I'm building my new home thru a builder. I would like to have TIVO or
similar service at my new home... Do I have to get cabeling done some
specific way in order to record separate chanel than the one I'm
watching?

As far as I understand, if I subscribe to Dish Network/Direct TV/Cable
, connection to TIVO box needs to go out of receiver box provided by
vendor for decryption of transmission..So unless I have two tuner in
TIVO/DVR, or I record already decrypted transmission, I won't be able
to record the chanel I'm not currently watching .. Correct!!

Low voltage contractor from Builder offered my structured wiring option
to do that but I'm still not convinced... Can structure wiring help me
in this area?

What other benefits structure wiring give me other that centralized
management.. Does it improve the quality of signal of Cable or
Telephone in any way?


Please advise..

Mak

wrote:

I'm building my new home thru a builder. I would like to have TIVO or
similar service at my new home... Do I have to get cabeling done some
specific way in order to record separate chanel than the one I'm
watching?


There are two types of PVRs: Standalone and Integrated. The Standalone units
work just like a VCR and are hooked up the same way. They record whatever you
feed into them, just like a VCR.

Tiivo is one flavor of PVR - there are others.

The integrated units are built into a satellite receiver or digital cable box.
They record the bit stream from the satellite or cable headend.

The wiring is no different for PVRs than it is for plain satellite or cable. You
need wiring from the sat antenna to each TV, or you need cable to each TV.

For integrated PVRs, to record one channel while watching another is a function
of the box. If its a dual tuner box, you can watch one live stream while
recording another. If its not a dual tuner box, you can only watch a previously
recorded program while recording a live one.

As far as I understand, if I subscribe to Dish Network/Direct TV/Cable
, connection to TIVO box needs to go out of receiver box provided by
vendor for decryption of transmission..So unless I have two tuner in
TIVO/DVR, or I record already decrypted transmission, I won't be able
to record the chanel I'm not currently watching .. Correct!!


See above.

Low voltage contractor from Builder offered my structured wiring option
to do that but I'm still not convinced... Can structure wiring help me
in this area?


Structured wiring for most builders is just an expensive distribution box in the
garage or basement. It usually has a couple of power outlets, plus telephone
splitters, coax splitters and ethernet jacks. As long as all of your wiring is
home runned to one point, you don't really need it. Although it looks pretty and
impresses the neighbors.

What other benefits structure wiring give me other that centralized
management.. Does it improve the quality of signal of Cable or
Telephone in any way?


As long as you home run everything, all it gives you is an expensive cabinet.
The integrated patch panels and splitters may make reconfig in the future
easier, but there won't be any other benefit.

wrote in message
ups.com...
I'm building my new home thru a builder. I would like to have TIVO or
similar service at my new home... Do I have to get cabeling done some
specific way in order to record separate chanel than the one I'm
watching?

Here's the setup for DirecTV satellite. You need to run 4 coax wires from
the dish to your central wiring closet. There will be a powered switch there
(provided by DirecTV). 2 coax wires run from the closet to every location
you have a DirecTV DVR unit. The switch they provide does not have an
external antenna in (OTA). Some switches by Channel Master had built-in
diplexer functionality. So if you want an additional feed for an OTA antenna
or from your local cable company, then you might consider running a third
coax wire. I haven't tried diplexing one of the outputs of this new switch
yet.

-al sung
Rapid Realm Technology, Inc.
Hopkinton, MA