ExpressVU for my 6 TVs?

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simonzl

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I have 6 TVs in my house . Is there any solution for me to use ExpressVU for my 6 TVs ?

And the tuner only has 4 ports . How can I work it out ? Thanks

And is it possible to share the digital programming among multiple TVs for free with certain device ?
 
Just out of curiosity, since you have 5 TVs (!), including one HD, why the switch to satellite? Your tag says Ottawa but I understand that could mean on one of the "rural" systems where all features aren't available.

I would have thought that, as an existing customer, you'd find the HD and On Demand channels Rogers has enough to keep you.
 
I guess he thinks it's sub par (everyone I know feels that way as well)... in my case, who the hell wants to deal with rogers if they don't have to. :) I know bell has their problems, but give me bell any day compared to rogers.

Call me biased. :)
 
Similar scenario. This is an install going down Tuesday.
Very green on this. Just sort of jumping in!
No HD just regular tv's
On the phone with the rep:
BEV recommended, 1 TV share controller, as in one views what the other is watching.
+
The main one.
3 singles
+
If I understood properly a secondary single can run off the main.

So that would cover the 6 units but I'm not too crazy about one TV watching the same as the other.

Went in to the bell Boutique, face to face and the salesrep said, no, just get two main ones and two singles.

The rep on the phone also didn't offer us the digital recorder, I figure, at least for the main room, no? They also didn't offer movie bundles, just essentials.

Could someone explain exactly how much hardware we're getting into? What is the proper breakdown?


Thanks, any help is appreciated.
 
BEV 9200 will do 2 tv's, one HD and the other SD, with 2 remotes, one for each. For bedroom tv's they still sell the cheaper models.
They have package deals. Depending on the package, they don't charge extra for multiple recievers.
 
bell suggests to use a quad legacy sat system with 4 feeds from the sat. This goes into 4 high frequency splitters, then feeds 2 sw44 multiswitches....then you can choose what you want to do.... 9200s require two imputs for two outputs....

this is exactly what I have done at my house and it works great. I have 5 TVs. 5 and over requires a setup like this. Some people say that it's better to have 2 dishes, but it's a cabling mess...
 
This has been discussed several times before. You will want 6 tuners. That can be divided up between single and dual tuner receivers/PVRs in any combination you desire. You will need two 4-way switches, either SW24s or SW44s. I recommend SW44s since they will handle HDTV and provide more channels. SW44s cost about $125 each and 4 splitters (about $5 each) will be required. Then there is the wiring. Bell does the first receiver free but the next 5 will cost $50 each. I recommend getting at least one receiver installed professionally since this will give you a fully aligned dish. You might be able to save a little money by sourcing the switches and cable from a discount supplier and installing the rest of the receivers yourself. Please refer to the installation threads first, before asking questions.
 
So sorry, I have read this entire 2 page thread and I am trying to evaluate our situation properly. We are so new to this, I don't know what a PVR is??
That word PVR never came up with the Bell staff.

At at what point of the installation are these switches installed? Off the dish or after the Main receivers between the single units?

In our case, I guess the wire would be in place with the shared that watches the same channel and we would in time upgrade the hardware and put the switches in place.

As per Bell, for our offer, they will throw in the installation free except for the last one, it's part of the present offer. Otherwise, it wouldn't be worth upgrading. It never has been up until now.

Still, our cable package has a better line up for the value. So if our montlhy charge doubles for the right package and the hardware rental, why would we switch.

Our present cable setup offers digital in the rooms we have chosen and great basic and extended-non digital in the other rooms.

Bell people simply did their job when we called for an High Speed internet upgrade to Optimax16. They offered us a deal on their current BEV promotion which has never included the installation fee. It's our job now to evaluate $ for $ whether or not the offer is worth it.

Since they offered us their Essential package and didn't even discuss the Digital Extra, and since they didn't make us aware that other Main Units could have recording features, I thought a forum such as this one would help us get the right information.

We actually don't mind paying a little more, if there are a shipload of new advantages and services, but not double the price, which I think this is where we're going.

Hardware install free
1 month Free
6 months programming at half price.
2 year contract

After the 6 month honeymoon, we could easily be looking at a monthly rental of:
$82.00/month in Digital Extra
$10.00/month for an extra main receiver
$12.00/month in extra receivers.

For a total of $104.00 a month

The support we are looking for from this Forum... Is the extra hardware set up in switches something we can ask BEV to do or is it a Do It Yourself?

The switches go at what point of the install?
If I go with their scenario, that one TV shares signal, do they both have a control and a box or only one? (We would have to choose which one and do the hardware upgrade ouselves at a later point if necessary and feasible. I see receivers for sale at Future Shop for example. I suppose I would buy a new single put a switch behind a Main, use the existing wire that allows it to share and hookup the new receiver.) So where do these switches go behind the main receivers or off the dish.

If we start the way BEV suggest and we want to upgrade later, can the additionnal Main unit use the same feed from the dish as a single unit? Would we be able to put a switch behind the new unit and add a single unit receiver at the "share location"

I hope someone has the patience and the interest to give a little guidance and hand holding to newbies here.

Thank you
 
BizClown:

Did you take the OptiMax Internet 16 service? Isn't that around $80/mth? Bell has been very quiet about marketing the service.

For TV, the first four receivers are part of the free install, including all switches and wiring (there are maximums but assume you qualify for that much). If it were me, I'd have Bell do the complete professional install, even for the extra one or two receivers. Get it all done at once.

I don't see the point of having the same show on multiple TVs at once, but that's me. I'd want even a low end receiver on every TV and maybe a PVR (record a show for later viewing) in the main room. Note that the $10/mth PVR has only one tuner so you can't watch a second station while recording something.

Doesn't Videotron have a much better range of French channels? Perhaps that's not important to you. I know they offer more French HD should that become important.

I can see switching to Bell if they offer better picture, or more channels, or specific services you can't get on cable, or a lower price long term ... etc. But didn't you say it looked like overall the price was more and for fewer channels you wanted. Why are you considering switching at all?
 
I agree with sensualpoet, have the boxes installed professionally (unless all the wiring is already run from the last homeowner, but highly unlikely)
if you are not getting anything from the 82 satellite, you can pick up a 2 x 8 switch relatively cheap (dont buy it from bellworld!) look locally, or on the internet......
you may save a few bucks doing the installation yourself, but if anything goes wrong, then you are on the hook for a service call (around $80+ any additional labour to fix the problem, if it takes longer than an hour)
the free installation only applies to rentals as well i think, so keep that in mind as well, seeing as basic boxes will cost you $15/month for 5 (first is included, i believe...)
add PVR's into the mix, and add some more $$$
 
Here's how to do it. Get an SW44 and a 3x4 switch (they sell for about $20) Run RG6 (2 lines from 91) to the 3x4 switch. YOu can run 2 of your recievers out of that switch and then run 2RG6 to the 1A and 1B inputs on the SW44. The 2 lines from 82 go straight to the 2A and 2B inputs on the SW44. Then you can run 4 receivers off the Sw44.

There you go... 6 receivers.
 
To Sensual Poet:


Thank you for your reply.
Yes, the Optimax service is a done deal, as the Videotron equivalent for home users is only in test mode for 400 users or so.

To I Hate TV & Sensual Poet:

Thank you both, at this point I think we really have to look at the whole scenario.

If we go with the Essential package and rentals, we will be about $10.00 more a month with barely any movie channels.

If we upgrade to the Digital Extra, We will have great programming, and a hardware upgrade but with the price tag doubling up.

We could simply upgrade our Videotron hardware and be done with it. So will we change platform?

Got some thinking to do. If we do it offers the rest of the house better programming.

BEV's offer is great for people getting into it, but not so enticing for someone already on the Videotron Illico digital. They've taken a step in the right direction with the free install. At least now people can consider it.

Thank you both. I'll let you know our decision.
 
Dish care cost increased March 1st...it's now 6$ a month

You need to take it for minimum 12 months, if you cancel before that there would be a 35$ panalty

Yes dish care covers for all equipement, but only if they break under "normal condition of use". If it breaks du to a storm, or any wheather condition related problem you won't be covered.

Dish care takes affect 21 days after you suscribe, if there was a pre-exiting problem we woudn't cover you for that equipement
 
It's a device that receives 4 inputs from a dishes LMBFs (the eyes on the Satellite) and gives 4 outputs to allow receivers to receive signal...

The multiswich combines the signal from more than one Satellite to allow more than one receiver to receive signal from more than one satellite over single wire per receiver. Confusing huh? I think if you get a 9220 kit, it comes with the multiswitch...I got the 9220, but I can't remember if it came with the kit or it was seperate....either way....installation was free.
 
I am currently looking at switching from Rogers to Bell and am in the same boat with you guys. I have 5 tvs - including one HDTV.

But, I see two different solutions outlined above and need to know which one is the best to go with. I do not necessarily trust the bell world sales guys to give me the best information.

Good news is, neither solution requires two dishes.
 
:cool:

Raj called from India to confirm our Tuesday morning install rendez-vous. The order didn't match... Things got worse. He had the multiplexer but not the fifth single. He said it should be on a separate order.

I told him we were still interested, but not unless they got it right and gave us the right info and choices.

We probably would take the Digital Extra and get them to install the whole thing in one shot. Unfortunately they didn't tell us about it. This would mean less channels and incomplete hardware setup. He said he couldn't change the order.

For now, we've cancelled the order. He said someone would call to follow up.

Thank you all for your support.
 
I totally agree... the only downside is since bell suggested this and something goes wrong, I have proof that it came from them. I also bought the 2 SW44 multiswitches from bell (well one came with the 9220 receiver) so I'm using bell supported equipment...so if there is ever a warranty issue, I am convered. The moment you use non bell supported equipment, you run into the possibility that they would give you a hard time on warranty replacement on parts. Of course, they would need to know you have these....but as long as they don't see your setup, you should be in the clear. I was thinking of getting dish care ($5 a month which covers all your equipment) and if I needed to get something replaced, they would probably blame the non-bell supported device (which is the case for anyone in the industry and competition). So this is the why I went for peace of mind.
 
I can tell you that I have had no problems with my setup. The SW44 working with the 3x4 multi switch has wroked great. Its the cheaper way to running 5 or 6 reicevers. Compared to 2 Sw44's and or 4 -- 2x1 switches. I had a signal problem a few weeks ago. BEV cust service said it was my switch but turns out it was an allignment problem with the dish.
 
I believe that EV will only support 4 rental receivers. That is a cost of 4x$3=$12 for 4 basic receivers. After that, receivers and hardware will need to be purchased at the current cost for existing subscribers. I don't know if dual tuner receivers count as 1 or 2 receivers but they cost considerably more. I wouldn't trust any Bell company (EV included) to follow up on any verbal agreement. Get it in writing before ordering anything. :o
 
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