Direct TV and new Digital converter box hookup

[Mark B]

I am in the process of getting a Direct TV receiver and am curious as to the best way to do the hookup so I have Direct TV at the dock and still use the new digital converter box/antenna while on the water. Do I split the current cable from the boat to the Direct TV receiver and to the converter box and then connect the converter to the "off air" input on the Direct TV receiver? I guess at that point I run a cable from the Direct TV receiver to the TV?

Also, does the receiver need to be HD for my 15" tv that is 3 years old?

 

[tobnpr]

DirecTV at the dock- are you mounting the antenna to a piling or something?

 

[Mark B]

DirecTV at the dock- are you mounting the antenna to a piling or something?

The boat is kept in a wet slip and the dish is mounted to the framing.

 

[Go Aweigh2452]

Mark, Directv has no requirement to have a separate converter box to your three yr old tv. If you want true HD, you will require an HD satellite box from Directv. They have older non HD satellite boxes that will take care of your needs. In fact I just converted over to HD satellite and still have my old directv non-HD satellite box and may do the same as you are doing now. You can get a second directv set up for your boat/RV for about $5/month more... at least that was the price last year...

 

[370Dancer]

I am in the process of getting a Direct TV receiver and am curious as to the best way to do the hookup so I have Direct TV at the dock and still use the new digital converter box/antenna while on the water. Do I split the current cable from the boat to the Direct TV receiver and to the converter box and then connect the converter to the "off air" input on the Direct TV receiver? I guess at that point I run a cable from the Direct TV receiver to the TV?

Also, does the receiver need to be HD for my 15" tv that is 3 years old?

There's a bunch of questions in there. First, you may be able to get a Direct TV receiver that already has an off-air ATSC tuner (required for digital broadcast) built in. What you'll have to watch out for is whether the box will down convert the off air stations to what your 15" (tube?) TV can handle, which is probably composite or S-Video. That's your first barrier. Does your TV have a video input, or is everything done over RF conversion to the antenna input of the TV? If it does, what kinds of inputs do you have? The smallest Component Video set I've come across is a 17" widescreen LCD. Most of the Government sponsored converter boxes that I have seen are ATSC to NTSC RF converters, and perhaps have some video out jacks. Digital signal does NOT equal Hi Def. Satellite TV is proof of that.

To more directly answer your question, you would hook the antenna to your digital converter box, and then connect the converter box to the off-air antenna input of your Direct TV receiver. This assumes that the converter you are talkin about takes ATSC digital RF and converts it to NTSC RF, probably on channel 3 or 4 (think tuner in the VCR). If the converter has a video out as well, then I'd rig a video/audio switch to select between the video out of the Direct TV Receiver and the video out of the Digital Converter box to feed a video input on the TV. simple mechanical switches are a few bucks.

Finally, you're not going to be watching HD on a 15" tube set ever. Depending on the answer to the questions above, you may get to the same quality as Direct TV regular programming, which is just fine for casual small screen viewing. The next step would be to evaluate whether you want to move up on the display side to something that has Component Video inputs, or a built in ATSC tuner and can display HD. (Be careful with small sets). I have a plethora of HD ATSC set top boxes, and have been experimenting for nearly 4 years with all this.

 

[Go Aweigh2452]

DIRECTV has been 100% digital all along.

TV broadcasts must be digital by February 17, 2009, as required by federal law.
Most DIRECTV customers won’t need to take any action. Only customers who get their local broadcast channels over the air via “rabbit ears” or rooftop antenna may be affected by the transition. If you get your channels via satellite, you won't require a converter box. All directv boxes have a cable hook up from the antennae.



To receive your off-air local channels and view them in your program guide, you'll need:

An off-air antenna that you can purchase from DIRECTV or an electronics retailer. If you're using one already you may not need to replace it, as most off-air antennas are able to pick up both analog and digital signals. • A receiver with a digital tuner. DIRECTV has several receiver types with digital tuners that simply connect to an off-air antenna.
Your receiver will treat the off-air local channels exactly as it treats channels you get through the DIRECTV satellite. This means you can view your local channels in your program guide and be able to search for your favorite shows, view program descriptions, set parental controls and record shows to your DVR (if the receiver has a Digital Video Recorder).