RF distribution amplifier then out to the rest of the house.

Note that this setup requires an RF capable remote and receiver, so the DirecTV receiver can be controlled from another room.

The reason for this set up is I wanted to put an old NTSC-only TV in a spare bedroom and still be able to watch DirecTV from there. Of course, if someone's watching the big TV in the living room, the old TV will only show what's being watched in the LR. The layout is illustrated in the attached image. BTW, there's a digital set-top OTA box between the RF cable and the TV -- it blocks the NTSC RF signal on channel 4 when it's powered on, but passes it through when powered off.

RLW