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Dish Network is one of the most popular TV systems in the United States
I currently have Dish and want to take it on the road in the 5th wheel. I would be using the 722DVR or the 322 receiver. From looking at the setup pages, it appears that I am hitting the 110, 119, and 61.5 birds. At home I have a pair of Dish 500 dishes with one of the dishes having only one LNB installed (the one hitting the 61.5 I presume). I have the everything package.
Now for the question(s)...I have collected a pile of DirecTV and a little Dish equipment over the years from people who were going to toss them. I would like to re-use some of this stuff if I can. I have one very old Dish 500 unit that has two separate LNBs that are connected with a SW21. Needless to say these are legacy equipment at best. From reading the manuals and such, I don't think that these LNBs are compatible with the 722 or 322 unit (please correct me if I am wrong). It appears that that I will need new LNBs but I can re-use the dishes. It looks like I have a couple of options...please review and comment:
1) Install a DishPro PLUS Twin LNBF on the old Dish 500 dish. Install a DishPro Dual LNBF on one of my old single LNB DirecTV dishes. The Dual LNBF connects to the LNB IN port on the PLUS Twin LNBF. I run a single cable to my receiver (either the 722 or the 322). Once at the receiver, install a Separator that splits the signal for both ins.
2) Get three DishPro Dual LNBFs. Install two of them in the Dish 500 dish and one in an old DirecTV dish. Connect the LNBF to ports on a DP34 switch. Run two cables to my receiver.
I am leaning toward option 1 as it is less expensive and a bit cleaner install. Am I correct in thinking that my old LNBs are of no use for this application?
While not addressing any specific receiver, ALL of the Dish Pro Receivers that I have worked with (including my own 301 and 508) have been backward-compatible with "Legacy" LNBS. They simply identify the LNB type during the setup. The reverse is NOT true, of course. Dish Pro LNBs will not work with Legacy receivers due to the different signalling frequencies for the polarity. I learned this years ago the hard way when I was given a Dish-Pro LNB for an upgrade and found that it worked, but wouldn't switch polarities. The dealer didn't have a clue so I read (and copied) his tech manuals that explained the operation.
I found my answer regarding legacy LNBs on another site... For those interested here it is:
MrBill is right that all the newer receivers are backward compatible (also correct about non-Pro receivers will not work with Pro LNBs). My LNBs are not useless in my case. I can use the legacy Dish500 LNBs and a separate dish with another legacy LNB. These 3 LNBs are connected to a legacy SW64 switch (switch requires a power inserter as well). I can then run two lines to the back of my receiver.
With the legacy stuff you have to watch the line lengths as they are much shorter than the Pro stuff. For longer runs, you would need to mount the switch close to the receiver (maximizes run length). This would mean many lines run to the LNBs. With the Pro+ setup, there is no inserter, no separate switch, and you can get away with one cable and split it at the back of the receiver (much cleaner not to mention the price of cable).
Because the simplicity, I think that I am going to upgrade the LNBs. No inserter and fewer wires to deal with is more attractive than saving a few bucks.
To use legacy lnb's, you'll have to run 2 lines for each lnb then 2 lines from switch to receiver. Option #1 is the best for you but make sure tht the lnb installed on the old dtv dish is dp lnb.
in this case you would run 2 lines total for both receiver to get tv in 4 rooms.
I found it very hard to install dp lnb on old dtv dish without modification.
Dish "Legacy" Single LNBs and "Dish Pro" have the same mounting configuration which is different from the DirecTV LNB because of a slight "D" curve on the Upper side of the Dish LNB. Third-party "Universal" LNBs are made with the rectangular inset of the DirecTV, BUT with a curve to each end that allows them to slide into the Dish feed-arm.
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