Multiswitch for 4 LNB Sat dish

[Raven1972]

Hi Guys,

I'm going to setup a new Sat system for myself and your feedback would be much appreciated as I've never done it before!
My intention is to use a toroidal dish with 4 dual LNB's one each for 28.2, 19.2, 36, 4.8.
So I guess I'll have 8 feeds coming in (2 from each).
I'm using a Vu+ Duo2 which has 2 x twin tuners. I believe that this means I'll need to run it all through a multiswitch but to be honest the whole concept of the multiswitch is kinda evading me.
As far as I can understand, my 8 feeds will run to the multiswitch and then come to my receiver as 4 feeds and I should be able to switch between all 8 feeds and record watch from seperate satellites if I want...please correct me if I'm wrong.
Does anyone recommend any particular brand of multiswitch?
If someone has some experience and/or recomendations they would be much appreciated!
Regards
Oblique

[ramjet]

seems to me that you need twin or quad lnb,s on your lnb rack on your dish, and have 4 feeds going to a standard 4 way diseqc switch connected to tuner A, with another 4 feeds coming from the lnb,s to a second 4 way diseqc switch connected to tuner B

so use twin lnb,s and 2 cheap 4 way diseqc switches to do what you want

[digicon]

You will actually need 4X Diseqc switches so you can have 4 feeds 2 to each of your dual tuners

[ramjet]

as above , sorry, missed the fact that the duo2 has 2 twin tuner modules, so its double what I said, which is as digicon states

seems to me he needs 4 quad lnb,s though , not dual or twins , as he needs one feed from each lnb to each diseqc switch
just shows how complicated these things can get

so I would say 4 quad lnb,s , feeding 4 four way diseqc switches , feeding 4 tuners with having 2 twin tuner modules in the duo 2 twin tuner box

hope that is now correct, as it takes some thinking about

[happy_highlander]

Your spot on this time ramjet. What the op will need to remember is that he can't use standard lnb for a multiswitch it would need to be a quattro lnb. I would do as you recommended and put 4 quad lnb on running to 4 four way diseqc switches and use a double run of shotgun cable from all diseqc to all 4lnb input on box

[digicon]

Correct which is what i have only feeding 4 different rooms

[happy_highlander]

A lot can depend on what the op is likely to be recording. What I have atm is 4 twin lnb @ 9, 13, 19.2 & 23.5 and one quad on 28.2 (5 in total) going to one side of dual tuner on uno with just 28.2 going to the other side. Then 13, 19.2, 23.5 & 28.2 on another diseqc going to single tuner in another room and the spare feed from the quad on 28.2 going to a single tuner upstairs. Most of my recording is done on 28.2 which is one reason it is done that way and the other reason is that is what lnb I had at the time

[Raven1972]

Hi Guys,
Thanks very much for the prompt responses and in-depth solutions
I was hoping that I could run 2 ea to each tuner. Is this not possible?
So for each sat I would have a twin with both running to a single tuner or split over 2 tuners?
Am I being stupid? For example: twin lnb on 28.2 with 2 feeds running to a disceq switch then 1 to the tuner, or possibly 2 feeds running to 2 seperate switches and split over 2 tuners so that I could record and view at the same time.
If I'm not making sense please explain. As I said this is my first experiment in setting it up...
I will only have 1 TV and wont be feeding other rooms (not yet anyway).

[ramjet]

in simple terms , for a single tuner and 4 lnb,s , you would have one coaxial feed from each lnb into a 4 way diseqc switch, with the common output going to one tuner on the box, this allows you to switch between each lnb and therefore the tuner can "see" 4 satellites

for a twin lnb arrangement, you double up the above and have the second diseqc switch going to tuner B , this is enough for a standard duo2 or solo2 as it has 2 tuners , A and B

for a duo2 with two twin tuners, thats 4 tuners in all , you double up yet again , so as I said earlier its 4 quad lnb,s (not quattros) , 16 cables to 4 four way diseqc switches , four cables (or 2 twin cables) to the duo2 with 2 twin tuners, and each coax goes into a separate tuner input , labelled A B C D

[Raven1972]

Yeah, I think what I want is as Digicon describes it

[mdt]

you have listed 36east as one of your orbital slots... what are you hoping to receive as there isnt much on the european beam... your best bet would be to get 4 quad lnb,s and 4, 4 way diseqc switches as the difference in price between the 2 way/4 way switches/lnb,s is minimal and it will give you options for the future... of course if you want say 6 or 8 twin feeds then you will need quattro lnb,s and a proper multi-switch like a centauri or whatever. for 1 twin tuner stb receiving from 4 orbital slots you would need 4 twin lnb,s, 2 4 way diseqc switches with 2 downleads to the stb, 1 for each input. regards mdt

[ramjet]

4 lnb,s and 4 diseqc switches and 4 tuners means its quad lnb,s and 16 cables not 8 cables to these switches, and four cables not two to the duo 2 as it has 4 tuners inside it

each tuner is configured to access any of the 4 satellites, so they all need their own independent feeds , this allows you to watch any channels and record any other 3 channels on a duo2 with two twin tuners fitted

I have a similar arrangement with quad lnb,s feeding into 4 tuners using 4 diseqc switches , but mainly for 13e and 19e and 28e , so its a lot of everything, cables , switches and common feeds

the main point to remember is that each tuner has to be setup to receive everything from everywhere , so for 4 tuners that 4 sets of everything

I did not understand the 36e reference either, unless its a typo and he means 39e ?

he also mentioned a duo2 with 2 twin tuners, something I missed on the original post

[Raven1972]

I dont believe that I need each tuner to see all 4 sats do I?
I was hoping that each tuner could see 2 seperate lnbs
If I was going to do a lot of recording then I would go the route of the quad lnb's but I'm not a heavy TV user and cant imagine needing to have all 4 sats on each tuner....

[ramjet]

well in that case I dont see why you need a duo2 with an extra twin tuner card fitted

most of us get by with a twin tuner , 2 diseqc switches and twin or quad lnb,s

but you would be well advised to double up on 19e and 28e if nothing else, which I have done on 13e and 19e and 28e, so that each tuner is totally independent of any other

[happy_highlander]

I dont believe that I need each tuner to see all 4 sats do I?
I was hoping that each tuner could see 2 seperate lnbs
If I was going to do a lot of recording then I would go the route of the quad lnb's but I'm not a heavy TV user and cant imagine needing to have all 4 sats on each tuner....

Do it the way mine is set up then but all to one box instead of seperate. You would need Quad on 28.2 and twins on the rest with two 4 way diseqc switches this would give you all 4 sats to two tuners allowing you to record one euro sat and watch any other with two single feeds from the remaining outputs from the quad on 28.2 to the two other tuners. This would give you the ability to record or stream 4 channels from 28.2 or 3 from 28.2 and one from any other or 2 from 28.2 and 2 from any other. Confused yet .